Epicor ERP

Distribution Foundations Course

9.05.700
Disclaimer
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Distribution Foundations Course Contents

Contents
Distribution Foundations Course...........................................................................................4
Before You Begin....................................................................................................................4
Audience.........................................................................................................................................................4
Prerequisites....................................................................................................................................................4
Environment Setup..........................................................................................................................................5
Fulfillment Workbench...........................................................................................................6
Fulfillment Workbench - Features.....................................................................................................................6
Distribution Configuration and Setup..................................................................................7
Plant Configuration Control.............................................................................................................................8
AMM........................................................................................................................................................8
Warehouse Zone Maintenance.........................................................................................................................9
Warehouse Bin Maintenance...........................................................................................................................9
Warehouse Team Maintenance......................................................................................................................10
Detail......................................................................................................................................................10
Employees..............................................................................................................................................11
Attributes...............................................................................................................................................11
Transactions...........................................................................................................................................11
Warehouses............................................................................................................................................11
Allocation Template Maintenance..................................................................................................................12
Basic Distribution Process Flow...........................................................................................13
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................14

Epicor ERP | 9.05.700 3

Distribution Foundations Course Distribution Foundations Course

Distribution Foundations Course

This course introduces the distribution capabilities of the Epicor application. The application's Fulfillment Workbench
manages all distribution functionalities and is designed to satisfy demand for sales orders, jobs and created
transfers.
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
• Manage the features and functionalities available in a distribution flow.
• Use the programs and modules relevant to the distribution flow.

Before You Begin

Read this topic for information you should know in order to successfully complete this course.

Audience

Specific audiences will benefit from this course.

• COO/Operations Manager
• Shop Floor Employee
• Shop Floor Manager
• Scheduler
• Shipping and Receiving
• Production Manager
• Engineer
• Order Entry Staff
• System Administrator
• IT/Technical Staff

Prerequisites

In order to complete the workshops in this course, all necessary modules must be licensed and operating in your
training environment. For more information on the modules available, contact your Epicor Customer Account
Manager at EpicorCAM@epicor.com. It is also important you understand the prerequisite knowledge contained
in other valuable courses.
• Navigation Course - This course introduces navigational aspects of the Epicor application's user interface.
Designed for a hands-on environment, general navigation principles and techniques are available at each of
the interface levels in the Epicor application - system, module, and program. Workshops focus on each of
these levels and guide you through each navigational principle introduced.

4 Epicor ERP | 9.05.700

Distribution Foundations Course Before You Begin

Environment Setup

The environment setup steps and potential workshop constraints must be reviewed in order to successfully
complete the workshops in this course.
Your Epicor training environment, in which the Epicor demonstration database is found, enables you to experience
Epicor functionality in action but does not affect data in your live, production environment.
The following steps must be taken to successfully complete the workshops in this course.

1. Verify the following or ask your system administrator to verify for you:
• Your Epicor training icon (or web address if you are using Epicor Web Access) points to your
Epicor training environment with the Epicor demonstration database installed. Do not complete
the course workshops in your live, production environment.
Note It is recommended that multiple Epicor demonstration databases are installed. Contact
Support or Systems Consulting for billable assistance.

• The Epicor demonstration database is at the same service pack and patch as the Epicor
application. Epicor's education team updates the Epicor demonstration database for each service pack
and patch. If your system administrator upgrades your Epicor application to a new service pack or patch,
he or she must also download the corresponding Epicor demonstration database from EPICweb > Support
> Epicor > Downloads and install it. If this is not performed, unexpected results can occur when completing
the course workshops.
• Your system administrator restored (refreshed) the Epicor demonstration database prior to
starting this course. The Epicor demonstration database comes standard with parts, customers, sales
orders, and so on, already defined. If the Epicor demonstration database is shared with multiple users
(that is, the database is located on a server and users access the same data, much like your live, production
environment) and is not periodically refreshed, unexpected results can occur. For example, if a course
workshop requires you to ship a sales order that came standard in the Epicor demonstration database,
but a different user already completed this workshop and the Epicor demonstration database was not
restored (refreshed), then you will not be able to ship the sales order. Epicor's education team has written
the course workshops to minimize situations like this from occurring, but Epicor cannot prevent users
from manipulating the data in your installation of the Epicor demonstration database.

2. Log in to the training environment using the credentials manager/manager. If you are logged into your
training environment as a different user, from the Options menu, select Change User.

3. From the Main menu, select the company Epicor Education (EPIC06).

4. From the Main menu, select the Main Plant.

Epicor ERP | 9.05.700 5

Fulfillment Workbench Distribution Foundations Course

Fulfillment Workbench

Use the Fulfillment Workbench to reserve or allocate material to sales orders, job orders, and transfer orders.
This functionality is valuable when you want to use jobs or stock in a sequence that matches the allocation
priorities assigned to your customers to satisfy material quantity demand.
Important
The Fulfillment Workbench is available only if your company uses the Advanced Material Management
module.

Menu Path
Navigate to this program from the Main Menu:
• Material Management > Inventory Management > General Operations > Fulfillment Workbench
• Production Management > Job Management > General Operations > Fulfillment Workbench
• Sales Management > Order Management > General Operations > Fulfillment Workbench
For CRM users, the Main Menu appears as:
• Customer Relationship Management > Order Management > General Operations > Fulfillment Workbench

Fulfillment Workbench - Features

Use the Fulfillment Workbench to accomplish the following tasks:

• Browse for open sales orders, job orders, and transfer orders based on a series of comprehensive, user-specified
search criteria. The selected records display in the List sheet, and the other sheets (Order Fulfillment, Job
Fulfillment, and Transfer Order Fulfillment), appropriate to the type of order for each record.
• Reserve material quantities for selected sales orders, job orders, or transfer orders. This prevents the material
quantities from being used on other order releases. In the Epicor application, a reservation refers to an inventory
quantity reserved at the warehouse, part, order, and release level for a specific order or schedule. Previously
reserved inventory can also be unreserved, making it available for other releases.
• Use pre-defined allocation templates or manually enter ad-hoc allocation parameters to allocate inventory to
sales orders, job orders, or transfer orders. Once an order is allocated to the warehouse, part, lot/serial number,
bin, and quantity, that inventory is locked to the particular order that was allocated, and the allocation replaces
the reservation for the order item. The quantity cannot be reserved or allocated to another order. It also allows
you to unallocate the previously allocated quantity. If this occurs, the Epicor application removes the allocation
and makes the stock available again for reservation or allocation.
• Automatically generate cross-docked transactions. Cross docking enables a planner to create a link between
demand and expected inventory (receipts and production). This allows the planner to inform the Epicor
application that the next completed receipt (purchase, transfer, or job order production) with matching stock
must be linked to the matching cross dock record in the work queue. At the instant the receipt transaction
is entered, the cross dock transaction becomes a pick transaction, allowing your shop floor/warehouse personnel
to directly pick the stock for the linked, allocated order.
• Release selected allocated orders to the Material Queue for order-based or wave (consolidated) picking in the
warehouse; this program is available within the Advanced Material Management module. Use the Pick-Pack
(use a printed document for picking) or Handheld scanner (paperless) method to pick process.

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Distribution Foundations Course Distribution Configuration and Setup

Distribution Configuration and Setup

To use the distribution functions in the Epicor application, you must configure and define control parameters in
the following programs:

1. Use Company Configration to specify default parameters for fulfillment allocation processing on the
Modules > AMM sheet. These parameters become defaults for the Fulfillment Workbench and for allocation
templates defined in Allocation Template Entry.

2. Use Plant Configuration Control to establish warehouse - plant relationships. This defines the link locations
that can transfer inventory and resources, and also defines request handling and general ledger controls.

3. Use Warehouse Zone Maintenance to create bin zones within a specified warehouse. The Epicor application
allows you to group bins together into a zone, regardless of their type or other attributes. Warehouse zones
can be established, usually based on similarly sized bins / products.

4. Use Warehouse Bin Maintenance to define specific warehouse bins in which inventory is stored. Zone
codes can also be assigned to specified warehouse bins in this program.

5. Use Warehouse Team Maintenance to create and define warehouse teams based on attribute/skill,
transaction, and location. Warehouse teams can be assigned to allocation templates defined in Allocation
Template Entry, or used to process transactions after inventory is allocated in the Fulfillment Workbench.
As a prerequisite, you must define employee records in Employee Maintenance.

6. Use Allocation Template Entry to define allocation templates used to automate the fulfillment allocation
process in the Fulfillment Workbench. You can define multiple allocation templates, each with their own
set of processing parameters. You can override any settings defined in an allocation template when it is
used during allocation processing in the Fulfillment Workbench.

The following distribution-related setups are covered in other courses:

1. Use Part Maintenance to establish distribution-related criteria for items you stock and distribute. This
include product details, part class, units of measure, lot information, alternates/substitutes, country of
original, drop shipment information, and item cross references. In the Plants > Detail sheet, establish
plant-related criteria including stocking location, costing method, min/max order quantities, safety stock,
lead time and buyer. Part Maintenance is covered in the Parts Course.

2. Use Supplier Maintenance to establish distribution-related criteria for suppliers. This includes all supplier
contact information, purchase points, banking information, currency/payment terms and RoHS parameters.
Use the SRM sheet to establish on time, pricing, quality and service rates for the supplier. Supplier Maintenance
is covered in the Accounts Payable Course and Purchasing Course.

3. Use Supplier Maintenance to establish distribution-related criteria for customer. This includes customer
type, industry class, customer contacts, approved buyers, ship locations, drop ship authorization and shipping,
billing and payment information. Supplier Maintenance is covered in the Accounts Receivable Course and
Order Management Course.

Refer to Application Help for detailed information for all fields contained in the various setup programs.

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Distribution Configuration and Setup Distribution Foundations Course

Plant Configuration Control

Use Plant Configuration Control to set up how each plant interacts with various functions such as the Inventory
Management, Production Management, Shipping/Receiving, Time Management, and Expense Management
modules.
You first create plant records through Plant Maintenance. You can then open each record within Plant
Configuration Control to define various parameters for several application functions.
Important Before you can open a plant record in Plant Configuration Control, you may need to have your
System Administrator give you security rights to that plant in your user account.

Within Inventory Management, you define the warehouses the plant uses for shipping, receiving, DMR
Processing, and so on. You also indicate which warehouses are shared with other warehouses. You also define
transfer orders by setting up the definitions for transferring part quantities and the resources involved in transfer
orders. Lastly, you define the serial tracking and cycling counting used for parts manufactured through each
plant.
The Production Management settings involve defining the prefixes used on unfirm, firm, and kanban jobs at
the plant. You can also define some production yield parameters.
For the Shipping/Receiving functionality, you enter the various manifests this plant uses for general, international,
FedEx, and UPS shipping. You also define how shipment billing is handled by the current plant.
You use the Advanced Material Management (AMM) settings to indicate how the plant interacts with the
Material Request Queue and other AMM functionality.
The Time and Expense settings determine whether labor hours and/or incurred expenses entered by employees
require approval by other authorized employees. If approval is required, you also define approver rights to change
or delete transactions, the methods used to approve time entries and expense entries, and the default workflow
groups to use for time entries and expense entries when they are unspecified for employees.

Menu Path
Navigate to this program from the Main Menu:
• System Management > Company Maintenance > Plant Configuration Control
Important This program is not available
®
in the Epicor Web Access™ interface. You can launch this program
from an Epicor Smart Client (Windows ) interface.

AMM
Plant Configuration Control > Modules > AMM

Use the Advanced Material Management (AMM) sheet to define advanced inventory parameters you use
within the current plant configuration.
These parameters include:
• Defining how the Fulfillment Workbench sorts sales orders, jobs, and transfer orders in search results, and
the default priority code assigned to generated replenishment move requests that appear in the Replenishment
Workbench > Moves sheet.
• Defining several Material Queue default values and indicate how warehouses linked to this plant configuration
replenish their material supply levels. Many of these defaults can be overridden when processing allocations
in the Fulfillment Workbench, processing replenishment move requests in the Replenishment Workbench, or
defining allocation templates in Allocation Template Maintenance.

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Distribution Foundations Course Distribution Configuration and Setup

Menu Path
Navigate to this program from the Main Menu:
• System Management > Company Maintenance > Plant Configuration Control
Important This program is not available
®
in the Epicor Web Access™ interface. You can launch this program
from an Epicor Smart Client (Windows ) interface.

Warehouse Zone Maintenance

Use Warehouse Zone Maintenance to create bin zones within a specified warehouse. A zone is a group of
bins within a warehouse.
The Epicor application allows you to group bins together into a zone, regardless of their type or other attributes.
Warehouse zones can be established, usually based on similarly sized bins / products. Zone codes are then assigned
to specified warehouse bins in the Zone field in Warehouse Bin Maintenance. The Epicor application uses bin
zones primarily in the Fulfillment Workbench.

Menu Path
Navigate to this program from the Main Menu:
• Material Management > Inventory Management > Setup > Warehouse Zone

Warehouse Bin Maintenance

Use Warehouse Bin Maintenance to identify the bins where inventory is stored within a warehouse. Bins are
set up according to product dimensions and warehouse location. They can also be linked to warehouse zones
that have been defined in Warehouse Zone Maintenance.

Menu Path
Navigate to this program from the Main Menu:
• Material Management > Inventory Management > Setup > Warehouse Bin

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Distribution Configuration and Setup Distribution Foundations Course

Warehouse Team Maintenance

Use Warehouse Team Maintenance to create and define warehouse teams based on attribute/skill, transaction,
and location. Warehouse teams can be assigned to allocation templates defined in Allocation Template Entry, or
used to process transactions after inventory is allocated in the Fulfillment Workbench.
For example, you can create warehouse teams that process put-away transactions, while others process pick
transactions. Use Warehouse Team Maintenance to perform the following tasks:
• Assign specific shop floor or warehouse employees to the warehouse team.
• Assign bin attributes.
• Identify the transaction types the warehouse team can process and assign a priority code that denotes the
sequence in which they must be processed.
• Identify specific warehouses in which the warehouse team can work.
• Identify specific bins, zones, and optionally, items (parts, classes, or groups) for which the warehouse team
is responsible for each assigned warehouse.
You must be assigned to a warehouse team in order to receive any transactions to process when using the
Auto-Select feature from the Handheld menu. The warehouse manager can assign transaction types to warehouse
teams and assign priorities to those transactions. Transaction types include sales order picks, job order picks,
transfer order picks, Planner Workbench bin-to-bin moves, and put-aways for purchase receipts, job production,
or transfer receipts. Warehouse team members can only process selected transactions for selected items in their
assigned warehouses, bins, and zones.
• Material Management > Inventory Management > Setup > Warehouse Team

Detail
Warehouse Team Maintenance > Detail

Use the Detail sheet to create a new warehouse team or select an existing warehouse team record to update.
Once you create a new warehouse team or select an existing one, use the remaining sheets in this program to:
• Assign specific shop floor/warehouse employees to the warehouse team.
• Assign bin attributes.
• Identify the transaction types the warehouse team can process and assign a priority code that denotes the
sequence in which they should be processed.
• Identify specific warehouses in which the warehouse team can work.
• Identify the specific bins, zones, and optionally, items (parts, classes, or groups) for which the warehouse
team is responsible for each assigned warehouse.

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Distribution Foundations Course Distribution Configuration and Setup

Employees
Warehouse Team Maintenance > Employees

Use the Employees sheet to assign employees to a warehouse team. A warehouse employee can only be assigned
to one warehouse team. Employees are only eligible for warehouse team assignment if the Shipping/Receiving
or Material Handler check boxes have been selected for the employee in Shop Floor Employee Maintenance.

Attributes
Warehouse Team Maintenance > Attributes

Use the Attributes sheet to assign user-assigned warehouse bin attributes, previously defined in Warehouse
Team Attributes Maintenance, to the warehouse team.
Example A user-defined attribute can be defined in Warehouse Team Attributes Maintenance that denotes
a forklift is required; another can denote the forklift driver must be certified. When work is assigned in the
queue, an inventory move transaction from (or to) a bin that requires a forklift can be assigned based on
this forklift attribute. This attribute can be assigned in this sheet to a warehouse team.

Transactions
Warehouse Team Maintenance > Transaction

Use the Transactions sheet to designate which transaction types this warehouse team can process, and the
priority in which each of the selected transaction types should be processed. The assigned priority code denotes
the order in which specific transaction types should be completed (for example, process receiving transactions
should be processed before doing put-aways or picking orders).

Warehouses
Warehouse Team Maintenance > Warehouses

Use the Warehouses sheet to specify the warehouses in which the warehouse team can work. Once you select
a warehouse in the Detail sheet, use the remaining sheets on the Warehouses sheet to designate bins, warehouse
zones, and items for which the warehouse team is responsible.

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Distribution Configuration and Setup Distribution Foundations Course

Allocation Template Maintenance

Use Allocation Template Maintenance, as needed, to define allocation templates that can be used to automate
the allocation process in the Fulfillment Workbench. You can define multiple allocation templates, each with
their own set of processing parameters.
Using pre-defined allocation templates, rather than manually entering processing parameters on an ad-hoc
(on-the-fly) basis, saves you the time required to enter this information during each fulfillment allocation session.
This is particularly true if you handle allocations in relatively the same manner on a daily basis.
Tip When you use an allocation template during an allocation processing session in the Fulfillment
Workbench, you cannot override any settings defined in that template. If you need to use allocation
parameters other than those in a pre-defined template, manually enter them on an ad-hoc basis during
an allocation processing session in the Fulfillment Workbench.

Prior to defining allocation templates, establish the following information in the Epicor application:
• Establish operating parameters for the Advanced Material Management module in the Plant Configuration
Control > Modules > Advanced Material Management sheet. Some of these become the default values
for fields in Allocation Template Maintenance and can be overridden as needed.
• Establish warehouse teams in Warehouse Team Maintenance. Warehouse teams identify employees who can
process transactions that result from allocations. Also specify the warehouse team's assigned warehouses and
the bins, zones, and optionally, items (parts, classes, or groups) for which the warehouse team is responsible.

Menu Path
Navigate to this program from the Main Menu:
• Material Management > Inventory Management > Setup > Allocation Template
• Production Management > Job Management > Setup > Allocation Template
• Sales Management > Order Management > Setup > Allocation Template
For CRM users, the Main Menu appears as:
• Customer Relationship Management > Order Management > Setup > Allocation Template

12 Epicor ERP | 9.05.700

Distribution Foundations Course Basic Distribution Process Flow

Basic Distribution Process Flow

This section contains an overview of what constitutes good distribution software, and of the functional areas of
the Epicor application that can be used to process business transactions that occur within a distribution company.

Epicor ERP | 9.05.700 13

Conclusion Distribution Foundations Course

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have completed the Distribution Foundation course.

Please take a moment to let Epicor University know how to serve you better by completing an evaluation at htt
p://www.keysurvey.com/survey/379199/e92f/. Your feedback provides the guidelines for the future direction of
Epicor University offerings.

14 Epicor ERP | 9.05.700

 Additional information is available at the Education and
Documentation areas of the EPICweb Customer Portal. To access
this site, you need a Site ID and an EPICweb account. To create an
account, go to http://support.epicor.com.