there was an easier way to check within your software? Well, you are in luck. fcB2B has defined an internet service that allows your software to speak directly to your supplier and ask about inventory. This service called a web service, is the stock check and allows you to supply SKU and other information to receive confirmation that the product is in stock. This all happens within seconds. There is no need to look for a phone number for customer service or the website and login information. Let’s say there’s not much inventory, so you would like to reserve the quantity you need for the order. That’s where the fcB2B defined reservation web service comes into play. You performed the stock check, and now you can pick your inventory and put a reserve on it. That’s what I call customer service. Now, the deal is closed, and you have a customer order. The next logical step would be to discuss the Purchase Order and the PO Acknowledgement, aka the 850 and 855. The consumer picked a beautiful floor, you confirmed the installation date and reserved the inventory. Do you have someone call the order in or navigate through the supplier’s website, duplicating work to build the order in their software? You already have all the information in your software. Why not push a button and automate placing the order in your software and in your supplier’s system? Once your supplier processes the order, they will return the PO Acknowledgement with your reference number and the expected shipping date. Both automagically appear in your software linked to the customer order. Think about how much time you just saved, not calling customer service or log onto a website and supply the same information that was already provided in your software. Given that the average human error percentage in data entry is 1%, that means that for every 100 orders manually processed, you can expect 1 will have an error. Expand that to 1000 orders you can now expect 10 to contain an error. By using fcB2B PO’s you decrease those odds because the order is entered once and then the computer takes the information and sends it along. Another web service that can be used is the Order Status service. This allows you to check the status of the order with your supplier, find
out if an order that was backordered has now been updated with a product or ship date, proactively supplying updates to your customers about their order. Now that the order has been placed with your supplier, you may want to know when it ships and what other orders are on the truck. This is where the Advanced Shipping Notice, aka ASN or 856, comes into play. The ASN is typically generated at the time of the truck being loaded and shipped by your supplier. The benefits of the ASN are knowing what products are on the truck prior to the truck arriving at your dock. It can also be used to automate the receiving process, allowing you to confirm the products and quantity and add the entire truck to inventory. Finally, is the Invoice, aka the 810, once the order is shipped and invoiced, you will receive the 810. Your system can perform a three-way match, ordered-received-invoiced, and update your software with the invoice number with any added charges. Once again no one needs to manually update your software with the invoice details and confirm everything was received. With all this automation and efficiency, imagine how your business could grow. Click on this link https://fcb2b.info/connections/ to see if your suppliers are members. If your supplier is not showing to be a member, please complete this short survey (https://bit. ly/22fcB2Btps), so I can contact them about joining fcB2B to support their customers. You can also help by using the fcB2B Form Letter for Suppliers https://fcb2b.info/connections/. This supplies a template that you can download and send to your supplier or update to include a personalized note before sending. Visit our website at www.fcb2b.info and click on the Resources tab to learn more about fcB2B. The Members > Connections tab has a listing of the members who support fcB2B. Do you B2B? Contact me to find out how to be more efficient in your business. Lewis Davis at 706-217-1183 ext. 132 or via email at ldavis@wfca.org.
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