8. NRP Supply Concepts and Tutorial

NRP = Network Resource Planning: operational software for open value networks and other next-economy organizations. This tutorial explains purchasing and funding required supplies.

Transcript

1. NRP Supply Exchanges Concepts & Tutorial http://mikorizal.org
2. Purchase Inputs Contribute Funds Coordinate Work This guide includes both material and financial inputs into the network and its processes. For example, • The network purchases material inputs. • A member purchases material inputs for the network, thus making a financial contribution. • Someone contributes material inputs, with or without expectation of income distribution from that. • Someone contributes money, with or without expectation of income distribution from that. Planning can guide the purchases based on the needs defined in the recipes. The supply side fits into the NRP here... Distribute Income Exchange Resources Create Resources Setup Organization Plan Work Create Recipes Setup Resource Types Setup Exchange Types
3. Agent Agent Give Receive Give Receive Resource Resource Resource Resource Giving event | Receiving event Receiving event | Giving event Exchange com pens ation Exchanging resources is a matter of give and receive. Two silly-looking agents exchange resources. In the first resource transfer, the agent on the left gives a resource to the agent on the right, who receives it. Then, in compensation, the agent on the left gives a different resource to the agent on the right, who receives it. Note from the perspective of the network, you will not always have both a Give and a Receive.
4. The Supply page has links to existing supply exchanges and creation of new incoming exchanges. The dropdown shows incoming exchange types defined for the network. Supply Supply is usually driven by demand. The most direct is a customer order, which generates a plan, which includes things you need to obtain to make whatever will fulfill the order. Or maybe you are making things for stock that you think you can sell later. Again the plan will tell you what you need to obtain. Or maybe you are just experimenting, and need to get more supplies or components. Or maybe people want to contribute money or material items like equipment that will help you in some way to meet a future demand.
5. The planning process will surface requirements for components or items that will need to be purchased. The planning will first check inventory, then check work already scheduled, and only create requirements for items actually needed. You can use this report to organize your purchases, figure out which vendor(s) to use, etc. Purchase Requirements
6. The supply functions involve exchanges and transfers. Like processes, transfers tie related events together. Exchanges group related transfers. While processes group events involved in creating something, exchanges involve transfers between agents, which involve a give and/or receive event. A simple example: I send you some money, you send me a book. Supply Side Exchanges Exchange Cash (Resource) Payment Transfer Equipment, Component, … (Resource) Purchase Transfer Cash Contribution Transfer Material Contribution Trasfer Equipment, Component, … (Resource) Cash (Resource) Give events Receive events Note: Even though it looks like it above, an exchange doesn’t have to involve money (dominant or alternate currencies). It could be barter, time bank exchange, etc. All of that is supported by the network defined creation of exchange types.
7. The supply related exchanges look something like this. The exchange information is on the left, the transfers related to the exchange on the right. Here a payment is made in exchange for a component and delivery charges. Work that was done to make the exchange happen can also be logged here. Exchanges
8. Here is another example. Note reciprocal transfers are not required. Here there will be nothing given in exchange for the cash contribution. The cash contribution may be eligible for a distribution using a value equation, but that will not show here as part of the exchange. Exchanges
9. Exchange entry The exchange portion is on the left. Exchanges are completely configurable for the network. This happens through Exchange Types (see that setup tutorial). The title at the top reflects the name of the exchange type. The rest of this side is the same for all types of exchanges. Context and date are required, the rest are optional. The exchange must be saved here before anything can be entered on the right side of the page. It can then be modified at any time.
10. Transfer entry The transfer portion is on the right. It is divided into Transfers and Reciprocal transfers. Each section is named after the Transfer Type defined in Exchange Type setup. All exchanges also have a Work section so you can record work done just for this exchange. You can add a commitment (promise, plan) or an actual transfer. You can also edit or delete transfers and commitments. For a commitment, you can create the actual transfer based on that commitment.
11. Transfer entry - commitments A commitment is a plan or promise to make a transfer. Here is the information that can be entered for a transfer commitment. You may see Transfer From or Transfer To, or both, depending on the type of transfer. The Resource Type list is configured for the exchange type. If you don’t see what you want, an admin can re- configure that. Description, Value, and Unit of Value are optional. Value fields will only appear if the transfer is currency.
12. Transfer entry - transfers... What you see for a Transfer is variable, based on the configuration done for the Transfer Type. The date is always there and is required. You will see “Transferred from”, “Transferred to”, or both, depending on the configuration. If not showing, this will default will be the context agent. The list is governed by configuration. “Quantity” and “Resource type” are always there and are required. The “Resource” and “Description” are optional. Value fields will only show if currency is not being transferred.
13. Transfer entry - transfers, more... If you see “Can be rewarded in a value equation”, you have a choice if you would like this included as your contribution. If you uncheck it, it will not be considered for income to you. If you see “Can be distributed in a value equation”, this transfer will show as an option for source of a distribution to people or projects using a value equation. “Event reference” will only show for currency related transfers, and is freeform for anything useful to refer to the real world transfer, such as check number.
14. Transfer entry - transfers, more... If the transfer type is configured to allow creation of a new resource, you will see this resource information. You would add to an existing resource if you already had some of the same type, for example I had 3 boxes of 6mm screws and I just received 10 more boxes of the same thing. For a new resource, you need to enter all the resource information. Identifier is required, others are optional. The locations and resource access role lists are pre-configured for the network. If the resource transferred in is not inventoried, you can ignore these fields.
15. A new resource goes into inventory... Entering the new or additional resource information will be reflected on the Inventory page.
16. All supply related (incoming) exchanges are reported from the Supply page. Or they can be accessed for one context agent on the Organization page. You can filter, and can export in csv format for use in accounting reports. From here, exchanges can be changed. They also can be deleted if they don’t have transfers yet. Supply Exchange Reporting
17. http://mikorizal.org/contact.html If you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions about the supply side of NRP or this tutorial, we’d love to hear from you.