Pools

Introduction

Pools are one method for calculating FINANCIAL -> Grower payments. You can select pools that apply to a LOGISTICS -> Supply contracts.

When produce arrives into inventory:

  1. A supply contract is determined. If the payment basis for that contract is Pooled, each item is examined to find the appropriate pool (based on the pool's filters).
  2. Sale income is allocated to units sold (and their pool).
  3. Sale costs are allocated against units (and their pool).
  4. The total pool's income and costs is used to determine the return for each pool. This is divided equally across the inventory contributed into the pool to determine a pool return rate. Each grower receives the same rate for the product they contributed into that pool.

Pools provide a way to smooth out the return to growers so they are not exposed to the highs and lows of individual sales.

A consequence of pools is the need to finalise all sales for a pool before its final return can be calculated. The cashflow implications of this for growers can be mitigated by making (increasing) advance pool payments while sales (and payment collection) continue.

Tip

If you don't want product to find a pool until it has been sold/loaded out, set the Sold only? filter to "Sold". This allows you to pay Advances once the product has been sold rather than when it is packed (reaches inventory).

Setting up

Pool (groups)

snapSales provides a method to group pools to a higher level for reporting.

Note

Pool groups are often referred to as pools (eg "the Braeburn pool") which is not strictly true. Returns are actually pooled at a finer level (normally by size) so an example of a true pool would be "Braeburn size 100".

Examples of things that might differentiate pool groups include:

  • Variety of the produce - by far the most common factor.
  • North Island versus South Island may be in different pools due to significant differences in shipping costs.
  • Early pools might be created with the intention of returning a higher rate for produce packed by a particular date.
  • Business relationships may make it undesirable for produce to be grouped together into the same pools.

Adding a pool (group)

SETUP -> Pools

  • Description - description of the pool group as it will appear throughout snapSales, eg "Braeburn pool".
  • Report group - used in extracts as a way of grouping pools. The dropdown list is based on what has previously been entered in this field.
  • Active? - controls whether this pool group will be allocated against any further inventory.
  • Applies to (filters) - provide a means to filter that inventory that will be allocated into these pools. Typically select at least one variety and optionally add other filters.
  • Priority - if inventory matches more than one pool group then the group with the lowest priority number will be selected. This allows you to have default pools that will catch all product not allocated to a more specific pool that has a lower priority number.
Note

Leaving an Applies to filter blank means that no filtering will occur on that attribute. For example if you leave the Brand filter blank then any brand will match.

Once you've saved your pool group you will then be able to start adding the actual pools to the new group...

Adding a pool to a group

You can add pools individually to a group or use the Auto button which will automatically add a pool for each size of product that matches the group's filters.

  • Description - this is usually very short. It is appended to the pool group description when reporting in lists. For cross-tab style reports it is used as a column heading (ie group descriptions down the left and pool descriptions across the top).
  • Advance rate - this is a rate per carton equivalent (TCE) to pay out to growers as an advance during the next FINANCIAL -> Grower payments run. This rate can be adjusted to pay out increasing advances as you move toward calculating final pool payments.
  • Final? - ticking this box indicates that the pool return is now finalised. All income, expenses, and inventory against this pool are now locked and the final return for this pool will be paid out in the next FINANCIAL -> Grower payments run.
  • Active? - controls whether this pool will be allocated against any further inventory.
  • Applies to (filters) - provide a means to filter that inventory that will be allocated into this pool. Note these filters are combined with the pool group's filters when matching product. This can be useful for mixed sizes.
Tip

Use the Quick advance button to apply an Advanced rate to all sizes.

Reassess product already in stock

Use this function if you hadn't entered a pool correctly.

  • FAST - if you hadn't entered a pool for the produce criteria.
  • SLOW - if you entered some incorrect pool information and need to re-calculate produce that has already been assigned a pool.
  • Applies to - enter some criteria that you want to reassess to help speed up the process.

Pool analysis

From this screen, click on the Actions menu and select Pool analysis. This allows you to see more detail and group pools together. You can even click on some of these $figures to see what contributes to this value.