In today’s Prophet 21 (P21) tutorial video, we’re diving into the Vendor Supplier Management screen. This window helps provide a comprehensive overview of vendor-supplier information for your purchasing team.
Overview of Prophet 21 Vendor Supplier Management
Vendor supplier management in P21 offers a centralized view of the activities for a particular vendor-supplier relationship. It’s important to note though, that a single vendor can have multiple suppliers, so this screen creates a flexible framework for tracking and managing these relationships.
When you open the vendor supplier management screen, you’re presented with a variety of vendor and supplier details. The screen is structured to reflect data carried over from both supplier and vendor maintenance, including physical addresses, vendor info, and other details.
PO Variances
A unique feature of this module is the PO (Purchase Order) Variance tab. Users gain quick insight into variations by tracking PO variances in costs or quantities. This section also provides a year-to-date total, making it a quick reference for monitoring how often variances occurred.
PO Management:
The PO Management section is one of the most useful tools in this window. It helps analyze specific items from suppliers or a particular location’s supplier. Apply filters like location ID, buyer ID, item ID, or PO number, to narrow down searches and access detailed information about open PO lines.
When navigating through open PO lines, you can modify expected dates, update required dates, add shipping acknowledgments, set follow-up reminders, and input notes. This tab also gives the average lead time for a particular item-supplier pairing and insight into delivery timelines.
Additional Features and Insights:
Beyond PO Management, the module has a range of features including Audit Trails (which are very similar to the audit trails you would see in supplier maintenance), Supplier Contacts, Supplier Items, Receipt Issues, Supplier Issues Action, Inventory Returns (including returns tracking), Supplier On Time performance analysis, and Purchase Receipts Analysis. Each of these sections offers tools to streamline vendor-supplier interactions and track performance metrics.
Conclusion and Next Steps
Vendor Supplier Management within Prophet 21 provides a wide range of functions to help streamline your team’s purchasing processes.
If you have any questions or would like us to cover specific topics in a future video, drop a comment below. Stay tuned for more content and future tutorials!
