The largest educational publisher in the world asked us to create this module for them. They wanted to be able to put together special pricing, effective over a limited time period, for any customer while they were on the telephone and not after the sales call had ended.

Contract Management automatically and seamlessly plugs in to the INMASS/MRP Sales Order Entry Module. You have nothing to configure. Just start using it.

HOW TO USE

You can create a "contract" price, and length of time for that price to be in effect, for any combination of customer and inventory item. This "contract" will control (1) the unit price that this customer will pay for this item, (2) the way in which the item is discounted for this customer, and (3) the time frame over which this pricing will remain in effect. This can be done for any number of items.

When the Order Entry clerk enters an order for this item/customer combination, the Contract Management Module will override any other existing pricing schedule (including discount matrices) and will control the price and discount automatically for the term of the agreement. The contract pricing will override all other existing pricing from the Start Date (you specify) to the End Date (you specify) of the "Contract." And, to make certain that you will be able to guarantee your special contract pricing, Order Entry clerks cannot alter the information; it must be changed, by the Supervisor, in Contract Management. This will reduce your reliance on discount matrices, multiple pricing levels designed to accommodate special promotions, etc.

This module has been in use for years and it's becoming more popular every day because it is so comprehensive. It reduces the data entry errors in Sales Order Entry and ultimately reduces the burden of handling calls about billing errors. It also improves your company's image when you can react quickly and efficiently to the changing market needs by making price adjustments immediately.

Without Contract Management, there are four ways within the present INMASS/MRP Sales Order Entry Module to deal with discounts and prices but only if they apply to all customers and all products (if your discounts apply to MORE THAN ONE customer – and MORE THAN ONE PRODUCT, you need Contract Management) . The four ways are:

• Customer Discount – you may set up each customer with a discount that applies to ALL items that you may sell to him,
  
  
• Customer Price Level - set up different price levels for different types of customers,
  
  
• Quantity Breaks - set minimum order quantities customers must buy before receiving a discount,
  
  
• Discount Matrix - set up a discount matrix that assigns discounts dependent upon the way the item and the customer are classified.

Now, Contract Management does even more.

Again, each of the first four methods works perfectly but they all are designed to apply a single discount structure to ALL customers and ALL items. For each exception to these established discounts, someone presently must remember the exception and adjust the price and discount when the order is entered into the system. Contract Management now remembers for you and handles all transactions automatically. Without Contract Management, the person entering the sales order may not remember all the exceptions. This can create billing errors.

An example: You sell wholesale to dealers all over the country. One of your dealers calls to say that your competitor in his area has lowered his prices. Your dealer may lose a lucrative sale if he can't offer a more competitive price. You discover that the competitor has offered a special price for a limited time period. Even though your dealer's customer prefers your product, his funds are limited and he may switch to the competitor's product to save money. In an effort to keep your competitor from taking a part of your market share, you tell your dealer that you will meet the competitor's prices for the duration of the competitor's marketing campaign. INMASS/MRP Contract Management module does this for you and gives you the flexibility to respond quickly and easily to these types of situations and change the pricing 'on the fly' to accommodate your dealer/customer.

If you have customers with unique sales arrangements with your company, Contract Management keeps all of the information about these arrangements, regardless of the number of different structures, and automatically bills each customer company with its unique pricing structure(s).

PRINTED REPORTS

The Contract File Report prints a list of all existing contracts. It shows the Customer ID number, item number, contract price, contract discount, beginning and ending dates, and whether the standard Order Entry discount or matrix is used if there is no Contract discount.