Suppliers and supplier items

You need suppliers for supplier items, purchase suggestions, price requests and purchase orders. For each item you store from whom you buy it and on what terms.

#Before you start

Anyone whose role has the View purchasing, suppliers and purchase orders permission may view suppliers (including owner, Administration, Purchasing manager, Production and "Read only"). Creating and changing suppliers requires the Create purchase orders permission (owner, Administration, Purchasing manager). Without this permission the supplier window opens read-only.

#The supplier window

Under Purchasing → Suppliers, a double-click (or right-click → Edit) opens the supplier as a window – like items and orders. At the top you see the supplier number, status and how many items and open purchase orders they have. The tabs:

• General data – master data and settings
• Bank accounts
• Terms
• Contacts
• Messages
• Items – the supplier items
• Returns – supplier returns to this supplier

Bottom left: Send message, Print address label, Open statistics and Create supplier return. Save (or Ctrl+S) applies the changes, Cancel discards them after confirmation. If someone else has changed the supplier in the meantime, the window shows a notice with Reload.

#Create a supplier

1. Open Purchasing → Suppliers and click Create supplier. The New supplier window opens.
2. In the General data tab, fill in the master data: Company, Company addition, Salutation, First name, Last name, Street, Postcode, Address line 2, City, Country, State, Phone (main), Phone (direct), Email, Fax, VAT ID and Website (with Open).
3. Add if required:
   • Our customer no. – your customer number with the supplier; appears on the purchase order.
   • Language and Order currency – new purchase orders take over the order currency with the rate of the day; PDF, print template and totals are then in this currency (see Purchase orders).
   • Status – free text, e.g. "Main supplier".
   • Ordering company – which of your companies orders from this supplier (empty = Default company): sender, logo, print template and email layout of new purchase orders come from this company.
   • Creditor no. – for accounting.
   • Default target warehouse – warehouse that purchase orders are delivered to (empty = Default warehouse): new purchase orders, purchase suggestions without a warehouse and the purchase order window preselect it; drop-shipping and fulfiller warehouses are excluded.
4. allverto assigns the Supplier no. when saving.
5. Click Save. Only then can bank accounts, contacts, messages and items be added.

#Settings

In the Settings block (General data tab) you switch on:

• VAT exempt – purchase orders without VAT, e.g. for suppliers from non-EU countries.
• Block for purchase list – the supplier doesn't appear in purchase suggestions and is not ordered from the purchase list.
• Always require approval – every purchase order with this supplier needs approval, even if purchase order approval is otherwise off.
• Dropshipping – the supplier ships directly to your customers (drop shipping). Only then can Drop shipping for cash on delivery and Drop shipping of free-text lines be switched on. Which items are drop-shipped is set on the supplier item (see below).

Next to it there is a Note field for internal notes.

#Contacts

In the Contacts tab you create any number of contacts with Add: Salutation, Department, First name, Last name, Phone, Mobile, Email, Fax.

One of them is the Default contact (switch in the dialog; the first contact automatically becomes the default). They receive purchase orders, price requests, delivery reminders and messages by email and appear under General data in the Contacts field and in the supplier list. If they have no email address, the email goes to the Email from the master data.

Right-click a contact: Edit…, Set as default (order emails), Write email, Delete.

#Bank accounts

In the Bank accounts tab you create one or more bank accounts with Add: IBAN, BIC, Account holder (empty = supplier name), Bank name, Account number and Bank code. For a German IBAN, allverto fills in bank code, account number, BIC and bank itself; the IBAN check digit is verified.

One bank account is the Default for outgoing payments – Outgoing payments uses this IBAN for SEPA transfers. Change it via right-click → Set as default for outgoing payments. Under Payee verification (check IBAN) you check whether name and IBAN match.

Without an IBAN, you can store a PayPal email for payments via PayPal in the PayPal block.

#Terms

In the Terms tab, Delivery terms block:

• Lead time – default in days; applies unless the supplier item says otherwise.
• Payment terms, Early payment discount until and Early payment discount – default for new supplier invoices.
• Minimum order value – the purchase order and purchase list show whether it has been reached.
• Small-quantity surcharge – added as long as the minimum order value (after discount) has not been reached.
• Freight costs and Free shipping from (switch with amount) – above this goods value, there is no freight charge.
• VAT free-text line.

Under Discount tiers you create tiers with Add: Discount from goods value and Discount in %. allverto includes discount, small-quantity surcharge and freight in purchase orders and the purchase list; an example below the fields shows the effect. In the Note field you write any other agreements.

For dropshipping suppliers, choose the Permitted delivery countries (dropshipping only) on the right. No selection means: delivery to all countries.

#Messages

Send message (at the bottom of the window) writes an email to the supplier with To, Copy to, Subject and Message; the default contact is prefilled. For this, email sending must be set up.

The Messages tab is the message history: sent messages and purchase orders by email with Subject, Sent on, Channel, Recipient and Purchase order. A double-click shows the text and attachments; right-click → Delete message removes it from the list (the email itself has already been sent).

#Statistics

Open statistics shows the purchasing volume of the last 12 months and per year, the number of purchase orders, open purchase orders, Delivery reliability (on time / late, avg. deviation from the delivery date) as well as supplier invoices and how many of them are open.

#Assign items (supplier items)

You can assign from two sides – in the supplier window, Items tab (Assign item), or in the item window, Suppliers tab (Add supplier).

1. Choose the item or supplier.
2. Fill in the terms:
   • Supplier's item number – appears on the purchase order.
   • Net purchase price per unit.
   • Minimum quantity and Pack size – order quantities are rounded up to these. For divisible units such as kg, l or m also partial quantities, e.g. 0.5 kg (see Partial quantities).
   • Lead time – empty = lead time from the supplier's terms.
   • Preferred supplier (switch) – at most one per item. The first supplier of an item automatically becomes preferred.
   • Dropshipping – No dropshipping, If own stock is missing or Always (no own stock). Only takes effect if Dropshipping is switched on for the supplier.
3. Click Add or Save.

Via a row's … menu you change (Edit) or delete (Remove) the assignment; in the item window there is also Mark as preferred.

The purchase price of the preferred supplier appears in the item under Prices → Purchasing & margin and is used for margin, inventory values and reports. The easiest way to get current prices is a price request.

#Supplier stock, purchase price tiers and supplier selection

In the supplier item dialog you also maintain the Purchase price tiers (From quantity → Net purchase price per unit) and the Supplier stock with the switch Add supplier stock to available stock, Count at most and Buffer. In the item window, tab Suppliers, each supplier shows its supplier stock with the date; at the bottom you switch on Always use preferred supplier.

When ordering, allverto takes the cheapest supplier for the required quantity by default – not automatically the preferred one. You change this under Purchasing → Settings → Suppliers. All details: Supplier stock and supplier selection.

#Manage suppliers

The list shows No., Supplier, City, Contacts, Items, Lead time, Minimum order value, Open purchase orders and Dropshipping; you can show Status and Creditor no. via Columns. Changes are always made in the supplier window. Via the Show filter you choose Active suppliers, Archived or All. Under More you import and export suppliers, Supplier items and Supplier stock.

Right-click in the list: Edit (or Open), New purchase order …, Show open purchase orders, Write email, Call, Archive and Reactivate – archiving and reactivating also for several suppliers.

Archived suppliers no longer appear in suggestions and new purchase orders; existing purchase orders remain unchanged. You cannot archive a supplier with purchase orders in Ordered or Partially delivered status – have them delivered or cancel them first. An archived supplier opens read-only.

You'll find a supplier's overdue purchase orders under Overdue deliveries.