Configure suppliers by receiving location

Configure location sourcing so Zapstra Inventory Management can evaluate whether a supplier can supply a destination, what lead time applies, and which freight estimate to use when preparing an Order plan. Use supplier settings for the normal arrangement at a location and material overrides for individual exceptions.

Before starting, create the supplier, link its products and purchasing units, and prepare your locations and stock pools. You need permission to edit these records. Sourcing settings guide proposal preparation; they do not place orders or instruct a supplier to ship.

Choose the receiving destination

The sourcing table uses Zapstra Inventory Management stock locations. These represent the stock pools used for planning and inventory. Check the location mapping before configuring a destination: a Shopify location name and a shared Zapstra Inventory Management stock pool are not necessarily separate physical warehouses.

For example, Northwind Packaging may supply both Main Warehouse and Outlet, but take different amounts of time to reach each. Configure the two destinations separately. If several stores share Main Warehouse's stock pool, review the shared pool rather than creating an artificial supplier exception for each store listing.

Save the supplier's location settings

1. Open Suppliers, choose Northwind Packaging, and stay on Overview.
2. Find Sourcing by location. Locate the row for Main Warehouse. You can edit this table without opening the supplier-profile editor.
3. Review Eligible. Select it when the supplier is a valid source for that destination, or clear it when the supplier should normally be excluded there.
4. Choose Estimated freight using the table below. For a rate-based model, enter Estimated rate and explicitly select Currency. A supplier's purchasing currency does not automatically fill in the freight currency.
5. Enter Lead time (days) as a nonnegative whole number when known. Leave it blank if unset. Entering zero is an explicit zero-day lead time, not a way to represent missing information.
6. Select Save sourcing for that row. Reopen the page and verify the values for the intended location.
7. Repeat for Outlet and other receiving destinations as needed. Each Save sourcing action applies to its own row.

A row that has not been saved may initially display No freight. That display alone does not establish a saved zero-freight agreement. Review and save the correct model. An absent freight estimate remains unknown in sourcing comparisons.

For Kraft mailer, the base unit is each even if Northwind Packaging sells cases of 24 each. At USD 0.10 freight per base unit, a rounded proposal of 72 each has USD 7.20 estimated freight. Do not multiply that rate by three cases; the rate is per each.

Per-shipment freight contributes to the resulting purchase-group estimate, but it is not included in the supplier ranking calculation. Review the proposal's grouped totals before choosing between suppliers with different flat shipment charges. These estimates support sourcing decisions; they do not post an actual freight invoice or establish inventory accounting cost.

Override one material at one location

Use a material override when an item differs from the supplier's usual location arrangement. For example, Northwind Packaging may normally supply Main Warehouse in seven days, but a particular material may require fourteen days there.

1. Open Materials and choose the material.
2. Select Suppliers, find the supplier card, and select Sourcing overrides.
3. In Stock location, choose the destination. Review Inherited supplier baseline before entering an exception.
4. Set Eligibility override to Inherit supplier baseline, Eligible, or Ineligible. An explicit material setting takes precedence over the supplier's location setting.
5. Enter Lead time override (days) only when the material needs a different lead time. Leave it blank to inherit.
6. Select Save override, then reopen the same supplier and location to verify the result.

The override applies to that material, supplier, and location combination. It does not alter other materials or destinations. Freight continues to come from the supplier's location settings; the material override has no freight-rate editor.

To remove both material exceptions, select Reset to inherited. This immediately saves the reset; it is not just a way to clear an unsaved form. Check the inherited eligibility and lead time afterward.

Check eligibility and missing information

A material-specific lead time takes priority over a supplier/location lead time, which takes priority over the linked product's lead time. For reliable destination planning, record the relevant lead time on the location row and check the proposal's displayed date and warnings.

The material's Maximum supplier lead time (days) is a limit, not the expected delivery duration. Suppliers with a longer or unknown lead time are excluded under that limit unless an authorized override is used in planning. An Eligible sourcing checkbox also does not make an inactive supplier or inactive product link available.

If Sourcing settings unavailable appears, refresh before editing. The app disables changes when it cannot load existing settings. No active stock locations means destinations need attention; it is different from a failed location load. After a timeout, inspect the original location row or material override before saving again.

Finally, review the Order plan proposal. Confirm the destination, selected supplier, lead time, quantity units, native-currency price, and freight warnings. Missing lead time or freight must remain visible as missing information, rather than being interpreted as immediate delivery or free freight.