Most clients who use Vision Commerce also use the automated Vision Commerce Warehouse Service which is configured to accept files sent from the Warehouse and imports them into Vision Commerce.
Overview:
Sales Orders, Purchase Orders and Product Code files are sent from Vision Commerce to your Warehouse.
Your Warehouse receives these files and automatically creates Sales and Purchase Orders and Product codes.
The automation saves time and improves accuracy by removing spelling and typing errors.
Order Picking Confirmation, Goods Received Confirmations and Stock Snapshots are received back from the Warehouse on an Hourly, Daily, Monthly or Annual basis.
These files are picked up and processed automatically by the Vision Commerce Warehouse Service which then updates your Sales and Purchase Orders.
Stock Snapshots are used to compare your Warehouses stock records with your Vision Commerce records reporting any differences between the two.
The Automated Process:
Incoming files (from your Warehouse)
Files are sent via email from your Warehouse to a standard POP3 mailbox set up specifically for this use.
The frequency that these files are sent over (real-time, hourly, daily, monthly, annually or manually) depends on your Warehouse.
You will need to discuss this directly with your Warehouse.
Commerce checks the mailbox on a periodic basis (normally 15mins) and drops any attachments it finds on the emails in to the Vision Warehouse Service Inwards folder.
At a period set in the Configuration tab on the Document Management screen, the Inwards folder will be scanned and any files present will be picked up to be imported.
All incoming files must be the correct format and must be of an .xml file type.
Any non xml files will be rejected immediately without any further checks.
Any .xml files that do not pass the validation checks will fail and be moved to one of the failed folders.
You can check the Audit Log tab within the Document Management screen for details of processed files. This will give details on if the file passed validation or not. If they failed will give the reason why it failed.
If you are missing all or some files you will need to check the following:
Did your Warehouse send the files?
Check with them.
If there were no Goods Received or no Sales Orders processed at your Warehouse then you will not receive these files.
Stock Snapshots are sent each time they are scheduled regardless of any stock transactions.
If you have these turned on you should receive them as per the schedule set by your Warehouse (normally daily).
Once you have checked the above reasons, check the Audit Log for any errors.
If you find errors and do not understand them or find no errors but still haven't received the files please contact the Vision Support Team by raising a ticket in the Ontech Customer Support Portal. (https://visionsoftware.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/1/user/login?)
Outgoing files (to your Warehouse)
As soon as a Sales Order is ready to be submitted to your Warehouse (normally after goods are allocated) or Purchase Order saved successfully, you can submit them to the Warehouse.
See the Warehouse - Submissions page for more details.
The files can contain single Sales Orders or Purchase Orders or many of each type.
The Warehouse will receive these files and import them into their system.
This process is extremely quick and accurate and avoids typos and mistakes that are often made by human operators on complicated orders.
Checks made after the process has been run:
Goods Received File:
The report will indicate any orders that could not be processed automatically by Vision Commerce. Normally for the following reasons:
Differences within the file from your original Purchase Order.
This could be changes made to your Purchase Order in Commerce after the file was submitted.
The Warehouse made changes that were not made on your Purchase Order in Commerce.
The Purchase Order has already been receipted manually within Vision Commerce.
This sometimes happens when a Purchase Order needs to be receipted urgently so that a Sales Order can be raised.
Providing the Purchase Order was receipted correctly (matches with the Warehouse file) then there is nothing further to do.
Returns: To correct this (depending on the circumstances) you would raise a credit against original goods, then raise a new Purchase Order or Ajust the stocks.
If goods have been re-landed you may need to use Rotation Maintenance (see the Rotation Maintenance page for more details).
If the Purchase Order Number in the file does not exactly match a Purchase Order Number in Vision Commerce the Purchase Order will not be updated.
Orders Processed File:
The report will indicate orders which cannot be automatically confirmed delivered by Vision Commerce. Normally for the following reasons:
Difference on the file from your original Sales Order.
This could be changes made to your Sales Order after the file was submitted.
The Warehouse made changes that are not made on your Sales Order in Commerce.
The Sales Order was already marked as delivered manually in Commerce.
This sometimes happens when a Sales Order needs to be marked as delivered urgently so a Sales Invoice can be raised.
Providing the Sales was marked delivered correctly (matches with the Warehouse file) then there is nothing further to do.
The rotations entered on the original Sales Order do not match those used by the Warehouse (and therefore appear on the file).
To correct this issue you may need to adjust the details of the stocks within the Rotation Maintenance screen (see the Rotation Maintenance page for more details).
If the Sales Order number in the file does not exactly match a Sales Order number in Vision Commerce the Sales Order will not be updated.
Receipting Purchase Orders and Delivering Sales Orders manually:
There may be times where you need to manually receipt a Purchase Order or manually deliver a Sales Order.
If you do need to do so, make sure you accurately include the following information:
Rotation numbers used by the Warehouse (if you haven't got the file to check you will need to get the details from the Warehouse).
Quantities are correct.
If you are in any doubt about whether you should be processing these manually or are not sure about the details, please contact the Vision Support Team first, by raising a ticket in the Ontech Customer Support Portal. (https://visionsoftware.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/1/user/login?)
See the Receipting Purchase Orders (Stock & EP) page for more details on the manual Receipting process.
The Stock Snapshot:
A Stock Snapshot file is generated by your Warehouse of the stocks they have in their system (product codes, rotations numbers and stock levels).
The file is normally produced overnight and sent out early in the morning.
As you process Sales Orders and Purchase Orders in Commerce during the day your system will differ from the last snapshot.
To ensure the results are accurate after you have processed Orders you will need to request a new snapshot is generated and sent over from your Warehouse or wait until the next morning for the file to be sent over as normal.
Stock Reconciliation - Common Problems
The following is a list of issues you might encounter and what may have caused it:
Stock Level Discrepancy
You and the warehouse have different stock levels, depending on whether you have more or you have less than the warehouse will depend on how you investigate this.
If you have more stock then an order has not been confirmed delivered.
The warehouse have made an adjustment to stock, such as a stock loss.
Have you made an adjustment?
Was it correct?
Timing issues sometimes cause this to be a problem.
Finally compare stock movements with the warehouse.
If you have less stock.
You have confirmed a delivery when the warehouse have not dispatched it.
This is quite dangerous as the warehouse could use different rotations and then you would have to perform adjustments.
You have made an adjustment which the warehouse have not.
Check the original receipt quantity if it agrees then check the stock movements with the warehouse.
Rotation/Product not found at Warehouse
You have a rotation on VC which the warehouse do not have.
You landed stock before the warehouse receipted it on their system.
Check the receipt date of the stock.
The stock has exhausted and you have not confirmed all deliveries or there was a stock loss.
Check and compare the stock movements.
Unknown Product Code
The warehouse have a product code that you do not have.
Check the product at the warehouse.
Investigate why the stock managed to arrive and you had no product code setup as no code means no purchase order.
Unknown Rotation Number
The warehouse have a rotation number that you do not have.
Usually means stock has landed and not received on system.
Very common for re-landing and Returns to be missed on receipting.
It is Very Important as this stock is Duty Paid and it will be used on the first available orders.