Prism Users Guide - Chapter 2. Basics
2.9 Item Lookup
This topic has information about the following:
- 2.9.1 Item Lookup Modes
- 2.9.2 Advanced Item Lookup
- 2.9.3 Add/Edit Inventory from Advanced Item Lookup
2.9.1 Item Lookup Modes
When ringing up a sale, the cashier is typically scanning a barcode on the price tag. But what exactly is being scanned? Most likely it's the UPC or Universal Product Code. That UPC is considered a formal "Item Lookup Mode" in Retail Pro Prism and is simply a piece of information that can be used to look up and list an item on a transaction.
Another formal item lookup mode is the ALU or Alternate Lookup Mode. This is typically an in-house identifier of some sort that is used in lieu of, or in addition, to the UPC. Like a UPC, the ALU can be converted to a barcode for scanning purposes.
Description 1 and Description 2 fields are also item lookup modes, and they are typically used to store the product name or some generic product description. This gives the cashier the ability and flexibility to search for items by entering a product name or description. This is especially useful when the price tag is missing.
The Item Lookup By preference controls what information can be typed or scanned to list an item on a transaction or document. By default UPC is used for item lookups; however, if your business uses Alternate Lookups or Serial Numbers you can add those fields (or other fields) to the list of fields used for item lookups.
In the Prism Admin Console, navigate to the Node Preferences > Transactions > General area to define the fields to use when looking up items. By default, UPC is the only field selected. You can add or remove fields as needed (at least one lookup field is required in the Selected column).
Note: Although the Item Lookup By preference is in the "Transactions" area of preferences, the setting applies to all documents in Prism.
Best Practices for Document Item Lookup
It is important to carefully consider how the lookup configuration can affect the user experience when scanning Items on documents.
By default, you should set only one "Lookup Item By" field and this field should be an indexed field (UPC, ALU, Description 1, Description 2).
Typically, we find all or most items in a retailer's inventory are tagged and scanned by UPC or ALU. After you determine which barcode will be scanned, you should use only this single lookup when scanning items on documents.
In the case of items with damaged or missing tags, or for a subset of items tagged with a barcode which is not the default barcode, the user can find items via advanced lookup.
Item Lookup Notes
- Scanned Items: Scan the item's UPC barcode to immediately list the item on a transaction.
- Wildcards
- Basic Item Lookup: You can use a wildcard when entering a UPC or ALU in basic item lookup. When a wildcard is entered, Prism will display a multi-match modal with the first 100 matches. This wildcard entry in basic item lookup works on POs, TOs, Slips, Memos, Vouchers, ASNs and Point-of-Sale transactions.
- Advanced Item Lookup: You can use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard character if the Search By field is a string field. You cannot use the wildcard character in number or date fields.
- Wildcard can be at beginning or end of string (not middle).
- Wildcards will slow search times.
- Serial Number Items: Serial Number items require entry of the full number.
- Leading Zeroes for UPCs: If the UPC includes leading zeroes, you can type the UPC without the leading zeroes. RP Prism will automatically add leading zeroes.
- Special Characters: You can enter special characters (e.g. hyphen, or quotation marks) when looking up items.
- UPCs up to 18 characters supported: UPCs can be up to 18 characters long. Leading zeroes are preserved.
- Alternate Vendor Lookups: Prism enables retailers to assign one or more "alternate vendors" to items. Each alternate vendor has its own UPC or ALU for the item. If the Search Alternate Vendor UPC/ALU checkbox is selected, then RP Prism will include UPCs or ALUs assigned by alternate vendors in the search.
- Multiple Matching Items: If the criteria you type matches multiple items, then a modal displays the matches, up to the first 100.
2.9.2 Advanced Item Lookup
Instead of scanning an item's barcode, users can use Advanced Item Lookup to list one or more items by searching Inventory using search parameters, such as Description 1, ALU, Vendor Code, or Size. The Advanced Lookup feature is available when creating all document types (transaction, purchase order, voucher, transfer order, PI sheet, etc.).
Advanced Item Lookup provides access to most common item fields (e.g., DCS Code, Description 1, Vendor Code) to use as filter elements. Users can add one or more filter elements, define criteria for those elements, and then review search results to find the desired item.
Beginning with Prism 2.1, on most document types users with the required permissions can add/edit/delete items from within Advanced Item Lookup. This feature is useful, for example, when creating a purchase order to order an item that is not yet in Inventory. A user may start a new purchase order to order the item. The search for the item Inventory does not return any results, so the user creates a new Inventory item on the fly. After the user save the item and returns to the document, the new or changed item is brought back to the document. Note: The ability to add/edit/delete items within Advanced Item Lookup is not available on POS transactions.
Access Advanced Item Lookup
Click the Search button on a document to access Advanced Item Lookup.
The Inventory Search screen is divided into two panes. One the left side, users add filter elements and define filter criteria. The right side of the screen displays the results of the search.
Sample Advanced Item Lookup screen:
Navigate Search Results
Use the Previous and Next buttons at the bottom of the Item Details screen to navigate between records in the Search results.
Search Element Operators
When you add a search element to the interface, you must also select an operator. For most elements, you can select the desired value from a dropdown menu. This is easier than typing the value and avoids user-entry errors.
| Operator | Description |
|---|---|
| Equals | Use this operator if you only want to include documents that exactly match the entered filter value. For example, entering a document number and setting the operator to "Equals" will return only that specific document. |
| Not equals | Use this operator to exclude documents that match the entered filter value. Note: Null values are included even if Not Equals is selected. |
| Contains | Use this operator if you want to include documents that have the entered string in filter. You can use this operator with filter values like "PO No," "ASN No," etc. For example, entering "101" and selecting "Contains" will return documents numbered 101, 1010, 1011, 1012, 1013, etc. |
| Is Empty | Use this operator if you only want to include documents or records that do not have an entry for the selected filter element. This is a Boolean operator. If you select it, the user input text box is automatically disabled. |
| Is Not Empty | Use this operator if you only want to include documents or records that have an entry for the selected filter element. If the selected filter element is not empty, the document will be included in the search. This is a Boolean operator. If you select it, the user input text box is automatically disabled. |
From the drop-down, select the desired filter element. The default elements available for selection vary by document lookup area but will typically include elements like the document number, Associate, store, etc. You can change the elements available in the Search By drop-down by editing the appropriate Grid Formats preferences.
Advanced Item Lookup UI Elements
Refer to the following table for information about the elements of the Advanced Lookup dialog:
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Check Mark | When a user clicks the Search button, each item in the search results has a grayed-out check mark on the left side of the item row. The user should tap or click this check mark to select the row. Checking this will select the row. |
| Grid Row | Double-clicking a row with Doc Qty 0 will close the Adv Item Lookup and add that item to the document with a qty of 1. If Doc Qty is not 0, double-clicking a row will do nothing. |
| Add Selected button | Add Selected button will only be enabled when one or more items are selected (checked). When a user clicks the Add Selected button, the selected items' Doc Qty will increase from 0 to 1, the items will be de-selected and Add Selected will become disabled again (because no items are selected). Add Selected will not close the Advanced Item Lookup screen (users must click Done). |
| Done button | The Done button will simply close the Advanced Item Lookup screen and return the user to the document. The Done button does not add selected items to the document. |
| Doc Price | If the item is already listed on the document, changes to Doc Price will modify the price of the item on the document. If the item is being added to the document (via Add Selected, double-click or Doc Qty change), the Doc Price will become the price of the item on the document. If the item's Doc Qty is 0, changes to Doc Price will be discarded when the user clicks the Done button. |
| Doc Cost | Doc Cost field allows the user to edit the Cost of items on the document. If the item is already listed on the document, changes to Doc Cost will modify the cost of the item on the document. If the item is being added to the document (via Add Selected, double-click or Doc Qty change), the Doc Cost will become the cost of the item on the document. If the item's Doc Qty is 0, changes to Doc Price will be discarded when the user clicks the Done button. |
| Doc Qty | Doc Qty field allows the user to edit the Quantity of items on the document. Items with Doc Qty of zero will not be listed on the document. Items already listed on the document will be removed if Doc Qty is changed to 0. Items with Doc Qty not equal to zero will be listed on the document. Items not listed on the document will be added if Doc Qty is changed to non-zero value. |
Advanced Item Lookup - Item Consolidation Rules
When returning to a document from the Advanced Item Lookup dialog, the following consolidation rules are followed:
- PO items are always consolidated, whether listed via the standard Lookup field or Advanced Item Lookup.
- On Vouchers, the same item can be listed as multiple rows on the document via the standard item lookup.
- Advanced Item Lookup will always list newly added items as a single row.
- If an item has been added as multiple rows and the user enters Advanced Item Lookup, the item will be represented in Advanced Lookup by a single row. Doc Price and Doc Cost displayed will be taken from the most recent instance of the item on the document. Doc Qty will be the sum of each instance's qty.
- If an item has been added as multiple rows and the user then modifies Doc Cost, Doc Price or Doc Qty for that item in Advanced Item Lookup, that item will be consolidated into a single row on the document using the current Doc values.
- Items that are listed as multiple rows on the document will not be consolidated if no changes are made to Doc Cost, Doc Price or Doc Qty for those items in Advanced Item Lookup.
Items that are excluded from Search Results
Different document types have different rules for which documents are excluded from the search results that are returned.
- POS: Non inventory items or unorderable items are not returned.
- Transfer Slips: Inventory items that are packages (kittype == 2) or set as noninventory are not returned.
- Purchase Orders: Inventory items that are packages (kittype == 2), set as noninventory, discontinued, not orderable or have orderable dates out of range are not returned.
- Markdown inventory (inside Price Manager) is limited to active inventory items
Search Alternate Vendor UPC/ALU
You can assign one or more "alternate vendors" to items. Each alternate vendor has its own UPC or ALU for the item. If the Search Alternate Vendor UPC/ALU checkbox is selected in preferences (Transactions - General), then Prism will include UPCs or ALUs assigned by alternate vendors in the search.
Customizing Advanced Item Lookup via Grid Formats (Legacy) Preferences
You can decide what item search fields are available in different areas via the following Grid Formats preferences:
- Adjustment Memo Items
- Inventory Search (Document)
- Purchase Order Items
- Transfer Order Items
- Transfer Slip Items
- Voucher/ASN Items
2.9.3 Add/Edit Inventory from Advanced Item Lookup
Note: This feature is not available in the POS area.
When users go to search for an item, they can add an item, edit an item, etc. Users can then return to the document while the changes to inventory are saved and/or the new/changed item is brought back to the document.
Use Case: Add a new item to Inventory while making a Purchase Order
A user searches for an item to add it to a purchase order; however, the search yield no results because the item does not yet exist in Inventory. The user can click the New button on the Search screen to add a new item. Alternatively, the user can click Style Lookup, then click New to add a new style.
If the user clicks the New button, the UI is refreshed.
At the top are fields for entering Doc Qty, Doc Cost and Doc Price for the current document. The rest of the UI is the same as one would see in Inventory when creating a new item.
Users can Cancel or Save as needed. After clicking Save, click Return to Document.
Advanced Item Inventory Add or Edit Inventory Features
This feature is available when using Advanced Item Search on the following document types: Purchase Orders, Transfer Slips, Transfer Orders, Vouchers, ASNs and Qty/Price/Cost Adjustment Memos.
- Items can be given document quantity on the document
- New Items can be created and added to the document
- New Styles can be created and added to the document
- New DCS and Vendor Codes can be created
The user's security permissions are checked if the user tries to create a new item, edit an existing item, or activate/deactivate an item
Item Creation from Advanced Item Search: Notes for Adjustment Memos
- Defining a Document Cost for a newly created item in advanced item lookup within a cost memo will add that item to the Cost Memo
- Defining a Document Price for a newly created item in advanced item lookup within a price memo will add that item to the Price Memo.
- Defining a Document Qty for a newly created item in advanced item lookup within a qty memo will add that item to the Qty Memo