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Introduction

This document provides instructions on how to set up the General Configuration. The configuration is the basis for your lens inventory system, specifying, for example, the number of days between regular ordering cycles. Only one General Configuration can exist. You cannot enter a second General Configuration; you must make appropriate changes to the master General Configuration. The Inventory Manufacturer Configuration will override the General Configuration.

Procedure

You can find the general configuration of Inventory under the Editor Utilities Menu of the Inventory/EOE Main Menu. Entering the configuration brings you to an Informix® screen where you can add, edit, update, or remove your general configuration for Inventory and Electronic Ordering.

You can use two types of Inventory in Optifacts, Usage, and Min/Max inventory. Usage is a basic system that orders a lens each time one gets used regardless of how many are actually in Inventory. Min/Max manages the quantity on hand by looking at the number of days’ worth of stock instead of a specific number of lenses. Min is the minimum number of days of stock to maintain in Inventory, and Max is the maximum number of days of stock to maintain in Inventory. The system looks at the last 90 days usage as well as the Usage from the same month of the previous year to determine the Min/Max levels.

Some of the items in the general configuration won’t be applied fully to a system ordering based upon lens Usage. We cover every item and inform you if it applies to Min/Max or Usage-based ordering.

We use the configuration editor in Menu: 9-1-1 and use the Min/Max calculation if you have “Order by Usage or Min/Max” computation set to “M.” 

From the Optifacts main menu:

Select Option 9 - Inventory and press Enter.

Select Option 1 - Editor Utilities and press enter.

Select Option 1 - General Configuration and press Enter.

The Inventory General Configuration screen is displayed.

Field Definitions

• Enter the applicable data as described below, pressing Enter after each entry.

Select Blanks by Inventory Availability (Y/N)? - Blank Selection based upon Inventory is a simple Yes/No prompt. This prompt applies to both Min/Max and Usage ordering. When set to Yes, you can have Blank Selection automatically choose a lens from your second, third, fourth, or fifth supplier if the lens that would work is out of stock. An example could be having a 70 mm lens as priority one and a 75 mm lens as priority two. When out of stock on the 70 mm lens, Blank Selection pulls and uses the 75 mm lens, even though the Rx would cut on the 70 mm lens. You should set this to “N” to begin. You would change it to “Y” after getting your physical Inventory quantities entered.

• “Y” – Checks to see if the lenses chosen by Blank Selection are in stock and, if not, it does not select them.
• “N” – Uses Blank Selection to determine the best lens for the job regardless of quantity on hand status.

Number of Days Between Min/Max Computation - Will set the default number of days the computer uses to determine minimum and maximum levels of stock. Even though we start with a Usage-based ordering system, we still want to use Min/Max to show us the peaks and lows of the Inventory levels and when these peaks are occurring. An appropriate value to use here is 30 days.

• The number entered in this field gets used in computing the average daily use of each lens SKU.

Retain History Information - Choose “Y” yes, “N” no, or “R” received orders only. This prompt applies to both Min/Max and Usage ordering methods. You can toggle the system to retain history information of all orders and receipts. This logging of information can use an excessive amount of disk space. We recommend that if you wish to retain information, start with just the receipts and set the next prompt to about two or three months. If unsure of the amount disk space you have free, you can check by using the “Check free disk space” feature of the Management Functions menu option of the Optifacts Main Menu.

• “Y” – Retains a detailed history of lens usage per SKU by job number.
• “N” – Does not retain history.

Number of Months to Retain History - The number of calendar months to retain history if the above prompt is “Y” or “R.” Our example above is not saving any information. You may want to check with Optifacts™ support staff about disk space requirements before setting this.

• Usually, one year (12 months) gets used.

Order by Usage or Min/Max computation (U/M) - Set to “U” or “M.” This prompt is where you select your lens ordering method. We start by setting this to “U” for Usage. Even if you desire to order on a Min/Max system, you must first run Usage mode for 90 days (recommended) before switching to Min/Max. This period allows the system a period to determine the best Min/Max levels. Even when ordering based upon Usage, you can use Min/Max to show you which products you are over or under stocked on and at what point in the year or month these peaks are happening.

• “U” – Enable the Usage Inventory system.
• “M” – Enables the Min/Max or Perpetual Inventory system.

Number of Days Supply for Stock Computation - It affects how many lenses are ordered based upon how many days between orders and what your usage level history.

• This number is considered the minimum value of Min/Max.

Number of Days Between Normal Ordering Cycles - It affects how many lenses are ordered based upon the number of days’ supply for stock computation and what your usage level history.

• This value, when added to the previous value, can be considered the maximum value of Min/Max.

Use Which Min/Max Computation Procedure (A-D) - Must be and the default “A.” This prompt applies to Min/Max Ordering. You should leave this entry set to A; the procedures B-D are reserved at this time.

• Selecting any letter from” “A to “D” uses the same formula. “A” is the standard.

Average Cost Method of Costing? (Y/N) - This entry affects how the Inventory in stock is valued when a manufacturer changes the price of a lens. It averages your SKU costs between previous and current costs rather than assign all SKU inventory the new cost. This method results in a more accurate valuation of the Lens Inventory.

• “Y” – Calculates an average price for the lens based on the number of lenses and the price paid for each. The inventory cost (INVENT COPST) comes from the unit_cost field of our inventory record (invent_rec) table. If Y, the cost for the lenses gets averaged based on the value of the lenses on the shelf and adjusted during receipt based on the nxt_vndr_cost. The Next Vendor Cost is the price that the lab pays today for the lenses received. (Often, the lenses on the shelf got purchased before a price increase, so the value per lens is often less than the cost paid today).
• “N” – Calculates Inventory Costing based on the price paid for each lens. When we select the lens cost, we would prefer to find it in the invt_hst table. However, if the lab configuration does not retain history, we try the invt_trx table.   If we don’t see the cost that way, we fall back to the INVENT COST saved in the anal_dtl table of sales analysis.

Blind Counts for Physicals? (Y/N) - Will not print quantity on hand when doing physical Inventory.

• “Y” – Excludes the Quantity on Hand from cycle count printed forms.
• “N” – Includes the Quantity on Hand on cycle count printed forms.

Maintain Data for Ledger Report? (Y/N) - Stores Inventory information into a separate table for the ledger report. The ledger report is an excellent summary report of your inventory activity, including breakages, sales, and other data.

• “Y” – Maintains a summary of Usage by SKU for the stock ledger report.
• “N” – Does not keep a summary of Usage by SKU for the stock ledger report.

Check Quantity on Hand and Costs? (Q/C/B/N) - At the Verify station, this allows you to stop verification of lenses that have zero (0) quantity and zero (0) cost associated with the SKU. Start with this setting at ‘N’ to disable this feature, and then turn it on later to find SKUs that are missing costs and have no quantities.

• “Q” – Check Quantity on Hand only. As each lens gets scanned into a tray, this option checks to see that Inventory shows at least one lens in stock. If the quantity on hand for the scanned lens is zero, it won’t allow verification of the lens until the quantity on hand is more than zero.
• “C” – Check Costs only. Verifies that there is a cost per lens associated with the lens in Inventory.
• “B” – Check both Quantities on Hand and Costs.
• “N” – Check neither Quantity on Hand nor Costs.

• Press “E” to exit the screen.

Calculation Explanation

We maintain the date first used for each SKU on the system.  

1. If the date first used is less than 100 days, we look at the inventory configuration for the number of days between Min/Max calculations. We take the difference between today, the date first used, and the number of days configured for Min/Max. We take the number used in that time (basically the time since last Min/Max calculation) and create an average daily usage, which we’ll use below.
2. If the date first used is 100 days or more, but less than 365, we count the number of days month-to-date. We’ll add 30 for each of the last three months and divide that number into the number used in that period to get the average daily Usage.
3. If the date first used is over 365, we add days month-to-date, 30 days for each of the last two months, and 30 days for this month last year. We add Usage during these same periods and divide Usage by days to get average daily Usage.
4. Now that we have average daily Usage as calculated by one of the methods above, we multiply that number by the configured value above for the number of days’ supply. That gives us a minimum value. For example, if the average daily Usage is 20 lenses, we’ll multiply that by 4, having configured the above to set your minimum at 80 lenses.
5. We then take the average daily Usage and multiply that by the number of days between ordering cycles. As configured above, we’d be multiplying the 20 used per day times the 3 days between ordering cycles to get 60. We’d add this 60 to the min to get the maximum of 140. So, min would be 80, and the maximum would be 140.

If any SKU has shallow Usage and you list it as a stocked item, we have an override to the formula that can ensure that you keep at least one lens on the shelf.   You can configure it to be one pair for a product that’s non-distinguishable.   For example, if you rarely use a “special” polarized single vision, but you’d like to keep it stocked, you can configure the system to ensure either one lens or one pair be on the shelf at all times.  Some labs prefer one lens, but some labs prefer two because orders typically come in for a pair.

When the system calculates orders, we look for any SKUs where the sum of quantity on hand plus quantity on order has dropped below the minimum. We’ll then order up to the maximum.   For example, if you have 30 lenses on the shelf and 20 on order, the sum of 50 would be below the 80 we calculated for the minimum. We’d re-order (140 (-) minus 50) or 90 lenses to get us back up to the maximum.

We also allow you to control any given SKU manually, so you can set that SKU to have manual Min/Max settings where you key in these values, and we would not override these with the Optifacts Min/Max calculations.   That is highly valuable if you have minimal usage history and know the product might be a big seller in the coming days/weeks.

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