Selling Make to Order Items

Sales Engineering orders use Engineered Items to facilitate the import of both the Bills of Materials and associated labor costs for component parts commonly used in the construction industry such as wall panels, roofs, floors, and tanks. The process involves the creation of the Engineered Items and the importing of the engineering information into Sales Orders within DEACOM. Once Engineered Items are imported into the Sales Order, Header Jobs are created to handle the production of parts specified on the order. Note that SO Engineering orders cannot be shipped and are not subject to credit checking. Once the engineering work has been completed, users with access to modify Sales Orders can change the "Order type" field to "Sales Order" for production and shipping.

Make to Order refers to sales situations in which the production or fulfillment of parts begins once the customer has placed an order. Make to Order is used most often for low volume items or item that require a high degree of customization. In DEACOM, Production Jobs to fulfill Make to Order sales may be created once the Sales Order has been saved. There are two different options for the creation of Production Jobs in this case:

  • Sales Order Header Job - one Job will be created for the entire Sales Order. The Job created will only include those parts that are marked as both "Manufactured" and "Make To Order" on the Item Master Properties tab. Useful in situations where all manufactured parts will be finished at the same time and may be scheduled together.
  • Sales Order Line Job - individual Jobs will be created for each Sales Order line, if the part on the line is marked as both "Manufactured" and "Make To Order" on the Item Master Properties tab. Useful in situations where different manufactured parts may be finished at different times and require separate Jobs for scheduling purposes.

The flags that control the process are available when creating new Sales Orders within the system. The "Header Job" flag is located on the header portion of the Sales Order, on the Sales Order Entry form. The "Create Line Job" flag is located on the Edit Sales Order Line form, which is displayed once a user has clicked the "Add" or "Modify" button. These flags may be set to be checked by default in System > Options.

Once the Sales Order is saved, the system will create and display any Production Jobs that were created. The Job's Planned Start and Planned Finish date will be defaulted to the current date. Users may make any additional modifications as needed before closing the Job on screen. The system will maintain a link between the Sales Order and any Jobs that were created. The "Linked Jobs" button, available on the Sales Order header, may be used to display a list of Production Jobs associated with a Sales Order. If more than one Header Job is created, the Job Summary Report is displayed instead of each individual Job.

Configuration

The following items need to be setup prior to adding a new Sales Engineering Order:

  • Customer, Facility, Ship Via, Terms, and additional sales order processing items.
  • Engineered Items - see the "Creating an Engineering Item Master" section below for details.
  • Work Centers, Shop Areas, and Bill of Materials and additional production order processing items.
  • Subassemblies - Companies will need to consider checking the "Include Subassemblies in Header & Line Jobs" checkbox on the Item Master Properties tab if they wish to have Subassemblies automatically added when generating Header or Line Jobs.

Note: Beginning in version 16.04.036, the "Finish Linked Jobs To" field on Bill-To/Ship-To records allows users to have material finished on make to order jobs automatically finish to staging. This option allows users to perform a final staging transaction before the associated sales orders can be shipped. Additional details are available in the "Final Staging Inventory from Header/Line Jobs" section below.

Process

Creating an Engineering Item Master

The list below describes the steps necessary to create an engineering item master.

  1. Navigate to Inventory > Item Master.
  2. Click the "New Part" button.
  3. Enter a Part Number, Description, and Retail Code for the Engineering Item on the "General 1" tab of the Item Master record. Typically, Part Names for Engineered Items include "Roof Truss", "Wall Panel", and "Floor System".
    • Note: The "Retail Code" and the "Part Number" must match exactly for engineering items.
  4. Indicate a default Location and Location Type.
  5. Select an "Order Type" of Normal and an "Item Type" of Finished Goods or Component.
  6. Fill in all required fields, marked in blue, on the "General 1" tab. The unit of measure fields for Engineering Items are typically marked as "each". The "Item Type" is usually a Finished Good or Component. Note that the "Retail Code" and the Part Number must match exactly for Engineering Items.
  7. Click the Cost 2 tab and ensure there is no value in the "List Sales Price" field.
  8. Next, click the Properties tab and ensure the following boxes are checked: Active, Stocked, Saleable, Manufactured, Make to Order, and Backflush BOM at Job Finish. Additional property boxes are optional.
  9. When all changes have been made on the "Properties" tab click the Accounts tab and enter values in the following fields: Revenue, Purchase To, Inv. Adjustments, Std Inventory Gain/Loss, Job Finish Material, Job Finish Labor, and Job Finish Burden.
  10. Click "Save" and "Exit" on the Edit Item Master form to complete the process.

Importing an Engineering Item and Creating a Header Job

The list below describes the steps necessary to import an Engineering Item into a Sales Order.

  1. Navigate to Sales > Order Entry.
  2. Fill in all required fields, marked in blue, including the Select a Bill-To and Ship-To customer on the Sales Order header.
  3. Next, click the "Import" button to display the Import form.
  4. Select an import item from the pick list.
  5. Verify the folder or file path is correct.
  6. Once all information has been entered and verified click the "Import" button on the Import form.
  7. The system will present a form displaying the list of items from the engineering software package that are set to be imported.
  8. Ensure that the correct items are located in the "Items to Import" section of the form and click the "Continue" button. Note that the item name or number indicated in this window will be stored on the "User Part Number" field on the Sales Order line form.
  9. The system will import the items into the Sales Order, creating an individual order line for each part.
  10. Verify the information is correct and click the "Save" button on the Sales Order header table. If a separate Job is needed to satisfy this order, users may check the "Header Job" box and click the "Save" button to launch a production Job linked directly to this Sales Order.
    • Note: If inventory finished on the linked Job should not be automatically reserved to the Sales Order, users have the option to determine this on the sales order line. Prior to version 16.04/036, users can check the "Do Not Reserve on Linked Job Finish" flag on the Sales Order line to have lots finished to regular inventory instead of having the lots reserved to the sales order. Beginning in version 16.04.036, users have the option to finish lots on header/line jobs to inventory, staging, or reserved. Explanation of these different segments is available via the "View" field description on the Inventory Reporting page.
  11. Click the "Exit" button to close the Sales Order and complete the process.

Final Staging Inventory from Header/Line Jobs

The list below describes the steps to use if staging inventory finished on make to order jobs.

  1. Navigate to Sales > Order Entry.
  2. Select the appropriate Customers. Note that the default Ship-to Company and numerous other header fields will be automatically populated after selecting a Bill-to Company, but can be overridden by the user, as long as the required security permissions are set to Yes.
  3. Fill out or verify the necessary sales order header fields.
  4. Click the "Add" button to add a new line to the Sales Order.
  5. At a minimum, the user must specify the "Part Number" and "Quantity" being ordered for each Sales Order line. There are four fields which may be used to specify the Part Number: "Part Number", "Retail Code, "Customer Part Number", or "UPC Number".
  6. Next, ensure the "Finish Linked Jobs To" field is set to "Staging" for all appropriate order lines.
  7. Check "Create Line Job" for all appropriate order lines.
  8. Finish making any sales order modifications and save the sales order.
  9. The linked job will automatically open. Ensure all fields are correct on the job and that the job is set to "Active" before saving and closing the job form.
  10. Finish materials on the job from step 9. The finished material will automatically be placed into staging.
  11. Navigate to Inventory > Final Staging.
  12. Select Sales as the type.
  13. Select your sales order and appropriate part.
  14. Apply the staging. Your lots are now final staged.

Completing the Make to Order Process and Preparing the Sales Order for Shipping

Once the engineering work has been completed, users will perform the steps below to complete the Make to Order process.

  1. Navigate to Sales > Order Reporting.
  2. Enter the number for the SO Engineering order in the "Sales Order" field or select the "SO Engineering" option in the "Order Type" field.
  3. Enter additional selection criteria as necessary then click the "View" button.
  4. Select the appropriate order and click the "Modify" button to display the Sales Order Entry form.
  5. Change the "Order type" field to "Sales Order". This allows the order to be processed for shipping and invoicing.

Canceling Sales Orders containing Header or Line Jobs

In situations where a sales order must be canceled, the Sales Order Type may be set to "Canceled Order." The effect this has on any linked jobs depends on how far along the job is in process. The list below details the possible scenarios.

  • If no inventory has been issued to or finished on a linked job, the system will automatically cancel the job(s) when the sales order is canceled.
  • If inventory has been issued to or finished on a job, the system will display a prompt listing the linked job numbers indicating that inventory has been issued or finished against them and the jobs cannot be canceled. The jobs will be un-linked from the sales order and the sales order will be canceled.

FAQ & Diagnostic Tips

Tip: When adding engineered item fields(dteng fields) to reports, place a "cENG." prefix in front of the field(s) to have them print correctly on reports.

Tip: Dates and quantities on sales orders and linked jobs can be kept in sync via the "Synchronize New Order Dates To Existing Jobs" and "Synchronize Job Quantities To Linked Sales Orders" fields in Sales > Options.

Tip: Beginning in version 17.01.161, the system was enhanced to prevent additional job quantities from being added or produced when modifying a sales order linked to a closed job.