User Defined Parameters handle the special properties of your products with no extra stock codes or software

User Defined Parameters (UDP)

Many companies need to track standard items with special attributes:

• Workwear companies embroider customer logos on garments.
• Fresh produce distributors identify varieties, grower, size and grade.
• Material suppliers cut products to size from reels, rolls and sheets.

Every BellHawk Online system lets you set up User Defined Parameters (UDP) for special properties in its knowledge base. These handle material attributes with no need to modify software. They can also simplify product coding and avoid proliferation of SKUs.

UDP in action

Data Entry

The rules in the knowledge-base determine which data entry screens capture which UDP data.

Labels

You can include UDP in your formats for the labels you want BellHawk to print.

Documents

You can specify UDP fields in BellHawk documents:

• Goods receiving sheets.
• Ship order acknowledgements.
• Work order travellers.
• Order picking sheets.
• Packing slips
• Bills of lading
• Purchase Orders

Purchase orders and advanced shipment orders can include parameters such as length, width and colour.

These parameters will appear on receiving screens. You can modify their values if need be; for example to accept Grade A Mushrooms instead of the Grade B you ordered.

Ship Orders

You can include UDP values, such as colour and size, in ship order lines entered into BellHawk.

These parameter values will then transfer to:

• Work orders created from the ship order.
• Containers of material produced from the work orders.
• Pick orders created from the ship order.
• At picking time BellHawk checks the UDP values of the items in the container match those on the ship order lines.
• Reports
• UDP data can be included in:
• Data exchanges with your business systems
• Excel exports from the BellHawk database
• Standard and custom reports

UDP data records

BellHawk stores UPD data in a special column added to most tables in the database. It stores only the parameters specified for each object. This keeps the tracking database small and efficient.

UDP reports and data exchange

For use in custom reports and data exchange, an extension to SQL Server retrieves UDP values as if they were column data.

Benefits of UDP tracking

Configured Products

1. Great for custom make-to-order products as customers can select from a wide variety of options and special features can be added as needed.
2. You have a much smaller set of items and manufacturing routes to setup and maintain in the tracking system.
   

   In one case, a company reduced 2,000 SKUs to 14 item master records, one for each product line. They used UDP to specify the options available.

3. You do not have to create or track SKUs for each new product. It is much easier for people to remember a much more limited set of numbers.
4. You can add new options and choices to your product line and remove old ones. Sales people see the current options for each product.
5. Your avoid mistakes in production, picking, and shipping as options and choices carry through to work orders and picking sheets.
6. It is easier to export order, shipment and inventory data to your business systems at product line level maintain accounts for thousands of SKUs in ERP those systems.
7. BellHawk can construct composite product codes from truncated UDP values. Distributors and retailers can use these codes to identify products with barcodes and RFID tags.

Dimensioned materials

Separate tracking of length and width of materials has major benefits:

1. One part number for all lengths and widths of a material.
2. Real-time visibility and accurate costing of inventory including offcuts.
3. Computation of the actual cost of materials used on a job including off-cuts from prior jobs.
4. Accurate changes in inventory (unit length, area) for each material can be exported to your business system.

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