Groupe Gbaguidi must move 400 bags of cement from the Cotonou location to Natitingou, through Parakou. Orou Sabi, who manages logistics in Parakou, plans the journey. Each step belongs to a different company of the group, and each company must confirm what it receives and what it sends on. Before, they did it by phone calls and the figures never matched. This page follows one transfer from the plan to its end. The same steps apply to a shop that restocks from a location in two or three hops.

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Plan the transfer

Orou starts with Create a stock transfer. He gives the reason and how transport costs will be shared between goods (average or prorata). He lists the steps, each at a location group, and the legs between them. He can also start from a saved trip: its location group stops become the steps, and its legs, its vehicles and the rates his company entered on it are copied. The transfer is a draft: no stock moves. While it is a draft, or even running, he can add a step with Add a transfer step, change one with Change a transfer step or remove one with Delete a transfer step. A new step goes at the end of the route. Only steps not yet reached can change. He renames the transfer with Change a transfer reason. Goods and transport are described in Load goods and handle losses in transit and Transport legs, vehicles and costs. If the plan is dropped, Delete a draft transfer removes it with everything in it.

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Start it

On the day, Orou presses Start a transfer. The first step becomes current, the goods leaving it are taken out of stock, and he is recorded as the pilot. The transfer needs at least two steps with one leg between each pair of consecutive steps.

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Approve and complete each step

At Parakou, a manager of that company approves the arrival with Approve a transfer step. The company does not have to own the transfer, it must hold a location of the step’s group. The goods arriving are received into stock there, and the goods leaving from there are taken out of stock. When the truck has been unloaded and reloaded, they mark the step done with Complete a transfer step. They may add lines to forward extra goods to a later step. The next step is not approved automatically: its company approves it in turn. If a step is not visited, Skip a transfer step takes it out.

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Finish or cancel

When every step is done or skipped and all goods are accounted for, Orou closes the transfer with Finish a transfer. If the journey is abandoned, Cancel a transfer stops it. Nothing is put back in stock by cancelling. Everyone involved follows progress with List stock transfers, View a stock transfer, List transfer steps and View a transfer step.

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The rules

  • A transfer is a draft, running, finished or cancelled. Finished and cancelled have no way out. Only a draft is deleted, and it is deleted for good with its steps, legs, segments, lines and costs.
  • Only the company that owns the transfer creates, changes, starts, finishes, cancels or deletes it, edits its steps or skips them. Other companies see a transfer only when it is no longer a draft and they hold a location of one of its step groups.
  • A transfer needs a reason and a cost distribution method (average or prorata), which cannot be changed later. Its type and status cannot be sent. Either send a trip, or send steps and route legs, not both.
  • With a trip: the trip must be visible to the company and active, with at least two location group stops and complete legs.
  • Starting needs at least two steps, one leg between each pair of consecutive steps, and a first step whose group holds a location of the current company. Every line must concern an item tracked in inventory.
  • Approving, completing and skipping use the transfers.approve, transfers.complete and transfers.execute permissions. Completing with forwarded lines needs the forward permission too.
  • A step is upcoming, current, done or skipped. Only an upcoming step can be approved, and only when no other step is current and the previous one is done or skipped.
  • A step can be skipped only if no goods still to receive arrive there and none is planned to leave it. A step can be deleted only if no segment or leg still refers to it.
  • A step’s location group cannot change once it has dispatches or receptions.
  • Stock moves for a step once.
  • Finishing needs every step done or skipped, no goods still in transit with a quantity to receive, and every leg cost allocated. Cancelling is possible only from running and needs the same goods condition. When a date is sent it must be valid, otherwise now is used.
  • Costs appear only to the owner company.

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