[thelist] inventory database design question

[Luther, Ron]

Richard Bennett commented:

<snipped stuff>

>>It was part of my thinking that one product can not have more than one
>>selling price, even if parts of the stock were purchased at  different
>>prices. If the buying-price changed so much, that the selling price needed
>>adjusting, that would either be done globally for all of that product's
>>stock, or would be registered as a new product.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hi Richard,

I dunno ... I think the same product can actually have a lot of different
selling prices.  Volume discounts are a big part of it - ('sales' or
'manager specials' are another). Also, if you want to generate a quarter-to-
date report and the price changed in the middle, you'll need to handle that
as well.  Anyway ... those sales guys can cut lots of _really_ weird
deals. [;-)

Same on the buying-price side.  I may have a bulk discount price with one
supplier -- but if I run short on a "hot" customer order, I may pay a higher
price with a second vendor to get it in stock faster and fill that order.
'Expediting' can be a big part of a buyers job.


>>So priceIn can be different for each instance of the product,

Sounds kind of ugly ... you'd have to treat each instance of a part in
stock as unique.  Could be a pain when you conduct a cycle count that doesn't
match exactly.  [Shrinkage might not be too tough ... but what if you count
by hand and find more in stock then you think there should be - what price-in
will you assign to those items?]


>>Thanks for the detailed reply,

No problem ... I used to do a lot of that kind of stuff. Some of it
can be interesting.


RonL.