Creating an RA for a specific invoice or invoice lines

AR Invoices Lookup

If you highlight a valid invoice in the AR Invoices Lookup program, and select the Create Return Authorization option, the system will create a new RA for the customer and shipto company from the selected invoice, and it will create RA lines for each of the items from the invoice.  The system will default the original customer, and shipto, the invoice quantities, pricing and serial number information into the new RA. 

If any RA’s have already been issued against the invoice, the system will block you from creating a new  In this case, you must use the Returns Entry program to create an additional RA for the same invoice.

Returns Management/Returns Entry and Edit

To create an RA for a specific invoice using the Returns Management program you first use the Insert option,  then the Add Invoice option.

When the Add Invoice Button is pressed in the Returns Entry/Edit program, the system displays the Invoices Lookup program.  The Invoices Lookup program displays all of the invoice records that have been created on your system and it allows you to view detailed information about each invoice displayed in the program.  This detailed information includes the invoice header and line item information, and any serialized inventory information associated with the invoice.  The Invoices Lookup program also allows you to display the invoices in your system (and search for a specific invoice) using any of the several different display and search sequences.  This allows you to find the appropriate invoice using the invoice number, customer name, po number, shipto zip, or other information.

Once you select a valid invoice in the Lookup, the Header and Line item section of the Returns Entry and Edit program is loaded with the information from the invoice

Editing an RA 

Once the Returns Entry and Edit program is loaded with a valid customer and RA lines, you may edit the RA header and RA line item detail as required (delete lines, change quantities, remove the serial numbers not being returned, add additional lines by invoice or item number, etc).  If the RA is being created, the RA information will not be saved until the RA is saved and a permanent RA number is assigned.

Adding Additional Lines

Once you have created an RA by invoice, you may add additional lines to it using the Add Invoice or the Add Item options in Returns Entry and Edit.

If you select the Add Invoice option again, the system will allow you to select another invoice for the same customer (the Customer specific Invoice Lookup is used to select additional invoice lines once an invoice and the customer have been selected), and it will load the line item detail from the invoice to the RA being edited. 

The Add Item option can also be used to add additional lines to the RA.

Finding an Invoice by Serial Number

If the customer returning the goods cannot provide you with the invoice number associated with the items being returned, but they can provide you with the serial numbers for the item, you can use the Serial Management program to locate the serialized inventory record, and determine the invoice that was used to sell the item to the customer.  If the serialized item is still owned by the customer (ie it has not already been returned), the last invoice field in the serial master record should store the invoice number associated with the sale, the status of the serial record should be “S” (indicating the status is sold) and the serial history for the serialized item will also show a transaction for the sale.

Once you have selected the Invoice that should be used for the RA, the system verifies that the invoice type is valid, and that any serialized items associated with the invoice are still available (they are not currently assigned to another RA, and the status and the owner in the serial records match the RA company).  If the invoice is not valid or the serial numbers are not available, the system will display an error message and it will not save the RA.  If the invoice and serial number information is valid, the system loads the lines from the invoice into the RA Entry Edit program and it loads the company, shipto and currency from the invoice.  At this point, the operator can either save the RA, edit the lines displayed in the RA Entry program, or add additional invoice lines for the customer specified in the RA to the RA being processed.

•      Creates RA Lines for each of the line items and quantities from the invoice.  The price and the commission cost of the invoice line are also copied into the RA so they can be used on any credit memos or replacement orders that are created from the RA.

•      Associates the serial numbers from the invoice with the RA being created.

•      Loads the company and shipto information from the invoice into the RA Header file.

There are four different options that can be used to select the items to be returned by the customer.  These options are. 

•      Serial Number – If the item is serialized, this method allows you to verify that the item is actually sold, that the customer was the same company making the return (or associated with it based on the serial detail) and to ensure that the amount of the credit matches the amount charged to the customer when the item was sold.  In addition, a serialized item can only be associated with one open return authorization.  If the customer makes multiple returns authorization requests for the same serialized item, the system will warn the operator that the item is already included on a different open RA.

•      Invoice number – If a customer is returning one or more items that were purchased on a specific invoice, an RA can be created by selecting the invoice.  When this method is used, the system creates RA line items for each item from the original invoice.  The quantity on each line is set to 1 but this quantity can be changed as necessary.  Items from the invoice that are not being returned can be deleted from the RA.

•      Invoice line item – If a customer is returning an item that is associated with a specific invoice line, the RA can be created by selecting that invoice line.  When this method is used, the price from the invoice line or the last price that the item was sold at to the customer can be defaulted into the RA Line (this behavior is controlled by a system parameter).

•      Item Number – If a customer is returning an item and it cannot be identified with a specific invoice, invoice line or serial number, you can still process a return.  This method (creating an RA by selecting a customer and inventory item) provides the least amount of control and validation when processing returns (you can actually even use this method to accept a return for an item you never sold to the customer), but it is available.