How to handle semi-dynamic Kit Item 1

[Borvik]

We have a kit we need to sell (call it KIT1) that is composed of two parts.

Part 1 may be only one of the following part numbers: PART1, PART2, or PART3.
Part 2 is a custom part, which the vendor changes the part number for each design (think Logo).

How do I build that kind of Kit in GP? (we are using GP10)

Thanks.

 

[Buzz1off]

Remember, the vendor part number does NOT have to be the same as your item number. For example, you set up three parts. The first two are generic enough they can be sourced from more than one vendor and it will make no difference to the end user. The third, if you hade different rev levels; i.e., minor changes as the part evolves, you can reflect those changes in the vendor item number. You do this so the vendor know what revision to supply.

The result is, once you set up the kit part, with the three individual part numbers, it shouldn't make any differnect what the vendor item number is for each item, and long as you don't change your item numbers for the kit contents. Does this help?

 

[Borvik]

I understand the changing vendor number would allow the kit to still work as that item number doesn't then change.

What doesn't make sense is implementing it. These are stock items, though we will only buy them as needed - and they will ship out of our warehouse.

The Kit number itself cannot change - the client want to see (and will only pay against) the one item number.

The salesperson entering the order needs to be able to choose the items for this sale so that purchasing knows which kit components to order.

 

[Buzz1off]

Ok, I think I have a better understanding of what you are trying to do. As it appears, this "kit" may contain different items each time it is sold, correct? If this is the case, I believe the only way you can accomplish this is to modify the kit contents each time you sell the kit. I am not aware of anything in Dynamics where you can set up a "kit" item and allow you to pick and choose the contents of the kit and the time of the sales order processing. A better way would be to tell the customer they will get an invoice for the individual items and they should make up their kit from these items. There are times you must tell the customer they cannot have it their way.

 

[Borvik]

Correct.

Would changing the kit contents cause any problems for current orders for the kit?

I had already suggested that solution (tell the customer to deal with it), and then I got that look "you're just a tech person, you can't know how business works and we NEED to do this" that I'm sure many of us have gotten over the years.

Perhaps this is a good idea for a plugin.

 

[Buzz1off]

I am a business person who understands just enough tech to get through some basic problems; however, I stand by what I said in that sometimes you cannot give the customer exactly what they want. Unfortunately, some folks just don't understand what they are asking for is unrealistic and worse, often unmanageable.

Getting back to your question, "Would changing the kit contents cause any problems for current orders for the kit?", I don't think so. Once the order is entered and the pick ticket is printed (after all, the pick ticket tells fulfillment what to pick for the kit), I don't believe changes made after the fact will affect previous orders. So, if it needs to be, you should be able to modify the kit for a subsequent order and not affect existing saved (printed) orders. If you have a separate "test company" set up, you could try this in "test company" without affecting your actual business.

 

[VictoriaYudin]

We have a customer that changes the components of a kit for just about every order they have. In their case, when they print the invoice, the "item" is the same, but then it lists the kit components which are different underneath to show more detail. I have not heard of them having any issues with this.

Victoria Yudin
Dynamics GP MVP 2005 - 2012
Use Crystal Reports and SSRS with GP:

http://www.GPReportsViewer.com/gpreports.html

blog:

http://victoriayudin.com

 

[Buzz1off]

It appears Victoria tried it an it works. As I said, I didn't think it would be a problem as long as the change occurs after a previous sale is processed.

 

[VictoriaYudin]

No sorry, that is not what I meant. I meant that you can change the kit components directly on the order. Not change the setup of the kit ahead of time. This way you can have 100 open orders at the same time for the same kit ID, but with different components for that kit on each order. Of course to really make sure this approach works in a specific environment you need to test it. Saying it works for someone without knowing all the modules and options they have set up may be a good start, but I always recommend testing something like this before you start using it in production.

Victoria Yudin
Dynamics GP MVP 2005 - 2012
Use Crystal Reports and SSRS with GP:

http://www.GPReportsViewer.com/gpreports.html

blog:

http://victoriayudin.com

 

[Buzz1off]

Well, that helps a bit. Changing the kit contents directly in the order must be a control setting and/or a security thing; because to my knowledge, we cannot do this in our company. I will look into this. I agree, running a test first is always a good idea.

 

[Borvik]

Sorry, guys missed your posts (new UI caused me to lose the Notify Me flag on the thread).

I was just about ready to start thinking how to put a plugin together, when I saw these additions.

That's great information Victoria. I have found where to changes this per order (select item, -> expansion window, "Kits" button). Playing around with this a bit it looks like setting up the kit using "Item Kit Maintenance" is just the default components, not the only allowed components. This may be just what I need, though I'll have to look into this further.

Thanks guys.

 

[Borvik]

After all that - they NOW tell me we probably won't be doing any more, which makes most of this pointless.

I'm sure it will come up again, if not for myself - then perhaps someone else and this can help them.

Thanks guys.