Processing Transactions
Warehouse transactions are the key to the QAD Warehousing system. Each transaction is an instruction, or task, for a user to take specified inventory from a specified location (the source) and deposit it in the location required or previously specified (the destination). Special transactions can be created that are from and to the same location. Generally, these are to perform some kind of inventory adjustment such as a cycle count.
Transactions are created in many different ways, but generally result from:
• A request to pick inventory to satisfy an order requirement such as a sales order or work order. Picking transactions can also result from inventory management functions such as replenishment, repetitive, unplanned issues, or inter-warehouse transfers.
• The receipt of inventory into the warehouse that must be put away. Usually this is as a result of a purchase order receipt but can also be from manufacturing, distribution orders, unplanned receipts, or inter-warehouse transfers.
• Inventory management such as stock transfers or cycle counts.
Every step in the movement of inventory is recorded by a transaction, from the moment it is received at a receiving point through put-away, storage, selection for requirement, and movement to an issue point.
All movements of inventory require that a transaction is created, indicating:
• The source and destination locations of the movement
• The inventory that requires moving
• The quantity that is required and multiple attributes that determine how the movement is to be carried out
Transactions are created with a status of OPEN, indicating that the transaction, or task, is yet to be carried out. Once the task is complete, the transaction is closed and the record is deleted. A copy is made, creating a transaction history record. The transaction is closed by the action of confirming that the task is complete. This can be done separately from the creation of the two-phase transaction or automatically at the time of single-phase creation.
In general, all inventory is moved according to information that you enter during your warehouse setup.
Although setup is time-consuming, the actual process of managing inventory is largely automated. Each inventory movement that you request is processed according to the internal routing and associated fields for the transaction type.