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You can keep track of your vendor information and their product catalog to make it easier to place orders on them in the future, and also to store contact information.

Much of the Vendor Information is used as defaults when placing a Purchase Order on this vendor, but it can be changed in the Purchase Order to make an exception for that order. Changing the Vendor Information will make all subsequent Purchase Orders created for that vendor default to the new information, but won’t change the information on any existing orders.

To create new vendor, click the inFlow menu button, select Purchasing menu and click New Vendor. To make changes in the existing vendor’s information, select the vendor from the left panel and the form will be populated with the existing vendor’s data.

Basic Section

Name - This is the name of the vendor, usually the company name. Two vendors cannot have the same name.

Balance - This is the total amount of money that you owe this vendor. This is calculated by adding up the balance owed on all orders for this vendor, and subtracting any credits or refunds owed to you from returns.

Addresses Section

There is one special type of address for a vendor:

Business Address - This is the default address where you place orders on the vendor. If the vendor only has one address, we recommend saving it as the Business Address.

You may also store an unlimited number of other addresses for the vendor, such as other locations that they may ship or take orders from. These additional locations can be identified with an address name, e.g. New York Office.

To modify or set an existing address, including the Business Address:

1. Click on the dropdown arrow to show the available addresses.



2. Select the address you wish to modify.
3. Move your mouse into the main address box and click. A dialog will pop up allowing you to change the address.

To add a new address:

1. Click on the dropdown arrow to show the available addresses.

   

2. Select Add New Address.

To delete an address:

1. Click on the dropdown arrow to show the available addresses.
2. Select the address to be deleted.




3. Click on the dropdown arrow again.
4. Select the option to delete the current address.

Contact Section

This section contains basic contact information for the current vendor.

Name - The name of the person to contact when you are corresponding with this vendor.

Phone - The phone number for this vendor.

Fax - A fax number for this vendor.

Email - An e-mail address for the vendor.

Website - A website address for this vendor.

Purchasing Info Section

Payment Terms - The usual payment terms that the vendor gives you describing, for example, the number of days after which payment is due.

Taxing Scheme - The default taxing scheme for this vendor.

Carrier - The default shipping carrier and shipping method that you and the vendor normally use to have products shipped to you.

Misc. Section

Remarks - Any remarks you wish to make about the vendor here. These remarks will not be shown to the vendor or anybody outside your company.

You may also define up to five custom fields for the vendor, where you can store any extra data you wish. More Information.

Extra Custom Fields

In addition to the five custom fields that are next to the Remarks box of the Vendor Info tab, you can also define five more in the Extra Info tab. The Extra Info tab will only be visible if you have custom fields set to be shown there. More Information.

Vendor Product

The Vendor Products Tab allows you to set up the product catalog for this vendor.

Item - The Item Name or Item Code that you use to refer to this product or service.

Description - A text description of the product or service. It can be hidden depending on the Settings.

Vendor Product Code - The Item Name or Item Code that the Vendor uses to refer to this product or service. This is used in Purchase Orders when placing an order on this vendor.

Cost - The unit price that this vendor typically charges you for this product or service. This is used in Purchase Orders when placing an order on this vendor.

Order History

The Order History tab shows you a history of all Purchase Orders you have placed on this vendor. It also shows the payment and balance status of the orders, so you can quickly review any payment owing. Double clicking on one of the rows will show you the details of that order in a popup window.

Deactivating and Reactivating Vendors

Deactivate - Vendors can be deactivated so that they will be inactive and not shown in normal usage of inFlow. Vendors cannot be deleted entirely, to ensure that you have a full record of previous vendors.

Reactivate - To view an Inactive vendor, select ‘Show’ from the drop-down list in the Listing Panel for the vendors. Now select Inactive from the drop-down box. An inactive vendor can be re-activated by clicking the Reactivate button, which replaces the Deactivate button in the vendor toolbar.

Entry changes within purchase orders

inFlow makes it possible to save the changes you have made during your purchase order back to the vendor or product entries, allowing you to complete two important tasks simultaneously.  To do so, simply make the necessary changes to the vendor or product details within the purchase order itself.  When you save the order, InFlow will ask you if you would like to save any changes and provide you with an easy to navigate list of the changes you have made.
 


For instance, as in the example, if you have made changes to both the vendor’s address and phone number but you only want to amend the address and not the phone number, you may choose to do so here by simple un-checking the box indicating the phone number has changed.  In this way you can effectively manage your vendor details from the purchase order window without needing to go back to your vendor records and make the changes twice.