“can you set up a new part for us and get a small starter order placed with one of our vendors for it?”
You have rights to create both the part and the purchase order.
You have rights to create both the part and the purchase order. Before I create anything, I need these details, since a part is permanent once it's in Fishbowl:
The part
- Part number and description
- Unit of measure (each, case, lb…)
- Type: inventory, non-inventory, or service. I'll assume inventory if you don't say.
- Is it tracked by lot, serial, or expiration date? Optional.
The starter order
- Vendor. These are your most active ones right now:
- Rocky Mountain Chocolate
- Williams Treat Company
- A&B Distribution
- Brent's Food Supply
- Mike's Salt
- Chuck's Flour Shop
- Johnson Manufacturing
- Or any other vendor you name.
- Quantity and unit cost
- The vendor's part number, if it differs from yours. Optional.
- Should the PO go in as a bid request (draft) or issued (sent to the vendor)? I'd suggest a bid request so you can review it in Fishbowl first.
Once you reply, I'll prepare both and show you a preview. Nothing gets committed until you approve it.
The part is ready to create. Here's the preview:
New part: DARK-COCOA
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Dark Cocoa Powder |
| Unit of measure | Pound (lbs) |
| Type | Inventory |
| PO item type | Purchase |
| Tracking | None |
| Active | Yes |
This creates a new part. It doesn't update an existing one.
Next step: the bid request to Brent's Food Supply. Fishbowl won't check the PO until the part exists, so I'll prepare it right after this part is created. Here's my plan for it:
- Line: 100 lbs of DARK-COCOA at $1.00/lb, for a total of $100.00
- Status: Bid Request
- Location group: Main
- Remit-to: Brent's Food Supply, 777 South Delivery Lane, Salt Lake City, UT 84111
- Carrier: Will Call
- Ship-to: I'll copy it from your last Brent's PO (#231): "Default Address, Main Street." That looks like a placeholder. If you'd like your real warehouse address on this PO, send it to me. Otherwise I'll use that one so it matches your past orders.
Should I create the part now? The preview expires in about 30 minutes.
I created the part and the bid request in Fishbowl:
- DARK-COCOA (Dark Cocoa Powder) is a new inventory part, bought in pounds, with no tracking.
- PO 232 went to Brent's Food Supply as a Bid Request. It's for 100 lbs of DARK-COCOA at $1.00/lb, $100.00 total, with Will Call as the carrier, from location group Main.
PO 232 is waiting in Fishbowl for you to review. Once the price is confirmed, issue it from there. You'll also want to put your real warehouse address in place of the placeholder ship-to before it goes to Brent's.
What else your team could ask
“Who are our biggest vendors by spend?”
Chuck's Flour Shop is the biggest vendor at $1,775, about 30% of the $6,003.63 in purchase order spend in the DEMO Fishbowl database.
Watch the answer →“can you build us a CloudPage in Fishbowl that shows what our inventory is worth at each location? show me a preview before you install it.”
The draft is ready to look at — nothing is installed yet.
Watch the answer →“can you build us a sales BI report in Fishbowl - monthly revenue trend plus our top products and top customers? let me preview it before it goes in.”
Here's the live preview of Sales Overview, running against your Fishbowl data in read-only mode.
Watch the answer →Ask this about your own Fishbowl
We'll set up ILC MCP on your Fishbowl and build the queries your team needs.