Productions (UG)

Owned by Tatum Hohl (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Mar 08, 2019 by Emma Greenwood
9 min read

Overview

The NorthScope Inventory module Production transaction allows users to record productions or production issues of inventory items. The transaction allows multiple items to be recorded at once and allows each individual item to be recorded as a production or production issue. Before the transaction is posted, it will updated the available lot balance of the item(s). Once the transaction is posted, it will update the on-hand lot balance of the item(s). Once the transaction is posted, it integrates to the host system as an Inventory Adjustment transaction if the inventory transaction integration in the Company module is set to immediate or timed. 

Prerequisites

Required Prerequisites

  • Site Setup
  • Item Setup

Optional Prerequisites

  • Set the Inventory Preference for "Default Owner"
  • Attributes Setup for Inventory - Production Transaction

Understanding the data flow

An Inventory Production transaction can be used to record the production or production issue of inventory items. Productions will increase the inventory of the corresponding item while production issues will decrease the inventory of the corresponding item. When the transaction is saved as Ready to Post, the transaction will be sent to the host system as an Inventory Adjustment transaction and the NorthScope lot balance for the item's on-hand balance will be updated accordingly. 

Step 1: Entering the transaction in NorthScope. 

Entering a new transaction

From NorthScope, expand the Inventory module on the navigation menu and select 'Transactions'. This will open the Inventory Transactions List View, which displays all Inventory Adjustment, Receipt, Production, and Transfer transactions in a status of New, Approved, or Ready to Post. 

Click the New toolbar icon. This opens a drop-down menu, which displays all active inventory transaction classes for the user to select the transaction class for the transaction. Select any of the production transaction classes to open a blank Production type record view. 

Completing the header fields

To view the description of each of the Production header fields, click here. 

  • Corrected From: This field displays the Transaction ID of the source transaction the correction is being made from. This field is only displayed when the transaction was corrected.  This field is for information only.
  • Date: This field defaults to today's date but can be edited. The date must reside within the most recently closed fiscal year or a later date. E.g. If Fiscal Year 2015 is the most recently closed year, then the date can be MM.DD.2015 or a later date, but it cannot be MM.DD.2014.
  • Default Line: This field will populate all of the selected Site's assigned Lines and the selected value will serve as the default for the line items. To assign lines to the site, navigate to Sales Order→Sites and select the Site ID hyperlink to open the Site record view and click the Lines tab. 
  • Default Shift: This field will populate all of the selected Site's assigned Shifts and the selected value will serve as the default for the line items. To assign shifts to the site, navigate to Sales Order→Sites and select the Site ID hyperlink to open the Site record view and click the Shifts tab. 
  • Default Work Order
  • Reference
  • Site: Select the Site at which the inventory was produced.
  • Status
    • New - This is the default.
    • Approved - Used when there is a two-step process for finalizing transactions. Setting the status to “Approved” disables all editable fields except Reference, Status, Default Line, Default Shift, and Default Work Order. 
    • Ready to Post - Used when the user is ready to post the transaction. Setting the status to “Ready to Post” disables all editable fields except Reference, Default Line, Default Shift, and Default Work Order.

Note: Status can also be updated from the transactions List View via the Mass Update toolbar icon.

Adding line items

By default, new Inventory Production transactions open twenty blank line items for data entry. Complete the data entry by adding one line for each adjustment.

To view the description of each of the Production line item fields, click here.

  • Item: Description: Select the item that was produced. Selecting the item will default the Units UOM according to the item's default Inventory Units UOM found on the Item record and it will default the Weight UOM according to the item's default Inventory Weight UOM. If the selected item is not lot tracked, the Production Lot and Owner fields will become disabled. If the item is not managed by units, the Units and Units UOM fields will become disabled. If the item is not managed by weight, the Weight and Weight UOM fields will become disabled. 
  • Line Type: Select either Primary or By-Product  for the line type. The field defaults to Primary.
  • Lot Tracked: Displays if the item is Lot Tracked or not. This field is not editable.
  • Production Batch: Enter the Production Batch to which the selected item belongs.
  • Units: Enter the number of units produced of the item. This value can be either positive or negative. 
  • Units UOM
  • Warehouse Lot: Enter the Warehouse Lot to which the item belongs. This field will be enabled only if the Site is Warehouse Lot Tracked. 
  • Weight: Enter the weight produced of the item. This value can be either positive or negative. 
  • Weight UOM
  • Work Order

Note: The Units and Weight values must either both be positive or both be negative for each individual item. 

Note: The Production Batch and the Warehouse Lot information doesn't need to be manually entered, if Allocate Item feature is used. The Warehouse Lot field is only required when the site is Warehouse Lot tracked.


Finding Lots

To allocate items to the inventory transaction, click the Find Lots grid toolbar icon. This will open the Find Inventory Lots window with the following header fields:

 Allocate From: The site used for allocation. This defaults to the site selected on the transaction record and the field cannot be edited.

Transaction Lines: Displays how many lots have been allocated for this transaction.

The find lots window displays all products and lots for the selected site. The Search toolbar can be used to search lots. The lots can be searched by:

  • Item ID
  • Item Description
  • Production Batch ID
  • Warehouse Lot

Lots can be also searched by multiple search criteria like ‘Item ID & Production Batch ID’ or ‘Item Description & Production Batch ID & Warehouse Lot’. The search can be executed by hitting enter key or clicking the search icon and the search results are displayed in the grid below.

The grid default view includes the following columns:

  • Item ID
  • On Hand Units
  • On Hand Weight
  • Available Units
  • Available Weight
  • Batch Date
  • Production Batch
  • Warehouse Lot
  • Item Description
  • Received Date
  • Certificates

To allocate the units on the transaction, enter the appropriate quantity of units and/or weight to the Units / Weight fields. Allocation can be done using Units and/or Weight depending on the item configuration. Items that are managed by units only, have only the Units field editable. Items that are managed by Weight only, have only the Weight field editable. If the item is set to variable weight, both Units and Weight fields can be edited. Items that are not variable weight will automatically update Units or Weight column when a value has been entered to one of the fields.

Note: If more than one item is being allocated, click save after each allocation and verify that the Transaction Lines field is updated accordingly.

Once allocations are complete, click the Save toolbar icon and close the Allocate Item window or simply click Save & Close. The Production Batch and the Warehouse Lot (if the site is lot tracked) are now populated based on the information entered on the Find Lots window.

The Available Units of the Lot Balance is updated when the Allocation has been completed and the Record is Saved. Once the Record is Posted, the On-Hand Units of the Lot Balance is updated.

Editing Properties (Optional)

The Properties tab includes transaction settings and informational fields.

  • Auto-Create New Lots: This field identifies if new lots can be created on the transaction or not. The value defaults from the transaction class properties, but the value is editable.   
  • Negative Available Balances: This field identifies if the transaction can change the lot balances to negative or not. The value defaults from the transaction class properties, but the value is editable when the transaction status is New.  Note: If Sales Order allocation preferences are set to either “Available Only” or “Available and On Hand” and a Sales order has been allocated prior to a user updating the Inventory “Negative Available Balances”property, it is possible to draw the lots negative.
  • Auto-Create New Lots - Inputs: This field identifies if new lots can be created on the transaction or not. The value defaults from the transaction class properties, but the value is editable.  
  • Negative Available Balances – Inputs: This field identifies if the transaction can change the lot balances to negative or not. The value defaults from the transaction class properties, but the value is editable when the transaction status is New.  Note: If Sales Order allocation preferences are set to either “Available Only” or “Available and On Hand” and a Sales order has been allocated prior to a user updating the Inventory “Negative Available Balances”property, it is possible to draw the lots negative.
  • GL Date: This field defaults to the transaction date, but can be edited. The GL Date must be the same as the transaction date or a later date and the date must reside within an open fiscal period.
  • Created by: This field displays the name of the user who created the transaction. This field is for informational use only and cannot be edited.
  • Created Date: This field displays the date when the transaction was created. This field is for informational use only and cannot be edited.
  • Last User: This field displays the name of the user who updated the transaction the most recently. This field is for informational use only and cannot be edited.
  • Last Updated: This field displays the date when the transaction was updated the most recently. The field is for informational use only and cannot be edited.

Assigning the Attributes (Optional)

The Attributes tab on the Production transaction will include all user-defined Attributes assigned to the Inventory - Production transaction.   Attribute values are editable for all transaction statuses.

To setup Attributes for the Production transaction, navigate to Company→Attributes→Inventory→Transactions→Inventory - Production.

Saving the transaction

Saving the Production transaction as New will create lots for items that are not assigned to an existing lot and will update the available lot balances of items assigned to existing lots.

Note: A message will be displayed to the user if lot balances are negative and a new transaction is created which would impact those balances positively, however the overall balances would still be negative.  For example, if the lot balance is -10 Cases and a Production transaction adds 5 Cases, the overall lot balance would still be negative.  The following options are possible workarounds: 

  •  Change the Production transaction's "Negative Available Balances" property to "Allowed"
  •  Change the Production transaction to result in a zero or greater inventory balance.
  •  Use Cycle Count feature to change inventory balance to zero or greater.

Step 2: Finalizing the transaction in NorthScope.

Changes can be made to a transaction until it is finalized. To finalize a transaction, the user will need to change the status to “Ready to Post”.  In some companies, posting is a two-step process where transaction(s) are “Approved” by one person and posted by another. 

Approving the transaction

This step is optional and is used for companies that require a two-step process where there the person who approves the transaction cannot be the same person that posts the transaction.

To approve a transaction open it from the list view, change the status to “Approved”, and click the “Save” icon on the header toolbar. In addition to the validations performed each time the “Save” icon is clicked, there are additional validations that are performed:

  • Ensures there is at least one valid line item on the transaction
  • Ensures the GL Date resides within a valid fiscal period as determined by the host system. 
  • Ensures the required Attributes have been entered. 

Once the status has been successfully updated to “Approved”, all the editable fields, with the exception of Status, Reference, Default Line, Default Shift, and Default Work Order will be disabled.

Finalizing the transaction

When the transaction is ready to be finalized, the user must open it and change the status to “Ready to Post” and save the transaction. Setting the adjustment to “Ready to Post” does the following:

  • Validates the same conditions as the approval status and locks down all editable fields other than Reference, Default Line, Default Shift, and Default Work Order but including status.
  • Sends the transaction to the host system as an Inventory Adjustment
  • Updates the item on-hand lot balance(s)

Note: When the transaction has been saved as Ready to Post, the status is automatically updated to Posted, which will then remove the transaction from the IM Transactions List View. These transactions can be viewed on Transaction History inquiries.

Step 3: Posting the transaction in the host system.

For every Inventory Production transaction in NorthScope, an Inventory Adjustment transaction will be made in the host system if the Company Integration Setup for 'IM Transactions' is set to Timed or Immediate. The transaction will appear in the host system's Inventory module as a Transaction Entry in the batch titled NS followed by the year, month, and day with the following format: NS: YY_MM_DD. For example, if the Receipt was integrated on July 14, 2015, the Batch ID for the transaction entry would be NS: 15_07_14. 

The values that will be sent to the host system include the following:

  • Transaction Number
  • Date
  • Site
  • Item: Description
  • UOM
  • Units/Weight

Once the user verifies all fields are correct, the user can post the batch in the host system. 

Note: Although this step is required, it does not need to be done for each transaction. Posting can be done nightly or as needed.

If the Integration Setup for IM Transactions is set to None, the transaction status is set to posted after the transaction is saved as Ready to Post.