Import Manager

From PlantX.net

PlantX.net can facilitate the brokering of plant material from other vendors. The Import Manager controls the import of vendor spreadsheets into inventory.

When the vendor's spreadsheet is imported, it creates or updates the supplies in inventory. These supplies can be assigned to separate crops and locations and can be sold as part of the regular inventory. The imported supplies are different from normal inventory, and as such they compute the available quantity different from normal supplies.

Import Maps

The first time the vendor's inventory is imported, you must match their product codes (keys) to your catalog items. So this tedious matching does not have to be done each time the vendor's spreadsheet is imported, PlantX records the matches in a "map". Subsequent imports can use the import map to quickly update inventory. Should there be any new items listed on future imports, the Import Manager will prompt to map the new items. If products listed on prior imports are no longer found on the latest import, the Import Manager assumes supply is no longer available and sets the Stock quantity to zero.

Allocated Supplies

The imported supplies work just like normal inventory supplies and can be listed on your availability or web site, and subsequently ordered by customers.

Available Quantity

Supplies that are created from the imported inventory spreadsheet are special and marked as (Imported). Imported supplies can be allocated to order items just like normal supplies, but they don't actually reduce the quantity available. Normally the amount Available is calculated by starting with the Stock quantity and subtracting all Allocated quantities, but imported supplies are only a snapshot of what the vendor has available. Just because you allocated them does not mean the vendor has committed them. Therefore, imported supplies do not count the Allocated to determine Available quantity. For imported supplies the Available quantity is always the Stock quantity.

Imported supplies are expected to change regularly. The vendor is entering orders from you and other customers which changes their availability constantly. You can allocate their supplies to your PlantX orders, but you have no control over what is committed, therefore we cannot assume just because you allocated it, the Available quantity is reduced. Instead, you must submit the order to the vendor, they then commit some inventory to your order (and others during the day) and finally send you a new spreadsheet with the most recent figures. The Import Manager will then update the imported supplies' Stock quantities to match the vendor's inventory.