Microsoft Dynamics GP Barcoding for Distributors and Retailers: WMS, SCM, RMS

Distribution is centered around Inventory Control, Sales Order Processing, Purchase Order Processing and if you are making on order – Bill Of Materials or in case of full featured discrete production – Manufacturing suite.  If you are distributing USA nationwide to your warehouses and retail stores or to your retail partner on the consignment – you also have good options with Dynamics GP, where you can track and account the merchandize on the consignment or integrate Sales days from such popular retail packages as Microsoft RMS or even Counterpoint.  In this publication we will try to give you initial info on how Warehouse Management System could be implemented in Great Plains as well as the options to integrate external Point Of Sale or Retail system to GP.  In the case of controlling all your transactions and quantities in Great Plains – you have good scenario to build all your SCM and Sales reporting upon the single system:
1. Warehouse Management System in Great Plains Dynamics.  WMS traditionally has three core features, directly implemented on Barcode scanners: Sales Document (Invoice or Order) Fulfillment, Inventory Restocking via Purchase Receipts and Inventory Transactions (Adjustment, Moving or Transfer and Physical Cycle Count).  We like and recommend the idea to open Dynamics GP screens, transactions and master records for barcode scanning directly – by doing so you extend GP SOP, POP and Inventory Control modules to Barcoding and create, modify or delete them in GP in real time directly from your WMS Client (this client application runs directly on the LCD screen of you Barcode scanner).  The second approach is to implement external stand alone Warehouse Management System and then integrate WMS transactions to your ERP application via scheduled integration or in real time via connectors.  External WMS are available on the market and have large number of implementations, however in our opinion you have two things to consider – first, if you already have Dynamics GP software licenses, why would you need to pay second time for similar functionality in External WMS, and second – integration in theory should work OK, but, if you have what-if integrating scenarios and would like to have some integration logic modification – you may be triggering the whole unexpected phase of External WMS integration implementation with its own budget, timeline and risks
2. Integration with Microsoft Retail Management System or generic POS application.  Dynamics GP Distribution modules allow you to control good flow and accounting in one system for the whole Corporation, you should see merchandize move across all your warehouses, retail locations and manufacturing mills.  This approach also suggests such features as Merchandize Barcode Labels printing directly in Great Plains as soon as you receive your spare parts or merchandize on the warehouse floor.  If you are deploying Microsoft RMS with Head Quarters and multiple Store Operation Managers and POS terminals – we already have GP RMS integration module, which integrates RMS sales day to Dynamics GP SOP Invoice for each POS transaction.  Also, you can move Purchase Receipts from Dynamics GP to MS RMS Headquarter or Store Operation Manager inventory and it propagates all the inventory site-to-site transfers from RMS to GP as well as from GP to RMS
3. Exposure to eCommerce.  E-Commerce is in many respects similar to POS transaction, where customer fills her or his shopping cart, checks it out and pays (typically by Credit Card, Debit Card or by Automatic Bank transfer).  In Business to Business (B2B) ecommerce you also may expect negotiated item price lists and catalogs, EDI (Electronic Document Interchange) purchasing channels and Sales Order Fulfillment.  Our ecommerce module walks you through implementation in Wizard manner, allowing you to pick your ecommerce shopping cart platform (such as Magento, Asp.Net Store Front or Nop Commerce, etc.)
4. How to get help or request presentation?  Please, call us 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918 or email us help@albaspectrum.com   We have offices in Irvine, Orange County, California, Chicago, Houston, San Diego, Los Angeles, supporting USA and Canada nationwide.  Typical WMS implementation requires local visits for initial phase, and we travel across the North America, Mexico and Internationally.  Our WMS consultants are fluent in English, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Arabic