In a previous post, I laid out the business case for DynaChange Business Rules as an essential part of any Prophet 21 deployment. Business rules are an important arrow in your company’s quiver that allows you to adapt P21 ERP to your business process and streamline operations. In my experience, it is the little things that users notice the most about the software and lead to frustration. DynaChange Business Rules allow you to improve user experience, which typically leads to an improvement in productivity.
1) P21 ERP Wireless Warehouse: Quantity to Pick / Move
How often are you changing the quantity to pick at the time of order picking? I have done a couple of studies on this in the past, and in both cases, the quantity to pick matched the actual quantity picked over 90% of the time. In other words, nine times out of ten, there was no need for the user to change the quantity.
The business rule for this scenario is pretty straightforward. Once the item scan is executed, then the business rule fires and copies the value from the Quantity to Pick field into the Quantity field. If you are using lot/bin integration, it is a little trickier. Prophet 21 automatically fills in the lot number when there is only 1 lot in the bin for that item. There are 2 rules needed.
The first rule fires on a field change in the Item field. This rule checks to see if the Lot to Pick field and the Lot field have the same value. If they do, the quantity populates automatically. If not, nothing happens and the rule stops processing. The second rule fires after scanning the lot field. This rule simply copies the value from Quantity to Pick into the Quantity field. The two rules together will complete the quantity field whether there is one lot in the bin or multiple lots.
2) Wireless Warehouse: Default Number of Ship Item Labels
This rule is handy when you want to print multiple-ship item labels. Without rules, the WWMS system in P21 ERP defaults to 1 label. This forces the user to change the label count every time they pick an item. I have used two different approaches for this rule.
The first and easiest way is to write a DynaChange Business Rule that changes the label count to a fixed value. The second method is a little more complex, but more useful if you have multiple locations and those locations have different default requirements. In this method, create a user-defined field for the location that stores the default number of ship item labels for the location. Then, write a rule that looks up that value, based on the logged-in user’s location, and returns that value to the print labels screen.
3) A/P Drill Down by Vendor: Default the Date Range
In many P21 ERP windows, there is a date range that needs to be applied to your query before the lookup is done. In A/P Drill Down by Vendor, the dates default to a start date of 30 days prior and an end date of today. A/P Drill Down by Vendor is often used to look up older payments while researching vendor discrepancies. Use a DynaChange Business Rule to set the start date to an earlier date. This rule is triggered on the window opening. You can take this even further by using the same rule to automatically check the “Show all Vouchers” checkbox.
4) Prevent Order Dates in the Past
A recurring issue for many P21 ERP users is speeding through Order Entry only to hit the Enter or Tab key too quickly and end up setting the wrong order date. This throws off reporting and other analytics. Additionally, it sets up potential problems with order validation, should the order go on credit hold. The business rule for the order date field is a very simple one.
When the order date changes, the rule checks the date to be sure it is not more than one day in the past or more than one day in the future. If either of those conditions is true, the date automatically resets to the current date. Additionally, the user receives a prompt about the data validation error.
5) Create a System Generated Lot Number in P21 ERP
For companies that need to track lots in P21 ERP, there is always a significant amount of work involved in properly managing lot numbers and related information. Many companies elect to always assign a system-generated lot number upon receipt of goods and then put the manufacturer’s lot number into a series of extended lot attributes. Other companies have elected to use the manufacturer lot number as the P21 ERP lot number to reduce complexity and data entry.
However, there can be times when you need to generate a unique lot number. This could be for lot tracking kits, processed goods, or other cases where lot tracking is desired but not otherwise provided. The Right Mouse Button (RMB) business rule can be a huge benefit for you in these cases.
Essentially, the rule calls the counter function via a P21 stored procedure. The procedure retrieves the next lot number from the system. The counter is available even if you do not automatically assign lot numbers. This value is then returned to the Lot field. Deploying this rule via a right mouse button is an effective way to allow the on-demand generation of unique lot numbers.
Closing Thoughts on P21 ERP DynaChange Business Rules
Hopefully, this gives you even more insight into relatively simple things achieved through the effective use of P21 ERP DynaChange Business Rules. These rules, and others like them, help reduce repetitive keystrokes. This increases both productivity and user engagement with P21 ERP. Finally, adding in these simple rules often results in the user community bringing more ideas forward. This leads to even further improve productivity and ease of use.
