Managing Customers Using Restricted Selling Groups

Items with Inventory Categories, Sub-Categories, and/or Item Search 1-5 fields marked true for "Restricted" are not available for sale unless specifically designated. The Restricted Selling tab allows items with restricted Categories/Sub-Categories/Item Search 1-5 fields to be assigned to a Customer, making them available for sale to that Company. The reasons items might be restricted vary, but there are three basic scenarios:

  1. Items are not ready for sale and set as restricted for all customers.
  2. Items are ready for sale, but only when selling them from a specific facility. In this case, the appropriate facility(s) must be contain the restricted item categories or sub categories
  3. Items are ready for sale, but only to a select set of customers. In this case, the customer records in DEACOM must contain the restricted item categories or sub categories.

Selling restrictions may be implemented in several places, including:

  • Inventory Categories, Sub-Categories, and Item Search 1-5 fields which are assigned to Items when they are created in Item Master.
  • Individual items or groups of items may be assigned to Part Exclusion Groups which are used to prevent which items may be sold from certain Facilities or to certain Customers.
    • The use of Part Exclusions is optional.
    • Part Exclusions set at the Facility level take precedence over those set at the customer level.
    • Part Exclusions only restrict the sale of items and not the manufacture and purchase of items.
  • Restricted Selling Groups, which may be added on the Restricted Selling tab, allow users to create one group containing multiple Category, Sub-Category, and Part Exclusion restrictions.
    • The use of groups allows users to expedite the setup of restricted selling assignments as well as providing users with an option to group restrictions based on factors, such as state or region.
    • Users with the security setting "Sales Orders -- override restricted selling" set to "Yes" are able to override Restricted Selling restrictions.
    • If a selling restriction is overridden, the name of the user and time the user performed the override will be displayed in the "Override User" and "Override Date" fields on the General 1 tab of the Sales Order Line form.

During Sales Order entry the system will check if the selected Facility or Customer records contain Restricted Selling Categories, Sub-Categories, and/or Item Search 1-5 fields. In this case, the Facility, and Customers containing these restricted selling groups may select and sell (1) only the items in the restricted group and (2) any items that are not restricted, unless they have the "Sales orders - override restricted selling" security set to "Yes". In this case, users will be able to select and sell any saleable part, regardless of it they are restricted.

If the Restricted Selling Group contains a Part Exclusion, those items will not be visible for selection unless the user has specific security to view them. Additional information is available in the "Using Restricted Selling Groups versus Part Exclusions" section below.

Note that beginning in version 16.03.02, Restricted Selling Groups set on Ship-To customer records are not applied when creating sales orders with an order type of "Pricing Order - Bill-To" or "Pricing Order - Billing Group." This was added to support situations where Bill-To customer records contain multiple Ship-To customers, each with different Restricted Selling Groups, but all Ship-To customers receive the same pricing. Restricted Selling Groups set on Bill-To customers will still be applied when creating pricing orders.

Configuration

The necessary configuration is covered in the sections below.

Process

  1. To add restricted selling conditions on a Customer record, follow the steps below.
  2. Navigate to Sales > Customers.
  3. Select an appropriate choice in the "Report Type" field and click "View" to run the report.
  4. Select the appropriate record and click either the "Modify Bill-to" or "Modify Ship-to" button depending on which type of record is being modified.
  5. Navigate to the Restricted Selling tab.
  6. Click the "Add" button to display the Select Restricted Category form.
  7. Select the appropriate values on the form.
  8. Once all information has been entered, click the "Save" and "Exit" buttons to complete the process.

Using Restricted Selling Groups versus Part Exclusions

Part Exclusions is a separate feature in DEACOM but in some cases may be used in connection with restricted selling to satisfy specific needs. Part exclusions are also used to prevent which items may be sold from certain facilities or to certain ship to customers. Part exclusions should not be assigned at the bill-to level. Part exclusions are different from restricted selling in two different ways:

  • Excluded items are not visible in the search boxes throughout the system, unless users have the "Sales orders - override restricted selling" security set to "Yes". In this case, the user will be permitted to select an excluded part for the ship-to customer or facility indicated on the order. Once the excluded item is selected, the system displays a prompt indicating that the part belongs to an exclusion and asks the user to confirm they want to proceed.
  • There is an exclusion hierarchy. Exclusions may be assigned to facilities and ship-to customers. Part exclusions set at the facility level take precedence over those set at the customer ship-to level.

Enabling Part Exclusions In DEACOM

The process of creating and enabling part exclusions involves three separate steps as indicated in the sections below.

Creating A Part Exclusion Group

  1. Navigate to Inventory > Maintenance > Part Exclusions.
  2. Click the "Add" button to display the "Part Exclusions" form.
  3. Click the "Add New" button to display the "Edit Part Exclusion" form.
  4. Enter the name of the exclusion group and ensure the "Active" box is checked.
  5. When finished, click the "Save" button.

Assigning Items To A Part Exclusion Group

  1. Navigate to Inventory > Item Master.
  2. Use the pre-filter to select the items that will be included in the exclusion group.
  3. Select the first item from the list and click the "Modify" button to display the "Edit Item Master" form.
  4. Click the "Part Exclusions" tab.
  5. Click the "Add" button and select the part exclusion group that was created previously.
  6. When finished save your changes and exit the "Edit Item Master" form.
  7. If additional items will be added to the part exclusion group, repeat steps 1-6.

Assigning Facilities And Customers To Part Exclusion Groups

  1. Navigate to Inventory > Inventory Reporting > Facilities if restricting by facility or Sales > Customers if restricting by customer.
  2. Select the appropriate facility, or ship-to record.
  3. Click the "Modify" or "Modify Ship to" button.
  4. Click the "Restricted Selling" tab.
  5. Click the "Add" button to display the "Select Restricted Category" form.
  6. Click the search box in the "Part Exclusion" field to display the "Select an Exclusion" form.
  7. Select the appropriate exclusion group.
  8. Click the "Save" and "Exit" buttons to close the "Select Restricted Category" form.
  9. Next, click the "Save" and "Exit" buttons to close the appropriate facility, or ship-to form.
  10. If additional facilities or customers will be assigned to a part exclusion group, repeat steps 1-9. Customers and facilities may contain multiple part exclusion groups if necessary.

Restricting The Sale Of Parts To Time Intervals And Amounts

Users may define time intervals and amounts to further restrict the selling of certain items to certain customers. A typical example is prescription refills. The process is detailed below.

Note: The security setting “Sales Orders – Override Restricted Selling” will need to be turned off for the appropriate users in order to make sure restrictions will take effect.

Defining the Restricted Selling Type

  1. Navigate to Sales > Maintenance > Restricted Selling Types.
  2. Click the "Add" button to display the Edit Restricted Selling Types form.
  3. Enter an appropriate name and make sure the "Active" checkbox is checked.
  4. Click the "Save" button when done.
  5. Repeat steps 2-5 for additional Restricted Selling Types.

Creating Time Intervals And Amounts

  1. Navigate to Sales > Maintenance > Restricted Selling Groups.
  2. Click the “Add” button to display the Edit Restricted Selling Group form.
  3. Enter a name for the group and ensure the “Active” checkbox is clicked.
  4. Enter a start and end date.
  5. On the General tab enter an Interval in days and an appropriate Amount.
  6. Next, add an appropriate Unit and Date Based On value.
  7. Click the Restricted Selling tab.
  8. Click the “Add” button to display the Select Restricted Category form.
  9. Enter a Restricted Selling Type.
  10. Enter an appropriate minimum and maximum. These represent restriction attributes for the Restricted Selling Type. See the Restricted Selling Tab section for complete information.
  11. Click the “Save” and “Exit” buttons to return to the Edit Restricted Selling Group form.
  12. Save and exit the Restricted Selling Group form. An example of a typical setup is provided below.

Example of Intervals/Amounts:

Customer has a Restricted Selling Group with Start Date: 01/01/2018, Interval = 30, Amount = 60, Unit: Grams, End Date: 12/31/2018, Date Based On: Created

Sales order is entered with an ordered date (to_orddate) of 01/15/2018 for a quantity of 20 grams. The system will check to see whether the customer has ordered more than their amount (60) in grams within the interval of 30 days based on the start date of 01/01/2018.

The interval is 01/01/2018 - 01/31/2018 so if they have ordered more than 60 grams within this date range, the system will prompt the user, "This customer cannot order more than their prescribed amount." and will not allow the sales order to be saved.

Linking Intervals And Amounts To Parts

  1. Navigate to Inventory > Item Master.
  2. Select the appropriate part.
  3. Click the “Modify” button.
  4. Click the Restrictions/Exclusions tab.
  5. In the Restrictions portion of the form, click the “Add” button to display the Add Restriction form.
  6. Enter the Restricted Selling Type, as well as appropriate minimum and maximums. Note: The minimum/maximum range in the Restricted Selling Group definition must span the range on the part. See the Restricted Selling Tab section for complete information.
  7. Click the “Save” and “Exit” buttons to commit changes and close the Add Restrictions form.
  8. By adding this restriction, the part will no longer display for selection on sales order entry for any Ship-To Customer unless the appropriate Ship-Tos are assigned to the appropriate Restricted Selling Group containing the appropriate Restricted Selling Type.
  9. Save and Exit the item master record.

Assigning Ship-Tos to Restricted Selling Groups

  1. Navigate to Sales > Customers.
  2. Change the “Report Type” field to “Ship-To Company.”
  3. Select or search for the appropriate Ship-To Company and click “Modify” to display the Edit Ship-To Company form.
  4. Click the Restricted Selling tab.
  5. Click the “Add” button to display the “Select Restricted Category” form.
  6. Click in the “Restricted Selling Group” field and select the appropriate group.
  7. Click the “Save” and “Exit” button to close the form.
  8. Save and Exit the Ship-To record.

Repeat the process to set up additional sales restrictions.