Build-A-Container

Build-A-Container - Conversions/Additional Data Screen

Working with Purchase Orders and Worksheets in Build-A-Container

Entering a Container (example)

1. On the Build-A-container Menu, type 1 and press Enter.
2. Enter the company and supplier number.
3. Press Enter. The program initializes the container, and displays the main entry screen.
4. Leave the Reference# field blank. The program assigns a reference number.
5. To end the program and return to the menu, press F7.

To work with an existing container

1. Enter the reference number of the container.
2. Press Enter.

Press F6 to conduct a Container Search.

3. The program retrieves your container, and displays the main entry screen where you can enter the details of your container order.



4. On the Build-A-Container Main Entry Screen, for each item you want to include, enter an item number, quantity, and unit of measure in the appropriate columns of each line. When you have filled in the necessary items, or all of the lines on the page, press Enter.

As you enter your container, the program calculates the total cost and optionally converts the quantity ordered on each line up to as many as four additional units measure. You can enter these optional units of measure in the five U/M fields in the column headings on the right side of the screen. You can enter any unit of measure for which the system has conversion factors.

All items on the system can have up to six U/M conversions. They should have been entered into the Item Master file and/or Packaging file before using the Build-A-Container system.

The U/M field on the far right always contains CO for percent of whole containers. This column shows the percentage of a whole container you have filled. It is important to note that the term container is used generically to represent a weight, volume, or quantity limit. Therefore, you can use the CO column for any type of vehicle load, such as truckload or carload.

You can use the F1 – Conversion/Additional Data screen to see the conversion factors for each item and to enter additional conversion factors, such as Pounds per Container or Cubic Feet per Container. Each unit of measure code that you enter into a column heading will cause the program to convert each quantity into that unit of measure and to display it in that column. A total for each column is also shown. You can also enter any of the four special column codes, which define col­umns as follows:

• B$ – Causes the Extended Base Cost to appear. (Qty x Unit Base Cost for each line item.)
• L$ – Causes the Extended Landed Cost to appear (Qty x Unit Landed Cost for each line item.) Unit Landed Cost consists of Unit Base Cost and Unit Freight cost).
• F$ – Causes the Extended Freight Cost to appear (Qty x Unit Freight for each line item).
• LP$ – Causes a suggested new List Price to be calculated and displayed. (This entry is only valid if a Markup% or a target GP% is entered on the conversions/Additional Data Screen).
5. You can also enter freight, duty, and handling charges for the container in the fields on the lower left-hand side of the screen. The program calculates the new freight cost per unit for each item on the container and computes the new freight cost per unit by allocating the total freight and han­dling charges to each item. The allocation is performed as follows:
• Duty%, Miscellaneous $, Broker fees, and Miscellaneous% are allocated according to the value of each item on the container(s).
• All other charges (ocean freight, terminal charges, and inbound freight) are allocated accord­ing to the relative weight of each item.
• All of the fields are entered in dollars, except Duty% and Miscellaneous%, which are entered as a percentage of total container costs. The program calculates the dollars.
6. The program converts all the total and freight amounts into the currency of your choice. To do this, you must first enter a currency conversion on the Conversions/Additional Data Screen. The currency conversion must be from the initials of the country to $$. For example, to convert from your currency to Italian lira at a conversion rate of 2,246 you would enter 1330.00000 LR per $$ in the conversions for this container on the Conversions/Additional Data Screen, and enter LR in the currency field on the main entry screen.

For more information about entering conversions for this container, see Using Conversions/Additional Data Screen.

The fields that comprise the Build-A-Container, Main Entry Screen are described in the following table.

Field	Description
Line	A program-generated number. Six lines are on each page. Use F10 and F11 to display additional pages.
Item Number	Entry field for the item number to be ordered. It consists of four sub-fields. The first three comprise the actual item number (MFG., Color, Pattern) and the fourth (four-character field) is the lot number. In general, lot numbers would not be specified when purchasing, but that option is provided.
Quantity	Entry field for the quantity ordered. It is required on the line if an item number has been entered.
U/M	Entry field for the unit of measure of the quantity ordered. It is required on the line if an item has been entered.
Standard Base Cost & U/M	The standard base cost and unit of measure for each item number, retrieved from the Item Master or Cost File. Not an entry field, but its value can be changed by using override base costs (For more information, see the section on Overriding Base Costs). Standard base cost is managed by the purchasing department. It is the cost of materials only. It does not include the freight and handling portion cost. Although you can override standard costs on the Container Screen, it does not affect the standard cost in the Item Master File and/or Cost File. The standard cost in these files can only be changed by using the File Maintenance programs or by using option 6 on the Build-A-Container Menu (Update Container's Items' Standard Costs).
Standard Freight Cost	This field displays the standard freight cost per unit of measure for each item number. They are retrieved from the Item Master File or Cost File. It is not an entry field and its value cannot be changed in this program. However, the next field (New Freight Cost) displays the new freight cost as calculated by the program. Standard freight cost is managed by the purchasing department. It can only be updated by using the Item and/or Cost File Maintenance programs, or by using option 6 on the Build-A-Container Menu. Freight cost is the cost of freight and handling only. (Freight Cost + Base Cost = Total Landed cost)
New Freight Cost	Displays the new freight costs for each item based on the portion of total container weight and value allocated to each item. Note: The new freight cost does not update the Item Master or Cost file, unless you use option 6 on the Build-A-Container Menu. The allocation of total freight and handling charges is based on Duty%, Ocean Freight, Terminal Charges, Broker Fees, Inbound Fees, Inbound Freight, and Misc fees.
Currency	Option entry field where a duty rate can be specified. For example, enter LI to represent lira. If a country conversion is entered on the F1 screen, values can be shown in either currency.
Duty%	Optional entry field where a duty rate can be specified. The program computes the duty amount, by multiplying total value ordered by the duty percent. The System Wide Setting Options for Build-A-Container provides you with the following three options for accessing duty rates: Only use Duty% as keyed in Build-A-Container - Disre­gards the Duty Table and uses the Duty percentage entered within the Build-A-Container program. With this option, the duty percentage has to be manually entered in the Build-A-Container program. Only use Duty% as keyed in Duty Table - This option directs the system to pull the duty rate from the Duty Table (accessed via option 13 on the System Settings menu). This table links suppliers and products to their respective duty rates. This option ignores duty rates entered into the Build-A-Container screen. Use Duty Table, unless Overridden in Build-A-Container screen - This option ensures the Duty Table is used unless a duty percentage is entered in the Build-A-Container Screen. If the Duty% field is left blank, the Duty Table is used. This option is recommended.
Ocean Freight Terminal Charges Broker Inbound Freight	Optional entry field where the various freight charges can be entered.
Miscellaneous $	Optional entry field where a miscellaneous charge can be specified.
Miscellaneous%	Optional entry field where a miscellaneous percentage can be specified. The program computes the miscellaneous amount by multiplying the total value ordered by the miscellaneous %.
U/M to convert to, or L$, B$, F$ fir Ext Costs	Optional entry fields in which you can specify as many as four units of measure. You can also enter any of the following special codes in this field: B$ â€“ Causes the Extended Base Cost to appear (Qty x Unit Base Cost for each line item). L$ â€“ Causes the Extended Landed Cost to appear (Qty x Unit Landed Cost for each line item). F$ â€“ Causes the Extended Freight Cost to appear (Qty x Unit Freight for each line item). LP$ â€“ Causes a suggested new List Price to be calculated and displayed (This entry is only valid if a Markup% or a target GP% is entered on the conversions/Additional Data Screen).
Total Base Cost	Total cost of all items entered in this container.
Total Freight and Handling	Total calculated freight and miscellaneous charges of all items entered in this container.
Total Container Cost	Total of the base and freight cost. This total should match your invoices from the supplier. This includes base cost, freight cost, etc.

Duty%, Miscellaneous$, Broker fees and Miscellaneous% are allocated according to the value of each item on the container(s). All other charges (Ocean Freight, Terminal Charges and Inbound Freight) are allocated according to the relative weight of each item. All of the freight/handling fields are entered in dollars, except Duty and Miscellaneous%, which are entered as a percentage of total container cost, and the program calculates the dollars. These fields are on the lower left of the Container Screen.

Build-A-Container - Conversions/Additional Data Screen

This screen is accessed from the main Build-A-Container by pressing the F1 key. The Conversions/Additional Data Screen is used to:

• Display the packaging information for the lines on the current page
• Enter any additional conversions you need for this container, for example conversions, such as pounds/kilos per container.
• Enter comments and additional purchasing data such as letter of credit number, warehouse num­ber, warehouse ETA, port and port ETA.

Enter a conversion amount, a unit of measure, and a per unit of measure and press Enter. For example, to enter a conversion that specifies 10,000 kilograms per full container, you would enter 10000.00000 KG per CO.

The screen shown above shows that on the current page of the container, line 0010 and line 0020 have been used and line 0030 – 0060 have not been used. The packaging information shown for lines 0010 and 0020 has been previously entered for those items, and any unit of measure shown can be used for the container worksheet. For example, quantities for line 0010 and 0020 can be expressed in PC, SF, LB, CT and PA.

On the bottom left of the screen, three addition conversions have been entered. The first entry 41000 LB per CO lets the program figure, by weight, the percentage of container filled, or the number of containers filled. The second entry 1330 LR per $$ gives the exchange rate between Italian lira and dollars. You must use $$ to indicate your home currency.

In the US, $$ means US dollars; in Australia, $$ means Australian dollars.

The third entry 2.20459 LB per KG is the conversion between pounds per kilograms.

The fields on the Conversions/Additional Data screens are described in the following table.

Field	Description
Conversions For This Container	If additional conversions are required to compute container costs and weight, enter that information here. To enter a conversion, enter a conversion amount, a unit of measure and a per unit of measure then press Enter. For example, to enter a conversion that specifies 10,000 kilograms per container, enter 10000.00000 KG per CO. Another example, is to convert from your currency to another country's currency. To convert to lira at a conversion rate of 1,350 you would enter 1350.00000IT per $$.). Note:  If you enter a currency conversion here, then on Screen 1, you should enter the currency code (in this example, IT) in the Currency field. Then the costs you have entered for duty, freight, etc. and the total costs of mate­rials are converted into IT currency. You can then com­pare your cost in IT currency against the supplier's invoice to see if amounts agree. Only by entering a currency percentage rate on this screen and the currency code in the In Currency field on the main screen can you enter costs in another country's currency from one currency to another. When entering currency conversion rates use any two-character code to represent the country, but use only $$ to represent the currency.
Comments	Enter any comments you want to appear and to print on the Build-A-Container Worksheet. These comments are converted to F6 comment lines, if the worksheet is converted into a purchase order.
Additional Purchasing Date
Vessel	If the container was built by converting purchase orders for a specific vessel, then that vessel name appears here. If lines from more than one vessel are used, then the message is VESSEL = MULTIPLE. Note:  The vessel information is for reference purposes only. Manually updating the vessel from this screen does not affect purchase orders.
L/C Number	If you have a letter of credit number for this container, enter that number here.
Warehouse	Warehouse where the items on the container will be received.
Warehouse ETA	Enter the estimated date of arrival to the warehouse. You must enter it in YYMMDD format. For example, May 31, 1992 is entered as 920531.
Port	Enter the three-character code representing the port where the container will arrive. This is an optional entry.
Port ETA	Enter the estimated date of arrival of the container to the port of entry. You must enter it in YYMMDD format. For example, May 31, 1992 will be entered as 920531. This is an optional field.
G.P.%	Only applicable if you want the worksheet to calculate new list prices. Enter the gross profit % you want for each item. The program computes the list price that will deliver that G.P. % for each item. If you enter a percentage here, and you enter in LP on Screen 1 as a column heading U/M, the list price displays in that column. Note:  Do not enter a markup % and a G.P. % if you enter both, the system accepts the G.P.% only.
Markup%	Only applicable if you want the worksheet to calculate new list prices. Enter the markup % you want to add to costs for computing new list prices for each item. If you enter a percentage here, and you enter in LP on Screen 1 as a column heading U/M, the list price will display in that column. Do not enter a markup % and a G.P.%. If you enter both, the system accepts the G.P.% only. Note:  You must enter LP as a column heading U/M on the main screen in order for the system to use a G.P.% or markup%.

Working with Purchase Orders and Worksheets in Build-A-Container

To create a worksheet for receiving or costing

Processing purchase orders and container worksheets for importing

1. On the Build-A-Container entry screen, complete the fields as necessary, such as item numbers, quantities, and costs.
2. Press F12 from Build-A-Container Screen and a purchase order edit is generated.
3. To edit the purchase order, enter option 1 – Enter Purchase Orders on the Purchase Orders menu (not the Build-A-Container menu). Use the reference number on the PO edit, instead of the refer­ence number on the container.
4. To print actual purchase order, enter option 3 – Print Purchase Orders on the Purchase Orders Menu.

The purchase order is now independent of the container worksheet. You can update either the pur­chase order or the container worksheet without affecting the other. For example, you can update ETA dates and status of the purchase order. You can update the container entries if its spreadsheet is required to recost items because of changes, such as in freight charges or exchange rates.

When items are received, they can be costed using the costs from the purchase order or from the con­tainer worksheet, if the standard costs were updated using option 6 on the Build-A-Container menu, or overridden as you enter the receipt.

When receiving (using option 1 on the Pre-receipts menu):

• Specifying *BC in the EDI# field uses the base cost from the purchase order and the standard freight cost from the Item Master File or Cost File.
• Specifying *SC in the EDI# field uses the standard base cost and standard freight cost from the Item Master File of Cost File.
• If you use option 6 to update the Item/Cost files with costs from the container, the SC code uses the latest container costs.
• When receiving, the base cost, freight cost, or both, can be overridden on a line-by-line basis.

To create a worksheet for receiving or costing

1. On the Build-A-Container menu, enter option 5 – Convert POs into Containers to convert exist­ing POs into a container worksheet.
2. Enter option 1 – Build-A-Container to add/delete/change information such as item numbers, costs, and quantities, until the container worksheet accurately reflects the incoming shipment. Entering information such as freight costs and duty, causes the program to calculate precise new landed costs per item.
3. On the Build-A-Container entry screen, press F2 – Worksheet to print a container worksheet. It will contain all the information you need for receiving, such as quantities and costs.
4. Enter option 6 – Update Container Items' Standard Costs to update your files with the new costs as calculated on the container worksheet. This can simplify the receiving process.
5. If costing information, such as freight, duty, and exchange rates, changes before receipt, you can use option 1 – Build-A-Container again to change and reprint worksheets, and use option 6 – Update Container Items' Standard Costs again to update the standard costs.
6. If you have used option 6 to update your files with the latest costs, then you can set the Receipts program to automatically use the new costs. Specifying *SC in the EDI# field uses the new stan­dard base and freight costs. You can still override costs with receiving, if necessary.

Processing purchase orders and container worksheets for importing

This is the recommended procedure for processing purchase orders and container worksheets for importing.

1. Enter purchase orders as needed.
2. Update purchase orders with the latest status codes and ETA dates as soon as the information becomes available.
3. When your agent or supplier tells you which items are being shipped, update the status to T for only those items included on the container worksheets. You should also update the ETA at this time, and optionally update the vessel name.
4. Using option 5 – Convert PO's into Containers on the Build-A-Container Menu, convert only the items at the appropriate status or ETA date from the applicable purchase orders into container worksheets.
5. Use option 1 – Build-A-Container on the Build-A-Container Menu to adjust quantities, convert currency, and calculate landed costs for each item on the container.
6. Use option 7 – Change Container Exchange Rates on the Build-A-Container Menu to update landed costs if the exchange rate changes before arrival of the container.
7. Use option 6 – Update Container Items' Standard Costs on the Build-A-Container Menu to update standard costs based on the container spreadsheet.
8. 8. Use the *SC in the EDI# field in the Pre-Receiving Program to receive at the new container costs.

When receiving by purchase order number, the Purchase Order Review/Selection Screen in the Receiving Entry Program now displays the status code. For example, the screen highlights purchase orders with a status of T, indicating in transit.

Entering a Container (example)

1. Select option 1 – BUILD-A-CONTAINER on the Build-A-Container menu.
2. On the next screen, enter a company, supplier and reference number. You do not need to enter a reference number, the system will automatically assigns one.
3. If you need to work with an existing container, you can enter its number. After entering the information press Enter to set up the worksheet. The following screen is the main Build-A-Container Worksheet Screen.



4. Press F1 and enter additional conversions as needed for this container. In the following example, three additional conversions functions were added.



The third conversion (LB to KG) is automatically inserted. Leave this conversion as shown, even if you do not need to use it.

In the example shown above, 22000 LB per CO was entered. This lets the program compute, by weight, what percentage of a container has been filled, or how many containers have been filled.

The top half of the screen does not display any information, because the item numbers have not yet been entered.

The 48% G.P. entered lets the program complete the list price (LP) column.

5. After entering the necessary information, press F1 to return to main entry screen.
6. Complete fields, such as item numbers, quantity, U/M, duty, freight, and broker fees. The total of the freight and handling charges is allocated among the items, and the new freight costs are calcu­lated.

The following figure shows quantities expressed in LP, SF, LB, KG, and CO. Notice that the LP pricing for all items at a GP% of 48% as specified on the Additional Data/Conversions Screen.



In the example above, 34% of the container has been filled.

The newly calculated freight costs appear under the existing (old) standard freight cost for each item.

7. You can press F1 to check conversion factors for all items on the main screen. Make sure that the packaging information for all the items on this container are correct. If you need to change the packaging information for any items, use option 11 – Packaging File on the File Maintenance Menu and/or option 2 – Item File on the File Maintenance Menu.



After you have entered item numbers on the main screen, the conversion factors from the Item and/or Packaging files appear. The conversions for each line item entered on the main entry screen appear.



8. Press F1 to return to main entry screen.
9. If you need to override any base costs, press F3. Enter the overridden cost in the highlighted area. You can enter the cost in any unit of measure. If you enter cost in a different U/M, also enter that U/M in the U/M field to the left of the cost overrides.

If you enter the new costs in dollars, press Enter. If you enter the new costs in another currency, press F5.