Inventory Sourcing

Use the Goflow Inventory Forecasting tool to determine which products to purchase based on historical sales data and projected customer demand.

If you prefer using external software or spreadsheets for demand planning, you can still take advantage of the Goflow sourcing tool. Use it to compare prices across vendors, or simply to generate multiple purchase orders to different suppliers — all from a single file upload.

To compare vendor prices and check vendor inventory availability, start by uploading vendor products. Vendor products are catalogs for each supplier that include pricing and current stock levels.

Manually Entering Products

To manually enter products and compare vendor pricing, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Purchasing › Sourcing.
2. Enter the item number of a standard or kit product.
3. Click the clipboard icon to get a quick snapshot of current inventory levels.
4. Enter the quantity to purchase.
5. Select the unit of measure. Choose any available unit of measure configured on the product. The default purchasing unit of measure is selected automatically.
6. Click the vendor dropdown to view pricing, and select from the list of available vendors. Vendors are sorted by lowest price and available inventory, though the product default vendor is selected automatically.
7. Review and adjust the price as necessary.
8. To add more products, click the + Add button. You may add the same product multiple times with different vendor selections.
9. When satisfied with vendor selections and prices, proceed to review and place the purchase orders.

The price auto-fills from the vendor product. If you manually change the price, it will stay fixed even if you switch vendors.

Vendor prices represent the price per single unit. The final price is scaled according to the selected unit of measure. For example, if the vendor price is 1.00 and you purchase two dozen, the unit price becomes 12.00, and the line total is 24.00.

Prices are expressed in the vendor default currency.

Loading Products from File

Instead of entering products manually, you can upload a CSV file containing product data.

The upload is flexible in that it allows you to include as much or as little detail as fits your workflow. You can upload a fully prepared file with all sourcing decisions pre-filled, or include nothing but item numbers and complete all selections directly on the page using the available tools.

To upload products using a CSV file, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Purchasing › Sourcing.
2. In the upper-right corner, click the upload icon and select Load from File.
3. Review to the Columns tab to learn about each field in the upload.
4. On the Upload tab, download the sample CSV template.
5. Choose how to handle unspecified units of measure.
6. Click the Choose File button and upload your file.

Each row must include at least one of the following product alias:

• Item Number – The item number in your own product catalog.
• Vendor Item Number – The item number used by your supplier, if using vendor products.
• UPC – One of the product identifiers, such as UPC

Only one alias type is required to identify a product, and you can use different types across rows. However, if more than one alias is used in a row, they must all refer to the same product. For example, if the UPC doesn’t match the item number, the row will return an error.

You may specify a price in your upload file to override the default price set on the product or vendor product.

Handling Units of Measure in the Upload

You may specify the unit of measure in your upload file by using either its abbreviation (EA, CS, DZ) or the quantity (1, 4, 12). Alternatively, use a product identifier associated to a specific unit of measure.

When the file does not specify a unit of measure, choose how to interpret the provided quantity:

• Each – No unit of measure is applied. The quantity is treated as the total number of individual units.
• Product Default – The quantity is interpreted to be the product default purchasing unit of measure. The total units are quantity x unit of measure.
• Convert to Product Default – The quantity is interpreted as single units, and then converted to the default purchasing unit of measure. If the quantity is not a multiple of the unit-of-measure, the remainder is rounded up to the next full unit of measure.

The three options are summarized in the table below:

When both a unit of measure and a price are provided in the file, the price is interpreted as the amount for the specified unit of measure. For example, if the provided measure is DZ and the provided price 24.00, the price of one dozen is 24.00.

When a unit of measure or a price is not specified in the upload, the price is assumed to be per single unit and is multiplied accordingly based on the final unit of measure selected. For example, if the selected unit of measure is DZ, and the price on the product is 24.00, the price of one dozen is 288.00 (12 x 24).

Reviewing and Placing Purchase Orders

Once you’ve entered all products, quantities, prices, and made the vendor selections, click the Review Purchase Orders button.

The top pane displays a list of purchase orders grouped by vendor. Click on any vendor to view the products in the bottom pane. If you need to make changes, click the Back button to return and edit your entries.

When you're ready to proceed, click Review Purchase Order next to the vendor, then continue to finalize and send the purchase order to your vendor.