When you set up your Inventory Control system, use the Processing tab of the I/C Options screen to select Inventory Control processing options. Your choices determine how your Inventory Control system operates and the types of data that it stores and displays.
You can also use the screen after setup to review your entries and, as needed, change most of them.
Note: After making changes to program options (on Options screens) or optional fields (on Optional Fields screens), you and all other users must sign out and sign in again to apply the changes.
This topic provides information about the following processing options:
If your company uses multiple currencies, you can set up price lists for items, and have Inventory Control process and report receipt transactions in these currencies.
To use more than one currency in Inventory Control, select the Multicurrency option on the Processing tab of the I/C Options screen. (The Multicurrency option must already be selected for your company on the Company Profile screen in Common Services.)
Important! You can select the Multicurrency option for Inventory Control at any time. However, once you select it (and save your changes), you cannot change Inventory Control back to a single-currency ledger.
You also specify the Default Rate Type, such as spot rate, to use for converting source-currency amounts in transactions to their functional-currency equivalents.
If you select the Multicurrency option in Inventory Control, the Order Entry and Purchase Order modules also use multicurrency accounting.
All other Sage 300 modules that you integrate with Inventory Control can use either single-currency accounting or multicurrency accounting.
If you allow transactions that use fractional quantities (such as 0.5 dozen) in your present inventory control system and want to set up your Sage 300 Inventory Control system to do the same, select the Allow Fractional Quantities option on the Processing tab of the I/C Options screen.
Fractional quantities are useful if your inventory includes homogeneous items. (Homogeneous items are those with identical elements that can be broken down into multiple, smaller units, such as oil or grain.)
Advantages of using fractional quantities:
However, if you do not intend to use fractional quantities in transactions, you can simplify transaction entry by not selecting this option. This means you do not have to enter decimal places for quantities and unnecessary decimal places do not appear on reports.
Note: You can select the Allow Fractional Quantities option at any time. However, once you select and save this setting, you cannot clear the option.
If your company stores inventory at more than one location (for example, warehouses in different regions), you can set up the Sage 300 Inventory Control system to manage items at multiple locations. After you enter all your inventory items and set up all the locations in Inventory Control, you need to specify which items are stored at which locations before you can start entering transactions. You can either:
If your company has only one location, or it does not need to restrict
any items from being stored at any locations, select the Allow
Items At All Locations option on
the Processing tab of the I/C Options screen. This saves time setting
up your Inventory Control system since you can enter transactions right away for any item at any location. (Transactions include receipts, shipments, returns,
internal usage transactions, transfers,
If this option is not selected, you must use either the I/C Location Details screen or the I/C Locations screen to assign the item to the location before you can enter transactions for an item at that location.
You can select or clear this option at any time.
Inventory Control shows an item to be stocked at a location only after you enter the first transaction (such as a receipt) involving the item at the location. If you stock the item at more than one location, the item appears on reports and in screens only at the locations for which a transaction has been entered, even if the item can be stocked at any location. For example, only after you enter the first transaction for an item at a location does the item appear in the I/C Location Details screen or report at that location.
Note: All items that you transfer through a goods-in-transit (GIT) location must be allowed at the GIT location that you use.
Select the Allow Negative Inventory Levels option to allow processing of transactions that result in negative inventory levels (that is, permit the "on hand" quantity of stock items to go below zero). For example, negative quantities can result from timing problems when you enter shipments for items before entering their receipts. In this situation, your inventory figures do not match the physical inventory.
If you do not want inventory levels to go below zero for any reason, do not select this option. Transactions that require more than the number of item units available at the specified location cannot be posted.
Note: You can select or clear this option at any time.
Select the Allow Receipt of Non-Stock Items on the Processing tab of the I/C Options screen to allow you to order and receive special items for which you do not maintain an inventory quantity. (This setting is used by Inventory Control, Order Entry, and Purchase Orders.)
Non-stock items are usually services or specially ordered items which are not normally kept in inventory. Inventory Control maintains a list of the non-stock items that you purchase regularly, but does not maintain quantities and costs for non-stock items. Non-stock items must use the user-specified costing method. You cannot enter assemblies for non-stock items.
Select the Keep Transaction History option ( on the Processing tab of the I/C Options screen) to have Inventory Control keep the detailed transaction records when you post so you can print the I/C Transaction History report. This report lists all transactions posted for items assigned to the account sets you select within a specified period.
If you do not select this option, nothing is reported in the I/C Transaction History report.
Note: This setting does not affect drilldown. Inventory Control automatically saves transaction history for drilldown purposes each time you post transactions unless you specifically delete transactions after posting.
Important! You can turn the Keep Transaction History option on or off at any time. If you turn it off after you have used it, Inventory Control immediately stops saving transaction history, although it retains the history already collected. If you turn the option on again, there will be a gap in the collected information corresponding to the period when the option was turned off.
Saving transaction history uses a large amount of storage space on your computer's hard drive, so you should turn this option on only when needed.
Select the Prompt To Delete During Posting options (on the Processing tab of the I/C Options screen) if you want the ability to delete individual transactions immediately after posting (if you do not want to save transaction information).
Do not select this option if you want to keep all transaction information.
Note: We recommend that you do not delete transactions. If you delete transactions after posting, you will not be able to view posted transactions or drill down to them from General Ledger
If you post transactions using the I/C Post Transactions screen (instead of from a transaction entry screen), you will not have the option to delete.
If you want to use only the inventory units of measure (UOM) that are set up in Inventory Control, select the Only Use Defined UOM option (on the Processing tab of the I/C Options screen). You use the I/C Units of Measure screen to set up the buying, stocking, and selling units of measure for inventory items—and the default conversion factors between each of the units. This setting lets you enforce consistency for all items added after you select this option
If you do not select this option, you can specify any units of measure for new inventory items—whether or not the UOM have been added to Inventory Control.
Note: This option only affects new inventory items or new units of measure that you add to existing items. If you enter items and then select this option, it will have no effect on the existing items unless you add new units of measure to existing items.
You can create two alternate amount fields to use in Inventory Control (and also Order Entry and Purchase Orders). To create these fields, enter meaningful names into the Alternate Amount 1 Name and the Alternate Amount 2 Name fields (on the Processing tab of the I/C Options screen). Enter names in these fields as you want them to appear on the I/C Location Details screen. (If you leave these fields blank, they will not appear in the screen.)
Example: You could assign the name Landed to one of the alternate amount fields to indicate the nature of the amount it contains.
Names for alternate amounts can contain uppercase letters, numbers, blanks, symbols (such as @ and #), and punctuation marks (such as ? and !). Each name cannot exceed ten characters.
If you type alternate amount names, the fields appear on and are used by the following Inventory Control reports:
Amounts in these alternate amount fields can:
You specify the basic or standard weight unit of measure (UOM) to use for measuring the weight of your inventory items, such as pounds or kilograms, using the Default Weight UOM field on the Processing tab of the I/C Options screen.
Note: Usually, you will add weight units of measure after choosing inventory options, but before adding items. You use the I/C Weight Units of Measure screen to add the weight UOMs needed for your items, along with conversion factors to convert different UOMs to the default UOM.
Order Entry uses the weights of inventory items (using this default unit of weight) to estimate the total weight of each order, which is then used to calculate the cost of shipping the order.
Purchase Orders can use the weights in inventory records to prorate (distribute) additional costs on orders.
There may be additional costs (such as freight charges or duty charges) when you post a receipt return transaction to record the return of goods to suppliers. Select how Inventory Control should treat these additional costs:
You can change this setting at any time. You can override this setting at any time when entering receipt returns.
Note: If you return all of the items on a receipt, you must use the I/C Adjustments screen to reassign the additional cost that was specified on the receipt to another general ledger account.
A goods-in-transit (GIT) location is a virtual location where you store goods while they are in transit. This more closely matches the transfer process, where goods may be on trucks or in transit for days or weeks at a time.
Each time you transfer goods between inventory locations, you can choose to transfer goods:
When using a GIT location, the goods can travel on different trucks and be received in separate lots. It also means that goods can stay in transit indefinitely. A GIT location is treated just like any other inventory location, so you can check item quantities in transit.
Inventory Control can save item statistics from transactions posted for your inventory items. You can display this information on the I/C Sales Statistics and I/C Transaction Statistics reports.
Select the Keep Item Statistics option if you want to accumulate statistics from posted transactions.
Inventory Control retains transaction and sales statistics from the transactions processed for up to 53 periods per year, for any number of years.
Inventory Control uses these statistics to produce the I/C Transaction Statistics report and the I/C Sales Statistics report. You can print the statistics for an item by period and year, as far back as the oldest year and period for which you keep this information.
You can turn on or turn off the Keep Item Statistics option at any time. If you turn off the option, Inventory Control immediately stops saving statistics, although it retains those already collected. If you turn the option on again, there will be a gap in the statistics corresponding to the period when the option was not used.
If the Keep Item Statistics option is selected on the Processing tab of the I/C Options screen, you also specify the time period to use to accumulate the statistics.
For Accumulate By, choose whether to report period statistics by fiscal year or calendar year, which affects the starting date for the statistics.
For Period Type, select the type of period to use to report period statistics:
You can change the type of year and period by which Inventory Control reports statistics, but you will not be able to compare new period figures directly to figures in past periods.
Important! You should not change these settings partway through a year, because this will cause figures to be distorted in some periods and you will have to make corrections in all records for which you keep statistics. If you need to change this setting, do so only at year end.
Select the Allow Edit of Statistics option if you want to be able to revise the following statistics:
Note: This option is only available if the Keep Item Statistics option is selected.
You can select or clear the Allow Edit of Statistics option at any time.
You may want to turn on the option while you are setting up your Inventory Control system, particularly if you are creating the system partway through an accounting year. You can then enter more complete inventory records by adding the statistics from your previous system for previous periods in the current year, and for previous years.
After you finish setting up your Inventory Control system and your system is operating, you can turn off the Allow Edit Of Statistics option because the program automatically updates the statistics when you post transactions.
For more information, see Allowing Editing of Sales and Transaction Statistics.
Use the I/C Transaction Statistics screen and I/C Sales Statistics screen to display the statistics. Use the I/C Sales Statistics report and I/C Transaction Statistics report to print the statistics. These reports will be blank if the Keep Item Statistics option is not selected.