Four Components of Computer Integrated Distribution

There are four components of CID:  Direct Ship, Direct Distribution, Remote Sourcing, and EDI.  For specific information about each of the components of computer integrated distribution, refer to Key Concepts section of the Order Processing, Purchasing, and Electronic Data Interchange User Manuals.

Direct Ship Processing

Direct ship processing allows MAC-PAC to specify the location from which the goods will be shipped.  For quote and sales orders this is done at the line level; for purchase orders this information is carried on the header.  Shipment types are defined on Reference File category 450.  They are:

·     W - Warehouse ship.  This ship type is used to source goods from your warehouse inventory.

·     D - Direct ship.  This ship type is used when goods are to be shipped from a vendor (or remote site) directly to the customer.

·     C - Determine when converted.  This ship type is used for quote orders to postpone the shipment type decision until the quote has been converted into a sales order.

In a direct distribution environment, the shipment type of a sales order determines the order type of the corresponding purchase order.  In that case, a ship type of "direct" means that the inventory will never pass through the sales office; it will be sent directly to the end customer.

Remote Sourcing

Remote sourcing is the ability of a MAC-PAC location (acting as a sales office) to source the goods of a sales order from a remote site or outside vendor.  In this situation, the goods may or may not pass through the sales office.  The remote sourcing functionality also supports the automatic generation of purchase orders from sales orders.  This provides the capability to track demand and supply transactions associated with each other.

Direct Distribution

Direct distribution is the result of combining direct ship and remote sourcing functionality.  Simply, it is the process of shipping the goods directly to the customer who orders themregardless of the location where the original order was entered or sourced.  This process can involve up to three entities:  an end customer, a sales office, and a remote site.  A direct distribution sales order (at the remote site) must have a ship type of 'W' (warehouse ship).

Electronic Data Interchange

The flow of information used in computer integrated distribution transactions can be broken down into functional segments; each of which can be done using Electronic Data Interchange technology.  To do this, each transaction is categorized as an inbound or outbound transaction to exchange information being sent/received from external vendors/customers as well as other MAC-PAC sites.  There are seven computer integrated distribution transactions that can be facilitated via EDI:

·     Outbound Purchase Orders

·     Inbound Sales Orders

·     Outbound Sales Order/Purchase Order Acknowledgments

·     Inbound PO/SO Acknowledgments

·     Outbound Shipments/BOL

·     Inbound Shipments/Purchase Order Receipts

·     Outbound Invoices