IC81.1 Position To

Why do you need to? We upload without it at all.

I guessing that when you add items to the par you're assigning the bin sequence sequentially? If there are 100 items on the par your bin sequence goes from 1 to 100. So you need to know the last bin sequence in order to assign the next available.  

 

We assign the item number as the bin sequence and the bin on most pars. So if you need to make a change to the par item you just enter that item number in the position to field. Works great except if there are alpha characters in the item number like our reprocessed items which are the same as the OEM item but with an R on the end.  

 

If you have Crystal I've attached a simple report that will show you the last bin sequence for all par locations. You'll have to change the .doc back to .rpt, the forum doesn't allow uploads of .rpt files. You can also do this with an Addins query and I've included that as well.

Correct Jon.  Thanks for the excellent tips.  I concur with your method, however I came into the organization with the item master and sequences already defined.  But your assumption is correct.  The limited functionality of the Position To field in lawson has always been something that has sparked my loathing.   I appreciate the advice.  I'll use the .rpt.  I had already created an Add-In as well.  I was hoping it would be as simple as "You dope, just hit CNTRL-L and it works"... but it appears that isnt the case.  Ah well.  I appreciate the assistance regardless.

We've always used them.  However, we've never really known what they're for outside of giving us fits.  So Kat you don't use them at all?  Since you use them Jon would there be any drawbacks to not using them?

Are you trying to change items or add items? If you are trying to add items and are okay with Lawson creating the bin sequence for you, then you do not map to pt-bd-bin-seq and then map an empty column to bd-bin-sequence and let lawson auto add. This is how I "add to the bottom" -- the users providing the spreadsheets will sometimes populate the bd-bin-seq column, but as they know what they're doing, I've never asked how they determine the numbering.

 

ETA:  I'm not actually the IC81 user though - so it may be the clerks just don't know what to ask so they're having to clean up behind me.  You'll want to test that.

Neil - the bin sequence is a required field. I've always thought their purpose was merely to put the lines in a particular order in IC81, similar to the line number in PO15.

Kat - I just tried to add items to a par in test while mapping a blank column to the bin sequence field and got "Field is required (_f21r0)". How do you set up your Addins upload? I've always used IC840 to add new pars or add items en mass and I'll get an error if I don't include the bin sequence.

Greetings,

Some organization consider it a formality and a "Line Item" essentially, but this one utilizes it for actual cart/shelf locations as its intended.  Which makes adding new items a pain because the Position To is rather clunky.  It's difficult to find last line added, etc.  In the context of what it is used for and designed for, it simply doesnt have a friendly search interface.  If only Infor would hire us to figure out these particulars.

Are you sure that's how you're using this field? The Shelf Location field (ITEMLOC.PREFER_BIN) is actually what you should use to assign the cart/shelf location. It's an alpha-numeric field, the Bin Sequence field is numeric only. If you're just assigning numbers sequentially in the bin sequence field it doesn't sound like that field is used to identify the cart/shelf location.

But here's a thought. If you added some item to the par, pick something that the department would never order (you can even make it inactive in IC81.2, the More/Misc tab so it doesn't show up in MSCM), enter 999999 for the bin sequence, then all you have to do to jump to the end is enter 999999 in the position to field and then hit Page Up and you'll be at the actual last item. You could mass upload this item to every par location using Addins.