The Flexible Inventory Loading feature on your Eagle system allows you to make changes to existing items or add new items to your Inventory file. Rather than make the changes or additions directly to your Inventory file using the Inventory Maintenance (IMU) window, you'll use the Flexible Inventory Loading (FIL) window.
The Flexible Inventory Loading (FIL) window is a workspace, an area that you can use to make changes to existing inventory items or to add new SKUs. The changes and adds that you do in the workspace (FIL) are not permanent changes to your Inventory file (Inventory Maintenance - IMU) until you run a report to finalize those changes. The report takes the changes from the workspace (the Flexible Inventory Loading window - FIL) and updates the SKUs in Inventory Maintenance (IMU).
The report you use to do this is the Flexible Inventory Loading Report (RFL). When you run this report with Option F (Finalize), the system updates Inventory Maintenance and clears the items from the workspace (the Flexible Inventory Loading window - FIL). The flex format remains in the system and can be used again.
Here is the process you follow to use flexible inventory loading:
Create a flex format— This is the first step in the process. A flex format is a series of columns in a grid along with other decisions you make that define the flex format. The columns correspond to the fields that you want to update in Inventory Maintenance (IMU). There are various ways to create a flex format. You can manually add a new flex format, create a flex format from a previously saved template, or use a legacy (Network Access) flex format as a template.
Add SKUs to the flex format— Once the flex format is created, you'll add items to the grid, either items that already exist in Inventory Maintenance or new items that you want to add to your Inventory file.
Make changes to the SKUs that were added to the flex format— Now that you have SKUs posted to the grid in the flex format, enter the information in the fields for those SKUs. If you are changing existing SKUs, you can select an option to show the existing information from Inventory Maintenance (IMU). This allows you to compare what is currently in the field in IMU for that SKU to the change (new information) that you are entering in the flex format grid.
Print an edit list of the errors before updating Inventory Maintenance (IMU)— After you are done posting all your changes to the flex format, you can run Flexible Inventory Loading Report (RFL) to get an edit list of any errors that will prevent an update from being made to Inventory Maintenance. This step is optional. If you run the report as an edit list of errors, do not use Option F.
Update Inventory Maintenance (IMU) by running the Flexible Inventory Loading Report (RFL) with Option F to finalize your work. The report updates Inventory Maintenance (IMU) and clears the workspace. If any changes to an item could not be made, an error message prints on the report. Note that running this report does not print the items and changes that were made to your Inventory file, only a list of errors (updates that could not be made).
For the procedure steps for each phase of the process, click here to go to the procedure topic.