When using Director-managed items, it is essential to sync the items added in Director with the store level. The behavior of these items is influenced by your specific settings in Director, which can be accessed by navigating to Director Settings.
Overview
With Director-managed items you must sync the items added at Director down to the store level. The behavior of these items when you sync them down is dependent on your settings at Director, available by going to Director Settings > Director Configuration.
This article covers the following settings and functions:
- Auto-Acknowledge Corporate Items
- Sync New Items to "Unassigned" Storage
- Require Storage Setup on Acknowledgement
- Item Review: Accepting & Matching Items at the Store level
Auto-Acknowledge Corporate Items
When this setting is ON, items that are synced down from Director are automatically added to the store's item list, and added to all storage areas.
If you have Auto-Acknowledge Corporate Items turned ON, you will have the additional option to activate "Sync New Items to "Unassigned" Storage". This means that new items created at Director will be added to the store's inventory on sync (so will be available instantly to count in audits and use in recipes), but instead of being added to all Storages at the store, the new item/s will only be added to a storage area called "Unassigned".
When the Auto-Acknowledge Corporate Items setting is OFF the store will need to complete an Item Review of new items that are synced to their store and accept them to add them into their inventory. You can choose to force the stores to also set storages for their new items during this Item Review process, by activating the Require Storage Setup on Acknowledgement setting.
From the Item Review screen, click the item's name in the left most column. If you have any local items at the store level, you will be given the option to either create the Director item as a new item, or match the Director item to a pre-existing local item.
Require Storage Setup on Acknowledgement
If Require Storage Setup on Acknowledgement is activated, then Auto-Acknowledge Corporate Items must be off, as the two settings are in direct opposition. With the Require Storage Setup on Acknowledgement setting activated, items will need to have their Storages set up to accept the item into the store's item list.
If your account is configured with a completely Director-managed inventory then the Item Review process will consist of just selecting the storage for the item, like in the image below.
Item Review
When the Auto-Acknowledge Corporate Items setting is OFF, the stores will need to review the items that are sent to their store. There will be an alert at the top of the screen at the store level about "New Corporate Items". Click the "Go to Item Review" button to review these items.
From the Item Review screen, click the item's name in the left most column. If you have any local items at the store level, you will be given the option to either create the Director item as a new item, or match the Director item to a pre-existing local item.
This is a new Item for my Store
If you select "This is a new Item for my Store" the Director item will be created as a brand new item.
Match this Item to an existing Item
If you choose "Match this Item to an existing Item" you will then be able to select an item by typing in the box next to "Match to".
Once you select an item the system will display the two items and will be color-coded based on the similarities. Optimally you want all 4 boxes to display as Green, which means the Item Name and Count Unit are identical for both the Director and Local item.
Once you have selected to either Match or create a new Item, click the blue box at the bottom right. If the Require Storage Setup on Acknowledgement setting is also activated, then you will need to set storage. See below for further details.
FAQs
What if all these settings are OFF?
If all of the settings covered above are turned off then when new items are added at Director and synced to the store level these items will be instantly added to the store's Item List and activated in all storage areas the store has.
Can I delete the "Unassigned" storage area?
Yes - but it will regenerate upon Director Sync when new items are added to the store. If you don't want this storage area you should delete it AND turn off the "Sync New Items to "Unassigned" Storage" setting on your Director Configuration page.
Can I rename the "Unassigned" storage area?
Yes - but when new items are added again at Director and synced a new storage area called "Unassigned" will be created again.