How to mange bulk orders, call offs and inventory drawdown

There are many industries where call off contracts and drawing down off bulk orders are commonplace.

Within construction for example, a building project can span many months and even years. Consider the building of a new housing estate, the developer would know from the outset how many bricks would be required for the entire build. They would want to secure supply and negotiate pricing based on this overall requirement yet call of what they need as the build progresses. This same principle can be used in a range of other industries s where inventory is systematically drawn down over time.

Why efficient management matters

Efficient management of bulk orders and call offs isn't just about keeping projects on schedule—it also affects your bottom line and customer satisfaction. Properly managed contracts ensure:

💰 Consistent pricing: Customers can rely on pre-agreed pricing remaining stable throughout the project.

⏰ Timely supply: Meeting call off schedules is crucial to project efficiency and sales success.

🚚 Supplier control: Suppliers must monitor commitments closely, highlight any shortfalls, and prevent over-supply to avoid invoicing and payment issues.

Successfully managing these aspects enhances future contract opportunities and strengthens business relationships.

Advanced features for streamlined operations

Orderwise is constantly evolving to provide tools for managing complex order types and inventory needs:

• Bulk order functionality: Simplifies the creation and management of bulk orders and their associated call-offs, fully integrated within the Sales Order system.
• Detailed tracking: Users can access a comprehensive view of bulk orders and their statuses, manage call-offs directly from the dashboard, and ensure compliance with the original contract terms.
• Enhanced financial controls: Options for upfront payments cater to specific business needs, ensuring smoother financial transactions and reconciliation.

A number of other important areas can be controlled and maintained as part of Bulk Order and Call Off management including:-

Payments

There will be certain Bulk Orders where an upfront payment is preferred. This could be standard practice for first time customers with some companies, due to bespoke items, the value or length of commitment and any number of other factors. The option is available to take a payment against the Bulk Order itself if required which can then be reconciled later against the Call Off order invoices.

Purchasing requirements

By default Bulk Orders will not be accounted for within the ‘To Purchase’ report. As these will often span a significant period of time companies will not want purchase orders to be generated on the back of Bulk Order requirements. It is the Call Off that generates the Sales Order which places demand on inventory with any resulting requirements and order promised dates picked up when the ‘To Purchase’ report is run.

Depending on individual companies operating practices on how they wish Bulk Order requirements to be managed, a System Setting is available to include Bulk Order requirements in the ‘To Purchase’ report.

Direct & back to back orders

Requirements for Direct Order (inventory sent directly to customer from supplier) or Back to Back Order (Purchase orders raised and linked to specific sales order lines) can still be applied when creating a Bulk Order. This will be automatically applied to any Call Off made from the Bulk Order that includes items flagged in this way with flexibility to apply or change this within the Call Off itself.

Inventory allocations

Inventory can be allocated during the creation of a Bulk Order for all or part of the Bulk Order requirements. Bulk Order allocations will be automatically carried forward to any Call Off created with the ability to amend or apply these manually if desired.

Call off history & bulk order status

This can be viewed for any Bulk Order to provide full and fast visibility of all orders that contain a Call Off line from the Bulk order. Users can display Bulk Order numbers & Bulk Order Line ID’s to enable simple insight into Call Off activity and see the despatch status and promised dates of Call Off orders. Bulk Order status is also quickly ascertained, displaying if the Bulk Order is Awaiting Despatch, Partially Despatched or Completed.

Demand forecasting

When Bulk Orders are for items that would normally be kept in stock or available quickly and easily from suppliers then there is little or no issue around inventory availability. This would also be the case if a customer plans their Call Off requirements in advance. However, if there are long lead times for Bulk Order items and it is vital that Call Off requirements can be immediately fulfilled then user can take advantage of the Forward Demand Forecasting feature.