Components of the Receiving Process

Receipt processing may be performed in a flexible manner according to the needs or policy of the organization.  Exceptions to the normal receiving process may be treated on an individual basis according to the particular characteristics of the part or vendor.

There are four main components of the receipt process:

1.   Purchase Order Receipt

2.   Quantity Control

3.   Quality Control

4.   Receipt Adjustment

Purchase Order Receipt

The Purchase Order Receipt step is optional in the receiving process.  In this step, the delivery of the receipt is recorded according to the information on the bill of lading for administrative purposes.  The receipt is matched to a purchase order and listed quantities are entered for parts as they appear on the bill of lading.  The stock balances are not updated.

This step would be used by organizations that have a longer receiving process requiring the counting of merchandise, but who wish to immediately record the receipt upon arrival.  When the receipt is entered, quantity and quality status codes are assigned by the system according to the receiving type of the receipt line.  The receipt line is then available for inquiry and reporting, should questions arise concerning its status.

The receipt records created later become input to the quantity control conversation and are also used to create a turnaround control document, Receipt Notices by Part.

Direct ship receipts are not recorded in the Purchase Order Receipt step.  They are recorded directly during the Quantity Control step.

Quantity Control

The Quantity Control step is performed after the Purchase Order Receipt step, or as the first step of the receipt process if the Purchase Order Receipt step is not performed.  During Quantity Control, the counted quantities per shipped parcel are recorded for receipt line items, and the stock balance quantities are updated.  This is a required step.  If the Purchase Order Receipt step was performed, the information entered in the Purchase Order Receipt step becomes input into the Quantity Control step.  If the Purchase Order Receipt step was not performed, the user may enter both Purchase Order Receipt and Quantity Control data in the Quantity Control conversation.

The Quantity Control conversation also permits access to the P.O. Container Receipt conversation, whereby the entry of received containers updates container balances if container control processing is enabled (determined by Reference File category N18).  Please note that this conversation will only be displayed if an external container has been defined for the part.

Quality Control

The Quality Control step is an optional step which is performed after Quantity Control.  During this step, the counted quantity recorded during the Quantity Control step is broken down into accepted, rework, rejected, and return quantities.  Quality Control may be performed on any receipt line item, even if the receiving type code on the purchase order line indicates that the Quality Control step is not required.

You will be able to perform quality control and/or receipt adjustments on purchase order receipts that are fully matched.  However, the accepted quantity on the receipt cannot be less than the quantity already matched.  If you enter a transaction that increases the accepted quantity, the match status will be reset to indicate that the receipt is no longer fully matched.

If you perform quality control and/or receipt adjustments on partially matched receipts, you will not be able to decrease the accepted quantity to be less than the quantity already matched.  To perform this process, see Step 4  Receipt Adjustment below.

Purchase order receipts that are awaiting quality control and have an accepted quantity of zero will not be available for matching through Accounts Payable.  Therefore, if you are using quality control locations, then you will have to perform quality control before you match the purchase order to the invoice.  If you are not using quality control locations, then you will still be able to match invoices to receipts awaiting quality control.

Receipt Adjustment

The Receipt Adjustment step is an optional step that may occur after Quality Control.  This step is used in those organizations where the quality control department decides the disposition of merchandise (accepted, rejected, etc.) but does not update the stock balances.  These updates are instead performed by inventory control personnel, who update the balances, based on the decisions made in the Quality Control step, in the Receipt Adjustment conversation.

If a receipt that was matched to an invoice through the Accounts Payable Invoice DR/CR Memo Entry conversation and needs to be adjusted below the matched quantity, then follow the procedures listed below:

1.   Reset the match through Account Payable Open Item Maintenance

2.   Perform Receipt Quality Control

3.   Match the new quantity through Accounts Payable Open Item Maintenance