Updating Unit Costs

Updating your costs is important to help ensure accurate estimates and to maintain profit margins. aACE provides several methods to help you manage costs for your line item codes (LICs). Some methods are manual, while others take advantage of aACE automation.

Updates can be performed by navigating from Main Menu > Order Setup > Line Item Codes, then following the specific steps for each section below:

1. Manual updates for a single LIC
2. Manual updates for multiple LICs
3. Configuring auto-updates for a single LIC
4. Configuring auto-updates for multiple LICs
5. Configuring the automation schedule
6. Testing the updates and reviewing the results

Manual Updates

Single LIC

At the detail view of the desired LIC, click Edit and enter a new value for the Est Unit Cost field.

Multiple LICs

aACE provides multiple ways to update costs for a batch of LICs:

Manually Run the Auto-Update Feature

aACE can check the unit costs from the most recent, open Purchase Orders (POs), then transfer those values to the LIC records:

1. At the LICs module list view, use the Quick Search bar to display only the LICs that need to be updated.
2. Click Actions > Auto-Update Cost Rates:
   • List — Updates currently displayed items that have the auto-update flag marked.
   • All — Updates all items in your system that have the auto-update flag marked.

Because open POs are linked to specific vendors, the updated costs are recorded as vendor-specific. 

• If the vendor on the PO is already linked to an LIC, the vendor's unit cost is updated. 
• If the vendor on the PO is new, the vendor is added to the Vendors tab and the unit cost is set.

Export and Update Data

You can export current cost data for a batch of LICs, then import updated costs.

1. At the LICs module list view, use the Quick Search bar to display only the LICs that need to be updated.
2. Click Actions > Update Costs, Rates and Commissions for Line Item Codes in List > Export.
   Note: Follow the best practices for exporting records from aACE, including using Excel file format.
3. On the exported spreadsheet, update the cost data for each LIC:
   • If the new costs apply to all vendors, update the Unit Cost column. This will change the value for the Est Unit Cost field.
   • If the new costs apply to a specific vendor, update the Vendor Unit Cost column. This will change the value for Unit Cost field on the Vendors tab.
4. Save the updated spreadsheet.
5. At the LICs module again, click Actions > Update Costs, Rates and Commissions for Line Item Codes in List > Import, then import the updated spreadsheet.

Manually Run the Automation Schedule

System administrators can also trigger an update. At the System Preferences module (Main Menu > System Admin > Preferences), the Automation Schedules screen includes the schedule to 'Auto-Update Cost Rates'. Clicking Run for this schedule updates all items and inventoried items with the cost from each vendor's most recent PO.  (See below for details about automation.)

Automatic Updates

You can leverage aACE automation to help keep the costs of Item and Inventoried Item LICs current.

Configure Auto-Updates for a Single LIC

aACE can update an LIC's cost at regular intervals:

1. At the LIC module, locate the LIC that needs to be configured.
2. At the LIC's detail view, click the Setup tab.
3. Click Edit. 
4. In the Preferences section, mark the flag to 'Update the estimated cost rate to average of recent purchases on purchasing activity within this last number of days:'
5. Specify the number of days. (See below for guidelines.)
6. Click Save.

After you flag this feature for an LIC and the process runs, aACE checks the costs for that LIC on all open and closed purchases from the past number of days. It calculates the average of these costs, weighted by quantity. Then it updates the LIC's Est Unit Cost field with that value. Setting the number of days to '1' would effectively update the value with your last cost.

Configure Auto-Updates for a Batch of LICs

You can set the auto-update feature for multiple LICs at one time:

1. At the LICs module list view, use the Quick Search bar to display only the LICs that need to be updated.
2. Click Actions > Update Auto-Update Cost Rate for Line Item Codes in List.
3. At the dialog box, enter the number of days between when the update should run, then click Y-True.(See below for guidelines.)

You can also use this method to change the current Number of Days field for multiple LICs. 

To stop the auto-update process for multiple LICs, at the dialog box click Y-False. (Note: If the auto-update flag on an LIC is cleared, the value in the Number of Days field is ignored.)

Specifying the Number of Days

For LICs where the prices are more stable, a longer timeframe may be appropriate. For LICs that have constant price changes, having this feature run every day might be more helpful. Examples include:

• If you enter '0', aACE updates the cost using purchases opened that day. 
• If you enter '1', aACE updates the cost using purchases opened the previous day.
• If you enter '2', aACE updates the cost using purchases opened the preceding two days.
• Etc.

Configure the Automation Schedule

System administrators can set a regular schedule for the Auto-Update Cost Rates automation schedule to run. When the process runs this way, it updates all items and inventoried items that have the Auto-Update Cost Rates flag marked.

Running the Process the First Time and Reviewing Results

To ensure that your updates are working correctly and that there aren't any anomalies in the purchasing activity, we recommend that you review the results. This same approach can help with auditing purchasing activity later on.

1. From the LICs module list view, display the Advanced Search screen.
2. In the Preferences section, mark the flag to 'Update the estimated cost rate to average of recent purchases on purchasing activity within this last number of days'.
3. Click Perform Find.
   aACE displays all LICs that have this flag marked.
4. Review each LIC:
   • Look for new pricing that is extreme or unexpected (e.g. a cost jumping from $5.00 to $50.00).
   • Click Actions () > View Logs and look for notes about updates to unit costs.
   • Use the list view footer link Related Records > Inventory Lots option to review the LICs and POs that have contributed to each change. 
   • Use the list view footer link Related Records > Inventory Transactions to review related inventory adjustment, order, and shipment records.