Good Morning Tut.
I have been using Manager for some time now. I have a question regarding inventory Items.
For example I have 2 different suppliers. Both with the same products but both with different Inventory Codes or Part Numbers. EG. Part Nr 898101198 and part Nr 8m0051389. they are both exactly the same part but different manufacturer or supplier. I would like to know if there is any functionality that will be able to link the 2 part numbers together so that I can match quantities ETC in stock.
I have looked in the forum for this but cannot find reference. Maybe my search terminology is incorrect
Please do not send personal messages covering topics of general interest. I have moved your question to the public forum.
There is no linkage mechanism in Manager to tell you parts are identical if they have different item codes. You can, however, find and merge duplicates that you do not want to remain separate. See this Guide: Manager Cloud.
The bigger question is what constitutes good inventory management practice. Generally, if you really consider the two parts to be interchangeable, they should be managed under the same item code—your item code, not a supplier’s code. You could choose one supplier’s number or create your own. Manager is not really a supply chain management program, though, so it has no built-in features that let you list alternate suppliers/prices for a given inventory item.
You could work around that limitation, though, using custom fields. You could set up fields for primary source, alternate 1, and alternate 2, checked to show as columns. Then, when reviewing inventory item records, you would see the sourcing possibilities for the single item.
If two items are similar, but still distinct enough you want separate records of them, then leave them with separate item codes. In this case, you could create custom fields to list equivalent parts, also checked to show as columns. If you are out of one, the Inventory Items list would show you alternatives.