What are Vendor Items and Inventory Items

Vendor Items are how you purchase an item from a specific vendor. They are to be used in Purchase Order Entry.

You may setup multiple Vendor Items for the same item with the same code number but with a different vendor.

Inventory Items are how you stock an item in inventory and then use the item in Work Orders.

For Example:

To purchase 75 watt light bulbs from Walmart, you may have a Vendor Item named LBulb75W with Walmart as the vendor setup in the Vendor Item Master.
You may also purchase the 75 watt light bulbs from Home Depot and have a LBulb75W also setup in the Vendor Item Master with Home Depot as the vendor.
You may also make the Code # match the vendor's identification number from their catalog. They would all have an Inventory Link to Bulb-75W
Bulb-75W is the Inventory Item Number. This is the code that the inventory stock is tracked by.
When completing a PO for Home Depot you would add Vendor Item LBulb75W to purchase 25 light bulbs. When the PO is received, the system will link LBulb75W with the Inventory Item Bulb-75W and 25 will be added to the in stock quantity for Inventory Item Bulb-75W.
When entering inventory transactions, such as: Inventory Receiving, Inventory Adjustments and Inventory Transfers - use an Inventory Item code, not a Vendor Code. These are direct inventory transactions.
When entering a Work Order in the Maintenance Management program, the Inventory Item is always used as this is an inventory transaction.