Re: Drop shipments -Processing ---- was new fields in the SupplierProduct entity

[BJ Freeman <bj...@free-man.net>]

Sorry I wasn't online when this took place.
I have implemented Drop shipping with in the framework of Ofbiz with a 
few kinks.
First I have a dropshipper party group. this if a party is in this 
group, then the Drop shipping logic I added is implemented.
Each has it's facilities, this is because some items are at different 
locations and the shipping rate will be determine by which facility.
the Product is set to require inventory for those that that provide 
inventory updates electronically.

The only change to ofbiz is the services that now look for the drop 
shipping group to make alternative changes to the processes.

One of those hooks is the format to send an order in.
I accomplished this by putting the template in the contactmechs, with it 
s own type.

in http://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-143
i have provide contactmechs that relate to different ways to 
communication with suppliers.
One of those is for the template to use for converting their data.

David E Jones sent the following on 9/6/2006 3:44 PM:
> 
> Daniel,
> 
> You're right, there are certainly many varieties of requirements around 
> drop-shipping. Following the normal contribution pattern for OFBiz 
> whoever implements the initial drop-shipping stuff will have their 
> requirements implemented. Over time as others have different needs and 
> are willing to invest in them and contribute them back, the 
> functionality will grow.
> 
> The main focus initially here is to make sure we don't design ourselves 
> into a corner.
> 
> -David
> 
> 
> On Sep 6, 2006, at 3:41 PM, Daniel Kunkel wrote:
> 
>> There's a couple of unexpected complication to drop shipping that might
>> be worth considering here during the design phase, how drop-shipped
>> products are returned. Some business have to take back returns while
>> others can have them returned to the drop-shipper. Handling/Reselling
>> returns correctly would be great.
>>
>> Another complication is combining products from different suppliers, and
>> calculating shipping costs. A feature that drop-ships only orders from a
>> single drop-shipping supplier would be interesting.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Daniel
>>
>>
>> On Wed, 2006-09-06 at 21:41 +0200, Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
>>> Ok, so:
>>>
>>> 1) SupplierProduct.willDropShip: an indicator of whether or not the
>>> supplier will drop-ship that particular product
>>>
>>> 2) I propose to use Product.requirementMethodEnumId to list also:
>>> - allow manual drop ship
>>> - auto drop ship on low quantity
>>> - only drop ship (never stock)
>>>
>>> together with the existing requirement creation options
>>>
>>> Is it ok?
>>>
>>> Jacopo
>>>
>>> Si Chen wrote:
>>>> Yes, I agree with David on this kind of a setup.  Technically it might
>>>> even better to have the drop ship properties be associated with
>>>> ProductStore, but that's probably over-designing it.
>>>>
>>>> Si
>>>>
>>>> On Sep 5, 2006, at 10:19 PM, David E Jones wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> This is sounding more like we need an enum field or something... The
>>>>> options so far could be:
>>>>>
>>>>> - allow manual drop ship
>>>>> - auto drop ship on low quantity
>>>>> - only drop ship (never stock)
>>>>>
>>>>> There may be others. I know we don't plan to support all of these
>>>>> initially, but the fact that they've already come up in casual
>>>>> discussion means that probably will... Of course, this enum is a bit
>>>>> different and should probably go on the Product rather than on the
>>>>> SupplierProduct.
>>>>>
>>>>> On the SupplierProduct entity we should probably have a field like
>>>>> "willDropShip" that is an indicator of whether or not the supplier
>>>>> will drop-ship that particular product.
>>>>>
>>>>> -David
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sep 5, 2006, at 10:45 PM, Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> David,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> thanks, these are good points. Please see my comments below:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> David E Jones wrote:
>>>>>>> Would this field, if set to Y, basically mean that if inventory is
>>>>>>> not available in the company's warehouse then drop-ship it through
>>>>>>> the supplier?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The new field I'm proposing ("allowDropShipments"), if set to "Y",
>>>>>> would basically mean that we can ask to that supplier to drop ship
>>>>>> the item. The use case I have in mind is this: the backoffice user is
>>>>>> entering a sales order for product X and he discovers that its stock
>>>>>> level is low, so he lookups if there are suppliers that are available
>>>>>> to drop ship the item (allowDropShipments=Y) and selects one of them
>>>>>> (or just check a 'drop ship' box and the system automatically try to
>>>>>> assign it to one of the suppliers for drop shipment).
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Or would it mean that it should always be drop-shipped regardless of
>>>>>>> local inventory? If not perhaps we might want a different option for
>>>>>>> that?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Yes, if a product is always drop shipped it should be handled in a
>>>>>> different way: I was thinking to use (as is now for the current
>>>>>> 'drop-shipment' implementation - that is more a 'cross-dock' shipping
>>>>>> implementation, i.e. the purchased products are received and
>>>>>> immediately assigned to the sales order) the
>>>>>> Product.requirementMethodEnumId field for this.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Does it make sense?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Jacopo
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> -David
>>>>>>> On Sep 5, 2006, at 3:13 AM, Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
>>>>>>>> I'm going to implement true (yet simple) drop shipment features and
>>>>>>>> I'll need to specify which products can be drop shipped per
>>>>>>>> supplier-product.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> What about adding a new field, "allowDropShipments"(?), to the
>>>>>>>> SupplierProduct entity?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Jacopo
>>>>>>
>>>
>>
> 
> 

Re: Drop shipments -Processing ---- was new fields in the SupplierProduct entity

[BJ Freeman <bj...@free-man.net>]

I have a client that has commissioned a back order process
this is for suppliers that have electronic communication about the order.
This is particularly important for drop shipping since they inventory 
they provide is usually daily, or less and in not up to the minute. Or 
the drop shipper that provides no inventory and you don't know till the 
order goes in.
so the item may be back ordered by the time the order is sent to them.

this process takes care of generating the order task, notifying the 
customer and doing the same as the inventory available service, but to 
the supplier.

It has one more step that keeps the customer in the loop so they can 
come to order history and change the order like delete the item that is 
back ordered or do a split ship.

target for this is Feb 07



BJ Freeman sent the following on 10/9/2006 4:20 PM:
> Sorry I wasn't online when this took place.
> I have implemented Drop shipping with in the framework of Ofbiz with a 
> few kinks.
> First I have a dropshipper party group. this if a party is in this 
> group, then the Drop shipping logic I added is implemented.
> Each has it's facilities, this is because some items are at different 
> locations and the shipping rate will be determine by which facility.
> the Product is set to require inventory for those that that provide 
> inventory updates electronically.
> 
> The only change to ofbiz is the services that now look for the drop 
> shipping group to make alternative changes to the processes.
> 
> One of those hooks is the format to send an order in.
> I accomplished this by putting the template in the contactmechs, with it 
> s own type.
> 
> in http://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-143
> i have provide contactmechs that relate to different ways to 
> communication with suppliers.
> One of those is for the template to use for converting their data.
> 
> David E Jones sent the following on 9/6/2006 3:44 PM:
>>
>> Daniel,
>>
>> You're right, there are certainly many varieties of requirements 
>> around drop-shipping. Following the normal contribution pattern for 
>> OFBiz whoever implements the initial drop-shipping stuff will have 
>> their requirements implemented. Over time as others have different 
>> needs and are willing to invest in them and contribute them back, the 
>> functionality will grow.
>>
>> The main focus initially here is to make sure we don't design 
>> ourselves into a corner.
>>
>> -David
>>
>>
>> On Sep 6, 2006, at 3:41 PM, Daniel Kunkel wrote:
>>
>>> There's a couple of unexpected complication to drop shipping that might
>>> be worth considering here during the design phase, how drop-shipped
>>> products are returned. Some business have to take back returns while
>>> others can have them returned to the drop-shipper. Handling/Reselling
>>> returns correctly would be great.
>>>
>>> Another complication is combining products from different suppliers, and
>>> calculating shipping costs. A feature that drop-ships only orders from a
>>> single drop-shipping supplier would be interesting.
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>
>>> Daniel
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, 2006-09-06 at 21:41 +0200, Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
>>>> Ok, so:
>>>>
>>>> 1) SupplierProduct.willDropShip: an indicator of whether or not the
>>>> supplier will drop-ship that particular product
>>>>
>>>> 2) I propose to use Product.requirementMethodEnumId to list also:
>>>> - allow manual drop ship
>>>> - auto drop ship on low quantity
>>>> - only drop ship (never stock)
>>>>
>>>> together with the existing requirement creation options
>>>>
>>>> Is it ok?
>>>>
>>>> Jacopo
>>>>
>>>> Si Chen wrote:
>>>>> Yes, I agree with David on this kind of a setup.  Technically it might
>>>>> even better to have the drop ship properties be associated with
>>>>> ProductStore, but that's probably over-designing it.
>>>>>
>>>>> Si
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sep 5, 2006, at 10:19 PM, David E Jones wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This is sounding more like we need an enum field or something... The
>>>>>> options so far could be:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> - allow manual drop ship
>>>>>> - auto drop ship on low quantity
>>>>>> - only drop ship (never stock)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> There may be others. I know we don't plan to support all of these
>>>>>> initially, but the fact that they've already come up in casual
>>>>>> discussion means that probably will... Of course, this enum is a bit
>>>>>> different and should probably go on the Product rather than on the
>>>>>> SupplierProduct.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On the SupplierProduct entity we should probably have a field like
>>>>>> "willDropShip" that is an indicator of whether or not the supplier
>>>>>> will drop-ship that particular product.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -David
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sep 5, 2006, at 10:45 PM, Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> David,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> thanks, these are good points. Please see my comments below:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> David E Jones wrote:
>>>>>>>> Would this field, if set to Y, basically mean that if inventory is
>>>>>>>> not available in the company's warehouse then drop-ship it through
>>>>>>>> the supplier?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The new field I'm proposing ("allowDropShipments"), if set to "Y",
>>>>>>> would basically mean that we can ask to that supplier to drop ship
>>>>>>> the item. The use case I have in mind is this: the backoffice 
>>>>>>> user is
>>>>>>> entering a sales order for product X and he discovers that its stock
>>>>>>> level is low, so he lookups if there are suppliers that are 
>>>>>>> available
>>>>>>> to drop ship the item (allowDropShipments=Y) and selects one of them
>>>>>>> (or just check a 'drop ship' box and the system automatically try to
>>>>>>> assign it to one of the suppliers for drop shipment).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Or would it mean that it should always be drop-shipped 
>>>>>>>> regardless of
>>>>>>>> local inventory? If not perhaps we might want a different option 
>>>>>>>> for
>>>>>>>> that?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Yes, if a product is always drop shipped it should be handled in a
>>>>>>> different way: I was thinking to use (as is now for the current
>>>>>>> 'drop-shipment' implementation - that is more a 'cross-dock' 
>>>>>>> shipping
>>>>>>> implementation, i.e. the purchased products are received and
>>>>>>> immediately assigned to the sales order) the
>>>>>>> Product.requirementMethodEnumId field for this.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Does it make sense?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Jacopo
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> -David
>>>>>>>> On Sep 5, 2006, at 3:13 AM, Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
>>>>>>>>> I'm going to implement true (yet simple) drop shipment features 
>>>>>>>>> and
>>>>>>>>> I'll need to specify which products can be drop shipped per
>>>>>>>>> supplier-product.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> What about adding a new field, "allowDropShipments"(?), to the
>>>>>>>>> SupplierProduct entity?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Jacopo
>>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>