Manufacturer Divisions and Groups

Many companies sell under several divisions (for example, a pharma company with separate divisions for different therapeutic ranges). dsGST lets you record each division as its own Manufacturer and tie them together under one Group manufacturer, so you can see sales and stock per division as well as for the company as a whole.

Menu

Master

Manufacturers

Three kinds of manufacturer

Kind	What it is	Items	Divisions
Group	The parent company name, used only to hold divisions together	None	One or more
Division	A division of a Group	Yes	Belongs to one Group
Direct (single-division) manufacturer	A manufacturer with no group and no divisions	Yes	None

There is no separate "type" to choose. A manufacturer's kind follows from the Div Of field on its entry form.

One Group, many divisions

1. Create the Group as an ordinary manufacturer, for example ABC Pharma. Leave Div Of empty.
2. Create each division as a manufacturer, for example ABC Pharma - Cardio, ABC Pharma - Derma.
3. On each division, pick the Group in Div Of.

A manufacturer becomes a Group automatically as soon as one or more manufacturers point to it in Div Of. The Group's entry shows the number of divisions (n Div(s)) and the number of items (n Item(s)).

A division can belong to only one Group (the Div Of field holds a single manufacturer).

note

If Div Of is set to the manufacturer itself, dsGST ignores it on save (no group is stored) and shows a red Div of Self warning. Pick a different manufacturer, or clear the field with the C button.

Manufacturers without groups

Single-division manufacturers need nothing special. Create them and leave Div Of empty. They show as plain (black) entries and carry items directly.

Use the Direct filter on the manufacturer list to see only these.

A Group must not hold items

The Group is only a heading. Items must always be entered against a division (or against a direct manufacturer), never against the Group itself. Items on the Group defeat the purpose of the grouping: they cannot be attributed to any division, so division-wise views will not reflect them.

If a Group does have items, the manufacturer list flags it in red (see colours below). To fix it, move those items to the correct division through the Item Master, after which the Group turns blue.

Colours used in the manufacturer list

The list of manufacturers on the left of the entry form uses colour to show what each entry is:

Colour	Meaning
Blue (bold)	A Group: has divisions and no items. This is the correct state for a Group.
Red (bold)	Needs attention: has divisions and also has items. Move the items to a division.
Black	A division or a direct manufacturer.

The colour of the entry form itself shows what you are doing:

Form colour	Mode
Light yellow	Adding a new manufacturer
Light pink	Adding by repeating (copying) an existing manufacturer
Light cyan	Editing

Selecting manufacturers elsewhere

Wherever a manufacturer is picked (item master, reports), a division is shown with its group, as Division >> Group. This helps tell apart divisions with similar names.

Filtering the list

The filter panel on the manufacturer entry form has a Group/Division selector:

Option	Shows
All	Every manufacturer
Group	Manufacturers that have divisions under them
Divs	Manufacturers that are a division of some Group
Direct	Manufacturers with no group and no divisions

Item list of a manufacturer

The Item List button on the manufacturer entry opens the Item report pre-filtered to that manufacturer (and its divisions).