Fulfillment Plan
Introduction
Fulfillment plans are attached to sale, special order and layaway transactions at POS. Fulfillment plans are created (and attached to sales / sales orders / layaways) in cases when the delivery of the items is to be done later OR the delivery attracts some additional surcharges OR the retailer wants to reserve the stock before the items are delivered. Fulfillment plans are also created when the retailer has to facilitate home delivery and store pickups. Fulfillment Plans can only be attached to the sale transactions of Registered Customers and not Walk In Customers. If a "Cash" customer wants to place a special order, a customer master record would have to be created in order to complete the transaction.
1. What is a Fulfillment Plan?
A Fulfillment Plan in iVendNext is a record that is created with pre-defined Delivery Mode, Lead Days and Fulfillment Charges if any. So when an order is placed clicking on the Fulfillment button takes you to the Fulfillment Transaction List screen where you can select either a Delivery Plan or a Pickup Plan. Upon selecting a Fulfillment Plan the Fulfillment details are automatically fetched. This process is covered in detail in the Fulfillment Plan Implementation section below.
2. Steps to create a Fulfillment Plan
The steps to create a Fulfillment Plan are explained below:
Navigate to: Home > Retail. Then under the Store Operations section click on the Fulfillment Plan shortcut. This should take you to the Fulfillment Plan List View screen.
Click on the Add Fulfillment Plan button. This will take you to the New Fulfillment Plan screen.
Fill in the required information including the mandatory fields on the New Fulfillment Plan screen and then click the Save button, to save the data and exit the screen.
This will create a new Fulfillment Plan and can be seen listed on the Fulfillment Plan List View screen.
3. New Fulfillment Plan Screen Explained
The various fields on the New Fulfillment Plan screen are explained below:
Is Default
Check this box to set the New Fulfillment Plan as the default Fulfillment Plan.
A default Fulfillment Plan will be automatically attached to a sale, special order and layaway transactions at POS.
Name
Specify a name for the fulfillment plan.
Delivery Mode
Select the Delivery Mode as Home Delivery or Store Pickup from the drop down list. Depending upon the Delivery Mode selected, a fee may be applicable which can be defined using the Fulfillment Charges section. The impact of delivery mode on inventory management is explained below in the section Impact on Inventory.
Lead Days
The time it takes to fulfill an order is called the Lead Time. Specify the minimum lead time (in Days) for delivery of the items. The value displayed by default is 0. In the retail manufacturing industry, a business will typically encounter three types of lead times:
Material Lead Time: This is the duration it takes for suppliers to deliver ordered goods to the manufacturer.
Production Lead Time: This is the duration from submitting a manufacturing order to receiving the finished product into stock.
Customer Lead Time: This is the duration it takes for the company to produce the goods and/or deliver them to their customers, from order until fulfillment.
Description
Specify a description for the fulfillment plan.
Fulfillment Charges
The retailer may charge a fee based on the Fulfillment Plan selected. Delivery charges, Installation charges, etc are some of the examples
4. Fulfillment Plan Implementation at the POS
The section below explains how a Fulfillment Plan is used at the Point of Sale. To keep things easy to understand, we will perform a simple sale.
Home Delivery
On the iVendNext POS search and add the item to the transaction grid.
Add a Customer to the transaction. You must record the Fulfillment sale against a customer's name.
Fulfillment Plans can only be attached to the sale transactions of Registered Customers and not Walk In Customers. If a "Cash" customer wants to place a special order, a customer master record would have to be created in order to complete the transaction
On the Transaction Screen select the Transaction Modes option.
Click on the Fulfillment button. This will take you to the Fulfillment Transaction List screen. This screen is split into 2 sections - UnFulfilled Items and Fulfilled Items.
Select the row items for which you want to attach a Fulfillment.Then you can select either a Delivery Plan or a Pickup Plan. In this section we are going to cover: Home Delivery.
Click on the Select Delivery Plan button. This will open the Choose Delivery popup screen.
Fulfillment Plan
A default Fulfillment Plan will be automatically attached to a sale, special order and layaway transactions at POS. This means that when you reach the Choose Delivery popup screen the default Fulfillment Plan would be preselected. However, the application gives you the flexibility to select a different Fulfillment Plan from the drop down list.
Delivery Date
The date will automatically populate based on the Fulfillment Plan selected above. However, the application gives you the flexibility to select a different Delivery Date from the calendar popup screen.
Select Address
The address should automatically populate based on the Customer selected on the Transaction screen. The application gives you the leverage to specify a different Address for Delivery. This is useful in case the Customer wants the items to be delivered at a different address other than the default address.
Click on the Show Fulfillment Details button. This will open the Fulfilled Items screen.
Use the information displayed on this screen to verify the following:
Fulfillment Plan
Address of the Fulfillment Store
Date when the Fulfillment was raised
Name of the Fulfillment Store
Items along with their Quantity and Description
Once you have verified the information click on the Submit button. This will take you back to the Fulfillment Transaction Search screen. Click OK on the Fulfillment Transaction Search screen to return to the POS Transaction screen.
You might have observed that the Type column now displays the Sale Type as Fulfillment instead of Sale.
Click the Quick Cash button to process the Payment. CLick on the Payments button only if you want to make a payment using different modes of payment.
Return to the Point of Sale Transaction screen and click on the Transaction Search button to perform a transaction search.
Select the desired transaction and click the OK button.
This will take you back to the Transaction Details screen.
Click on the transaction row to select the transactions and then click on the Delivery button.
You might have observed that the Type column now displays the Sale Type as Delivery instead of Fulfillment and in the Price column it says $0.00. This is because the payment has already been made earlier and we are only going to mark the order as Delivered. Click the Quick Cash button to complete the order.
Store Pickup
On the iVendNext POS search and add the item to the transaction grid.
Add a Customer. You must record the Fulfillment sale against a customer's name.
Fulfillment Plans can only be attached to the sale transactions of Registered Customers and not Walk In Customers. If a "Cash" customer wants to place a special order, a customer master record would have to be created in order to complete the transaction.
On the Transaction Screen select the Transaction Modes option.
Click on the Fulfillment button. This will take you to the Fulfillment Transaction Search screen. This screen is split into 2 sections - UnFulfilled Items and Fulfilled Items.
Select the row items for which you want to raise a Fulfillment.Then you can select either a Delivery Plan or a Pickup Plan. In this section we are going to cover: Store Pickup.
Click on the Select Pickup Plan button. This will open the Choose Pickup Plan popup screen.
Fulfillment Plan
A default Fulfillment Plan will be automatically attached to a sale, special order and layaway transactions at POS. This means that when you reach the Choose Delivery popup screen the default Fulfillment Plan would be preselected. However, the application gives you the flexibility to select a different Fulfillment Plan from the drop down list.
Delivery Date
The date will automatically populate based on the Fulfillment Plan selected above. However, the application gives you the flexibility to select a different Delivery Date from the calendar popup screen.
Click on the Show Fulfillment Details button. This will open the Fulfilled Items screen.
Use the information displayed on this screen to verify the following:
Fulfillment Plan
Date when the Fulfillment was raised
Name of the Fulfillment Store
Items along with their Quantity and Description
Once you have verified the information click on the Submit button. This will take you back to the Fulfillment Transaction Search screen. Click OK on the Fulfillment Transaction Search screen to return to the POS Transaction screen.
You might have observed that the Type column now displays the Sale Type as Fulfillment instead of Sale.
Click the Quick Cash button to process the Payment. CLick on the Payments button only if you want to make a payment using different modes of payment.
Return to the Point of Sale Transaction screen and click on the Transaction Search button to perform a transaction search.
Select the desired transaction and click the OK button.
This will take you back to the Transaction Details screen.
Click on the transaction row to select the transactions and then click on the Delivery button.
You might have observed that the Type column now displays the Sale Type as Delivery instead of Fulfillment and in the Price column it says $0.00. This is because the payment has already been made earlier and we are only going to mark the order as Delivered. Click the Quick Cash button to complete the order.
Inventory Allocation Method
There are 2 methods to allocate inventory - Sale and Delivery.
Sale
The inventory of the item is affected immediately. A fulfillment plan with this inventory allocation method can be attached only to sales transactions.
Delivery
The inventory of the item is affected only after the order is delivered to the customer. By default this option is selected. A fulfillment plan with this inventory allocation method can be attached only to special order transactions.
5. Impact on Inventory
When you place an order in iVendNext, you have the option to select a preferred delivery method. You can either choose to pick up the order placed by walking into a nearby store or choose to get the order delivered at your doorstep. Depending upon the selection made, the order is then processed. Whatever the case maybe “Home Delivery” or “Store Pickup”, it has a direct impact on your inventory. All this impact on Inventory can be well seen in the Stock Projected Quantity report.
Let us try to understand the impact of “Home Delivery” and Store Pickup” on inventory with an example.
When an Order is Booked in iVendNext
When an order is placed in iVendNext, the “Quantity Ordered” is kept aside and marked as “Reserved Quantity” and the “Quantity Available To Sell” is reduced by the “Quantity Ordered”. For example, Let’s say that you have an item WB-1001 (Brook Large Zip Hobo). The stock in hand for this item is 100 units. An order was placed requesting 15 units. Though the item is still lying with you, you keep aside 15 units of the item and mark them as “Reserve Stock”. Now the actual units of the item that you are left with, that you can sell is 100 units minus 15 units (Reserved) = 85 units.
When an Order is Delivered in iVendNext
When an order is delivered in iVendNext, be it Home Delivery or Store Pickup, the “Stock in Hand” is reduced by the units equivalent to the number of units delivered or picked up. There is a possibility that though the order was placed for 15 units of WB-1001 (Brook Large Zip Hobo), the customer requested delivery of only 7 units. This will result in the following impact:
1. The “Stock in Hand” is reduced by 7 units (100 - 7 = 93 units)
2. The “Reserved Quantity” is reduced by 7 units. (15 - 7 = 8 units)
When an Order is Returned in iVendNext
When an order is delivered in iVendNext, be it Home Delivery or Store Pickup, the “Stock in Hand” is increased by the units equivalent to the number of units returned. The customer who was delivered 7 units has returned 3 units. This will result in the following impact:
1. The “Stock in Hand” is increased by 3 units (93 + 3 = 96 units)
2. The “Reserved Quantity” remains at 8 units. (15 - 7 = 8 units)
Additional Information
To keep things simple and easy to understand we have created separate transactions to demonstrate Home Delivery and Store Pickup. However, you can create a single transaction that includes both Home Delivery and Store Pickup.
You can create a single transaction that includes both Home Delivery and Store Pickup.
When you place an order in iVendNext, be it “Home Delivery” or “Store Pickup”, it has a direct impact on your inventory. All this impact on Inventory is recorded in the Stock Projected Quantity report. A sample screenshot of the report is pasted below:
