The Receiving application allows you to receive purchase orders via the iPhone. Depending upon the settings of the parameters of the Receiving application, your receivers may or may not be

able to enter cancellations, backorders and discrepancy information.

Receiving Modes for the iPhone

Before using the iPhone for receiving, you will want to familiarize yourself with the different receiving modes that are available to you. Those different modes are:

• Normal/Full Mode - Real-Time Receiving

• Blind Mode - Real-Time Receiving

• Batch Receiving

The parameters that control whether or not you will use Normal or Blind mode are not set on the iPhone, but rather, in WPConsole, and will need to be set for your ICS program by ICS Support. This is to prevent unauthorized store personnel from changing modes. Therefore, after familiarizing yourself with the options described in this document, you will need to make a decision as to how you want the iPhone receiving application to function, in Normal or Blind Mode, and contact Support for the proper settings.

The parameter for Batch Receiving is user controlled by a checkbox named “Batch Mode” in the iPhone receiving application and can be changed as needed.  Batch Mode is useful when you are out of range of the Wireless Access Point.  Then the batch can be transmitted when you return within range.

Real-Time Receiving Mode

When not using batch mode, the receiving data that you enter on the iPhone is continuously transmitted and validated with your ICS program. It is automatic and real time receiving.

Real-Time receiving is controlled by the Batch Mode box on the Receiving screen. This setting is user-controlled. That means you can change the “Batch Mode” parameter based on whether you want to utilize the batch mode or not. When you want to receive in real-time Mode, make sure the box is left unchecked.

When receiving in Real-Time Mode, the follow applies:

• When a PO number is entered on the iPhone, it is matched against the numbers in the purchase order file of your ICS program. Only open purchase order numbers will be accepted by the iPhone. If you enter an invalid PO#, a proposed order number or a closed PO number, you will receive the message Purchase Order Not Found in Database.

• As each item on the PO is scanned for receiving, it is matched against the items on the purchase order in your ICS system. In real-time mode, only items that exist on the PO in your ICS system can be received on the PO. If you scan an item that does not exist on the original PO in ICS, you will receive the message Error: No Data Found.

• In real-time mode, all receiving information is transmitted from the iPhone to ICS as soon as the receiving transaction is completed.

You have two real-time receiving options: Normal Mode and Blind Mode.

Normal in Real-Time Mode

With Normal (or Full), you have complete access to all receiving functions, just as if you were receiving in PrismCore.

• You can enter cancellations, backorders and discrepancies.

• The original order quantity is displayed as the Requested PO qty.

• An outstanding quantity is displayed.

• The received quantity defaults to the current outstanding quantity.

Blind in Real-Time Mode

Blind Mode limits the functions available on the iPhone.

• Cancellations, backorders and discrepancies cannot be entered in Blind Mode.

• The original order (requested) quantity and outstanding quantity are not displayed.

• The received quantity defaults to one, thus requiring you to manually enter a quantity, if receiving more than one.

Parameters for Normal and Blind Modes

The parameters that control Normal or Blind Mode are not set within the iPhone Receiving application. This is to prevent an unauthorized receiver from changing the receiving mode. These parameters are set in WPConsole. Before using the iPhone for receiving, contact ICS Support to have the parameters set to your desired mode.

Real-Time Receiving Mode

The following sections of the documentation will assist you with receiving in Full and Blind Modes.

How to Receive in Real-Time Normal/Full Mode

Touch the Receiving icon.

For real-time receiving, make sure that Batch Mode is off.     

Open

After you touch the Receiving icon, you will be taken to the Receiving app. You will be prompted for the PO Number.

Enter or scan a valid PO number (for example, from a receiving document).  The purchase order must be in OPEN status. The PO number may be entered by using the keyboard.

Open

If you enter an incorrect PO number and you wish to return to the main receiving selection screen, touch Back.

If you have entered the correct PO number, the iPhone will communicate with PrismCore to verify the number. When the number is verified, it will display and you will be prompted for an XREF of an item on the PO.

If you wish to see information about the selected purchase order, touch Details.

Information displayed under Details includes: PO Number, Vendor, PO Date, Total Qty, Total Received, Total Outstanding, PO Comment (40 characters) and Receiving Mode (Normal or Blind.) To close the details screen and return to the XRef field, touch Back.

To receive an item, enter or scan the ID of the item on the selected PO. Use either the keyboard or scanner. If you enter a non-valid XREF/SKU, the message No Data Found will be displayed.

When a valid XREF/SKU of an item on the PO has been entered, the screen will display item and receiving information.

The System, SKU, catalog #/ISBN, location, and term will display in Normal Mode.  In Normal Mode (as shown in the screen picture), the item’s requested and outstanding quantities will display.   The received field, which is the only field that you can edit, will default to the item’s current outstanding quantity. If you are ready to receive the quantity displayed with no changes, touch Update.

However, if you need to enter a partial shipment or cancellation/backorder/discrepancy information, you will want to enter that information before touching Update.

Cancellations/Backorders/Discrepancies in Real-Time Normal Mode

In normal mode, a “CBD” icon, will display next to the “Outstanding” field. This option will allow you to enter cancellations, backorders and discrepancies.
Touch CBD to access the Back Order/Discrepancy screen.

The item ID will appear at the top of the Back Order/Discrepancy screen. Three Qty fields, one each for Cancel, Back Order and Discrepancy will be displayed. In addition, there will be two Reason fields, one for backorders and one for discrepancies.

To enter a cancellation:

Enter the cancellation quantity by typing it in, or using the + or - symbols. If there is no other information to be entered, touch Update to exit the Back Order/ Discrepancy screen.

To enter a backorder:

Enter the backorder quantity in the backorder field. Touch the Reason field after the quantity has been entered. Select a backorder reason from the drop down box. The reason selected on the iPhone will transmit to the backorder comment to the PrismCore receiving module.  Once the backorder quantity and reason have been selected, if there is no other data to be entered, touch Update to exit the Back Order/Discrepancy screen.

Note:  The iPhone reason drop down box will contain all the store specific backorder reasons entered in PrismCore ICS. Any backorder comment that already exists in the back order comment field on PrismCore will be displayed on the iPhone screen as it was entered in PrismCore ICS.

To enter a discrepancy:

Enter the discrepancy quantity in the discrepancy field. Touch the Reason field to select a reason for the discrepancy. (Note that there may be more reasons listed than can display at one time. Use the arrows in the drop-down box to scroll, if necessary.)

 Touch Update when the appropriate cancellation, backorder and/or discrepancy information has been entered to immediately transmit the CBD information to PrismCore ICS. The iPhone screen will then return to the Purchase Orders screen. If you do not want to send the CBD information as entered, touch Back.  The iPhone will not transmit the information and the screen will return to Purchase Orders.

 Note: Any discrepancy entered in PrismCore ICS will show on the iPhone as it was entered in PrismCore ICS.

When you are ready to transmit the received quantity to PrismCore ICS, touch Update. The information on the screen will be transmitted and you will be returned to the XREF/SKU field so that you can enter the next item.

If you wish to clear the item information from the Purchase Order screen, touch Back. Touching “Back” at this time will not clear the purchase order number; only the item information is cleared and you can enter another SKU/XREF for the same PO. If you touch “Back”, any quantity entered in the “qty” field will not be transmitted to PrismCore ICS. 

To view item information, touch Details. This displays the same information that you would see using the Lookup application. After you touch Details, you can Item or Inventory to view product or inventory information. (See Item Lookup for more information on these views.) When finished viewing item information, touch Back to return to the Purchase Order screen where the item is displayed.

How to Receive in Real-Time Blind Mode

A store may choose to use Blind Mode so that the receiver has to physically count the received

items, rather than simply accepting the default quantity. With Blind Mode, a receiver cannot enter cancellations, backorders and discrepancies via the iPhone. The parameters that control Blind Mode are not set within the iPhone, but are set in WPConsole. Before using the iPhone for receiving, contact ICS Support to have the parameters set to your desired mode.

To receive in Real-Time Blind Mode

Touch the Receiving icon.

For real-time receiving, make sure that Batch Mode is off.

After you touch the Receiving icon, you will be taken to the Receiving app.  You will be prompted for the PO Number.

Enter or scan a valid PO number (for example, from a receiving document).  The purchase order must be in OPEN status. The PO number may be entered by using the keyboard. If you wish to see information about the selected purchase order, touch Details.

Information displayed under Details includes: PO Number, Vendor, PO Date, Total Qty, Total Received, Total Outstanding, PO Comment (40 characters) and Receiving Mode (Normal or Blind.) To close the details screen and return to the XRef field, touch Back.

To receive an item, enter or scan the ID of the item  on the selected PO. Use either the keyboard or the scanner. If you enter a non-valid XREF/SKU, the message No Data Found will be displayed.

 When a valid XREF/SKU of an item on the PO has been entered, the screen will display item and receiving information.  In Blind Mode (as shown in the sample screen), the item’s requested (i.e., order) and outstanding quantities are hidden, and the receiving quantity will default to 1. Location information is also hidden.  The CBD button and item Details buttons are unavailable.

In Blind Mode, all you can do is receive a quantity. Enter the quantity received and touch Update.

Touch Back if you do not want to transmit the displayed item. This does not clear the purchase order number. Only the item information is cleared and you can enter another SKU/XREF for the same PO. If you touch “Back”, the quantity entered in the “qty” field will not be transmitted to PrismCore ICS. 

Batch Receiving Mode

Batch receiving is controlled by the Batch Mode box on the Receiving screen. This setting is user-controlled. That means you can change the “Batch Mode” parameter based on whether you want to utilize the batch mode or not. When you want to use batch receiving, make sure Batch Mode is on. If it is off, you will receive in Real-Time Mode. When using Batch Mode, items are scanned and received into the iPhone but no data is transmitted to ICS until you touch “Transmit”. The receiving data is held as a batch in the iPhone until you send it to ICS. When in batch mode, you cannot enter cancellations, backorders or discrepancies.

If the “Batch Mode” option is turned on in the iPhone Receiving screen, the following parameters will apply:

• There is no immediate and on-going communication between the iPhone and PrismCore ICS. Receiving data is not sent to PrismCore ICS until you touch the “Transmit” button on the iPhone’s Receiving screen. At that time, receiving data entered in batch mode is sent to PrismCore ICS.

• When a PO number is entered, there is no immediate verification of the number. An invalid, proposed or closed number will be accepted by the iPhone in batch mode. However, if you transmit data with an invalid PO number (i.e., incorrect, proposed or open), it will be lost.

• As item XREF/SKUs are entered, they are not verified. In batch mode, the iPhone will accept incorrect and invalid XREF/SKUs. When the data is transmitted to PrismCore ICS, invalid XREF/SKUs will not be transmitted and will be lost during transmission.

 How to Receive in Batch Mode

Touch the Receiving icon.

For batch receiving, make sure that Batch Mode is on. Enter a valid open PO number in the PO field using the keyboard. Remember, in Batch Mode, there is no immediate verification of the PO number. Therefore an invalid, proposed or closed PO number will be accepted with no error messages. Touch Enter to accept the PO number for transmission or touch Back to not accept the PO number.

After you touch Enter, the screen will change. The current PO Number will show, and you will be prompted for the XREF/SKU.

Enter a valid XREF/SKU. (Remember with Batch Receiving on the iPhone, there is no immediate verification of the XREF/SKU so an invalid number will be accepted.) Use the keyboard or the scanner. If using the keyboard, touch Search to accept the XREF/SKU (the scanner will automatically enter, if scanning the XREF/SKU).

Enter the received quantity in the “QTY” field and touch Update to save the quantity for transmission to PrismCore ICS. Touch “Back” to clear the XREF/SKU without saving the received quantity. 

When you touch Update, you will be returned to a blank XREF/SKU field for the same purchase order. Proceed with the next item on the order or touch Back to return to the Purchase order screen. When Back is touched, all receiving data saved for transmission is retained. When you are ready to transmit the receiving data collected in batch mode to ICS, you will need to touch “Transmit” or Close to return to the screen where you can select the Transmit options.

When you are ready to close access to the current PO and return to the Purchase Order screen, touch Back. Note that doing so will retain any receiving quantities that you have saved for transmission.

 When ready to send the receiving data held in the iPhone to PrismCore ICS, touch Transmit.

 Information will quickly transmit to your ICS program. When all records have been transmitted, the Transmit button will disappear from the screen.

Note:  If the message Batch Transmission error. Some records may have been transmitted. appears during transmission, this means that an invalid PO number or item ID exists within the batch. An invalid PO number includes any Proposed, closed or mistyped PO number. An invalid item includes any mistyped XREF/SKU or any XREF/SKU that is valid but does not exist on the PO number entered. All items entered into the batch prior to the data causing the error will be correctly transmitted. However, data entered into the batch after the incorrect information will not be transmitted. The only solution at the time of this writing is to clear all remaining data and re-receive the cleared data. Unfortunately, the iPhone does not tell you which item caused the error. You will have to spot check items in PrismCore to find out when the transmission stopped. This problem has been documented by the programming staff and will be fixed.