Utilizing Substitutes in Sales

Using Substitute Parts in Sales is useful as it allows users to manually determine that if one material is out, another similar material can be used in its place to fulfill the Sales Order.

Configuration

  • Several parts will have to be added to DEACOM in Inventory > Item Master.
  • To utilize Substitute Parts, companies will want to determine if the ability to substitute any part for any other part is a viable option. It is typical that users will specify certain parts to be substituted for another as to avoid manual error in assigning a substitute that is not appropriate.
  • Parts that have acceptable substitutes will need to have these listed on their Substitutes tab via Inventory > Item Master. For example, if beet sugar is an acceptable substitute for cane sugar, then the beet sugar part needs to be selected and added to the Substitutes tab for the cane sugar part.
  • Parts that have acceptable substitutes will also need to be sure their "No Substitutes Allowed" flag in unchecked on the Properties tab.

Note: Beginning in version 17.04 the system will automatically convert the requirement to the correct stock unit of the substitute part when using substitutions during issuing and staging in the main Deacom and WMS applications. (Transactions included: Main App: Issue/Reserve, Final Staging. WMS: Issue Job, Reserve SO, Final Staging SO, and Final Staging Job)

  • Configuration note. All substitute factors (su_factor) should be entered in the in terms of the stock unit of the original part.
  • This change simplifies inventory substitutions as companies will no longer have to change the UOM setup on Item Masters or adjust inventory to the correct stock unit in order to accommodate the previous substitutions limitations. In addition, users will no longer be prompted with "The original item and substituted item must be stocked in the same unit of measure" during issuing. Supports scenarios where companies need to stock substitutes in different units of measure than the original part. For catch weight items the system will use the value in the item unit weight (pr_unitwgt) in conversions of unit type.
  • Additional fields have been added to the Substitute Part form via Inventory > Item Master and Inventory > Bills of Materials to support more finite inventory substitutions rules.

Process

Adding a Substitution

To specify the Substitute parts:

  1. Navigate to Inventory > Item Master > select the Part Number and click "Modify."
  2. Navigate to the Substitutes tab. Click "Add" and select the Part that is allowed to be used for substitution. The "Factor" field allows for situations or possibilities of substitutions other than 1:1. For example, assume the company is out of cane sugar and can use beet sugar in its place, but beet sugar is not as sweet. They determine that 1.10 parts of beet sugar is equivalent to 1 part cane sugar. That means, in this example, the factor would be 1.10.

Substitute Parts are utilized on Sales Orders at the time of sales order reserving. On the Reserve form, users will notice when selecting individual materials that there is a Substitute Part section, which will allow users to draw from the list of Substitute Parts defined in the Item Master. In Classic versions, if no substitutions are defined on the Part's Substitutes tab and the "No Substitutes Allowed" flag is not checked, any item can be substituted for this Part. If no substitutions are defined on the Part’s Substitutes tab and the "No Substitutes Allowed" flag is not checked, no items will be able to be substituted for this Part. This is generally preferable to the Classic behavior, in that unrestricted substitutions allow low level production personnel the ability to substitute absolutely any item with no further approval required.

Using Substitutions

The sections below describes the steps necessary to use substitutions when reserving inventory on Sales Orders in DEACOM.

Single Substitution

  1. Navigate to Inventory > Issue/Reserve Inventory, change the "Type" field to read "Sale" or "Staging - Sale" and select the Sales Order number to which materials will be reserved. Users may also click on the "Reserve" button on the Sales Order order header during order entry or modification.
    1. Note: Substitutes may not be applied when automatically pre-staging inventory via Inventory > Pre-Staging.
  2. Locate the part to be substituted and click "Modify."
  3. The system will display the "Edit Part" form.
  4. Choose the Substitute Part from the pick list on the form. Reference the Edit Part form section on the Inventory > Issue/Reserve Inventory page for details on how substitute parts are displayed in the pick list.
  5. The "Required" field will be set to 0. This is normal when using Substitute Parts. In addition, the "To Issue" field will change according to the factor defined for the substitute on the Substitutes tab of the Item Master record. If the factor is set to "1", the "To Issue" quantity will be the same as the required quantity originally indicated on the Sales Order.
  6. Verify the information is correct and click "Save".
  7. The system will add the Substitute Part as a separate line and decrement the original line "To Issue" value to 0.
  8. Review the lot number column to see if any items indicate "Lot required". If yes, select these items, click on the "Modify" button and then the "Select Lots" button to determine the appropriate lots that will be issued. If items have a lot number value of "system" this indicates that the system will automatically apply the oldest lots in inventory when issuing for this item. DEACOM offers users the ability to use the "Modify" and "Select Lots" buttons in these cases as well but this step is usually unnecessary.
  9. Once all the appropriate lots have been selected click the "Apply" button to be returned to the "Edit Part" form.
  10. If additional changes are required, such as the entry of information in the "Notes" field, they may be done now.
  11. Once complete, verify the information is correct and exit the form.
  12. Once all the appropriate lots have been selected click the "New Location" field and select the appropriate location using the search box.
  13. Determine whether lot labels, picklists or a list of previously issued items will be printed by placing a check mark in the appropriate check box on the issue/reserve inventory form.
  14. Click the "Save" button to reserve the materials and complete the process.
  15. The "New Item" button can be used to add additional items to the job to be issued. Enter the quantity needed and Select Lots if lot controlled.

Multiple Substitution

  1. Navigate to Inventory > Issue/Reserve Inventory, change the "Type" field to read "Sale" or "Staging - Sale" and select the Sales Order number to which materials will be reserved. Users may also click on the "Reserve" button on the Sales Order order header during order entry or modification.
    1. Note: Substitutes may not be applied when automatically pre-staging inventory via Inventory > Pre-Staging.
  2. Locate the Part to be substituted and click "Modify."
  3. The system will display the "Edit Part" form.
  4. Choose the Substitute Part from the pick list on the form.
  5. The "Required" field will be set to 0. This is normal when using Substitute Parts. In addition, the "To Issue" field will change according to the factor defined for the substitute on the Substitutes tab of the Item Master record. If the factor is set to "1", the "To Issue" quantity will be the same as the required quantity originally indicated on the Sales Order.
  6. Since multiple substitutions are being performed, modify the "To Issue" quantity accordingly and click the "Save" button.
  7. Once this is done, the system will add a new line to the Issue/Reserve Inventory form for the substitution part and "To Issue" quantity that was made.
  8. The system then resets the "Edit Part" form to the original Sales Order line item and will display whatever quantity was left over in the "To Issue" field.
  9. At this point, users may repeat steps 4-7 to add another Substitute Part and corresponding "To Issue" quantity.
  10. The system will add another line for the new substitute part and "To Issue" quantity below the last substitution.
  11. Perform steps 8-15 as indicated in the Single Substitution section above to reserve the materials and complete the process.

FAQ & Diagnostic Tips

How can I stop users from substituting parts?

Use the "No substitutes allowed" flag on the Part's Item Master Property tab. If enabled, this prevents the use of the "Substitute Part" button for this part. In addition, a user can be prevented form substituting parts in sales or production via the "Inventory -- Issue Substitutions" and "Inventory -- Reserve Substitutions" security settings.

TIP: Beginning in version 16.02.095, users can substitute one item within a kitted part when reserving inventory or direct shipping and the system will still allow the other pieces of the kitted part of be reserved normally.