Managing Supply Requisitions
Archibus SaaS / Maintenance / Part Inventory
Maintenance / Corrective Maintenance / Inventory Manager
Maintenance / Preventive Maintenance / Background Data – Maintenance
Managing Supply Requisitions
An inventory manager, after reviewing your parts inventory, you might decide that certain parts that are available at one location are needed at another. Also, as a maintenance operations manager, you might see that parts that are available at another location are needed at your location. In these situations, you could initiate a parts transfer.
Often, a part transfer involves some transportation of the physical parts and some delay between the time that a part is taken from one location and delivered to another. Supply requisitions help you track the items by providing the part codes, quantities, locations, and status of the transfer.
When working from the Manage Parts Inventory task, you can create new supply requisitions. You can then manage those supply requisitions from:
- the Supply Requisitions tab of the Manage Parts Inventory task
- the Manage Supply Requisitions task, located at these paths:
- Maintenance / Corrective Maintenance / Inventory Manager / Manage Supply Requisitions
- Maintenance / Preventive Maintenance / Background Data – Maintenance / Manage Supply Requisitions
Supply requisition process
The process includes these steps:
- An inventory manager or local maintenance operations manager, after review, initiates a transfer of parts. See Creating a Supply Requisition for Transferring Parts.
- The manager exports the data to either PDF or DOCX. This document can be emailed to yourself, or printed out to send to the storage location that has the parts. See Exporting supply requisitions.
- The 'From' storage location prepares the parts for sending with the attached supply requisition, and hands the parts over to a courier.
- The 'From' storage location changes the status to In Transit, so that the information that the part is on its way is available to other users. See Editing Supply Requisition status, entering comments or adding a document.
- The 'To' storage location receives the parts. The storage manager for this location enters into the system whether the parts are received or in error, depending on whether or not the shipment has the correct parts. This enables the system to update the inventory for each part for the requisition, and to track the shipment as parts come in. See Editing supply requisition status entering comments or adding a document,
Supply requisitions are stored n the Supply Requisitions (supply_req) table. Each supply requisition can contain one or more Part Codes. Each Part Code that is being transferred will be tracked as a pending inventory transaction in the Inventory Transactions (IT) table. The Inventory Transaction (IT) records have the Transaction Type 'Transfer', and use a Requisition ID that is created by the system.
Exporting supply requisitions
Use the Export button to export the supply requisition to either DOCX or PDF. You can then save the file to your computer. The Export button is found at the top of the Supply Requisitions pane of the Manage Supply Requisitions task.
You can then email the document to yourself, or print it out to accompany the parts as they are shipped from one location to another.
How supply requisitions are tracked
To help you track the progress of the shipment, each supply requisition has a status. Each individual supply requisition item also has a status. The purpose of having two statuses is to account for situations where some items of a supply requisition may arrive at separate times, or may get lost or damaged during transit.
Requisition Status (that is the status of the supply requisition as a whole) is closely related with the Requisition Item Status (status of an item on the supply requisition) as follows:
- When you update the Requisition Status, each individual supply requisition item will also be given that status. For example, when you set the supply requisition status to be In Transit, all the corresponding items will also be set to In Transit.
- The Received or Partially Received Requisition Statuses are always set automatically by the system. As the inventory manager, you confirm each item separately. When you set the final supply requisition item to Received or Error, the system automatically sets the supply requisition status to be Received (when all items are received as expected) or Partially Received (when some items have errors.) This enables you to track each individual part separately, whether or not the items arrive together.
- Once a supply requisition has a status of Received or Partially Received, it cannot be edited. Likewise, once a supply requisition item’s status is set to Received or Error, it cannot be edited. Received transactions are considered “closed”, and they cannot be changed.
- When a supply requisition item is set to Received, the system calls the workflow rule that executes the transfer. This updates the part quantities in the Parts in Storage Locations (pt_store_loc_pt) and Parts Inventory (pt) tables, along with the Unit Cost - Average of the To Storage Location.
- The Error status also “closes” the transaction, however, no updates are made to the part quantity tables. If necessary, you can create a new manual inventory transaction to reflect the actual received item and quantity, outside of this supply requisition.
- As long as the Requisition Status is not Received or Partially Received, you can change the status to a prior status. For example, you could change the Requisition Status From 'In Transit' back to 'Ready for Transit' to enable the editing of the 'To Storage Location.'
Requisition and Requisition Item Statuses
To help you track transfers, the system uses the following statuses:
The following statuses apply to the supply requisition as a whole (Requisition Status):
- New – This is the default status. Represents a supply requisition that is newly created, but not yet ready for transit
- Ready for Transit – This indicates that the parts have been gathered at the originating storage location and are awaiting transit to the destination storage location. You set this status when parts are ready to be shipped.
- In Transit - This represents a supply requisition that has been collected from the originating storage location (by a courier, for example), but not yet received at the destination storage location.
- Received – This means the supply requisition items have been received at the destination storage location, and the local inventory manager has confirmed the contents of each item. This status can only be set automatically once all items are Received.
- Partially Received – This means at least one of the supply requisition items has a status of Error, and the rest are Received. This status can only be set automatically by the system once all items are set to either Received or Error.
-
Error - All of the supply requisition items have a status of Error. This status can only be set automatically once all items are set to Error.
The following statuses apply to items in a supply requisition (Requisition Item Status):
- New – This represents a supply requisition item that is newly created, but not yet ready for transit
- Ready for Transit – This represents a supply requisition item that is awaiting shipment. You set this status.
- In Transit – This represents a supply requisition item that has been shipped out, but not yet received. You set this status.
- Received - This represents a supply requisition item that has been received. You set this status once you have confirmed receipt of the item.
- Error - This represents a supply requisition item that was not received as expected, such as if parts were lost or damaged in transit, or the wrong part or quantity was received. You set this status after examining the shipment of the item. No inventory updates will be executed for this item. If necessary, you can create a new manual inventory transaction to reflect the actual received item and quantity, outside of this supply requisition.
Editing supply requisition item status and adding comments
When parts are received from another location, you can record the status of the items received. For example, a courier might deliver parts to a craftsperson's cart in response to a supply requisition requesting that the parts be transferred. By marking the parts as Received, the inventory is updated to reflect the transfer.
Once a supply requisition item’s status is set to Received or Error, it cannot be edited, as items with these statuses are considered to be closed. You can edit supply requisition items that have the status of New, In Transit, or Ready for Transit.
If you need to edit the From and To storage locations, you do this for the supply requisition as a whole, not for individual requisition items. See Editing supply requisitions.
To edit the status for supply requisition items:
- Select the Manage Supply Requisitions task.
- Use the Filter to locate the supply requisition for which you want to edit line items. Enter criteria and click Show.
The supply requisition and is shown in the pane below the Filter.
- Click a supply requisition to see its requisition items. in the pane below.
- To update the status, do one of the following:
- To change the status to Received without adding any comments, click Received in the row for the requisition item.
- To change the item to a status, such as Received, Error, On Transit, or Ready for Transit, or to add comments:
- Click the supply requisition item to edit it.
The Edit Supply Requisition Item form appears on the right. This form includes the Quantity Available field. When you save the edit form, the application compares the Transaction Quantity to the Quantity Available, and checks that the Quantity Available is equal to or more than the Transaction Quantity of the chosen part and location.
- Change the Requisition Item Status as follows:
Received to indicate that the correct part and quantity were received.
Error to indicate there was a problem with the transfer.
Note : No inventory updates will be executed for items marked as Error. If necessary, you can create a new manual inventory transaction to reflect the actual received item and quantity, outside of this supply requisition
In Transit. To indicate that the part is on its way. For example, that you have handed it over to a courier.
Ready for Transit. To indicate that the parts have been collected and are ready for shipment.
- Add Comments as needed; for example, to explain an error in transit.
- Click Save.
- The 'Updated by' field is filled in with the Employee Code of the current user. The Update Date / Time is populated with current values.
- The status of the item is set to the status you entered .
- The inventory is updated: The field Quantity Available (qty_available) is updated in both the Parts in Storage Locations (pt_store_loc_pt ) and the Parts Inventory (pt) table.
- The system updates the status of the Supply Requisition if all items in the supply requisition now have a status. See How Supply Requisitions are tracked.
- Click the supply requisition item to edit it.
If you have set the Requisition Item Status to Received, the system calls the workflow rule that executes the transfer and updates the inventory. See Calculations for Transfers.
The table below explains which fields are editable in the Edit panel for different statuses:
Supply Requisition Item Field |
Editable? |
---|---|
Requisition ID (supply_req.supply_req_id) | No – always read only |
Transaction Code (it.trans_id) | No – always read only |
Part Code (it.part_id) This field has a Select Value form that displays a list of part codes and quantities for the From Storage Location. It displays the following fields:
|
Only if status is New or Ready for Transit. |
Transaction Quantity (it.trans_quantity) |
Only if status is New or Ready for Transit. |
Requisition Item Status (it.req_item_status) |
Only if status is not Received or Error |
Date Received (it.trans_date) |
No – always read only This field (along with Transaction Time and Performed By) is automatically set in the Inventory Transaction records when you update the status to be Received |
Comments (it.comments) |
Only if status is not Received or Error |
Editing supply requisition status, entering comments, or adding a document
Once a supply requisition has a status of Received or Partially Received, it cannot be edited, as requisitions having these statuses are considered to be closed.
To edit supply requisitions:
- Select the Manage Supply Requisitions task.
- Use the Filter to locate the supply requisition you want to update. Enter search criteria and click Show.
- Click the requisition in the Supply Requisitions pane.
The supply requisition items are shown in the pane below. The supply requisition details are shown in the Edit Supply Requisition form on the right.
- Change the Requisition Status to Ready for Transit or In Transit. The other statuses are set by the system. See How supply requisitions are tracked. .
Note: It is possible to change a supply requisition status to a prior status (as long as the current status is not Received or Partially Received); for example, you could change the status from In Transit back to Ready for Transit . You might do this if you need to change a field that is not editable when the status is In Transit.
- Enter comments as needed.
- Upload a document to the Document field by clicking the arrow in the field and locating the document on your system.
- Click Save.
When you change the Status field for the requisition and then click Save, each individual supply requisition item will also be given that status if it is not already Received or Error.
Some fields cannot be edited, depending on the value of the Status field. For example, if a supply requisition status is In Transit, you cannot edit the From Storage Location or To Storage Location fields. However, if you have set the 'In Transit' status and the shipment has not yet left, you could change the status back to "ready for Transit' to make some changes to the requisition,
The table below explains which fields are editable in the Edit panel for different statuses:
Field |
Editable? |
---|---|
Requisition ID (supply_req.supply_req_id) |
No – always read only |
Requisition Status (supply_req.status) |
Only if the status does not equal Received or Partially Received |
From Storage Location (it.pt_store_loc_from) |
Only if status = New or Ready for Transit. NOTE – this change will affect all IT records for this supply requisition, that is the individual requisition items. |
To Storage Location (it.pt_store_loc_to) | Only if status = New or Ready for Transit
NOTE – this change will affect all IT records for this supply requisition, that is the individual requisition items. |
Date Created (supply_req.date_created) |
No – always read only This field (along with Time Created) is automatically set when the user initially creates the supply requisition |
Date Received (highest value of it.trans_date for the supply requisition items. Only display if supply_req.status = “Received” or “Partially Received”) |
No – always read only This field (along with Transaction Time and Performed By) is automatically set in the IT records when the user updates the supply requisition status to be Received |
Updated By (supply_req.last_updated_by) |
No – always read only This field is automatically set whenever a user makes a change to the supply requisition or supply requisition items. |
Comments (supply_req.comments) |
Only if the status is not Received or Partially Received |
Document (supply_req.doc) |
Only if status is not Received or Partially Received |