Inventory overview

The Inventory page is where you will enter the available gallons of each product at each terminal. This is important, because if you do not enter inventory for product at a terminal, buyers will not be able to submit a market order on that product/terminal combination.

  The Inventory screen is used for managing inventory on prompt offers only. Inventory on forward offers is managed through the Forward Offers screen.

The Inventory screen is also where you can change the status of an offer from active to suspended or inactive, and so on. That gives you the means to quickly suspend an offer when product is low, then re-activate the offer once levels have been refreshed.

 

You begin by entering an initial volume for each product that will be available at a specific terminal. Next you define the Minimum Order Quantity that you are willing to accept. You can also set Open and Close Dates for each inventory level. As market orders and bids are matched, the Gallons Remaining amounts are automatically decremented.

  The Inventory function within the DTN Exchange does not perform an actual physical inventory at a terminal. We recommend that you conduct a regularly scheduled physical inventory, either manually or through your terminal automation system (TAS), and then enter that amount through the Inventory screen. This will help ensure the inventory levels in your DTN Exchange more closely match the physical inventory levels at the terminals where you do business.

When inventory dips to within five Order Quantity Increments of your Minimum Quantity Order, the Gallons Remaining amount is displayed in red. This warns you that inventory is getting low. When inventory falls below the Minimum Order Quantity, the status of your offers for that product at that terminal will automatically be changed to suspended. Buyers will still be able to submit bids on offers with a suspended status, however market orders will not be allowed until the status is once again active.

We recommend that you next set up Group Pricing from the pricing menu, then finish with Buyer Setup in the Setup/Administer menu.

 

 

 

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Inventory interface

Here are the different fields on the Inventory page:

 

Term	Definition
Terminal Groups	Lists the terminal groups in your DTN Exchange database. Use the drop-down menu to select a terminal group for filtering.
Terminal	Lists the terminals in your DTN Exchange database. Use the drop-down menu to select a terminal for filtering.
Product Class	Lists the product classes in your DTN Exchange database. Use the drop-down menu to select a product class for filtering.
Product	Lists the products in your DTN Exchange database. Use the drop-down menu to select a product for filtering.
Offer Type	Lets you filter the display to information according to whether an offer is active, manually suspended, market suspended or inactive.
Terminal	Lists terminals that match your filter criteria for terminal group, terminal, product class, product, and offer type.
Product	Lists products available at the corresponding terminal.
Gallons	Shows the number of gallons of product that are still available for loading at the corresponding terminal. When setting up your system, you will enter into this field an initial volume for each product that will be available at the selected terminal groups or terminals. As market orders and bids are matched, the Gallons Remaining are automatically decremented. This number appears in red font with the amount is less than five order increments of the minimum order quantity.   Values in red indicate less than five times the minimum order quantity remains.
Min Order Qty	Indicates the minimum number of gallons of the product that a buyer must purchase at the selected terminal.
Offer Status	Indicates the status of any offers or bids for the product at the selected terminal. Options are as follows: Active, Suspended, Market Suspended, and Inactive.

 

 

Inventory tasks

Filter the Inventory display

Location:  Seller  >  Volume Management  >  Inventory

 

The screen defaults to display All Terminals Groups, All Terminals, All Product Classes, and All Products. You can filter the information as follows:

1. Select the Terminal Group, Terminal, Product Class, and/or Product you want.  To make multiple selections, hold down the CTRL key while you select the options you want.

2. Select the Offer Type you want. Options include Active, Suspended, Market Suspended, and Inactive.

3. The Inventory Display pane displays information that matches your criteria.

 

 

 

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Add Inventory to a Terminal

Location:  Seller  >  Volume Management  >  Inventory

1. Use the filters to select the terminal and product you want.

2. In the Gallons field, enter the starting inventory level for the product.

3. In the Min Order Qty field, enter a minimum quantity of gallons that must be ordered. When the buyer places a market order or submits a bid, the buyer needs to do so for at least the quantity specified here. You must set at least a minimum quantity of “1.”

4. Select an Offer Status.

5. Click Save.

 

 

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Activate a New Offer

Location:  Seller  >  Volume Management  >  Inventory

 

After you create Group Pricing for a new terminal group, you must use this procedure to activate the offer so that buyers can see it.

1. Select the Terminal Group/Terminal and Product Class/Product you want.

2. Select Active under Offer Status.

3. Click Save.

 

 

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Change Status of a Bid or Offer

Location:  Seller  >  Volume Management  >  Inventory

1. Select the Terminal Groups/Terminals and Product Class/Products you want.

2. Select the Offer Type you want: Active, Suspended, Market Suspended, or Inactive.

3. In the Status field, click the radio button to indicate the status you want for the terminal/product.

4. Click Save Inventory/Status.

 

 

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Change Inventory

Location:  Seller  >  Volume Management  >  Inventory

 

You can change the Gallons Remaining, Minimum Order Quantity, and Offer Status for a product at a terminal.

1. Select the Terminal Group/Terminal and Product Class/Product you want.

2. Select the Offer Type you want: Active, Suspended, and/or Inactive.

3. In the Inventory table, change the information as needed.

4. Click Save.

 

 

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Export an Inventory Report

Location:  Seller  >  Volume Management  >  Inventory

1. Select the Terminal Group/Terminal and Product Class/Product you want.

2. Select the Offer Type you want: Active, Suspended, Market Suspended, and/or Inactive.

3. Click Export.

4. Follow the online instructions to create an Excel worksheet of the information.

 

 

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Upload Inventory

Location:  Seller  >  Volume Management  >  Inventory

 

Here’s how to upload your inventory amounts:

1. On the Inventory page, select the Upload tab.

2. Click Export to download a template of existing Terminal/Product combinations.

3. Fill in the Inventory amounts.

4. Save locally to your computer and navigate back to the DTN Exchange > Inventory Upload page.

5. Select Upload. Find your file and click Upload.

 

 

Quantity Discounts overview

Quantity discounts are typically designed to encourage customers to order more product. You can use this screen to define prompt quantity discounts to the terminal/product level. You can also specify volume ranges to which each discount applies. The system applies the discount that applies for the volume ordered by the buyer.

 

 

 

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Quantity Discount interface

Here are the different fields on the Quantity Discount page:

 

Term	Definition
Terminal	The Terminal to which the discounts and ranges apply.
Product	The Product  to which the discounts and ranges apply.
Start Amount 1	The starting amount for the first quantity range. Must be at least 1. Discount 1 is applied to any quantity that is equal to or greater than Start Amount 1 AND less than the Start Amount 2 quantity.
Discount 1	The discount applied for the first quantity range.
Start Amount 2	The starting amount for the second quantity range. Discount 2 is applied to any quantity that is equal to or greater than Start Amount 2 AND less than the Start Amount 3 quantity.
Discount 2	The discount applied for the second quantity range.
Start Amount 3	The starting amount for the third quantity range. Discount 3 is applied to any quantity that is equal to or greater than Start Amount 3.
Discount 3	The discount applied for the third quantity range.

 

 

Quantity Discounts tasks

Add a Quantity Discount

Location:  Seller  >  Volume Management  >  Quantity Discount

1. Use the filters to select a Terminal/Terminal Group and a Product Class/Product.

2. Enter Discounts and Start Amounts for each terminal/product combination.

3. Click Update.

You can come back any time to this page to make changes following the steps above.

 

Order Increments overview

You can use the Order Quantity Increments screen to define the incremental amount that must be used when ordering a specified product class at a specified terminal group. When a buyer creates a market order or bid, the quantity of product requested must be evenly divisible by the order quantity increment the seller has set for that product class/terminal group combination. If it isn’t, the DTN Exchange will not allow the order or bid, and displays an error message.

  The minimum quantity of a product that must be ordered (as specified through the Inventory screen) cannot be more than the order quantity increment.

For example, you can set an increment order quantity of “100” for all distillate products lifted at Terminal Group A.  When a buyer submits a bid or a market order for a distillate product at Terminal Group A, the total quantity ordered must be divisible by 100. That is, the buyer could order 300 gallons but not 350. If the buyer wanted to purchase 350 gallons, the buyer would have to adjust the order to 400 gallons. You must set an order quantity increment of at least “1.”

 

Order Increments tasks

Set Order Quantity Increments

Location:  Seller  >  Volume Management  >  Quantity Discount

1. Scroll through the list of Terminal Groups and Product Class combinations to find the one you want.

2. In the Order Qty Increment field, enter the number by which the order quantity must be incremented.

3. Click Update.