Support for manufacturer rep processing

As a distributor, you may direct customers to the manufacturer to purchase certain items. In this role, you serve as the manufacturer’s salesrep, and are eligible to earn commission on those products that your customer purchases directly from the manufacturer. This agreement may apply to a specific product or product line, or to sales that occur within an established territory. The manufacturer fills the order and ships the product directly to your customer. Because there is no movement of inventory from within your warehouse, there is no cost of goods sold, orders do not impact your General Ledger, and there is no tax liability.

It is necessary, however, to track the orders that you create as a manufacturer’s rep to ensure that you monitor the manufacturer's service levels and the commission you earn on those orders. This enhancement adds features that help you track manufacturer rep orders and commissions earned. A new function, Sales Manufacturer Commission Setup, is added to store the commission rates for all manufacturer vendors or a specific vendor that can be associated with one or multiple warehouses, products, product lines, product categories, customers, or sales territories. You can record a single commission earned for your company and also pay your inside or outside salesreps a portion of that commission.

A new Manufacturer Rep order type is used to record the order and commission amount in Sales Order Entry. This is a type of Direct Order transaction used to record a sale that is filled and shipped by the vendor. The order is automatically placed on hold until you receive your commission payment from the manufacturer. You can release the hold in Sales Credit Release Inquiry or Sales Shipping Feedback Entry when the commission payment is received. Manufacturer Rep orders can be one of two types: either a Manufacturer Sales Order (MS), or a Total Sales Manufacturer Rep (TS) order. The TS order is used to record an order when you receive a commission report or payment from the manufacturer with no order detail and no order already exists in Distribution SX.e. TS orders are recorded against a “dummy” inventory record associated with the warehouse. Each Manufacturer Rep order must contain at least one line item to track and calculate inside/outside sales rep commissions as well as set an amount on the order. A Total Sale Item is set up on the Product Warehouse Description Setup record to automatically default when selecting to use a Total Sales manufacturer order.

To enable entry of the Manufacturer Rep order, you create a customer record in Customer Setup for the manufacturer vendor. This is much like a floorplan customer where you’re reimbursed on behalf of your true customer by a third party. New fields in Customer Setup are used to identify the customer as a manufacturer vendor and link it to an existing Vendor Setup record, assign salesreps, indicate if invoice printing is required, and to specify how commission is calculated. The “floorplan” manufacturer customer is selected in Sales Order Entry when you identify the order as a Manufacturer Rep order. The manufacturer customer is used in invoice processing to create the invoice for payment of the commission to the distributor from the vendor. During Sales Entry Invoice Processing Report, your general ledger is updated with the total commission earned.

For each manufacturer, you can elect to pay a portion of the commission to your inside and outside salesreps. Salesrep commission can be calculated on each Manufacturer Rep order line based on a percentage of the earned commission or the sales amount of the line item. You can also define a specific inside and outside salesrep for each manufacturer customer. The inside and outside salesrep commission rates are applied according to the existing Sales Commission Setup rates based on salesrep and commission type. You can run SM Commission Report to determine what commission is owed to your inside and outside salesreps.

When the commission payment is recorded in Customer Cash Receipt Entry, your GL is updated to properly record the commission received.