Message and Comment Print Codes

Messages and comments may be displayed in all order conversations and may be entered in all conversations except Sales Order Inquiry and Quote Order Inquiry.

Print Codes

Print codes define which order processing documents and manufacturing documents the messages and comments will print on.  Print codes are defined through three different Reference File categories in the system:  410, A14, and G67.  Category 410 defines which documents the sales order messages and comments will be printed on and category A14 defines which documents the quote order messages and comments will be printed on.  Category G67 defines which documents the manufacturing order messages and comments will be printed on.  Manufacturing print codes will be enterable for configured items only.  See the Reference File Categories User Manual for categories 410, A14, and G67 for more details.

Comments

Message and comment fields are used to communicate additional information to customers, warehouse personnel, and/or operators.  Displayed messages and comments may be standard or free-form.  Standard messages are predefined messages stored on the Customer Master file and Part Master file.  They supply customer, part, or other information, and may be up to 25 characters long.  Free-form comments are entered by the operator and may be of any form or content.  Their length is restricted to 50 characters each.

Messages and comments can provide customer, order, line item, customer/item, or lot information.  Customer messages originate from the bill-to customer's record on the Customer Master file.  The system formats these messages on the sales order header record from the Customer Master file whenever a new order is created.  Up to three standard messages and one custom message may be associated with each bill-to customer.  The system displays the customer messages on the comment screen.  The operator may then override the displayed messages.

You also have the ability to copy comments to sales orders or quotes.  Using an action code in sales order maintenance, you can select the comment type you wish to copy.  A window displays all the comments defined for the specified command type and the keys entered.  You may select comments to copy to the active sales order or quote order header.  Selection may be done manually by entering an 'X' beside the comment lines to be copied, or by pressing the Select All key which selects all comments to be copied.  When the Enter key is pressed, the selected comments are written to the Sales Order Comments file and the program ends.

In addition, through the use of a function key in Comments Maintenance, you can copy comments across types.  You will be able to copy across types contained in the Comments file or from the Comments file to sales orders.  Valid comment types are defined on Reference File category 027, and once the comments are copied, they can be maintained.

There are three types of comments:

·     Comments pertaining to customer orders are free-form.  The operator can enter 99 lines of 50 characters each on the comment screen pertaining to the entire order.  Order comments are printed on the Sales Order, Picker, Credit Memo, and Invoice, as well as on the Manufacturing Order and Picker List documents on the shop floor, based on the print code.

·     The customer/item comment is a free-form comment stored on the Customer/Item Relationship file.  The comment is displayed with the sales line comments.  It is displayed when you are selecting lots for lot-assignable items.  It is printed on order paperwork based on the print code.  These comments are defined for the ship-to/bill-to customer combination.

·     You can maintain one 25-character comment for each lot.  The lot comment is stored on the Lot Master file.  It is displayed during lot selection.  The comment is printed on the order paperwork based on the print code.

Standard Messages

The system allows one standard part message, extracted from the Part Master file, for each line item.  The operator may also enter up to 99 comment lines for each line.  Line item messages and comments are printed on the Sales Order, Picker, and/or Invoice as well as the Manufacturing Order and Picker List documents on the shop floor based on the message print code.  Order and line level comments from the original (parent) order are automatically added to both backorder and blanket releases.

The standard order messages and comments allow the operator to communicate information to customers.  Some messages or comments, however, would be inappropriate on the invoice since the goods would have already been shipped.  To print free-form comments on the sales order or ship list, but not on the invoice, the operator could enter the appropriate print code during Sales Order Maintenance or Open Order Shipping and Billing.  For example, a confidential comment about part quality for the ship list can be generated but not printed on the Invoice by using a print code of 2.  Alternately, the operator may want to print special billing information on the invoice but not on the ship list or sales order.  This can be done by entering the message print code of 4.

In some countries, such as Italy, is necessary to manage different types of 'no charge' items (price code=8) on sales and invoice processing.  These line types are gift, sample, and prize.  During order entry and shipping, the processing of these line types will be managed by entering a part sales order message for each sales order line.  If the price code for the sales order line is '8' and a part sales order message has been entered, then the Print Line on Invoice flag on Reference File category M10 will be retrieved to determine if the detail line should be printed on the invoice.  The part sales order message code will also be used to validate whether VAT should be calculated for the detail line.  If the Calculate VAT flag on Reference File category M10 is set up to charge VAT for the part sales order message, then VAT will be charged on the sales order line and this item must be printed on the invoice.  For more information on VAT processing for these line types, refer to the section on VAT for Gifts, Samples, and Prizes in the VAT Processing key concept in this manual.

In addition, sample and prize lines may need to carry a special description if printed on the invoice.  To manage the printing of these descriptions, the part sales order message code must be set up for each line type on Reference File category 430.  The print code associated with the part sales order message code on this category must be set up to print the part sales order message on the invoice according to the fiscal requirements.

Transferring Comments between Documents

When using Computer Integrated Distribution (CID), comments from purchase orders can be transferred to sales orders and be displayed on invoices.  This processing is especially useful because it facilitates communication between multiple locations via the appropriate transaction documents.

The key to this functionality to use the EDI component of CID and to setup data on Reference File category 410.  This category, Order Processing Comment and Message Print Codes, identifies where sales order comments can be printed and which comments will "transfer" to other related CID documents.  In order for comments to be carried over, the Requisition Print Code on this category must be Y (yes).  For more information about transferring comments between documents, see the Remote Sourcing key concept in this manual.