Distributed-Quantity Transfers

Distributed-quantity transfers are used in One-Time-Buy Processing. This type of transfer functions identically to regular distributed transfers with the following exceptions:

• The default quantities that appear on distributed-quantity transfers are system-generated based on previous written sales figures for the products on the transfer.

• The transfer-to location must be a store location.

• All products must be one-time-buy products.  

During End-of-Month processing, the system calculates written sales figures from the previous 12 months and stores them in an internal file called the Group Sales file. When you create a distributed-quantity transfer, the system allocates distribution quantities proportional to the actual sales histories of the product's group. For each line item on the transfer, the system identifies the stores on the distribution list and counts the total sales of the all the items in the product's product group (that is, not just the product itself) at each store over the last 12 months. Each store sells a certain percentage of those products, and the system allocates the distribution quantities according to those percentages.

For example, assume

• your organization has 5 stores, named A, B, C, D, and E,

• you have just received into inventory 15 units of Product Z,

• Product Z belongs to Product Group 1 along with two other products, Product X and Product Y,  

• you want to distribute the 15 units using a distribution list that includes only stores A, B, and C (thus removing stores D and E from the calculation), and

• when you last ran your End-of-Month process, the system found the following sales numbers for Product Group 1 in the Group Sales file:

As mentioned above, you want to distribute 15 units of Product Z to stores A, B, and C. Using the percentages from the table above, we get the following calculations:

• Store A - 10% of total quantity 15 equals a distribution quantity of 1.5 for this store

• Store B - 50% of total quantity 15 equals a distribution quantity of 7.5 for this store

• Store C - 40% of total quantity 15 equals a distribution quantity of 6 for this store

The system rounds off fractional quantities. A quantity of 1.5 rounds off to 2. A quantity of 7.5 rounds off to 8.

• Store A - 1

• Store B - 8

• Store C - 6

The systems creates a separate transfer order for each store to which merchandise was allocated, except for the first store on the list which retains the original transfer order. You can view transfer orders for a selected product using the View Outbound Transfers inquiry.

For new STORIS users, if you attempt to create a distributed-quantity transfer and you have not yet run an End-of-Month procedure, the Group Sales file will be empty and thus no statistics will exist by which to calculate distribution quantities. If all the stores on a distribution list have 0.0 sales, the system allocates quantities evenly among the store on the list, as it does for regular distributed transfers.

If a store on a distribution list has no sales history for a product group (that is, $0.00 sales in the last 12 months), the system allocates no items to that store for a distributed-quantity transfer. However, you can use the Inactive Auto Distributed Transfer Calculation field in the Location Settings to override the zero-sales amount and substitute the average sales amount of all active locations. In this way, you can distribute the average amount of merchandise to zero-sales stores.

When STORIS receives a one-time-buy purchase order into the system, STORIS Messenger sends an email to specified employees informing them the PO was received.