Suggested Purchase Orders for Epicor Prophet 21
Every Monday, a suggested PO per vendor built from Prophet 21’s on-hand, open orders, open POs and lead times, with the reason beside every line. Your buyer edits it, and the PO is keyed or imported into Prophet 21 by a person.
Purchasing & inventoryUpdated Oct 202620 ERPs
See it work on Prophet 21.
Click through the steps. Fictional data, in Prophet 21’s terms; the real thing runs on Prophet 21.
| Vendor | Lines | Cover | Lead time | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tamarack Forest Products | 14 | 6 days | 10 days | Buy this week |
| Lakeside Roofing Supply | 6 | 4 days | 7 days | Buy this week |
| Summit Fasteners | 9 | 11 days | 5 days | Under freight min |
| Cascade Millwork | 0 | 23 days | 21 days | Nothing needed |
Worked out from Prophet 21 that morning: on-hand, committed, on PO, lead time, season. Three vendors need a buy this week.
The problem, as it happens in Prophet 21.
Buying at a dealer is the min and max on the item master, set once and not touched since, and a buyer who knows the yard well enough to ignore them. The reorder report in Prophet 21 lists everything under minimum with no idea that forty units are on PO 1187400, due Thursday, that two hundred are committed to an order for the Maple St duplex, or that it is April and decking is about to move.
So the buy gets made from memory, on the phone with the rep, and the yard lives with the result: a stockout on 2x4 studs in the middle of framing season, and three pallets of ice melt in May. Nobody tracks the lines the counter couldn’t fill, or what the rush freight cost to fix it.
How it works.
- 1
The week’s need is worked out
Each Monday Lunica reads on-hand, what is committed to open orders, what is already on open POs and when it lands, each vendor’s lead time and the item’s sales for the season, all from Prophet 21. The need is the gap, by item, by branch.
- 2
A suggested PO per vendor
The lines are grouped by vendor into one suggested PO each, rounded to the vendor’s pack and unit, with the reason beside every line: six days of cover, lead time ten, the Elm Ridge phase 2 order ships Friday. A line with no reason is not on the list.
- 3
The buyer edits it
The buyer opens on the vendor with the shortest cover first. Change a quantity, drop a line, add one the numbers couldn’t know about, hold a vendor until the rep calls back. Every edit is kept with the PO, so next week starts from it.
- 4
The PO goes into Prophet 21 by a person
The finished PO is laid out in Prophet 21’s own terms: vendor, item, quantity, unit, cost, ship-to. It is keyed into Prophet 21 by the buyer, or imported where Prophet 21 takes a file, and Lunica sees it as an open PO the next morning and takes those lines off the list.
How it connects to Prophet 21.
Lunica reads the item master, on-hand and committed quantities by branch, open orders, open purchase orders and their due dates, receipts, vendor lead times and sales history through a read-only login to the Prophet 21 SQL Server database. The need is worked out each week from what Prophet 21 has that morning and is not stored between runs. Special-order and non-stock items are left out unless you add them by rule.
Nothing is sent to a vendor and nothing is posted to Prophet 21 on its own. The suggested PO is a draft the buyer edits; the finished one goes back as a Prophet 21 import or API call where one exists, or keyed by your team from what Lunica prepared, and the vendor gets it the way they always have, from your buyer. A line that is cut, held or changed keeps the reason beside it, so the next suggestion starts from the edit.
What a week looks like.
- One suggested PO per vendor on Monday, every line with a reason.
- Nothing bought that is already on a PO or committed to a job.
- Cover measured in days of sales for the season, not a min set three years ago.
- The buyer’s edits kept with the PO, so next week starts from them.
Questions
Does it create the PO in Prophet 21?
No. The suggested PO is a draft. Your buyer edits it, and it is keyed into Prophet 21 or imported where Prophet 21 takes a file. Nothing is placed with a vendor or posted on its own.
Where do the suggestions come from?
The numbers in Prophet 21: on-hand, what is committed to open orders, what is on open POs and when it lands, each vendor’s lead time, and the item’s sales for the same weeks last year. A line is there because the cover runs out before the next delivery would land, and the reason is printed beside it.
What about our min and max?
They are read from the item master and respected as a floor. Where the season says you need more than the max, the line says so and leaves the decision with the buyer.
Can it handle a vendor’s minimums and pack sizes?
Yes. Lines are rounded to the vendor’s unit of purchase, and a vendor whose order is under its freight minimum is flagged so the buyer can fill the truck or wait a week.
What about special orders and job stock?
Special orders are left out; they are bought against the customer’s order, not against stock. Stock committed to a job on an open order counts as gone, so it is not bought twice.
Can we run it per branch?
Yes. The need is worked out by branch, and a transfer from Route 9 is suggested before a buy when Route 9 has the cover and Main St doesn’t.
What does it need from Prophet 21?
A read-only connection through a read-only login to the Prophet 21 SQL Server database, running on one Windows server inside your network, or beside your hosted Prophet 21. Nothing is installed on the Prophet 21 server.
Does it need a server?
Lunica runs on one Windows server inside your network, or beside your hosted Prophet 21, set up and maintained by Lunica. It reads Epicor Prophet 21 through a read-only login to the Prophet 21 SQL Server database. There is no inbound connection from outside your network.
What does Lunica read in Prophet 21?
The customer master, open items and terms, purchase orders and receipts, the item master, quotes and order history, as each workflow needs them. Read-only, and only the rows a task is about.
Can it post to Prophet 21?
Nothing lands in Prophet 21 without a person. What belongs in Prophet 21 goes back as a Prophet 21 import or API call where one exists, or keyed by your team from what Lunica prepared.
What about our documents?
Invoice copies and scans keep living in Document Link. Lunica reads them when a workflow needs one and never writes to them.
The same workflow, on another ERP.
Suggested Purchase Orders is written for every system on the list. You’re reading the Prophet 21 version.
Lumber and building materials
Wholesale distribution
- Epicor Prophet 21
- Epicor Eclipse
- Infor CloudSuite Distribution
General business
Another system? Tell us which →
See it on your Prophet 21 data.
Thirty minutes. We walk the workflow on Prophet 21 data, then map it to yours.