Transfers


Chapter Topics
Out Slips
Transport Catalog
Merchandise In Transit
In Slips


Transferring merchandise from one store to another is an essential part of successfully running a chain of retail stores. Moving merchandise from a store where it is not selling to a store where there is demand for those items can dramatically increase profitability. On the other hand, transfers also present danger: if you do not have the right controls in place merchandise can be lost or stolen while it is in transit.

Fortunately, XpertMart gives you the tools you need to effectively control the transfer process. This chapter will explain how to create Out Slips and In Slips . The next chapter will discuss how to run the XpertMatch process to automatically detect discrepancies between Out Slips and In Slips and how to make Correction Slips to fix the differences.

If you haven't already, be sure you read the Transactions topic before reading this chapter to learn the basics behind making a transaction. This chapter will only discuss the parts of the transaction screen that are uinque to Slips.


Out Slips
When making a transfer, the store that is sending the merchandise makes an Out Slip while the store that is receiving the merchandise makes an In Slip. To make an Out Slip, go to Transactions>Transfers>Out Slips: 



This opens up the Out Slips transaction screen, which has all of the standard elements of all of the other transaction screens . The only difference is that in the transaction header there are three fields unique to Out Slips.



The From Store field shows the store that is making the transaction. This field appears grayed-out as it cannot be edited. The To Store field is a drop-down menu showing all of the stores from the Stores Catalog. Select the store that the merchandise is being sent to. Note that if you select the same store that appears in the From Store field you will see this error message:



This is to close a loophole that could potentially be used for fraud. All Out Slips must identify a store that will receive the merchandise.


Transport Catalog
The third field in the header that is unique to Out Slips is the Transport field. This field is a drop-down menu that contains the entries in the Transport Catalog. The Transport Catalog can be openend by going to Catalogs>POS>Transport.



Enter the modes of transport used in store transfers. This will make it easier to track down merchandise that is lost in transit. You can use the Reference field in the Out Slip under Transfers, for example, to enter a tracking number if you are using UPS or Fedex to send the merchandise.




Merchandise In Transit
Once you've specified the destination store and the mode of transport, you can proceed to enter the merchandise being transferred into the Items Area of the Out Slip. In the example below, 3 pairs of Rosy Black 5.5 Narrow, 1 pair of Zodiacs Raisin 7.0 and 2 pairs of Escalades Red 8.0 are being sent from the Robson store to the Oakridge store.



Once you press <F12> those items are subtracted from the inventory of the store sending the merchandise. However, they are not added to the receiving store until that store makes an In Slip. In the meantime, that merchandise is considered in transit- subtracted from the sending store but not yet added to the receiving store. The next chapter explains how to track merchandise in transit.

When you have finished an Out Slip and printed, it gets stored in the Documents>Transfers>Out Slips catalog.


In Slips
When a store receives merchandise from another store it creates an In Slip. This is done by going to Transactions>Transfers>In Slips which opens up the In Slips transaction screen:



The In Slip screen includes the same three fields in the header that that Out Slips have: From Store, To Store and Transport. Only this time the To Store field is grayed out as the name of the receiving store is automatically filled-in. If you try to print the In Slip without specifying the sending store, you will get this error message:



This is to close a loophole that could potentially be used for fraud. All In Slips must identify the store that is sending the merchandise.

Unique to In Slips is the Out Slip No. filed where you should enter the Out Slip of the merchandise being sent. Entering the Out Slip number makes it possible to match Out Slips and In Slips and detect discrepancies. Linking an In Slip to an originating Out Slip is what really allows you to have control over transfers. If the Out Slip number appears incorrect, you will see an error message like this:



While there is no way for the system to know the exact Out Slip number, it can know if the number you enter matches the store you enter in the From Store field, and if the number of digits is too small or too large.

You will notice that once the Out Slip number is entered, the system does not populate the Items Area of the In Slip with the merchandise that is in the original Out Slip the way a Receipt gets populated with data on a Purchase Order. This is because maximum control is achieved through "blind" transfers. Ideally the receiving store should not know what merchandise the sending store claims it sent. This reduces the opportunity for theft or fraud. For example, if the sending store creates an Out Slip with 18 items but the receiving store notices that 19 were sent, the employee making the In Slip is free to claim 18 items were received and keep the extra one that was accidentally seen.

Therefore, when merchandise is transfered out of the store, the Out Slip that gets printed should show the date, employee and Out Slip number, but should not specify the items being sent. 

In the example above, the Oakridge store is receiving 2 pairs of Rosy
Black 5.5 and one pair of Zodiacs Raisin 7.0. The example intentionally
creates a discrepancy between the items sent in the Out
Slip above and the items received on this In Slip. In the next chapter we'll see how XpertMart
handles this discrepancy.

When you have finished an In Slip and printed, it gets stored in the Documents>Transfers>In Slips catalog.

Copyright © 2004 Dinari Systems LLC

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