Suppliers and orders from them
Bottle keeps a list of the companies you buy gas from, the people you talk to there, and the orders you have placed with them. You place the order with the supplier as you do now, by phone, email or their own website. Bottle keeps track of it until it arrives.
Your suppliers
Section titled “Your suppliers”The Suppliers tab under Stock lists the companies you buy from, with the main contact, the yards they deliver to, how many orders are still to come and when you last ordered. Tick Show archived suppliers to see ones you no longer use.
Press Add supplier to add one with its address, your account number with them and a note. A supplier typed into an order or a gas type is added here too.
Contacts
Section titled “Contacts”Open a supplier to add the people you talk to there, with their job, phone and email. Mark what to talk to each about:
- Main contact: the one to try first. The first contact you add is main; press Make main contact to change it. There is always one.
- Billing: invoices and payment. Only one person has this, and it can be the main contact.
- Orders: who to place orders with.
- Deliveries: who to call when a delivery is late or short.
An order’s page shows who to call: the orders contact, or the main contact if nobody is marked. When the order is late or came short, it shows the deliveries contact too. Removing the main contact asks who takes over.
What they supply
Section titled “What they supply”Drag cylinders from Your other cylinders onto They supply, or press Add beside each one. Drag them back, or press Remove, to take them off. When a gas type has this supplier, Bottle suggests that gas type’s cylinders and adds them only when you press Add them. Ordering from them lists these first.
Archiving
Section titled “Archiving”Archive a supplier you no longer use. They stop being offered for new orders, and their past orders keep their name. Bring back undoes it.
Ordering from a supplier
Section titled “Ordering from a supplier”Write down what you have ordered, so everyone can see it is coming. Nothing changes in your stock until it arrives.
Press Order stock on the Stock page. Pick the supplier, or type a new one the first time, and it is saved for next time. With a supplier picked, the cylinders they supply are listed first. Pick the yard it is going to if you have more than one, the day it is due, and how many full cylinders you ordered. Add the empties the supplier should take back, the cost and their order number if you have them.
Until it arrives, the order shows under Coming in from suppliers on the Stock page, for example “24 × 47kg propane, due Thursday”. It is not counted as stock you can sell.
Marking it as arrived
Section titled “Marking it as arrived”Open the order, or use the button under Coming in from suppliers, and press Mark as arrived. The sheet starts with what was due, so an order that came right is one press. Type over anything that was different:
- Full that came: fewer, more, or a product you did not order.
- Empties taken: the empties the supplier took away on the same visit.
If fewer came than you ordered, Bottle asks Is the rest still coming? Say yes and the order stays open for the rest. Say no and the order is finished, and shows how many were short.
Add who signed it in, the delivery note number and a photo of the delivery note if you want to keep them. The fulls go into the yard and the empties come out of it in one step.
Confirmed, late and cancelled
Section titled “Confirmed, late and cancelled”- Mark as confirmed when the supplier says it is coming, with their own order number if they give one.
- Late: an order still to come after the day it was due is marked late, and shows on Your day.
- Cancel order works until it has all arrived. Anything that already came stays in the yard.
Ordering again
Section titled “Ordering again”Order again on any order starts a new one with the same supplier, yard and quantities. When a product is at or under its minimum, Order more beside it on the Stock page starts an order for the yard that is low, with enough to bring it back up to the minimum, less anything already on order.
On Your day
Section titled “On Your day”Orders due in today, and orders that are late, show on Your day. Press one to open it.
Recording a delivery from Record stock
Section titled “Recording a delivery from Record stock”If a supplier delivery turns up and you record it with Record stock, Bottle asks Is this for an order? when an order to that yard is still to come. Pick the order and it is marked as arrived, so the delivery is not counted twice. Pick No, it wasn’t ordered for a delivery you did not order. See Recording stock by hand.