V8 - Vendor-Item Catalog

Although only one vendor can be included in an item definition, SOS Inventory’s Vendor-Item Catalog permits you to track multiple vendors per item. Available only on the Plus and Pro plans, the catalog enables you to track an item’s purchase cost, vendor part number, and estimated lead time for different vendors.

When used in conjunction with the Multicurrency feature, the capability of the Vendor-Item Catalog is expanded, allowing you to track a vendor’s cost for an item in the vendor's currency.

Items and vendors must already exist in the system before they can be added to the catalog. Depending on the method you use to add or update the catalog entries—as well as whether you are using the multicurrency feature—you may or may not want to specify a preferred vendor in some or all of your item definitions in certain situations. Review this article in its entirety before making your decision.

Once you have created your catalog, you can use the Where to buy report (Operations menu > Reports > Purchasing > Where to buy) to assist you in making purchasing decisions. This report pulls data from the Vendor-Item Catalog.

To access the Vendor-Item Catalog, go to Company menu > Miscellaneous > Vendor-Item Catalog.

Methods for adding and updating Vendor-Item Catalog entries

The three main ways to add/update the Vendor-Item Catalog are:

Updating the purchase cost of each item individually, in its item definition.
Updating the purchase cost via the Update default cost setting.
Adding or editing entries directly into the Vendor-Item Catalog.

Each method is explained in the subsections below.

Updating the purchase cost in the item definition

edit_noteNOTE: The item definition must include a preferred vendor. If no preferred vendor is specified, the Vendor-Item Catalog will not be updated.

edit_noteNOTE: If a preferred vendor is specified for a component on a BOM, the Vendor-Item Catalog price shows on the BOM—not the purchase cost from the item record. If you are using multicurrency with the Vendor-Item Catalog, please be sure to read the IMPORTANT note under Using multicurrency with the Vendor-Item Catalog about updating BOMs in this situation.

To update the purchase cost of an item:

Go to Operations menu > Inventory > Items and locate the item record in the Items list.
Update the Purchase cost field. If you have not already done so, select your Preferred vendor.
Save the item.

Upon saving the item record, SOS will update the Vendor-Item Catalog.

Updating the purchase cost via the Update default cost setting

If the Update default cost setting (Settings > Purchasing settings) is enabled, the system will respond in the following ways when a purchase order or item receipt is saved:

If a preferred vendor is specified in an item’s definition, the Vendor-Item Catalog will automatically update the purchase cost for the vendor-item pair.
If no preferred vendor is specified for an item, the purchase cost is updated in the item record with the new default cost and an entry is added for that vendor to the Vendor-Item Catalog.
If the vendor selected on a purchase transaction is not the preferred vendor in the item record, saving the transaction will update the existing entry in the catalog or add a new one if the entry does not already exist for that vendor-item combination.
If the item has defined units of measure, and the UOM selected on the purchasing transaction is in the item’s conversion table, the conversion UOM purchase cost is updated. The vendor selected on the transaction does not matter.

If the Update default cost setting is disabled, neither the purchase cost in the item definition nor the Vendor-Item Catalog will be updated.

Adding or editing entries directly into the Vendor-Item Catalog

edit_noteNOTE: Once entered in the Vendor-Item Catalog, the vendor associated with that entry cannot be changed.

edit_noteNOTE: The lead time in the Vendor-Item Catalog is not updated if the Pro plan’s Calculate reorder points setting (Settings > Inventory settings) is enabled.

To add an entry to the catalog:

Go to Company menu > Vendor-Item Catalog, then select Add new.
Select the Item and Vendor from their respective dropdown menus. Items and vendors must be defined in SOS Inventory before they will appear in the dropdowns.
In the Price field, enter the amount you pay for the item in the vendor’s currency.
Enter the Vendor part number.
Enter the Lead time (in days).
Save and close.

Repeat the above steps to add as many entries as needed, whether for the same item or different items.

Using multicurrency with the Vendor-Item Catalog

warningIMPORTANT: Disable the Update default cost setting (Settings > Purchasing settings) when using the multicurrency feature.

warningIMPORTANT: An item's default purchase cost in a different currency than your home currency should be included in the Vendor-Item Catalog—not the item definition. The purchase cost in the item definition is assumed to be in the home currency.

warningIMPORTANT: If the multicurrency feature is enabled, the bill of materials (BOM) for assembly items may show a mix of currency costs. This is because the purchase cost for each component is pulled from the Vendor-Item Catalog if a preferred vendor is listed in the component item's definition.

So that BOM costs are reflected in your home currency, we recommend the following: (1) do not set a preferred vendor in the item definition; (2) enter those other currency costs directly in the Vendor-Item Catalog; and (3) in the item definition, enter the equivalent purchase cost in the home currency.

The currency on a purchase order or item receipt should always match the currency in the vendor definition.

New vendors and their item costs can be added to an item already listed in the Vendor-Item Catalog. This allows you to have entries for the same item but with different vendors who use different currencies.

If you do not use the Vendor-Item Catalog, you will need to use the exchange rate to calculate and manually update the costs on purchase orders and item receipts using multicurrency.

How SOS Inventory records purchase costs for items on multicurrency transactions and for item transaction history

When an item in the Vendor-Item Catalog is listed on a purchasing form involving a vendor using a different currency:

On both purchase orders and item receipts, an item’s Unit price and Amount fields will reflect its pricing in the vendor’s currency.
Upon saving an item receipt, SOS Inventory calculates each item’s cost in your home currency, which can then be viewed in the item’s transaction history. To access this history, locate the item record on the Items list (Operations menu > Inventory > Items). On the Actions menu, select Transaction history.