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Keeping Items in Stock

This is the routine replenishment loop: the items you carry all the time and simply want to keep on the shelf. You tell VMX the level at which each item needs reordering, and VMX tells you — every time you look — which items have sold down past that level, how many are already on their way, and how many to buy. From the same screen you turn that list into a purchase order.

The loop has four steps:

  1. Set the Order Point (and a Max) on each item you want watched — done once per item
  2. Run Reports → Ordering → Order Recommendations to see everything that dropped below its Order Point
  3. Review and adjust the Order Qty VMX suggests on each line
  4. Build Order — push the lines you kept straight into a purchase order

Step 1 is setup. Steps 2–4 are the weekly rhythm, usually one vendor at a time.

For the bigger pre-season commitments — "what do we need to be stocked through spring?" rather than "what ran low this week?" — use Order Planning and the Seasonal Ordering Walkthrough instead. Those plan from projected demand; this loop reacts to what has actually sold down.

Step 1: Set the Order Point and Max on an item

The Order Point is the level at which an item needs reordering. When the on-hand quantity at your store drops below it, the item appears on the Order Recommendations report.

  1. Open the item's page from Inventory (search for the item and click its PLU or description).
  2. On the Item tab, scroll to the Ordering section.
  3. Check that Allow Reorder? — the checkbox in the Ordering section header — is ticked. An item with Allow Reorder? unchecked is never suggested for reordering, and it doesn't come up when you search for items to add to a purchase order.
  4. Click the Order Point box. It's read-only on the item page; clicking it opens the Order Point window.
  5. Fill in the three fields and click Add:
  6. Start Day — the day this rule takes effect. A date is required; for an item you stock the same way all year, use a single rule starting January 1.
  7. Order Point — the minimum. When on hand falls below this number, the item shows up on Order Recommendations.
  8. Max — the target quantity to restock back up to. This is what drives the suggested order quantity: Max − On Hand − On Order.
  9. The new rule appears in the list below the form with its Start Day, Order Point, and Max. The rule currently in effect is shown in bold.

Example: set Order Point to 10 and Max to 50. Once you're down to 8 on hand with none on order, the report suggests ordering 42.

Warning

If you leave Max blank, the item still lands on Order Recommendations when it drops below its Order Point — but with an empty suggested quantity, because VMX has no target to restock up to. Fill in Max on every item you want a number suggested for.

To remove a rule, click the trash icon on its row in the Order Point window and confirm "Delete this order point?".

Order points are stored per store. Set them while logged in to the store you're buying for. If you run more than one store, the Stock by Store popover on the item page — the list icon beside On Hand — has an Order Point column showing each store's current setting, so you can see which locations are set up. Full item-page reference: Item page.

Step 1b: Set an Order Multiple so suggestions round to full cases

If an item is only bought in boxes, flats, or cases, enter that pack size in the Order Multiple field — in the Ordering section of the item page, just below Order Point — and click Save.

Order Recommendations rounds every suggested quantity up to the next whole multiple, so you never end up ordering three-and-a-half cases. With an Order Multiple of 12, a shortfall of 42 units is suggested as 48.

If you buy the same item from more than one vendor with different pack sizes, set the multiple per vendor instead: on the item page's Ordering tab, each row of the Part Numbers table has an OM (Order Multiple) column. When Order Recommendations is filtered to that vendor, the vendor's OM is used in place of the item's Order Multiple.

Step 2: Run Order Recommendations to see what needs reordering

With order points in place, go to Reports → Ordering → Order Recommendations. It lists every item at your current store whose on-hand has fallen below its Order Point, alongside OH (On Hand), OO (On Order), Min (the order point), Max, and recent sales.

The usual rhythm is one vendor at a time:

  1. Choose the vendor you're about to order from in the Vendor... dropdown. This filters the list to items whose Primary Vendor is that vendor — and it's the same selection that decides which vendor the purchase order is created for in step 4.
  2. Narrow further with the Department... dropdown, or tick Only show my departments? to see only the departments you buy for.
  3. Work the list, then build the order (steps 3 and 4 below), then move to the next vendor.

Only items with Allow Reorder? checked, an Order Point rule for this store, and on-hand below that order point appear. A rule saved with the Order Point field left empty gives VMX no level to compare against, so the item never shows up — fill in a number. The report always covers the store you're logged in to.

The column-by-column reference — including the per-store Quantity popover behind the OH number and the CSV export — is on the Order Recommendations page. If the report is empty or an item you expected is missing, that page's troubleshooting section walks the causes.

Info

If you don't see Order Recommendations under Reports → Ordering, report access can be limited by employee permissions; contact help@vmxllc.com.

Step 3: Review and adjust the suggested quantities

Every row on Order Recommendations ends in an editable Order Qty box that VMX has already filled in with Max − On Hand − On Order, rounded up to the item's order multiple. Treat it as a starting point, not a decision:

  1. Type over a number to order more or less than suggested — your read on a fast mover, a promotion, or a vendor deal beats the formula.
  2. Clear a box (or leave an empty one alone) to keep that item off this order.
  3. Press Enter to jump to the next Order Qty box down the list instead of clicking each one.
  4. Sort by any column heading so you can work by department, by cost, or by how far below Min each item has fallen.
  5. Sanity-check against the 1mo and 12mo columns — units sold at this store in the last month and last 12 months. An item whose suggested quantity dwarfs a year of sales usually means the Max is set too high.
  6. Watch Est. Cost and Vendor Min at the bottom right as you type: Est. Cost is the running total of your quantities at each item's Avg. Cost, and Vendor Min is the selected vendor's minimum order. Top the order up if you're short of it.

To wipe every quantity and start the pass again, click the Clear Order Qtys icon above the table.

Step 4: Build the purchase order from the report

Once the Order Qty boxes read the way you want:

  1. Confirm the Vendor... dropdown at the top of Order Recommendations still shows the vendor you're ordering from — the purchase order is created for that vendor.
  2. Click Build Order at the bottom right of the report.
  3. VMX creates a new purchase order for that vendor at your current store, adds every row that has a quantity in it, skips the blank ones, and opens the new order.
  4. Review it on the Order Page — costs, delivery date, any lines you want to add by hand — then send it to the vendor.

Build Order always creates a new purchase order; it doesn't append to one you already started. If you're topping up an existing order, add the items on the Order Page instead.

Lines are costed at each item's Market Cost when one is set on the item page, and at the item's average cost when it isn't — so the purchase order total can differ slightly from the Est. Cost shown on the report, which always uses Avg. Cost.

"Vendor Id required when creating a new order."

This message appears when you click Build Order on Order Recommendations without choosing a vendor first. The report runs happily with no vendor filter, but a purchase order has to belong to a vendor.

Pick a vendor from the Vendor... dropdown at the top of the report, re-check the Order Qty boxes on the rows that remain (the list will have narrowed to that vendor's items), and click Build Order again.

"Invalid date ''." when adding an order point

This message appears when you click Add in the Order Point window on an item page without filling in Start Day. Every order point rule needs a start date, even for an item you stock the same way all year — the tip inside the window that suggests leaving it blank is out of date.

Enter a Start Day — January 1 is the usual choice for a year-round rule — then fill in Order Point and Max and click Add again.

Use several order points for a seasonal item

An item can hold more than one order point rule, each with its own Start Day — useful when the level you need on the shelf changes through the year.

In the Order Point window on the item page, add one rule per season. For example: Start Day March 1 with an Order Point of 20 and a Max of 100 for the spring rush, then Start Day August 1 with an Order Point of 5 and a Max of 20 for the rest of the year.

VMX uses the rule with the most recent Start Day on or before today; if today falls before the first rule of the year, the last rule of the year carries over. The rule in effect is shown in bold in the Order Point window, and its number is what appears in the Order Point box on the item page and in the Min column of Order Recommendations.

This handles seasonality on staple items. For the large pre-season buys themselves, see the Seasonal Ordering Walkthrough.

Keep your order points honest

Order points are a number you chose, so they drift out of date as demand changes. Two habits keep the loop trustworthy:

  • Review the ones that keep reappearing. An item that shows up on Order Recommendations every single week is telling you its Max is too low for how fast it sells — raise Order Point and Max together so a single order covers a longer stretch.
  • Review the ones you keep zeroing out. If you clear the same item's Order Qty week after week, either the Order Point is set higher than the item deserves or the item has slowed down. Compare its 1mo and 12mo columns and lower the numbers, or uncheck Allow Reorder? if you're dropping it.

Accurate on-hand counts matter as much as the numbers themselves: the whole loop keys off OH, so an item that's miscounted either hides from the report or shows up asking for stock you already have.

Order points or Order Planning — which loop to use

Both answer "what should I buy?", from opposite directions.

  • Order points + Order Recommendations react to a level you set by hand. Fast, need no sales history, and ideal for staples you reorder continuously — the weekly loop this guide describes.
  • Order Planning projects demand from up to five years of sales history, subtracts what's on hand and on order, adds outstanding customer requests, and suggests a quantity to be stocked through a date you choose. No order points required.

Use order points for everyday replenishment, and Order Planning when you're buying ahead of a season, working around a long vendor lead time, or hunting for overstock. Most buyers run both: order points keep the staples honest week to week, and Order Planning sizes the big commitments.