The initial screen of the Buyers Control Center (BCC) is referred to as the summary screen. The summary screen is launched from the Purchase Orders, Inventory Control, and Manufacturing Control modules with the appropriate activity code selected. The columns and options differ slightly based on the Activity selected, but the process is very similar.
These five BCC menu options are available in FACTS.
Upon entering the BCC, buyers can specify a buyer code and warehouse to review the current actions. When you access the BCC, the activity code is selected by default based on the menu option.
From the Activity pull down you can choose Procurement, Transfers, Returns, Build Bill of Materials, or Build Formulation to perform. Program security can be set in Program Security Maintenance (SMF420) for each activity code.
A prioritized summary of each ARP or warehouse activity is displayed.
These activities are available in the BCC:
Use the BCC to analyze items for replenishment.
Replenishment basically comes down to answering three questions: When should I place an order/transfer for an ARP?, What items should I order when I do place the order?, and How much of each item should I order?
All of the replenishment controls and values exist to answer these three questions quickly and accurately, and the Buyer’s Control Center is the primary place the questions are answered.
Each ARP assigned to the selected buyer are displayed and color coded to indicate the priority of the replenishment activity needed for items in the ARP. The summary data includes three sections: general data, buying targets, and prioritization:
The general data section includes the ‘To’ warehouse, vendor # and name, the purchasing line and the established review cycle.
Determining When, What and How Much involves some significant data analysis and math. FACTS reviews every item in every ARP assigned to the buyer, and uses the replenishment controls which were calculated the night before to answer those three questions.
That analysis also looks at current open orders for any backorder or special order needs, so it can take some time, especially on systems with a high number of SKUs, so it is not done automatically. At least daily, buyers should run the “Recalculate All” option, which performs the analysis on all ARPs and redisplays the prioritized results.
The summary screen of the BCC primarily answers the question “When to buy?”, though it does also provide the achieved amounts for the recommended order, which combines the “What” and “How Much” questions.
Vendor returns can also be viewed and processed from the BCC by selecting the Returns option from the Activity pull down. Once selected, the items pending for Vendor return will appear and can either be consolidated or processed as needed for return shipment. Items that are returning to alternate warehouses will available and a Warehouse Transfer can be created from the Source Detail for processing. Procurement is the default activity for the screen.
In the Filters Section, you can further define the browser line display by specifying vendor code, whether to display the achieved amount, weight and cubes as a quantity or a percentage of the targets. For the Show setting, specify the type of activity to display in the browser: All Activity or Actionable activity to indicate whether to display lines that do not require replenishment so you can initiate on demand purchase orders.
Buyers Control Center Browser Display
After you specify information in the header portion of the screen, replenishment lines for the warehouses and vendors specified are displayed in the browser.
In the Include section, the checked prioritization categories indicate the types of orders that are displayed in the Lines browser. Click Change ARP Buys to modify what is included (what to buy) in the Lines display for each individual line. These check boxes directly affect all of the detail lines for the ARP determining whether the buy check box is selected when you access in the BCC Detail screen.
For example if you uncheck the Spec Order check box, and set all other check boxes to checked, then all lines on the BCC Detail screen will be set to "buy" except for special orders. As a result, the BCC Detail screen will have "visible" only those lines that are set to "buy".
Note: When a line is recalculated, the ARP filters are reset to the default settings.
The prioritization filters include information on how the ARPs were prioritized and includes the number of items/lines that fall into these categories (Note: PNA is “Purchasing Net Available” and equals On Hand - Committed - Back ordered + On Order):
Spec Ord – Items with existing special orders. For an un-inventoried, temporary or catalog item that is back-ordered, the item will be picked up as a special order in the Buyers Control Center, unless the document is placed on service hold, credit hold or the document is currently in use.
Backorder – Items that have open back orders.
Critical – Items where PNA is less than safety stock quantity.
Neg PNA – Items where PNA is negative. (i.e. if all open purchase orders arrived now, there would still not be enough to fill current needs)
Replenish – Items where PNA is at or below order point.
Items Above Line Point- All of the items in this ARP, even if they are not ready to be ordered. Items that are not ready to be ordered will be displayed with a Purchase Quantity of 0, but it can be useful to see all of the items in the ARP, and it allows you to investigate why FACTS is not recommending you purchase an item.
Rank - filter the display by a specified rank, for stocked and replenished items.
Note: Any item that does not fall within one of the above categories will be color coded white. For example, an item that is above order point but below line point would show up colored white.
The buying targets section includes:
Ach Amt – “Achieved Amount” is the total cost of the current recommended order.
Target Amt – This is the buying target for cost as identified in Review Cycle Setup.
Ach Weight – “Achieved Weight” is the total weight of the current recommended order. For this value to be accurate, you must have entered and maintained weights for each item and UM in Item F/M, UM F/M.
Target Wgt – This is the buying target for weight as identified in Review Cycle Setup.
Ach Cubes – “Achieved Cubes” is the total cubes of the current recommended order. For this value to be accurate, you must have entered and maintained cubes for each item and UM in Item F/M, UM F/M.
Target Cubes – This is the buying target for cubes as identified in Review Cycle Setup.
The prioritization section includes information on how the ARPs were prioritized and includes the number of items/lines that fall into these categories (Note: PNA is “Purchasing Net Available” and equals On Hand - Committed - Backordered + On Order):
Spec Ord – Items with existing special orders
Backorder – Items that have open backorders
Critical – Items where PNA is less than safety stock quantity.
Neg PNA – Items where PNA is negative. (i.e. if all open purchase orders arrived now, there would still not be enough to fill current needs)
Replenish – Items where PNA is at or below order point
Surplus Tr – Items that are on a surplus transfer
Note: Any item that does not fall within one of the above categories will be given a fixed sort value of “10”, and color coded white. For example, an item that is above order point but below line point would show up with a sort value of “10” and colored white.
You can double click a line to access the Buyers Control Center Detail screen to view detailed information about the replenishment path; make changes, or create purchase orders, transfers or returns.
Any ARP that is color-coded on the summary screen should be reviewed for whether an order should be placed. Generally speaking, the higher the ARP is displayed in the summary screen, the more urgent it is that an order be placed.
Typically, an order should be placed when any “worthy” item in the ARP is at or below order point. There are exceptions, and buyers will sometimes delay placing an order depending on their willingness to risk stock outs of the items in question.
When deciding “When” to place an order, we do not consider where we are in the ARP’s review cycle. If we have worthy items that will stock out before the next planned order, we don’t want to just let the stock out happen because we didn’t expect to place another order this soon. FACTS analyzes all of the items in the ARP and presents needed replenishment activity regardless of where they are in their review cycle.
However, as you will see, review cycle is far more important to answering “What” and “How Much”. It’s just not used to determine “When”.
Once it’s determined that you should place an order with a vendor or distribution center (remember, that is based on having any worthy items at or below order point), the next question is “which items should I order?”
To answer this question, we need to revisit Line Point.
Line point = order point + (review cycle days times average daily usage), and is generally considered to be the stocking level we want to order up to, with some possible adjustments like economic order quantity (EOQ) and vendor or transfer rounding (more on that when we get to “How Much”).
Normally, when placing an order, we should be ordering all items that are below line point. This keeps the entire line of products for this ARP balanced with each other, making it easier to make buying targets regularly.
At this point, we need to take a closer look at the Buyer’s Control Center Detail screen. You get to this screen by double-clicking one of the ARPs on the summary screen.
When you return to the Buyers Control Center from the Buyers Control Center Detail screen, the replenishment lines you accessed display at the top of the browser with the warehouse highlighted.
You can select View>Replenishment Math to see values and detailed calculations for a warehouse/item combination for the replenishment line highlighted in the browser. Replenishment Math information includes calculations for: Order Point, Line Point, Order Quantity and Recommend Order Quantity.
Line Buy Processing
The Buyers Control Center uses line-buy processing. That is buying everything in the product line that you purchase from this vendor or vendor/to whse / purchase line combinations and increase all purchase quantities up to line point (the amount of stock you purchase up to for an item).
After using the Recalculate All function in the Buyers Control Center, double click a browser line to drill down to perform a 'line-buy, an emergency buy, or a below order point buy.'
You can also perform an ‘emergency buy’ on any line on the Buyers Control Detail screen by right-clicking and selecting Set All Buy to No so that you only purchase critical items & special orders.
In Replenishment Parameter Maintenance (ICF990) you can specify a default buyer under the Review Cycle parameter. By doing this, you create a default buyer for a warehouse, so that if a buyer does not exist for an approved replenishment path (ARP), a default is available for returns, purchase orders (procurement) and transfers to be processed in the Buyers Control Center. For example, the new default buyer can be used for special orders and Order-as-Needed (OAN) items for a path that is not part of the normal replenishment process. The default buyer will also be applied for transfers if the Review Cycle does not exist for a given ARP (Warehouse + From Warehouse).
Using the default buyer setup for a warehouse, you can select Recalculate All to display lines for each ARP associated with the default buyer. These lines are the ‘temporary’ ARP for the given Warehouse + Vendor or Warehouse + From Warehouse and do not have a specific Warehouse + Vendor or Warehouse + From Warehouse scope set up in Replenishment Parameter Maintenance. The lines will not appear in the Buyers Control Center until you select the Recalculate All option and will remain unprocessed without further action.
Example Scenario:
Complete this information to create a Default Buyer for alternate an ARP.
Create the Default Buyer for Warehouse 01 in Replenishment Parameter Maintenance. Set the Buyer code to 100.
Specify a sales order for item I100 for warehouse 01. Note: In our example, the item is a non-stock item from vendor V100 and a quantity is entered and backordered.
[Note: A Review Cycle does not exist for Warehouse 01 + Vendor V100 in the Replenishment Parameter Maintenance for scope "D - Warehouse + Vendor".]
Access the Buyers Control Center and select buyer 100 and Procurement activity
[ *** The replenishment path for warehouse 01, vendor V100 will not appear in the BCC list view ***]
Click the Recalculate All action.
[The system will locate the item I100 and create the line for Warehouse 01 / Vendor V100.]
The line is displayed in the grid and can then be processed and a PO created using the same methods for established ARPs.
When processing returns in the Buyers Control Center, any buyer, by default, can view all open returns and assume any return. In the Buyers Control Center, when you specify a buyer and select Returns, drilling to the detail of the return automatically ties the return to the buyer and when creating purchase orders, the buyer will be entered on the purchase order. If you back out of the detail view without creating a PO, the return path (Warehouse + Vendor) will become available to other buyers. You can also process returns for temporary items. On the BCC Detail screen, you can specify temporary item in BCC Return Grid and manage temporary items entered from the Customer Returns System in the Sales Orders module.
You can initiate returns processing for additional vendor/warehouses by clicking the Add Return Vendor button on the Buyers Control Center (POE400). A dialog displays for entry of the From Warehouse and To Vendor.
Return surplus management
Return surplus management is available for stocked, active, warehouse/items that are replenished if the Returns Tracking check box is selected on the Returns view of PO Static Control (POF980).
In the BCC, auto-creation of surplus return records via background processing occurs if the Auto Calculate Nightly for Returns check boxes are checked in PO Static Control F/M. Otherwise, auto creation of any return surplus records in the BCC can only be initiated by clicking “Recalculate” in the Returns selection.
When any negative quantity Vendor Return line is created/entered within the BCC, if a free “V” type SOCRSH document exists and is not tied to an existing customer return document already, then, that existing vendor return document is “added-to” rather than creating a new vendor return document for each vendor return line entry.
To return surplus on the BCC Returns Detail (POE405) screen, click Return Surplus to import items from 1 of 6 options:
1. buyer long term surplus (buyer specific -always uses displayed buyer/whse/vendor specific)
2. buyer short term surplus (buyer specific -always uses displayed buyer/whse/vendor specific)
3. vendor long term surplus (not buyer specific -always uses displayed whse/vendor specific)
4. vendor short term surplus (not buyer specific -always uses displayed whse/vendor specific)
5. whse long term surplus (not buyer nor vendor specific -always uses displayed whse specific)
6. whse short term surplus (not buyer nor vendor specific -always uses displayed whse specific)
Click OK to display the Import Program (POE151) with the surplus (per the number 1-6 selected) displayed.
Surplus stock is not “tagged” as either short- or long-term surplus in FACTS. Only a calculation determines if some stock, as a whole, is identifiable as either short- or long-term surplus. If you have stock in both situations and choose to return only some of it, then surplus stock as a whole is reduced. Long term surplus is reduced before short term surplus.
Transfer processing verifies that planned special order transfer lines still exist when loading the line grid or when creating transfers from the Buyers Control Center. If the planned special order transfer was used (from the Customer Returns System, etc.) and is no longer on file, the system displays a message prompting you to review the changes. Be sure to specify the Ship Via for the carrier for transfers on the BCC Detail screen.
When the Build Bill of Materials activity is initially accessed, no warehouses are displayed in the grid. This indicates the auto-calculation feature is not active or there are no warehouses with the default buyer having Normal/Active status BOM planning records. You must click Recalculate All to generate BCC lines from Normal/Active status BOM planning records for this buyer. The grid displays the warehouses containing viable planning records existed to be pulled into the BCC. Click Add MC Whse to manually add a warehouse for this buyer. Manual addition is useful for emergency builds only, where the build ticket is scheduled and created that day.
If you remove or recalculate for a line, a buyer or all records in the grid, any pulled planning records with B - BCC entered status are set back to N-Normal/Active status until they are pulled again. These removals and recalculations are not considered deletions. The Restore Plan on Delete prompt in MC Static Control is not applicable. Removing a line or all warehouses does not automatically pull planning records back in like recalculations.
The Build Formulation activity is similar to the Build Bill of Materials activity. Formulation planning records are to create production tickets instead of BOM planning records.
The functionality is the same:
When initially accessed, no warehouses are displayed in the grid. This indicates the auto-calculation feature is not active or there are no warehouses with the default buyer having Normal/Active status formulation planning records. You must click Recalculate All to generate BCC lines from Normal/Active status formulation planning records for this buyer. The grid displays the warehouses containing viable planning records existed to be pulled into the BCC. Click Add MC Whse to manually add a warehouse for this buyer. Manual addition is useful for emergency builds only, where the build ticket is scheduled and created that day.
Remove or recalculating for a line, a buyer or all records in the grid, any pulled planning records with B - BCC entered status are set back to N-Normal/Active status until they are pulled again. These removals and recalculations are not considered deletions. The Restore Plan on Delete prompt in MC Static Control is not applicable. Removing a line or all warehouses does not automatically pull planning records back in like recalculations.
Buyers Control Center Procedures
Buyers Control Center-Daily Steps
Buyers Control Center Detail (POE405)
Buyers Control Center On Order View
Buyers Control Center Open Docs View
Buyers Control Center Package View
Buyers Control Center Restocking View
Buyers Control Center Usage View
Buyers Control Center Transfer History View
Buyers Control Center Surplus Selection View
Buyers Control Center Purchase Order History View
Buyers Control Center Returns Detail (POE406)
BCC Detail Build Bill of Materials (POE407)
BCC Detail Build Formulation (POE408)