inventory plus oracle inventory zero_issues

Inventory Management:

Genesis Inventory Plus+

Genesis Inventory Plus+ in addition to

Oracle Inventory: For a perfect

experience in Inventory Management

Whitepaper – Informative document, January 2013


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Table of contents

SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE WITH ORACLE eBS ..................................................................... 3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................................... 4

NO CUSTOMIZATIONS ...................................................................................................... 4

FIRST INSIGHTS ................................................................................................................. 5

DESCRIPTION .................................................................................................................... 6

Why the need to develop Genesis Inventory Plus+ ........................................................ 7

SPECIFIC FEATURES .......................................................................................................... 8

Inventory security ....................................................................................................... 8

Stock transactions operational reports ....................................................................... 8

Quantity availability at transaction date ..................................................................... 8

Header and line stock data form ................................................................................. 9

Distribution account generator ................................................................................... 9

User interface standardization .................................................................................... 9

A two-step transaction: Save and Process ................................................................... 9

Automatic reversal transactions ................................................................................. 9

Managing transactions based on Stock Ledger Cards (SLC) ........................................ 9

Cost method determination at warehouse level ......................................................... 10

HOW THE PRODUCT WAS DEVELOPED ........................................................................... 11


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SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE WITH ORACLE eBS


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The ERP software suppliers constantly improve the features of the

component modules, trying to stay up-to-date with the customers’

increasingly complex business requirements. On the other hand, the

consultants, “the fieldwork teams”, the ones who must bring to life the

sold products, identify additional requirements lists, always the same,

left uncovered even in new versions. The customer is faced with the

feeling of buying a product that does not cover, as he imagined, a

specific area of business. The ERP software vendor is also facing a

problem: the application cannot be modified,

only within very tide limits. Therefore, the

customer receives an approximate,

unsatisfactory and sometimes error-prone

solution.

Genesis Software Consulting has developed in

time a product suite, which includes Genesis

Inventory Plus+, fully integrated into Oracle

E-Business Suite, in order to respond to express

requirements from customers. These products

have been designed as a new work interface

within ERP application, a role rather than

module-oriented one, thus replacing the standard operating mode. In

order to solve the same tasks in the new interface, the user is faced with

less screens, the information is condensed, automated and secured,

while maintaining control and the possibility to correct operating errors.

Using the new interface, the customer can intervene, making changes

that the product developer forbids.

It is recommended that Genesis Inventory Plus+ be used each time

Oracle Inventory is implemented because a list of critical features and

corrections for the user is added.

NO CUSTOMIZATIONS

We believe customizations, changes made in the standard Oracle

Applications ERP, that are not supported by the vendor are something

we do not recommend. Why customizations are not good? Regression –

one minor customization could dramatically affect a standard set of

functionalities; Standard support cannot be offered even for standard

functionalities if were affected by customizations; Upgrade – new

versions upgrade can become a more costly experience if

customizations are in place; Know how – for standard applications you

have vendor support and general documentation, while for

customizations the support depends on only a few developers. These

are just a few of many pitfalls of customizing the ERP software.


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This is why we don’t recommend and don’t support customizations of

Oracle ERP. We developed our products as distinct tools over the

standard functionalities of Oracle without interfere with or change

these functionalities. They just channel the existing power of Oracle

ERP to more efficiently solve the business problems of your company.

The standard functionalities remain unaffected by our products and you

can still use them, if you choose, independently of our product.

FIRST INSIGHTS

Oracle E-Business Suite Inventory module, and the related ones,

represent one of the problem sources in implementation, both for users

and for consultants. The consultants are forced, by the structure of the

application, to ask the users (stock keepers and stock manipulators) to

operate, in fact, simple stock issues-receipts, in a variety of screens,

with different configurations, hard to remember and to use. For this

reason, very often, managers are forced to renounce to online operation

performed by stock keepers, delegating the operation to the accounting

department and postponing it to the end of the month. Under these

conditions, any use of material planning and tracking becomes

impossible for intervals of less than a month. The inventory operations

accounting audit is highly hindered by a data structure considered

sometimes too simplified. The transactions must generate the

documents required by legal regulations in force (Receipt Note,

Consumption Note, Stock Balance Sheet). Furthermore, the operating

mode must be performed more strictly, leading to a secure operation in

stock management, the stock shown being the one from the system

date and not the one from the transaction date, and the closing of the

stock value balance not leading to accounting differences. Hence, the

stock accountants lose much time identifying and reconciling

operational errors. Consultants, in turn, are forced to develop complex

reports having an insufficient data model.

For all these requirements, Genesis Inventory Plus+ is the solution.


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“Eggshell” metaphor

Michael Hammer, known in the business-consulting world as the inventor of the concept of BPR – Business Process Reengineering,

uses the “egg shell” metaphor to explain a consequence of the business processes fragmentation. Thus, a business process is like an

egg with a whole shell. This can be rebuilt, after egg breakage, in two ways: either breaking the egg into many small pieces, a large

quantity of glue being necessary to remount it, or by breaking the egg in a few larger pieces that require less glue to rebuild. The egg

rebuilt from a large number of small shells will always be farther than the original than the one rebuilt from fewer larger shells.

What does this mean? The higher the number of screens necessary for a process (the egg) to be operated (more shells to assemble),

the more effort is needed for operation and control (glue). The higher the number of screens, the farther is the operating process from

the real business.

DESCRIPTION

The Inventory Plus+ product developed by Genesis allows stock keepers

to operate secured Inventory management movement, using fewer

screens, with automatic process report generation (Goods Receipt

Note, Consumption Note, etc). Stock change is made at the transaction

date and not at the system date. Transactions are performed in two

steps, Save and Process. The unprocessed transactions do not generate

accounting entries and can be easily modified or deleted. The stock

keeper can automatically perform correction transactions having an on-

screen document reversal function. The transactions are auditable, from

quantity and value point of view, and are connected to Stock Ledger

Cards, highlighting the quantity and value left on the Card.

Fig. 1 - Genesis Inventory Plus

+ Application

Genesis Inventory Plus+ improves the Oracle modules features used to

track product inventory. It adds new forms of operation and

viewing/auditing of transactions.

Genesis Inventory Plus+ works together with Oracle Inventory module.

The new features introduced by Genesis Inventory Plus+ do not cancel in


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any way the standard Oracle features. The only thing changed is the

user interface.

Why the need to develop Genesis Inventory Plus+

These days, customers all over the world are increasingly demanding.

They want to have today what the developers promise to achieve in the

future. In our view, customers are less interested in the technological

process incorporated in the new versions of ERP applications and more

interested in the practical solutions for their business problems.

After years of Oracle Applications implementation, Genesis Software

Consulting team was able to capitalize the experience gained into a

product suite, which also includes Inventory Plus+.

Successful use of Inventory Plus+ has enabled Genesis to extend ERP

implementation in other areas of company business: resource

requisition and forecasting. Now, stock keepers receive products based

on Purchase Orders, release the raw material for consumption and

receive in stock the work-based finished goods, whereas the delivery to

the customer is performed on a per order basis.


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SPECIFIC FEATURES

Genesis Inventory Plus+ adds to Oracle Inventory a series of new

features helping to improve transaction operation by stock keepers and

their auditing by stock accountants.

Inventory security

In an inventory organization nominated stock

keepers are responsible for specific

warehouses. For example, a person is

responsible for raw materials, another one is

responsible for finished goods, and so on.

Each of them wants no one else to have

access to the warehouse he/she is responsible

for.

Genesis Inventory Plus+ adds to Oracle

Inventory the warehouse security defining two

new entities: warehouse and stock keeper.

After configuration, a stock keeper will be

allowed to operate only in the warehouses

he/she is responsible for.

With Genesis Inventory Plus+ only the user

with the “stock keeping” role for that

nominated warehouse will operate in a

specific warehouse, which leads to increasing

confidence in the system.

Stock transactions operational

reports

Stock receipt and issue transactions recorded

by stock keepers are accompanied by filling

the documents certifying product movement.

The person delivering the product, as well as

the person accepting it, needs a document

signed together with the stock keeper in order

to validate the exchange of products.


Inventory stock transactions, documents

organized in a document nomenclature,

associated to warehouses, with unique

number sequence.

Fig. 2 Transaction-associated document

When the stock keeper records a stock

transaction in a warehouse, the system will

generate a transaction specific document,

with a unique number, associated to the list of

involved products. The document is printed to

be signed by the people involved in the

transaction. The documents are sent to the

Accounting Department at the end of the

month because they are source accounting

documents.

Quantity availability at transaction

date

In real life, the stock keepers do not work with

negative stock. The stock issue cannot be

bigger than the stock receipt. Oracle

Inventory displays and uses in transactions the

quantity available at system date. If an issue is

operated in the past, the quantity available at

the system date may lead to a negative

balance in the past.


Inventory, in the new interfaces, the available

quantities at transaction date. If it is operated

in the past, the system takes into account only

the quantities at that moment and ignores the

quantities on the system date. Thus, there will

never be negative stock in the stock balance


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regardless of the order in which the

documents were recorded.

Header and line stock data form

It is useful for stock keepers that the ERP

interface in which they operate to be

organized similar to the documents they are

accustomed to, with header and lines. The

header should contain general data and the

lines should contain operated products

specific data.

Fig 3.Header and lines organized transactions


Inventory, in the new interfaces, header and

lines design. The header format changes

dynamically. Depending on the type of

document displays supplier data for Goods

Received Note (GRN) or customer data for the

Delivery Note.

Distribution account generator

Each document type needs specific

accounting entry. Stock keepers, on the other

hand, choose to operate the stock without

being involved in accounting transactions.


Inventory, in the new interfaces, mechanisms

for automatic getting of distribution account

using Oracle Workflow account generators.

When stock keepers use the Genesis Inventory

Plus+ interfaces, they do not need to operate

any account-related information as this is fully

automated. Stock Accountants find in Genesis

Inventory Plus+ form the inventory and

distribution accounts required to audit

transactions performed by the stock keeper.

User interface standardization

Users appreciate simple, standardized,

intuitive and easy to learn user interfaces.

Genesis Inventory Plus+ provides a single form

for all types of inventory transactions

operated by a stock keeper.

A two-step transaction: Save and

Process

In the early stages of operating, users need to

be able to correct, change and delete, with no

accounting implications.

Genesis Inventory Plus+ interface allows a

two-step transaction: Save and Process. The

saved data can be updated or deleted, with no

accounting implications. After processing, the

system creates the accounting. Therefore,

only operating a reversal transaction can

perform the correction.

Automatic reversal transactions

Stock keepers and accountants need the ERP

system to include automatic correction

mechanisms.

Genesis Inventory Plus+ adds correction

features that reverse the faulty document.

Stock keepers use the reversal feature to

automatically generate a new document,

which cancels the incorrect one. Stock

accountants find in the system the reversed

document associated with the faulty one.

Managing transactions based on

Stock Ledger Cards (SLC)

Stock accountants need the system to allow

full stock audit. To that effect, the data must

allow the report of an inventory balance

sheet, with initial stock at the beginning of the

month, receipts, issues, quantities, values and

balance. The best way to track stock

movement is to record the transactions of


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SLCs. Each stock receipt must generate a SLC

number so that, subsequently, when

operating issues, they can be connected to

receipts.

The SLC must point out the remaining

quantity and value from a receipt. The SLCs

where the remaining quantity and value are

equal to zero are considered closed SLCs.


Inventory a new data structure that allows

report of an inventory balance sheet and

Stock Ledger Card. An interface is made

available for stock accountants where they

can view and audit the stock based on the

document associated to the transaction and

the SLC. They can view the remaining

quantity and value on each SLC separately.

The SLC is used in automatic document

reversal mechanism. A stock receipt can be

reversed only if its SLC is restored,

respectively the remaining quantity and value

are identical to the initial ones.

Managing the data in Genesis Inventory Plus+

based on SLCs excludes the potential for

variance accounts.

Fig. 4. Managing data based on SLC

Cost method determination at

warehouse level

Stock accountants must track the balance of

stocks movement at warehouse level.

Genesis Inventory Plus+ provides, in addition

to Oracle Inventory, the cost method

determination at warehouse level. The

combination of Product line accounting

standard feature from Oracle Cost

Management with Genesis Inventory Plus+

feature of cost method determination at

warehouse level allows the stock accountants

to track the stock balance for each warehouse

separately.


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HOW THE PRODUCT WAS DEVELOPED

Genesis Inventory Plus+ was developed progressively, covering the

business requirements raised by different customers in implementation

projects, since the early 2000’s. We initially started from simple

development mechanism (table triggers, packages, procedures), so as

to finally obtain a stand-alone product, with proper screens and tables,

which interfaces the standard modules. The result was an

“encapsulation” of the expertise gained in an easy to customize and

control product, similar to any Oracle product.

Genesis Inventory Plus+ includes all technical elements characterizing

an Oracle product. It has its own database schema, a proper descriptive

flexfield (DFF), specific configuration items, operating forms and view

results forms. Genesis developers use in Genesis Inventory Plus+ the

modern mechanisms offered by Oracle Workflow. Thus, the forms of

operation developed, Miscellaneous Transactions and Commitment

Transactions, have their own account generator used to achieve

distribution account. At the same time, all operated transactions are

controlled through Oracle Workflow for validation, interface and

correlation when multiple transactions require interconnections. The

transactions operated are simultaneously saved, both in Genesis

Inventory Plus+ tables, and in Oracle Inventory tables. In Oracle

Inventory, the transactions operated from Genesis Inventory Plus+ are

identical.

Genesis Inventory Plus+ has its own set of reports to be added to the

ones existing in Oracle Inventory. For each type of

transaction/document, Genesis Inventory Plus+ submit the Transaction

report in order to offer the stock keeper the document required to

certify the product exchange by signature. At the end of the month, the

Stock Accountant runs the inventory financial audit reports, Inventory

balance sheet and Stock Ledger Card.

White paper

(Informative document)

January 2013

Author: Dorian Balmuș

Genesis Software Consulting

Address: 65 Samuil Vulcan St., sector 5,

Bucharest, Romania

Contact person: George Faur

phone: +40 741-084-009

e-mail: [email protected]

www.genesissoftware.eu

Software and consulting you need

Copyright © 2013, Genesis Software Consulting. All rights

reserved. This document is provided for information purposes

only and the contents hereof are subject to change without

notice.

This document is not warranted to be error-free, nor subject to

any other warranties, including implied warranties and

conditions of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

This document is provided for marketing and information

purposes, and does not entail any contractual liability. The

content hereof is protected by the Copyright Law L8/1996 and

allied rights, as subsequently amended and supplemented.

All Genesis trademarks are used under license and are

trademarks or registered trademarks of Genesis Software

Consulting.

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