Purchasing
Whether you need to buy on the fly, receive a complicated shipment, or settle a priced-after-sale purchase order, Produce Pro handles it all.
Efficient entry and processing
You can choose from several interface types, designed to support and streamline the entry process. For example:
- The system can help you enter orders quickly, using methods that make sense for any given situation. For example, it can guide you through orders based on the items you typically keep in inventory, or based on what you typically order from specific vendors.
- At entry time, you can even group purchase orders into inbound loads (or "build trucks") for delivery to your facility.
- You can add and allocate charges at any level: per item, per purchase order, per load (truck).
Support for your relationships and arrangements
We understand that every business relationship is unique. We've designed the system with the flexibility to support and track the details of any partnership, however you decide to manage them.
- Produce Pro identifies and distinguishes between special purchasing situations, such as price-after-sale arrangements, consignments, and direct shipments. It also tracks and manages vendor rebates.
- To help you settle a cost figure after you sell a batch or lot of product, the system includes an electronic worksheet that helps you explore the possible outcomes. You can easily manipulate percentages and hard cost dollars to reach a settlement figure you're happy with, before you actually commit to it.
- On demand, the system can generate a detailed account of sale. This document states everything that happens to a batch or lot of product while it's in your possession — including every step of processing and repack operations.
- To support relationships with growers, Produce Pro includes tools that track, manage, and report on the details of each arrangement. For example, you can authorize and issue advances to your growers, directly from the system.
Buying and forecasting: the big picture
Produce Pro makes it easy and intuitive for buyers and salespeople to forecast needs in conjunction with one another, and to make the most effective plans to support business.
- Context-sensitive, real-time inventory status, accessible from anywhere in the system, tells you how much product is on hand, due to arrive, and already committed to customers. You can even check projected counts for several days into the future.
- The system can automatically notify you when a product's on-hand inventory drops to a particular threshold that you control.
- For those who prefer even more sophisticated forecasting, our buying models let you develop complex algorithms for calculating how much you'll need of a particular product, and when, based on historical patterns. You can tweak the logic to account for shifts such as holidays and seasonal interest.
Integration and ease
Since Produce Pro is a fully integrated system, logic and data flow as they should between programs and modules.
- Traceability has been an integral part of our system and our philosophy since day one. Every lot of every item is tracked throughout its lifecycle, beginning with lot assignment within each purchase order.
- The purchasing applications are fully integrated with Accounts Payable, and vendor invoices are associated directly with their respective purchase orders. Your buyers can have access to financial information about vendor relationships, which equips them to make informed decisions.
- Extensive, specialized purchasing reports give you rapid access to the information you need, however general or granular, whenever you need it.
- You can quickly and easily fax and e-mail documents and reports, directly from the system.