Product groups are used to group parts within the stock file regardless of franchise. Discount mapping is set up by product group, and must be done carefully to ensure that the correct discounting terms are applied to each group. Standard functionality exists that allows you to create and maintain product groups.
To access product groups:
The STOCK MANAGEMENT menu is displayed.
Select the Miscellaneous options option and click OK.
The SM MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS menu is displayed.
Select the Product groups option.
The Product Groups form is displayed.
The Product Groups form is displayed when you select the Product groups option from the MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS menu. From this form, you can create and maintain product groups.
Product group: Enter the product code (up to 3 characters).
Tip: Click the Ellipsis button ![[...]](Ellipsis.gif){kind=small}
to search for available product group records on file.
Description: A thirty-character description that fully describes the parts held in this group, e.g. GT £15 with 20 movements/month.
Maximum margin %: This is set for exception reporting purposes, and is the maximum profit margin expected to be achieved on the sale of parts in this product group. A warning appears in Point-of-Sale on any transaction that exceeds this value. A parameter (Max/min override price) on the Parts 1 tab of the POS Flags-Priorities parameters holds a user priority that can be set to disallow an operator from issuing a part that exceeds the maximum margin.
Minimum margin %: This is set for exception reporting purposes, and is the minimum profit margin expected to be achieved on the sale of parts in this product group. A warning appears in Point-of-Sale on any transaction that does not meet this value. A parameter (Max/min override price) on the Parts 1 tab of the POS Flags-Priorities parameters holds a user priority that can be set to disallow an operator from issuing a part that is below the minimum margin.
Default lead time: The number of days lead time for parts in this product group. This value is used by the Generate Max/Min Levels program to calculate the minimum stock level for each part in this product group, if the lead times on the part record and the re-order category are zero. Increasing this value increases both the minimum and maximum levels. A default lead time is held on four different records on the Autoline system. For a full description of the order of preference in which the system accesses records, refer to the topic Max/Min Calculation.
Note: The Default lead time, Days between order and Coefficient fields all influence the result of the maximum and minimum levels generated. Any changes will take effect the next time the Generate Max/Min Levels program is run.
VOR lead time: The lead time for urgent (VOR) orders in this product group. This is used in Purchase Control to calculate the date required on the purchase transaction record which uses today's date plus the VOR lead time to set the required date. This value is only used at the time the purchase transaction is created.
Days between order: This value is used by the Generate Max/Min Levels program to calculate the maximum stock level for each part in this product group, if the Days between orders value on the re-order category is zero. Increasing this value alone increases the maximum level, leaving the minimum level as it is currently. A days between order value is held on three different records on the Autoline system. For a full description of the order of preference in which the system accesses records, refer to the topic Max/Min Calculation.
Discount Group (pos): This value determines the Point-of-Sale discount map to be used when issuing parts. Each group of parts can therefore have its own set of discount tables.
VOR reserve: This parameter is used by the Batch print documents option on the POINT OF SALE menu, which is only available if the company in the depot file is set up as a Warehouse. Enter the amount of stock to be reserved on VOR. The reserve quantity is maintained in stock if the Batch print option is used.
Analysis code: This value is populated from the price file of some manufacturers. The MS assign routine must be modified by Manufacturer Systems Support. When you create a part record in Stock Management, the system uses the analysis code entered here rather than the analysis code on the Details tab of the franchise record.
Re-cats: These are the re-order categories assigned to a part record. This table must contain the re-order category used for the groups of parts, where the maximum and minimum levels are to be maintained by the system. However, if required, you can maintain the levels manually via the Re-order categories option on the SM MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS menu.
Coefficient: A safety coefficient must be assigned to each product group category. This value is used by the Generate Max/Min Levels program to calculate the maximum and minimum stocking levels for each part in this product group, if the Safety coefficient value on the re-order category is zero. In general, the higher the coefficient used, the higher the resulting maximum and minimum level, thus increasing the stock order. For a full description of the order of preference in which the system accesses records, refer to the topic Max/Min Calculation.
