Shipping and Receiving Inter-Company Transfers

The shipping and receiving of Inter-Company Transfers allows materials to be transferred from one Facility to another, within the same company. The use of an Inter-Company Transfer also allows paperwork like pick lists and Bills of Lading to be printed, and can account for material currently in transit, or material lost in transit.

Configuration

The following steps are required prior to using Inter-Company Transfer orders in DEACOM.

Inter-Company Transfer orders require at least two Facilities to be identified during order entry, the sending Facility and the transfer Facility. There are no setup steps required for sending Facilities. However, for the transfer (receiving) Facility, the “Allow inter-co transfers to this facility” box must be checked on the Sales tab of the Facility record.
The appropriate Ship-to records must be modified to include a transfer Facility in the "Transfer Facility" on the "Order Defaults" tab. During order entry, the system checks this "Transfer Facility" field. If a Facility is found here, the system automatically changes the order type to Inter-Company Transfer. The Facility indicated in the "Facility" field and the Facility indicated in the "Transfer Facility" field cannot be the same.
There are two required accounts that must be entered on the Accounts Receivable tab via Accounting > Options. The "In-Transit" account is the asset account to be charged during the time when materials are in transit from one Facility to another via an Inter-Company Transfer type of Sales Order. The "Transfer Variance" account is an expense account that will be charged when the receiving Facility receives a quantity different that the quantity shipped. (Accounting note - Upon receipt, the full cost of shipped material leaves the "In-Transit" account, the cost of received material enters the receiving Facility’s inventory account, and the difference is charged to the "Transfer Variance" account.
The "Transfer Variance" account on the "Accounts" tab for those item's that will be used on Inter-Company Transfer orders must be populated even if variances will not occur or are not anticipated. When new items are created, the default value for this account is provided by the "Transfer Variance" account in the Accounting > Options > Accounts Receivable tab.
Inter-Company Transfer orders with the above requirement must be created prior to shipping and receiving. See the Entering Sales Orders page for details on this process.
Change ICT Facility Security (Optional) - Beginning in version 17.00.033, anew security setting, "Sales orders -- change facility on ICT", has been added. If set to Yes, this security allows users to change the Facility on the sales order header, even if that user is otherwise restricted via User Restrictions. When upgrading to version 17.00.033, this security is defaulted to "No", for all users.

Process

Shipping Inter-Company Transfers

The shipping of Inter-Company Transfers is the same process as shipping any normal Sales Order. See OutBound Inventory for details on the process.

Receiving Inter-Company Transfers

Navigate to Sales > Receive In-Transit.
Fill in the desired fields on the Receive In-Transit pre filter. Users have the option to select a specific sales order, Bill-to company or transfer Facility.
Click the "Show Orders" button to display the list of In-Transit orders.
Users may click the "View Detail" button to display additional information for the selected order.
Select an order and click the "Continue" button.
The system will display the Receive In-Transit form. Only one order may be received at a time.
On the Receive In-Transit form users have the option to modify the amount to be received, the location where received materials will be placed, and to print any associated order documents. If these actions are necessary they may be performed at this time.
If no modifications are necessary, click the "Receive Order" button.
If modifications are necessary, select the line, and then click the "Modify" button.
Once any modifications have been completed users may click the "Save" and "Exit" buttons on the Edit Quantity form to return to the Receive In-Transit form.
Click the "Receive Order" button to complete the process.
Once an order has been received the Receive In-Transit form will automatically close and users will be returned to the "In-Transit Orders to Receive" list.

Notes:

When receiving parts with a serial number or container number on Inter-Company Transfers in the WMS application, the system will display the "Serial" field, which displays information on the number of serialized parts to be received. Refer to Utilizing Serialization for more information on the option.
If the “Automatically Receive ICT” flag is checked on the General tab of the receiving Facility record, the system will automatically receive the order. This supports situations in which material needs to be put away in defined locations when receiving. The system checks the Item Master's Facility record to find a Location to set. If the item does not have a Location record for the Transfer Facility, the system will check the "Default Location" on the Item Master. If this fails, the fallback is the default Location for the default Location Type of that Facility. A prompt will be displayed if the user checks the “Automatically Receive ICT” flag but there is incorrect setup.
When un-receiving an ICT, the following occurs: The original transfer received Lot gets zeroed out as of the original received date, a negative quantity Lot is inserted into dtfifo for each original shipped Lot with the original shipped Lot info as of the original shipped date. These negative quantity Lots are then immediately zeroed out as of the original received date and a new Lot record with a positive quantity of the original shipped Lot is inserted as of the original shipped date.
When receiving an Inter-Company Transfer with multiple master lots that contain the same system lot, the system maintains the separation and receives as many master lots as were initially shipped on the Inter-Company Transfer, regardless of whether the system lot is the same.

Managing material lost in-transit

There are two different methods that may be used to account for material lost in transit on in-transit orders. Both methods involve a two step process. First, to get the inventory back into stock and second, to perform an adjustment transaction to remove the inventory from stock.

The two methods are described below.

Un-ship the in-transit order and adjust the parts out of stock from the shipping facility. Next, cancel the in-transit Sales Order.
Receive the in-transit order and then adjust the parts out of stock at the receiving Facility.

Which method is chosen usually depends on which Facility the Accounting department wants the value of the inventory charged to and whether there is a freight claim involved.

Reserving ad hoc/custom items

Users can reserve and then ship arbitrary items via an Inter-Company transfer. This option can be used to move inventory from one Facility to another on an ad hoc basis rather than requiring the step of creating specific Inter-Company transfer orders for items and also allows the added items to be included on Bill of Lading documents.

This feature is only available in the WMS application prior to version 16.02.007 with access to the feature controlled by the "WMS -- Allow Customized Inter-company Transfer Reservations" security setting. Version 16.02.007 added the feature to the main application with the security setting "Sales -- Allow Customized Inter-company Transfer Reservations" controlling access to the feature in both the main and WMS applications.

This functionality has proven to be beneficial for customers that transfer materials between facilities. For instance, some customers move items to a dock after production and add them to an inter-company transfer for shipping without having to enter an order first. Shop floor employees can add pallet after pallet until the truck is full, without having to coordinate with another team doing order entry

The steps necessary to add and ship ad hoc items to Inter-Company Transfers are included in the sections below. Note that when performing this process, the system will add a new Sales Order line to the order when adding a custom part. Specifically, the system will check for any parts being reserved that do not already have a matching part on the Sales Order and adds a new line item to the order to represent that added part.

Reserving ad hoc/custom items in the main application

Create an Inter-Company Transfer in the main DEACOM application containing a non-stock part with a quantity of "1". This allows a generic Inter-Company transfer order to be setup and used in cases where ad hoc items will need to be shipped between Facilities.
Navigate to Inventory > Issue / Reserve.
Set the "Type" field to "Sale" and select the Inter-Company Transfer number from step 1. in the "Sales Order" field.
Click the "New Item" button to display the Edit Part form.
Select the Part Number to add as well as the To Issue quantity.
When finished save and exit the form.
The appropriate line will be added to the Inventory - Issue / Reserve form.
Complete the issue process as normal.
Once complete save and exit. The system will add a new line for the item to the order.
Users can verify that the item was added to the order by viewing the order in Sales > Order Reporting.
Ship the order as normal.

Reserving ad hoc/custom items in WMS

Create an Inter-Company transfer in the main DEACOM application with a part for a quantity of "1". This allows a generic Inter-Company transfer order to be setup and used in cases where ad hoc items will need to be shipped between Facilities.
Navigate to the Reserve SO transaction within the WMS application.
Scan or type in the Inter-Company transfer order number(s) from step 1.
The system will populate the "Part Number" field on the form with "custom part" and will display the Lots/Finder form.
Input a value in the "Part Number" field.
Select, then choose a lot.
The system will close the Lots/Finder form and return the user to the main Reserve SO form.
If additional customer items need to be added, users may select the custom part in the part number and continue with the process described above.
When all reserves have been made, save the Reserve SO form to complete the reserving process.
Ship the order as normal.

Users may print labels, via the "Print Labels" checkbox, when adding custom parts to an Inter-Company Transfer order in the WMS application.

Note: When scanning a GS1-128 barcode which indicates a quantity of "0", users have the ability to specify a quantity before completing the reserve process.

FAQs & Diagnostic Tips

What is wrong if we are getting insufficient inventory when trying to receive an Inter-company transfer?

Confirm using the "Inter-Company Transit" report via Inventory > Inventory Reporting that the inventory has not been moved to another location. The "View Lots" and "Move Inventory" buttons on the report can be used to first verify, and then move the lot to the original location.

I'm trying to receive an Inter-company transfer but the system isn't letting me. Why?

Items must have a "Transfer Variance" accounts set up on the "Accounts" tab on the Item Master. Even though a transfer variance account is set up in Accounting > Options > Accounts Receivable tab this is meant to be the default for new parts, not the account to which variances are posted if an account is not specified for individual items.

If many parts are missing a transfer variance account, please use the Price Updates function to add transfer variance accounts to your parts. Be sure to test this in your training environment first to make sure you are satisfied with the results.

Can the "Restrict Facility Entry" Item Master flag be used with Inter-company Transfer Orders?

Yes, when entering an Inter-Company Transfer order, if an item on the order has "Require Facility Entry" set to TRUE on the Item Master, the "Transfer Facility" on the Ship-To record is checked to ensure the material can be received into that facility. This is also checked when the Ship-To company is changed.

Are phantom parts displayed when receiving Inter-company Transfer Orders?

Yes, during receipt of an Inter-Company Transfer Order, the system contains logic to display any phantom part line items by their Bill of Material rather than by the kitted part. Refer to Using Kitted Parts for more information.

Tips:

Lots in the "Pending QC" status may be selected when shipping Inter-Company Transfer orders, both in the main application and via the WMS application. Users will be able to perform QC testing while lots are in transit and also when they have been received at the receiving Facility.
The "Sales Orders — Ship at-risk inventory” security setting does not affect the shipment of Inter-Company Transfers that contain at-risk inventory. At-risk inventory can always be shipped via Inter-Company Transfers.
The Sales tab on the Facility record contains a field, "Automatically Receive ICT". If checked, the system will check during shipping if an ICT and the Facility that is being transferred to has this automatic ICT receive flag checked. If so, the system will automatically receive the order. This supports situations in which material needs to be put away in defined locations when receiving. The logic checks for the item master's Facility to find a location to set. If this does not have the transfer Facility, the logic will check the default location on the item master. If this fails, the fall back is the default location for the default location type of that Facility. A prompt will be displayed to the user if the user checks the auto ICT flag but there is incorrect setup
User-entered shipping and reserve dates for Inter-Company Transfer orders are available for display in the "Transaction" report via Inventory > Inventory Reporting.
Users can navigate back and re select a custom part on the Customer Part screen in situations where a lot is invalid.
Lot Notes (fi_notes) will be retained when shipping and receiving an Inter-Company Transfer.