Create Drop Ship Orders

Creating Drop Ship Orders is a feature available for those using AnyPO in conjunction with AnyBook (publishing business software) or AnyOrder (general invoicing and mail order software). If you are using AnyPO by itself, you can skip this section.

If you are using AnyPO along with AnyBook or AnyOrder, you'll be able to automatically create drop ship orders from your invoices. A drop ship order is one in which you create an invoice and bill the customer. However, instead of shipping the product, you instruct your supplier (vendor) to ship the order directly to the customer.

It's helpful to make sure you have a clear understanding of of terminology, and let's review the three terms used here: customers, vendors and drop ship. Customers are the individuals or businesses who have ordered a product from you. Vendors are the suppliers from which you will obtain the product - and, in a drop ship situation - the vendor will be sending the product directly to your customer.

AnyPO automates the process of creating drop ship orders. You don't necessarily have to create drop shipment invoices one at a time. Rather, you can make out a series of invoices to customers; then let AnyPO create all of the appropriate Purchase Orders for you.

The process begins AnyBook or AnyOrder. You start by creating invoices for your drop shipment customers. Once you have the invoices created, you then move into AnyPO and use one of two methods described below to create the purchase orders to go along with the invoices.

The invoices are sent to the customers. The purchase orders are sent to the vendors.

Depending upon your business operating procedures, you may provide the vendor with the invoice or packing slip. It can be confusing for the customer if they order the product from you but get a packing a slip from another entity. You eliminate that confusion by supplying the vendor with your packing list.

Before going on, it's important to distinguish between two databases. The Product Information Database is found in the core part of AnyBook or AnyOrder (accessed from the Main Invoice Screen). This holds all of the products that you sell. The Stock Ordering Database is found in AnyPO. This holds all of the products that you order from others.

You have your choice of two methods of creating drop ship orders: Multi-vendor Method and the Single-vendor method. The Single-vendor method is only available with AnyBook or AnyOrder Level 5 or higher programs.

The Multi-vendor Method is reached by selecting OTHER TASKS >> CREATE DROP SHIP ORDERS FROM INVOICES >> MULTI-VENDOR METHOD. The following dialog box appears:

This method allows you to create any number of purchase orders for any number of vendors.

In order to use the Multi-vendor method, there are several things you'll need to have set-up in advance.

(a) The products that you want to drop ship should be included in the Stock Ordering Database

(d) The product should also be included in the Product Information Database found in AnyBook or AnyOrder and it should have same catalog number

(d) When you create the purchase order, the vendor's name and number (from the Vendor's Database, see above) must appear in the "Vendor/Vendor #" spaces on the Main Purchase Order Screen.

Product Information Database in AnyBook or AnyOrder. The product that appears in the Stock Ordering Database must also be in the Product Information Database (found in AnyBook or AnyOrder). In other words, the product should be in both databases. The Catalog Number in the Product Information Database must be the same as "Your Catalog Number" in the Stock Ordering Database. For more information on the difference between Stock Ordering Database and Product Information Database, see Helpful Information.

Main Invoice Screen in AnyBook or AnyOrder. You must have created one or more invoices on the Main Invoice Screen in AnyBook or AnyOrder. The customer, the individual or company to whom will be sent the drop-shipped products(s), should appear in the Billing or Ship-to on the invoice. (If there's a full address in the Ship-to area, AnyPO will use it. If the ship name is " --- SAME ---", it will use the billing address from the invoice. Otherwise, it uses the billing address.) It's not absolutely necessary to place a checkmark in the "Drop Ship" field on the Main Invoice Screen (AnyPO doesn't need it for this procedure), but it's helpful since you can readily see which invoices are associated with drop shipments.

When you have completed the steps above, select OTHER TASKS >> CREATE DROP SHIP ORDERS FROM INVOICES >> MULTI-VENDOR METHOD at the top AnyPO's main screen. A spreadsheet which lists all of your invoices will appear. Select those customers from the list of invoices who need to have drop ship PO's prepared. (To select a customer, place a checkmark beside the name.) You may select as many customers as are needed. Click on OK.

After you click OK, AnyPO will go to the first customer's invoice. It will look up the products appearing on that invoice from the Stock Ordering Database. The appropriate vendors will be found and new PO's will be created. It will then go to the next customer and repeat the process.

When the process is finished, you'll find the newly created PO's by paging forward on AnyPO's main screen.

If you do lots of drop shipments, you may wish to use the "Closed" field on Main Invoice Screen to indicate that the PO has been created and sent to the vendor. The "Closed" field shows up on the above dialog box. The next time, you need to create another batch of purchase orders, you would be able to quickly see which drop shipments have been completed and which still need to be processed.

The advantage of using this method is that it is a bit simpler. The product only needs to be included in the core program's Product Database. It is not necessary to have the product set-up in the Stock Ordering Database.

The Single-vendor Method is reached by selecting OTHER TASKS >> CREATE DROP SHIP ORDERS FROM INVOICES >> SINGLE-VENDOR METHOD. The following dialog box appears:

The Single-vendor method extracts almost all of its information from the main AnyBook or AnyOrder program. Here's how to set things up:

Product Information Database in AnyBook or AnyOrder. You have your choice what price appears on the purchase order. Remember "price" in this case (on the purchase order) is the amount that the vendor charges for the item. One option is to make the price the same as item's the "cost" field found in the Product Information Database in the core AnyBook or AnyOrder program. The other option is to use one of the "Pricing Levels" also found in the Product Information Database. To do this, select one of the Pricing Levels. Give it the following name: "Vendor," and then type-in the vendor's price for the item. You won't use this pricing level on invoices. It will used only on purchase orders. (For more information on pricing levels, see "Product Information Database" in AnyBook's or AnyOrder's help system.)

Main Invoice Screen in AnyBook or AnyOrder. You must have created one or more invoices on the Main Invoice Screen in AnyBook or AnyOrder. The customer, the individual or company to whom will be sent the drop-shipped products(s) can appear in the Bill-to or Ship-to area. It's not absolutely necessary to place a checkmark in the "Drop Ship" field on the Main Invoice Screen (AnyPO doesn't need it for this procedure), but it's helpful since you can readily see which invoices are associated with drop shipments.

When you select this method from the menu, a dialog box appears with a list of invoices. Select those customers from the list for which you need to create PO's. (To select a customer, place a checkmark beside the name.) You may select as many customers as are needed.

Next select a vendor by clicking on the "List" button. This brings up a list of vendors found in the Vendor Database. Choose the vendor, and the vendor's name will be pasted in the Vendor Name and Number blanks. (Note that if you do not select a Vendor, AnyPO will paste in a generic name. After the PO's are created, you can manually select the vendor by using the Vendor Pop-up list.)

As mentioned above, the cost of the item comes from the Product Information Database in the main AnyBook or AnyOrder program. This is where the Single-vendor method differs from the Multi-vendor Method. In the Multi-vendor method, the product's cost comes from the Stock Ordering Database which is found in AnyPO. But, for this method, the cost comes from the Product Information Database contained in the main AnyBook or AnyOrder program. That means that you need to use one of the pricing levels in the Product Information Database to indicate the vendor's cost. If you select "0) Cost," AnyPO will use the "Cost" of the product found in the Product Information Database.

The address of the vendor that you select will be placed in the vendor address blanks on the Purchase Order form.

Next, you'll need to tell AnyPO what address should be used for the "Ship-to" blanks. Here are your choices:

•	Leave Ship-to Address Blank. In this case, AnyPO will not paste any names in the Ship-to blank on the Purchase Order Screen. It will be left for you to fill in by hand.

•

Replace Ship-to with Shipping Address. AnyPO will copy the shipping address from the invoice and paste it in the Ship-to address on the Purchase Order Screen. If " --- SAME --- " appears in the Ship-to field or if there is no Ship-to address on the invoice, AnyPO will copy the Billing address to the Ship-to .

When everything is ready, click on the "Create PO's" button. A series of Purchase Orders will be made from each of the PO's that you have selected. The new PO's are added to the end of the purchase order file and you'll find them by paging forward.