A Configure-To-Order (CTO) item must be added within a sales order before continuing with the purchase process described within this section. Review the Selling a CTO Item section for details on creating a sales order. The CTO items must be "purchased" before the sales order can be processed. The purchasing step is accomplished by linking the sales order to the purchase order. This can be done using any of the following steps:
- Linking the purchase directly from the sales order detail line - This option is useful when a single CTO item is purchased immediately from the vendor.
- Purchasing the entire sales order - This purchase option is useful when the entire sales order contains one or more CTO items.
- Purchasing special order items from the Special Orders tab of the purchasing screen - This popular option allows the user to purchase CTO items after contents of the sales order are created and saved. This option should be used when the purchasing staff places the orders for CTO products sold by a separate sales team. Using the Purchasing Page facilitates the ordering of CTO, special order, and stocked items from a common interface.
Linking Configure-To-Order items to a purchase order should be done at the time the items are ordered from the vendor. Review the section below for each of the three linking options:
A. Purchasing the entire sales order
This purchasing option is the recommended method used for sales orders that only contain Configure-To-Order (CTO) items. use the next Linking the purchase directly from the sales order detail line option if items other than the CTO items are listed on the same sales order.
- Open the sales order and select Process > Create Purchase Orders(s) from the sales order menu as shown below:
The following Create Purchase Invoice option will only appear if the Purchase Method is set to Associated or other special order method and a Vendor ID code is populated within the inventory item.
This option will not be available if the line item has already been linked to a purchase order. -
Select the Create a new PO option if you do not wish to append to an existing purchase order.
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Click on the Select existing PO and configure the All/Vendor settings to select an existing purchase order.
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Click on the Select / Create button to create the purchase order as shown below:
The Ordered quantity, Description, Vendor Part Number, and Cost is copied from the sales order to the purchase order as shown above. The customization descriptions, created by the optional components or any manual notes added to the CTO item on the sales order, are copied to the purchase order. Any description changes in the sales order, made after the copy, will not be reflected on the purchase order.
B. Linking the purchase directly from the sales order detail line
- This option is useful when only a portion of the sales order detail lines contain CTO items. Right click on a detail line to link a purchase order directly to a specific line item of a sales order and click on the Create Purchase Order option within the context menu as shown below:
The following Create Purchase Invoice option will only appear if the Purchase Method is set to Associated or other none stock method and a Vendor ID code is populated.
- Review the previous section for details on the process to create a purchase order.
C. Purchasing special order items from the Special Orders tab of the purchasing screen
The Purchasing Page contains a Special Orders tab that lists all the Configure-To-Order sales orders as well as other special orders and drop shipments that are not linked to a purchase order.
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Go to Inventory > Purchasing and click on the Special Orders tab as shown below:
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Click on the Find (F5) button or hit the F5 keyboard key to list all the Configure-To-Order (CTO) and special order items that match the query option on the top of the window. All CTO items will be listed if all the query options are disabled as shown above. Set any of the following query options to limit the special order list:
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Enable the Vendor option to list only the CTO items that are set to be purchased from the selected Vendor.
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Enable the Folder and the Include Subfolders options to limit the list to CTO and special order items from a specific folder or subfolders group. Review the Product Catalog > Adding and Deleting Inventory Folders section for more details on inventory item folders.
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Enable the Manufacturer option to list only items associated by a single manufacturer. The Manufacturer setting is found within the General tab of the inventory item.
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Enable the Purchase Method option and select the Associated method to limit the list to the special order items with a Purchase Method of Associated. Review the Purchasing > Purchasing Methods section for more details on the Purchase Window query options.
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Note that the Find (F5) button must be clicked to refresh the list of items.
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Enable the Selected option (first column of item list) for each item you wish to place on the purchase order. Click on the Create P.O. button to link Selected special orders to a purchase order.
The CTO and special order item list can be evaluated when the Create PO is launched from the main Inventory Purchasing Page by enabling the View when creating purchase order option within the Inventory > Options > General tab. Review the Purchasing > Using the Purchasing Page to Create Purchase Order section for details on this option.
Each Configure-To-Order item listed on the purchase order is linked to the originating sales order. See the contents of the Linked column of the purchase order. Note that this column may be hidden. The user can conveniently open the sales order that contains the CTO item by right-clicking on the detail line that contains the CTO item within the purchase order and selecting Linked Document from the context menu.
A purchase order with CTO items must be processed before the sales order can be processed into an invoice. Review the Purchasing > Special Orders and Drop Ship Items > Purchasing Special Orders section for more general details about purchasing special orders including CTO items.