One of our products is variable length tubing with different types of ends welded/pressed on. They often ship with clamps, gaskets, gates, etc. (Sounds like a perfect product for the configurator doesn't it, but I can't get them to use it!) Sales management didn't want the sales people to have to remember to enter clamps, gaskets, gates, etc. on the sales order so they resorted to sales kits (against the advice of our consultants and core group). They don't make use of sales kits with up-datable components. They have a sales kit for every combination. The problem is compounded in Vantage because sales kits have to be stock items. So if we sell an odd one-time length, we add a new "plain" tubing part and a new sales kit part that will probably never be used again. Now the sales department has to find the part number with the correct combination of components...all because they didn't want to enter the components on separate order lines! We also have sales kits with only one component, tubing shipped without any "extras". They were added as a sales kit to "keep things consistent"...huh? When the sales manager complains about problems with kits, I remind him he can stop using sales kits today if the sales department starts entering the components on orders instead of the kit part and saves the sales kits for true sales kits! Our other departments use a few sales kits, use them correctly and have fewer problems with them. I believe sales kits were new (or nearly new) with Vantage 8.03.400. It feels like we were one of the sales kit guinea pigs, the majority of services calls we placed were for sales kits. Most of them have been fixed. Some that will never be fixed in Vantage are fixed in Epicor 9. A few still linger in Epicor 9. We may find new bugs in Epicor 9 as we continue testing and eventually go live in Epicor 9 as there are new sales kit features in E9. I'd go ahead and test your situation on RMA, we don't deal with serial number or lot tracking at the present time. Test it all the way thru the financials. Sales kits may work just fine for what you're trying to do. Being an optimist, I'm hoping that eventually I can get my "problem dept" weaned away from using sales kits for everything, use more up-rateable kits, and maybe eventually use the configurator. Lots of luck to you!
Sue
Sue
--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, "Stan Chmura" wrote:
>
> Thanks for the reply! I am at 9.05.700C. Aside from the profitability
> problems you mention, what troubles did you encounter? i.e. what is an
> example of "use for things that sales kits were not intended for"? My use
> would be to kit a couple of items that could as well be sold separately.
> Those two items could be either a shelf item or manufactured. The
> manufactured item of course would require a second job or subassembly.
> Currently we do that by running a job from a BOM for the kit part number
> containing the two components. The troubles we've encountered with that is
> that one of those items is serial number controlled and sometimes fails.
> When it's returned via RMA, the serial number still shows as WIP in the job
> that assembled the kit. That requires manipulation of its status in
> maintenance. I was hoping the kitting process would handle that situation
> better. If not, I'm not sure what, if anything I would gain by changing my
> current process - particularly if there are still accounting issues.
>
>
>
> Regards:
>
> Stan
>
>
>
> This communication is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein
> and may contain technical data as defined in the International Traffic In
> Arms Regulations (ITAR) 22 CFR 120.10. or the Export Administration
> Regulations. Export of this material is restricted cannot be exported to
> foreign persons or foreign destination without prior written approval from
> the U. S. Department of State or the US Department of Commerce.
>
>
>
> From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
> snielsen28
> Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2013 3:09 PM
> To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Vantage] Re: Sales Kits
>
>
>
>
>
> We use sales kits heavily and had lots of trouble with them (sometimes due
> to the fact that we use sales kits for things that sales kits were not
> intended for!). We've used them from the time we went live on 8.03.403. What
> version are you on? A number of the bugs have been fixed in Vantage, I'm
> still testing in Epicor 9. I understand some improvements have been made in
> Epicor 9, such as allowing non-stock items to be kit components. We're stuck
> with a bunch of "one time" part numbers because in Vantage sales kit
> components can only be stock items. Some bugs to watch for...Processing a
> sales kit in a counter sale with produce "Unknown GL transactons", I've
> received one-off fixes for 8.03.409A and 8.03.410 and found it is fixed in
> Epicor 9.05.700A or earlier. Pulling a single quote line into an order
> doesn't work if it's a sales kit, pushing a quote into an order is ok
> (Vantage, OK in Epicor 9.05.700A or eariler). Inventory count tags print for
> sales kits, sales kits are not inventory items (Vantage, OK in Epicor
> 9.05.700A or earlier). Customer tracker shows incorrect profit if sales kits
> are involved, this is a problem in Vantage and Epicor 9. The sales kit costs
> are calculated in the tracker using both costs from the parent AND the
> components. (Epicor considers this a cosmetic problem; they should talk to
> our sales manager when he's freaking out cuz one of our biggest customers is
> showing a loss! Yes, it's correct in the Gross Profit Margin report, but he
> doesn't see that. I've listened to his complaint for 5 years and haven't had
> the nerve to tell him it still isn't fixed in E9.) The packing slip number
> doesn't print for sales kit components in Inventory/WIP Reconciliation like
> other shipments do. We didn't know Vantage well enough when we started to
> realize the things we would run into dealing with sales kits. We have one
> department that latched onto sales kits and uses hundreds of them, not
> necessarily in the way they were intended to be used. Sales kits can be good
> tools if used correctly. Make sure you TEST, TEST, TEST.
>
> Sue
>
> --- In vantage@yahoogroups.com ,
> "stanchmura" wrote:
> >
> > Just looking into these for the first time. The question I cannot answer
> is what product group the sale will hit? If the parent part has a blank
> product group on the order, will the sale hit the accounts from the product
> group of the comnponent parts?
> > Also any recommendations, hints, dos and don'ts regarding this feature
> would be greatly appreciated!
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Stan
> >
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>