This is a feature that enhances the customer’s experience during order placement. You’ll want to create alternate items to create a short list of inventory that can be used as substitutes when billing an order for an out of stock item or researching alternatives for your customer.
Let’s begin by moving to the inventory maintenance, and see how to add an alternate item. Go to “Inventory Management” > “Main” > “Item Maintenance.” Select the magnifying glass next to “Item Code” to pick an inventory item. Today for this example, we are going to be working with the first item which is the “Hon 2 Drawer Without Lock.” Under the “More” button I have several options. Today, we are talking about Alternate Items.” You can see I already have a couple of products already associated. One is the 2 drawer with a lock, and the other is a 4 drawer without a lock. I want to add the 4 drawer with a lock.
I do this by selecting the magnifying glass which brings up the entire list of items. Double click on the item you want, and now it is added as the third option for my original choice. Click on “Accept” and now it’s associated with the other file cabinets. Now let’s move over to the order entry to see the full value of this feature.
Under “Sales Orders” > “Main” “Sales Order Entry” click on the magnifying glass next to “Order Number” to find the sales order you have been working with. You can see the research done for your items. The alternate items can be displayed in a couple of ways. If the client requests more than what is available, then this screen will automatically appear to the sales staff. Click on “Select an Alternate Item” “OK” and then you will see the list of the products associated. They can select any one of these as an alternate for the client’s choice.
The other option is to select the “More” option in the header, “Alternate Item” and the same screen appears without having to enter any product quantities yet. You can tell the client which item has how many quantities in stock, select it, and now that’s the product that will go on the order.
Customer service will be greatly approved and sales will be increased by simply giving your staff a quick and easy way to address inquiries and offered choices. It’s as simple as that!
