Item cross references

Item cross references improve communication between you, your customers, and your vendors when you create transactions. They also enable you to offer alternatives for an item that might be out-of-stock or suggest items that the customer would like in addition to the items they're ordering.

Subscription

Inventory Control, Supplies Inventory, Order Entry, or Purchasing
Regional availability

Inventory Control and Supplies Inventory: Australia, Canada, UK, USA, South Africa

Purchasing and Order Entry: All regions

User type

Employee

Business

Project Manager

Warehouse
Permissions

Inventory Control, Order Entry, or Purchasing:

  • Items: Add, Edit, Delete, List, View
Restrictions

  • Employee, Project Manager, and Warehouse users can only List and View item cross references.

  • Item cross references for customers can only be added from the Order Entry or Inventory Control application.

  • Item cross references for vendors can only be added from the Purchasing or Inventory Control application.
Tip Item cross references can also be created, edited, and deleted from an item.

About item cross references

Item cross references are either external or internal.

External item cross references

Your customers, vendors, and you often use different identifiers (or SKUs) to refer to the same item, which can make entering Order Entry or Purchasing transactions challenging.

External cross references, or aliases, match the customer and vendor identifiers for an item to the item ID you use, which then makes transaction entry easier and more robust. When you enter Order Entry or Purchasing transactions, you can enter your item ID or their identifier, whichever makes sense.

For example, a customer contacts you to order an item, giving you only the identifier they use for the item you sell. When you create the sales order and enter the details for the line, you can enter their identifier. The system then automatically resolves their identifier to your item ID and populates the Item ID field.

Or, you buy an item from a vendor. When you create the purchase order and select the item ID for the item, the system automatically resolves your item ID to the identifier the vendor uses. The vendor identifier is included in the transaction when it's selected on the line.

Cross reference information in Order Entry and Purchasing transactions speeds fulfillment because it makes it easier for you to know what your customers want and for your vendors to know what you want. When you send your customers and vendors printed documents, you can include the identifiers they use for the items by using the <<ENTRIES_ITEMALIASID>> merge field.

Internal item cross references

Internal cross references identify the items in your system that are alternate items so you can satisfy your employee supplies requests and customer needs with greater ease. An alternate item could be a substitute, an upgrade or downgrade, or a complement item. This is especially useful if an item is out of stock or you have other items to recommend to go along with what your customer wants.

You can only set up supplies items with substitute supplies items.

Your company sells lanyards that are made of various materials: string, nylon, or leather. You consider the nylon lanyards to be your basic product and offer them in a variety of colors.

Assume a customer calls to order green nylon lanyards and you have all the alternate items set up. As you enter the sales order for the green lanyards, you discover they’re out of stock. However, you can see that red or blue string lanyards and green leather lanyards are available and offer these as alternate options to the customer.

Here's how you'd set up the alternates:

  • Various colors of the nylon lanyard are equivalent substitutes.
  • The string lanyard is a downgrade from nylon.
  • The nylon lanyard is an upgrade from string, and a downgrade from leather.
  • Leather is an upgrade from both nylon and string

What's a complement item? 

When lanyards are sold, you can offer badge holders that clip to the lanyard as a complement item.

View an item cross reference

  1. Go to Inventory Control, Order Entry, or Purchasing, and select Setup > Items > Cross references.

  2. Find a cross-reference on the list.

  3. Select More actions > View at the end of the row.

  4. You can review the details, edit, or duplicate the cross reference.

  1. Go to Inventory Control, Order Entry, or Purchasing, and select Setup > Items > Cross references.

  2. Find a cross reference on the list.
  3. Select View.

Add an item cross reference - external

You can add an external item cross reference from Inventory Control, Order Entry, or Purchasing.

Use Inventory Control or Order Entry to create cross references for customers. Use Inventory Control or Purchasing to create cross references for vendors.

  1. From Inventory Control, Order Entry, or Purchasing, go to Setup > Items, and then select Add (circle) beside Cross references.

  2. In the Reference type field, select whether you’re creating an item cross reference for a customer or a vendor.

  3. In the Item ID field, select the item you’re creating the cross reference for.

  4. Add the reference type details:
    • For a customer cross-reference, in the Customer ID field select the customer for the cross reference.
    • For a vendor, in the Vendor ID field select the vendor for the cross-reference.

  5. In the Cross-reference item ID field, enter the identifier that the customer or vendor uses to refer to the item in their organization.

  6. Optionally, enter a description for the cross-reference item.

  7. Optionally, elect the Unit for the cross-reference item.

  8. Select Save.

Add an item cross reference - internal

  1. From Inventory Control, Order Entry, or Purchasing, go to Setup > Items, and then selectAdd (circle) beside Cross references.
  2. In the Reference type field, select the type of alternate item you want to define.
  3. In the Alternate item ID field select the internal item you’re creating an alternate item for.
  4. Select Save.

The item is updated to reflect that a cross reference has been created for the item.

You can also create a cross reference to an item from the item record. From Inventory Control, Order Entry, or Purchasing, go to Setup > Items, find the item you want to edit and Select Edit at the end of the row. When the Item Information page appears, select the Cross references tab.
You can also create a cross reference to an item from the item record. From Inventory Control, Order Entry, or Purchasing, go to Setup > Items, and select Edit next to the applicable item. When the Item Information page appears, select the Cross references tab.

Edit an item cross reference

After an item cross reference has been created only the cross-reference item ID, cross-reference item description, and unit can be changed.

  1. From Inventory Control, Order Entry, or Purchasing, go to Setup > Items, and select Cross references.

  2. Find the item cross reference that you want to edit.

  3. Select Edit at the end of the row.

  4. Make your changes.

  5. Select Save.

  1. From Inventory Control, Order Entry, or Purchasing, go to Setup > Items, and select Cross references.

  2. Select Edit next to the applicable item cross reference.

  3. Modify the information as needed, and select Save.

The item is updated to reflect the changes to the cross reference.

You can also edit a cross reference to an item from the item record. From Inventory Control, Order Entry, or Purchasing, go to Setup > Items, and select Edit next to the applicable item. When the Item Information page appears, select the Cross references tab.

Delete an item cross reference

An item cross reference can be deleted if it hasn't been used in a transaction. Deleting an item cross reference removes it from the system so that it cannot be recovered.

  1. From Inventory Control, Order Entry, or Purchasing, go to Setup > Items, and select Cross references.

  2. Find the item cross reference that you want to delete.

  3. Select More actions > Delete at the end of the row.

  4. Select Delete to confirm.

  1. From Inventory Control, Order Entry, or Purchasing, go to Setup > Items, and select Cross references.

  2. Select the Delete checkbox for the applicable item cross reference and then select Delete.

The item is updated to reflect that the cross reference has been deleted.

You can also delete a cross reference to an item from the item record. From Inventory Control, Order Entry, or Purchasing, go to Setup tab > Items, and select Edit next to the applicable item. When the Item Information page appears, select the Cross references tab.

Field descriptions

The following table describes each field in the Item cross reference page.

Item cross reference page field descriptions
Field Description

Reference type

Choose an external cross reference:

  • Customer, for a customer's item tracking number.
  • Vendor, for a vendor's tracking number.

Or choose an internal cross-reference:

  • Substitute, for an alternate item. This is the only reference type that can be selected for supplies items, and only a supplies item can be a substitute.
  • Upgrade, for a higher value item.
  • Downgrade, for a lesser value item.
  • Complement, for an item you might want to sell with the ordered item.

Item ID

The item in your Sage Intacct company that you’re creating the cross reference for.

Alternate item ID

The item in your Sage Intacct company that will be an alternate item for Item ID.

Customer ID

The customer to create the cross reference for. This field is active only if the reference type is Customer.

Vendor ID

The vendor to create the cross reference for. This field is active only if the reference type is Vendor.

Cross-reference item ID

The identifier that the customer or vendor uses in their company to refer to the item. This field is active only if the reference type is Customer or Vendor.

Cross-reference item description

A description for the customer or vendor cross-reference item. This field is active only if the reference type is Customer or Vendor.

Unit

The unit for the cross-reference item. The selectable values are the units that are defined for the item's UOM group. For example: Each, Pair, or Dozen