Consignment

Consignment is a feature that is enabled per organization. If you don't see it in your menu, talk to your Sourced contact.

For the cases where your suppliers keep consigned stock in your warehouses (goods that remain the supplier's property until you consume them), Sourced can manage that stock by periods. It records the consumption, calculates how much should be replenished and how much should be invoiced, and publishes it so each supplier can see it in their portal and invoice what was consumed.

It is a tailored flow that is set up together with your Sourced team according to how your organization operates.

Item master

The Item master lists which materials each supplier holds on consignment and how much stock you want to keep of each one. Each row is a supplier, a material code (your ERP code), its description, the need (the target stock the supplier has to maintain), the unit and, if the supplier uses one, its P/N (the supplier's own part number).

You can only pick suppliers that have an ERP code in their supplier record: that code is what matches the master against the ERP reports when a period is calculated. If a supplier does not show up in the search, first fill in its ERP code under Suppliers.

Add items one by one with Add item, edit them inline with Edit, or import many with Import Excel using the downloadable template (columns supplier_external_id, material_code, material_desc, necesidad, unit_of_measure and supplier_part_number). Rows that already exist for that supplier and material are updated; the rest are created. Rows whose ERP code matches no supplier are skipped and reported at the end. The search box filters by supplier, code, part number or description.

Supplier part number (P/N)

Some suppliers identify their parts with their own code, which does not exist in your ERP. Supplier P/N is an optional master field that stores that code next to the material code, so the supplier recognizes each settlement line without translating codes.

You enter it yourself, on screen (when adding or editing the item) or through the supplier_part_number column of the import Excel. The column is optional: if it is missing, or empty on a row, the part number already stored is kept. To clear a part number, edit the item and leave the field empty. If your part numbers have leading zeros, the Excel column must be formatted as text (the template already is): a part number stored as a number loses its zeros, and the import result warns you about it.

The part number is informational only: it plays no role in matching the ERP reports or in the calculation. When a period is calculated it is copied to each line, so a published settlement keeps the part number it had at that time even if you change it later in the master. It shows in the lines table, in the Excel downloads and in the supplier portal.

Periods and ERP files

A period is a settlement cut-off (for example, a fortnight) with a code and a date range. Create it with New period and then upload the four reports exported from your ERP, each one feeding part of the calculation:

• MB51 – Period receipts: the supplier's delivery movements in the period (material, quantity, delivery note and date).
• MB54 – Supplier stock: the supplier's consigned stock held in your warehouse.
• MRKO – Consumption to invoice: what you consumed and is not settled yet, with quantity, amount and currency.
• ZSPU – Own stock: your free stock per material.

Each upload is checked to be readable and shows how many rows it contains. Uploading a type again replaces the previous file. Once all four are in, Calculate becomes available.

What is calculated and how to read the lines

Calculate produces one line per active master item, matching supplier and material against the four reports. Materials present in the reports but not in the master are ignored. Recalculating deletes and regenerates every line.

• Previous close: the consigned stock that line had in the previous period.
• Need (X): the master target stock at calculation time.
• Receipts, Consigned stock and Own stock: what each report says. Total stock adds the two stocks.
• To replenish: how much the supplier is short of the need; red when short, a dash when stock is enough. % coverage is that difference over the need.
• To invoice and Total to invoice: the unsettled consumed quantity and its amount in the report currency.
• Validation: a cross-check between periods: previous close plus receipts minus current consigned stock must equal consumption. OK if it matches, REVISAR if not (usually a delivery note posted after the cut-off or a corrected ERP movement), N/A when there is no previous period to compare.

The table sorts by any column, filters by supplier and by text (code, part number or description) and downloads to Excel. The Period receipts tab lists delivery notes one by one, with the part number next to the material, also downloadable.

Statuses and publishing

A period starts as Draft. Once the figures are checked you can mark it Reviewed; recalculating sends it back to draft. Publish freezes the period (no more uploads or recalculation) and emails every included supplier with the consignment portal enabled, with a direct link to its settlement. A published period cannot be edited or deleted: corrections are made in the ERP and show up in the next period. Only draft periods can be deleted.

For a supplier to see its settlements, the consignment enabled option must be checked in its record under Suppliers.

KPIs

The KPIs tab summarizes the published closings: how well each supplier keeps up with replenishment, how much consigned stock sits in the warehouse and how much consumption is still to be invoiced. Pick the closing range (this year, last 12 months or all), the closing to look at (by default, the latest in the range) and the currency; amounts in different currencies are never added together.

Score (compliance %): per supplier and per closing, the share of master items that have stock (total stock above zero). A supplier with 20 items and 2 at zero scores 90%. The corporate target is 95%: green On target from 95%, amber Below target between 90% and 94%, red Off target under 90%. The average score is the simple average across suppliers.

Ranking: one supplier per row with the chosen closing's data: items, how many at zero, stock in $, consumption to invoice in $, score and status. Clicking a row opens that period.

Charts: compliance over closings against the 95% line, for the overall figure or one supplier, and stock and consumption bars for the 10 suppliers with the largest amounts (hover to see each one's score). Each chart has its table under View table; for stock and consumption it lists every supplier.

Stock in $ comes from each closing's MB54 report. Closings calculated before this tab existed do not have it stored: a notice shows the Fill in from the MB54 files button, which reads it from the files already uploaded without touching quantities or statuses. If the file changed after the closing was calculated, or it lacks the value or currency of a material, that material stays unvalued. A supplier with some unvalued materials shows its stock in $ with a *: it is a partial subtotal.

Supplier review

When you publish a period, every supplier with the portal enabled gets the notice and has to respond to the settlement from its portal. Every item counts as in order unless the supplier flags a difference, always with the reason. It also confirms the dispatch of each shortage (quantity, estimated date and comment).

If there is no response after 24 hours, a reminder email goes out; after 48 hours, the last one. Nothing happens automatically after that: the supplier stays as Not reviewed until it answers.

In the period detail, the Supplier review tab starts with a summary: how many suppliers reviewed out of those expected, how many flagged differences, the amount with differences (per currency) and the confirmed dispatches. Below, two views:

• Settlement review: one row per supplier with its status (Not reviewed, All correct or With differences), who reviewed and when, or how many reminders it got. Suppliers with differences come first and open: their general comment and each item with a difference, with the amount to invoice and what does not match.
• Dispatches: the shortage replenishment the suppliers confirmed, grouped by supplier: how much was short, how much they send (flagged as a partial shipment if it is less), when it arrives approx., the comment and when it was last updated.

In the period list, the Reviewed column counts how many suppliers reviewed out of those expected.

When a supplier responds flagging differences, the organization's buyers get an in-app notification that opens that tab. The platform never changes quantities or amounts because of a difference: it is checked against the ERP and shows up in the next closing.