Hi
We are wanting to automate the Incoming ICPO Suggestions so that all intercompany POs are “automatically” accepted and processed into Sales orders.
I’m thinking this would be a scheduled process that would happen every x minutes. I’ve tried doing a Trace log on the Process but have got stuck. The Multi Company Direct process pushes POs from one company to the other where they appear in the Incoming ICPO Suggestions search box - but I can’t find the table that stores this info. The Ice.IntQueIn and Ice.IntQueOut tables hold the info until it is transferred to the other company but then where does it go?
Hi,
If you have ( one to one to one) (SO > PO >SO), then you best bet is to bypass po suggestions and write bpms/customisations to do this on the fly.
1 Like
The records go into the IM.IMOrderHed, IM.IMOrderDtl, and IM.IMOrderRel tables - none of which are accessible via BAQ’s - since we’re on-premises, I was able to discover them via a trace and directly SQL query the database.
Automating these processes via BPM’s (when one is not a C# guru - which I am not) is proving to be extremely difficult.
As a stopgap, I have created a .bat file for executing the DMT tool to query and then create the Purchase Order and Sales Order directly; running on an hourly schedule via Task Scheduler. I arrived here looking for the same solution as you are. Our selling company is B2C; and we’re drop-shipping to a OTS from our supplying company. I’d created BPM’s to set the Sales Order to Drop Ship and the OTS address while we were processing the PO’s through, manually. The DMT tool has allowed me to by-pass that issue since I’m now writing the data directly into the Sales Order.
Ideally, I want to get the entire ICPO process back into Epicor, as I don’t like having to do all of this as I am - mostly because I am the only one who knows how to even use the DMT, and if anything should go awry while I’m not here, a general panic would ensue.
The problem I have is in figuring out how to replicate workbench “actions” and have all of the orders process through as 1 SO - 1 PO - 1 SO; especially since the outcome of combined PO’s and SO’s results in all of the OTS orders getting bundled up in a single packslip and shipped to one individual. This seems to be a relatively common complaint.
How do I even trigger a BPM that replicates the Incoming Intercompany PO Suggestions Workbench, when I cannot even select the IM.IMOrderHed table in a condition for an added row? Is most definitely proving to be a challenge!
If anyone has figured out a workable solution, I’d be eternally grateful.
1 Like
The object Epicor uses is the SOPOLink. This is what does the search of the IntQueIn and builds the IM tables. Mark each of these records as “Ready to Process” (there’s an Action menu Item that does this) and then Process all Suggestions. That’s it really. Check out the Method Directive for SOPOLink. It’s a bit of a black box that doesn’t expose much to the developer but it should do what you want to do if you trace it out.
Mark W.
Thanks for the feedback, @Mark_Wonsil I’m going to play around with is a bit tomorrow, to see if I can trap for an added row; and then see if I can figure out how to create the workflow without resorting to C#. If I can figure it out, I’ll post it here. If not, I’ve signed up for a C# Epicor class starting next week; as automating the process to generate the Purchase Orders to even get them here has proven beyond my skill set utilizing the Workflow Elements. After getting everything to fire, and Result messages showing everything returned exactly as the trace log showed while performing the manual process, no Purchase Order was generated. That’s when I decided to just generate the PO’s via DMT PO Combined; and created a bat file to accomplish it on an hourly schedule.
I did the same thing for Generating the Drop Ship Sales Order on the supply company’s side - all of which I’m treating as a stopgap measure until I can learn how to automate everything properly within Epicor. If and when I do, I’m going to share every last detail of how I configured everything here and in the Epicor User Group so that those who follow will have the instructions they need to accomplish this; as there are a lot of companies asking, and very few people answering with any real detail with which to assist - and I really don’t want to pay Epicor or a consultant to do it; and then be at their mercy forever more to troubleshoot and fix any issues which arise in the future.
The problem with these Action Menu objects is that there’s a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes, on the server side, which makes everything more difficult - because it requires the Invoke BO Method for multiple Methods, and changing, returning datasets all the way through - which appears easy to do via C#, with sufficient C# working knowledge (which I am lacking in); and exceptionally difficult to accomplish with the tools that Epicor put in place in the Workflow Designer. I have yet to successfully get an Action Menu process to be automated. 
That’s why I’m paying $3,400 out of pocket to take Epicor focused C# classes this fall that’s being offered by the company that hosts are local User Group meetings. My company won’t pay that amount, and I need to develop the skillset - this isn’t the only task on my plate, and I need to get this stuff done. I’m tired of logging in before 6:00 everyday to manually process through the orders that came in overnight, and then throughout each day as orders continue to come in.
Why Epicor made this 100% manual with no automation is beyond me - even Microsoft’s ERP software has setting that will automate the Intercompany PO Send/PO Accept processes (I know because in my searches for how to Automate Intercompany PO’s, Microsoft’s how-to returned, and it’s as simple as checking a checkbox in each of the Companies).
we did this automation … purely SO to PO to SO and reserve the stock or cross dock if stock not available, and warehouse gets the pick note and ships it. in the bpm,when ready to fulfil is ticked, create PO and create SO. to do this, currently logged in user need access to parent company. if you like, i could sell the source code to you. nothing hard coded. it can be upgraded and deployed straight into your system if your in Epicor 10 version.
Share it please
@hmwillett / @josecgomez would it be helpful to share your experiences with Automation Studio in creating POs?
I would like to add a #MeToo to this one as well. The ICPO is for us is only created if the manufacturing company has confirmed the capacity so going through the motions of creating a SO from a ICPO suggestion is a prime candidate for automation. As we are bringing in MRP it would be nice to just firm up a Job suggestion and go…