An Approach to Simplifying the Work Order to Invoice Process and Inventory Position Management

Purpose:

• Minimize time and effort to capture, process and invoice agronomy work orders.
• Maximize accuracy of on-hand inventory and inventory positions.  

Some Prerequisites:

• The AgSync Crop Production Logistics service is used to generate work orders.  is in use in the agronomy department
• AgroGuide Formulation and Blending is in use with the automated blender integration.

Step-by-step Guide:

1. For customer who want you to deliver the products to you:
   1. AgSync passes Work Orders into AgroGuide. 
   2. These create AgroGuide Formulation Blends which are sent back to AgSync with the blend number ensure bookkeeping can verify estimates to actual. 
   3. Note:  If changes happen with the final delivery in AgSync, someone must update the Delivery Ticket or invoice in AGRIS.
2. For customers who purchase / pick up fertilizer blends at one of your locations (instead of having you deliver it), the person working up the blend will do the following:
   1. Open AgroGuide Formulation.
   2. Use the “EasyBlend" screen (Enable the tab on the right to make it quick and easy to make blend sheets–click HERE for more information).
   3. Use the Active Sales Order button, which creates the formulation and links it to a sales order.
3. All shipments of Fertilizer will be put on a Delivery Ticket.  Delivery Tickets relieve inventory and keep the business running accurately.
   1. Delivery Tickets can help your business:
      1. Know current inventory on hand and positions (available) at each location.
      2. Reduce intra-company transfer costs (e.g., better able to answer the question “should we transfer the product or order more?”).
      3. Be more efficient in logistical decisions. 
      4. Moves accountability to the grower as the inventory is now awaiting invoicing / split information.
      5. Easily understand what remains to be billed.
4. Delivery Tickets
   1. Start your Delivery Ticket and continue to the Blend # page of the Delivery Ticket.  Using this to pull the blend number on to the Delivery Ticket reduces the open sales orders and saves a step in the process.  This makes the fertilizer shipping process easier and more consistent across locations.
   2. Make it mandatory for your staff to use Delivery Tickets as product leaves the facility. 
   3. Use the Active Delivery Tickets reports to know what remains to be billed.  Set the expectation that there should be no active Delivery Tickets over 30 days old.  
5. Blend Audit Report
   1. At least once per week, review the blend audit report for your location. 
   2. Ensure the report accurately reflects open Formulation work that is not yet complete. 
   3. If the report is not accurate, please cancel remaining releases that are not planned to be shipped as the job is done or canceled.
6. Sales Orders
   1. An open sales orders is fine if there is a plan to turn this into a delivery to a customer.  If your customer is not expecting a delivery of the product, then it probably is not a sales order and you should update the customer and cancel the order.
      1. Use a Booking when a customer is promising to buy something with a no money down commitment.  Make sure to discuss the expiration date for such an agreement.
      1. Use a Prepay when a customer is promising to buy something with money down.  Use of Item Prepays is a best practice for managing positions.  There is a way to do a mass change (Reclassify Multiple Unapplied Prepayments) when the manufacturer or distributor substitutes one product with another (click HERE for more information).   If a customer wants to prepay a blend, have them prepay the items of the blend.
7. Physical counts
   1. Make sure that your staff responsible for inventory management have the Position and On Hand columns on inventory lookups for easy and efficient understanding.   
      1. Use the “Refresh” button on the inventory status screen.  Show the position at the end of the prior day. 
      2. Any time you question if the position is truly what remains available to sell, press the Refresh button to give you up to the moment status of exactly what is available to sell.   If you think on hand is available to sell.  
   2. Perform cycle counts.  This means we will not do a complete physical count of all products, but rather a count of some of your products.  Periodically (e.g., every week or 2 weeks) count an area of the warehouse.  These counts should not take more than an hour or 2 hours to perform.  Smaller but more frequent counts help ensure any inventory issues are found timely. 
   3. Enter the Physical count in AGRIS.  Management should review the long / short report and review the Quantity and Dollar long and short.  If the manager agrees with accepting this positive or negative variance, it will record as an invenotry shrink for the period.
8. Receiving inventory
   1. Consider using Purchase Orders with your vendors for accurate position management and verification of prices on vendor invoices. 
   2. Enter Stock Additions.
      1. Enter as estimated stock additions within the second business day of receiving product.
      2. For unknown prices, enter as recent or market cost (you can change it later if necessary).  
   3. Scan the Bill of Ladings and other documents and attach them to the Stock Addition using the AttachToo Document Management feature.  Attaching the Bill of Lading the same day the Stock Addition is added is a best practice.  Add other documents like freight bills or invoices from the vendor later as they arrive.

Contact your Greenstone Relationship Manager or Support if you need help setting any of these elements up in your business or if you desire help exploring how to optimize your operations.  

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