Direct Stock Feeds – Config

Direct Stock Feeds take stock figures, directly from suppliers, and put them within the Horizon interface.

Direct stock feed information can be seen in:

• Stock Card – Detail – Catalogues tab
• Sales Order – Detail tabs – Details
• Stock Card Browse – Grid
• Shopping List

Note: Stock feed quantities are only displayed for In Use items.

The priority of the supplier can be set which changes the order stock quantities are displayed.

Direct Stock Feeds are available from any supplier that publish their stock information to an FTP site. The supplier will provide you with:

• FTP location – the stock data is fetched from the supplier's ftp server;
• Username – for an account on the ftp server;
• Password – to authenticate access with that username;
• File-name – stock data is stored in a CSV file on the specified server;
• Exertis will be able to tell you which warehouse they would prefer you to set with a higher priority.

ECI do not have this information – you must ask your supplier.

Stock feeds can be fetched every 60 minutes, or less frequently if the supplier doesn't update as frequently.

Setting up a New Direct Stock Feed

1. On the Utilities menu, click Direct Stock Feeds.
2. On the Config tab, under the list of suppliers, click the green plus button. A new row is added to the list. Do not try and type into the grid. It will be completed when you confirm your changes.
3. In the Supplier list, click the supplier name.

   Note: You can select suppliers and supplier branches.

4. Type the supplied FTP server address into the FTP location box. If your supplier needs to define a port number, include it at the end of the address, preceded by a colon, i.e. ftp://<ftp address>:port .
5. Type the supplied FTP username into the Username box.
6. Type the supplied password into the Password box.
7. In the File-name box, type the name of the file that the supplier uploads to their FTP server.
8. The supplier will have configured their FTP server according to their settings and security policies. You will need to ask the supplier for this information.
   1. Select FTPS if the server has FTPS encryption configured.

      Note: Horizon supports FTPS. Horizon does not support SFTP.

   2. Select Use passive mode if the server uses this mode.
9. In the Delimiter list, select Comma or Tab according to how your supplier separates values in their file.
10. The following boxes configure the column the stock information is supplied in.

    Note: The columns are zero-based, so Column A is 0, column B is 1, column C is 2 etc.

    1. In the Lines to skip box, type the number of rows in the file that contain column labels, or other information that should not be imported.
    2. In the Product box, type the column number for the product code.
    3. In the Local stock box, type the column number containing the stock quantity for your local warehouse, used for delivery method Default (Bulk). You must always set a Local stock column.
    4. In the Local date box, type the column number for the date the supplier will receive the stock at the local warehouse.
    5. In the Consumer stock box, type the column number containing the stock quantity for the warehouse your supplier uses for delivery method Customer Delivery by Supplier (pick and wrap).
    6. In the Consumer date box, type the column number for the date the supplier will receive the stock at the consumer delivery warehouse.
    7. In the Consumer lead box, type the column number for the item's consumer lead time.
    8. In the Dealer lead box, type the column number for the item's dealer lead time.
11. Type how frequently the stock quantities should be refreshed into the Every box. The minimum value is 60 minutes. Suppliers will often update their information less frequently than this.
12. Direct Supplier Stock Feeds should be limited to the times when you are entering sales orders. It will operate between the two times set. In the Time From and Time To boxes, type a time using the hh:mm:ss format, using the 24 hour clock.
13. In the Priority box, type a number – the greater the number, the higher the priority. It is recommended that multiples of ten are used initially. This makes it easier to subsequently change the priority sequence.
14. Click the green tick below the supplier list to confirm your changes.
15. The Orders and Receipts Import Service will fetch and update your stock figures. Check the Log to troubleshoot.

See Also