Using Item Substitution on Sales Orders
When creating sales orders, the feature checks the values you enter in the following fields on item records set up with substitute items. The values determine whether or not you can use item substitution.
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Item
The system checks if it is a supported item type and that there are no quantities already picked, packed, and shipped, or billed against it.
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Quantity
The system checks if the specified quantity is on-hand.
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Location
The system checks if the specified quantity is available in the selected location.
When entering sales orders, you have to click the Item Substitution column for the line-item to show an icon that indicates the current inventory condition.
The feature uses two icons that describe the conditions about the inventory for a line-item on the sales order record.
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Alert icon
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Transposition icon
The Alert icon indicates that there is not enough stock for the line-item. Refer to the procedure below to use a substitute item.
The Transposition icon indicates that there is enough stock for the line-item. However, you may still opt to use item substitution at your discretion. For example, the current quantity on-hand is enough to meet the current order but it is nearing depletion. You know you have some other orders in the queue that need the item. After fulfilling the current sales order, you may not have enough for the others.
To substitute items during sales order entry:
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Click the Item Substitution column for the line-item.
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Click the item substitution icon for the line-item.
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In the Item Substitution pop-up window:
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Under Primary Information, view the original item details. The values are read-only.
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View the list of substitute items. The list includes on-hand inventory values across available locations where the quantity available is greater than zero.
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Check the Select box for the substitute item you want to use.
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Click Submit.
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When you have completed the sales order, click Save.
Original Items in Item Substitution
When substituting items, limitations might require the user to select another substitute for a substitute item. For instance, Item A is substituted by Item B. During the sales process it turns out that Item B cannot meet the quantity requirement after all, and is replaced by Item C.
To allow you to keep track of original items and their substitutes, the original item is retained on the sales order record under the Original Item column.