Save Time with Drop Ship Blanket Purchase Orders in Dynamics GP

If you are frequently ordering the same item from a vendor and drop shipping the order to the same customer, you need to read this! Learn how you can save time streamlining drop-ship purchases in Microsoft Dynamics GP.

Scenario:

One of our clients has customers who frequently purchase the same item number. They order the item from their vendor and then drop-ship the item to the customer. They frequently need to create a sales order then use the processing in Sales Transaction Entry to create a drop-ship purchase order from the sales order. However, their purchasing department is tasked with contacting and sending the PO to the vendor repeatedly.

Is there a way to make this process easier?

Yes! Enter a Drop Ship Blanket Purchase Order in Dynamics GP to send to the vendor up front, with all the information related to the customer. Next, use the following process to add release lines to the PO each time the customer orders. All you have to do is email the vendor to let them know the quantity to ship on that specific release.

Here’s how:

When you are entering a Drop Ship Blanket Purchase Order, you have to specify both the vendor and the customer related to the drop ship, but you can attach multiple sales orders to the purchase order as long as they are all from the same customer.

Enter the Purchase Order.
Select Drop Ship Blanket as the Type.
Make sure you mark the box ‘Allow Document Commitments’.
Enter the Vendor. A window will open where you select the customer and customer address.
In the lower section of the window, enter the first line item and the overall (large) quantity that you will be ordering over the course of the PO. You will notice that on the left, the Line Item Number for this line is 0, indicating that it is the blanket line and you can’t receive against that line.
You can enter release lines right away, if you know the dates when the orders are expected, or you can enter those release lines later. For our example, we will not enter any release lines.
When the customer orders the item, enter a sales order and be sure to mark the D box on the line item to indicate it will be a drop ship. Save the sales order without using any actions that would create a new purchase order.
Go into Purchase Order Entry and select the Purchase Order you previously created.
Enter a release line for the blanket item for the quantity of the sales order.
Highlight the release line you just entered and click the link button that is in the column header to the right of the Quantity Ordered field. This opens the Commitments window.
Click the Add Sales Doc button. It will display the sales order you entered. Highlight the sales order and click the Select button.
You will see the sales order in the Commitments for Purchase Order window. Click OK. This connects the Sales Order to the PO Release Line.
Click Save on the Purchase Order Entry window.
When you get the invoice from the vendor, you process it as you currently do for other drop ship orders. Entering the vendor invoice will release the sales order so it can be invoiced.
The Drop Ship Blanket PO will let you continue entering release lines and connect these with sales orders for the same customer until the full quantity of the blanket line (line item 0) is completed. However, the PO will only connect to orders for the same customer – you can’t connect orders from other customers to the PO.