New Feature
Feature 1: Materials Requirements Planning (MRP)
Impact area: Inventory module
Introduction:DEAR is happy to announce the release of its Materials Requirements Planning (MRP) and supply chain management features. This allows our users to incorporate their supply chain strategies into DEAR inventory management.
MRP considers demand from sales and supply from stock on hand, transfers, production, assembly and suppliers to generate supply management suggestions. Use MRP to compare actual and forecasted sales demand with available and potentially available stock supplies and determine when products should be produced in-house, bought from suppliers, and delivered to distribution centers.
- Set supply intervals: Set how frequently stock is delivered from one organization location to another. Deliver according to frequency intervals or on fixed days of the week.
- Set supply rules: Set conditional rules for how stock at a location should be replenished, via transfer from another location, in-house production, or ordered from a supplier.
- Plan ahead: Compare demand and supply for planning for one week, two week, one month and custom planning periods.
- Filter planning by location and customer: Check general stock requirements, or focus planning on a single location and/or customer.
- Apply supply chain strategies: Plan materials requirements by choosing which supply chain strategies to take into account.
- Ignore stock on hand/on order: Ignore stock currently on hand or on order when planning for a specific customer.
- Procure up to stock level: Plan supply so that minimum stock levels are maintained.
- Include past due demand: Include all unfulfilled sales with required by date preceding the planning period in demand calculations. Overdue transfer, assembly, and production are also included if independent from sales.
- Include draft and planned supply tasks: Choose whether to only take into account authorized/released transfer orders, production orders, or purchase orders or also include draft/planned.
- BOM explosion: Use BOM explosion to plan production component requirements or use unexploded planning to run MRP and create a master production schedule.
- Include forecast: Upload sales forecast to include forecast as well as actual demand.
- View understock: Calculate whether current demand and supply quantities leave a location understocked.
- Generate and authorize supply suggestions: DEAR generates supply suggestions based on available stock and replenishment rules. Transfer orders, purchase orders, and production orders can be created from the MRP view.
More information:
Feature 2: eCommerce channels – Import refunds for historical sales fix
Impact area: Shopify, Vend POS, Magento, Magento 2, WooCommerce, Square, Ebay, Etsy, Shipstation
Introduction: Merchants with eCommerce channels occasionally have to process returns or refunds for a sale that predates integration of the eCommerce channel with DEAR. Previously to this release, DEAR would import the historical sale along with the refund/return – this could cause stock discrepancies as the historical sale was not accounted for in DEAR.
With this release, DEAR now checks the sale order date against the date of integration with the eCommerce channel. If the sale order date predates the date of integration, DEAR now processes refunds and returns in a different manner and no longer causes discrepancies.
NOTE: This change only applies to sale orders/refunds created for sale orders created before integration of the eCommerce channel with DEAR. Non-historical sale orders/refunds are not affected.
Pre-conditions:
- Active Shopify, Vend POS, Magento, Magento 2, WooCommerce, Square, Ebay, Etsy, Shipstation integration
Functionality:
Sales and refund information can be imported automatically from the eCommerce channel to DEAR or manually imported via the DEAR web portal. Historical refunds and returns are handled differently for each case.
- Automatic import: Credit note and refund are imported without the corresponding historical sale task.
- A sale is created without order lines or invoice lines.
- Credit note tab shows refunded items and if a refund was processed in the eCommerce channel it will be captured on this tab.
- Restock tab is left empty and no stock adjustments are made.
- Manual import: Manually loading orders from Shopify functions in the same way whether the sale took place before or after integration with DEAR.
- In DEAR, go to Integration → [eCommerce channel] → [select store], and the Pending Orders tab.
- Click Load orders and select a date to load sales, including historical sales as Pending Orders. Process the sale associated with the refund.
- The sale order with have order, invoice, pick, pack, and ship lines. It will also have credit note and restock lines.
- User will have to perform a manual stock adjustment to correct any discrepancies from the refund.
Feature 3: Production module notifications
Impact area: Automation module
Introduction: The notifications allows user to send notifications when an event or action happens in DEAR. Notifications can be sent via internal notifications in DEAR, to email mailing lists, or external notifications using DEAR API.
With this release, DEAR has expanded its notifications feature to include production actions and events, such as required components being out of stock, nested order creation, delayed production start, and more.
Pre-conditions:
- Purchase Automation module subscription (required)
Functionality:
- Go to Settings → Automation → Notifications → Production to view and enable production notifications.
More information:
Feature 4: Process credit notes and restock independently
Impact area: Sales and Advanced Sales
Introduction: Previously to this release, the credit notes and restock tabs for simple sales and advanced sales were merged. The credit notes and restock tabs have now been separated and can be processed independently and in any order.
Pre-conditions:
- None
Functionality:
This change applies to simple sales and advanced sales.
- Product and service lines can be copied to the credit note tab from the invoice or the restock tab.
- Product lines can be copied to the restock tab from the ship tab or the credit note tab.
- Credit note and restock can be authorized independently and in any order.
- Credit note and restock can be undone independently and in any order.
- Credit note and restock tab can only be voided together.
- Restock date can now be input separately from credit note date.
More information:
Feature 5: Schedule delivery of sales for DEAR web portal, POS, and WMS
Impact area: Sales module, DEAR POS, DEAR WMS
Introduction: Sales may be made through DEAR POS and DEAR web portal that will be delivered to the customer later. This feature allows the merchant to set up a delivery calendar with delivery days and timeslots, schedule deliveries, view a list of scheduled deliveries, and mark deliveries as completed. Additionally, users can print delivery schedules.
Pre-conditions:
- None
Functionality:
- See detailed instructions for DEAR web portal, DEAR POS, and DEAR WMS below.
More information: