Answer: When viewing an inventory record in Solid Business Central™ at [Datafile / Inventory / View], the fields of 'Min Qty' and 'MinOrder' are used for the process of Automatic Ordering. With Automatic Ordering, items can be set so that when the 'OH All' (On Hand in All Cost Centers) quantity reaches the low quantity level specified in 'Min Qty', then the amount set in 'MinOrder' should be ordered. This will keep inventory levels of this item high enough in the warehouse to help guarantee that this item is never sold out.
To create a purchase order using Automatic Ordering:
- In Solid Business Central™, navigate to [Buying] and select [Buying] once again if a secondary menu level shows to arrive at the Buying screen, where the 'Supplier Transaction Entry Menu' will be displayed along the bottom.
- Use the [Escape] key and answer Yes to the questions "Cancel this Transaction" and "Cancel Ordering" to change the menu along the bottom to be the 'Ordering Services Menu'.
- From this menu, use [F4] Make to bring up the 'Make Menu' and select [Purchase Orders] to begin the Automatic Ordering process.
- From the 'Inventory Order Creation' menu, select by what criteria items should be searched by to be considered for addition to this order. Of those items, if they have an 'OH All' quantity of less than their 'Min Qty' value, they will then be included on this purchase order by the quantity specified in the 'MinOrder' field. Vendor (Supplier) is a popular option so that the purchase order being generated is guaranteed to only have items on it belonging to that one supplier. Once that criteria is entered, use [CTRL+END] to bring up the three order creating options of [Automatic], [Browse], and [Paper].
- [Automatic]: Use this option to create the Automatic Order. This will look at each item within the range specified in the previous step and evaluate if its 'OH All' quantity is less than the value in the 'Min Qty' field for that item. If so, then the quantity set in the 'MinOrder' field is added to the purchase order.
- [Browse]: Once the [Automatic] order creation process above has been completed, the [Browse] button allows the order to be viewed on-screen before being compiled as an actual purchase order. If changes need to be made to this list, the values in the Qty column can be manually adjusted for each item as required.
- [Paper]: Using this option will return the user to the familiar Buying screen, where the purchase order will be automatically populated based on the above [Automatic] and [Browse] procedures. Like creating a regular purchase order, any necessary changes can be made to this purchase order before saving it with [CTRL+END].