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Blue Link ERP Software Features

All-in-One Inventory Management and Accounting Software

ERP features for your business

Find the Right ERP Software Features for Your Business

Blue Link ERP is an all-in-one accounting, inventory management and contact management software that offers robust functionality for wholesalers and distributors as well as those that sell through retail and eCommerce channels. Blue Link includes a variety of ERP software features available out-of-the-box plus various optional components and can be customized to meet your specific needs. As an all-in-one solution, Blue Link’s business management software eliminates the need to manage multiple, standalone solutions and spreadsheets which means no double entry or manual data entry errors. Instead, Blue Link helps you streamline and automate your business.

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Core ERP Software Features Out-of-the-Box

For more information about the features available in Blue Link ERP out-of-the-box, click on the feature below.
  • Accounts Payable
    • Detailed or summary aging – current or retroactive
    • Vendor payment history – provides detailed history of payments made against invoices and discounts taken
    • Alternate vendor payments – for credit cards, and for transferring liabilities from one vendor to another
    • Recurring transactions
    • Vendor prepayments and offsets
    • Sales tax remittance screen for reconciling and paying sales taxes
  • Accounts Receivable
    • Collections screen – reduce collection period, eliminate paper and automate processes by emailing PDF invoice copies and statements
    • Detailed or summary aging – current or retroactive
    • Payment history report – shows how payments previously received were applied to outstanding invoices
    • Customer Groups – facilitates head office/branch scenarios where head office pays branch invoices
    • Customer-specific language and pricing rules
    • Credit checking and credit hold functions
  • Bank Management
    • Unlimited bank accounts – all currencies
    • Bank reconciliation function
    • Deposit processing – prints deposit summary and maintains deposit history
    • Quick payment functions – for miscellaneous items, vendor prepayments and customer refunds
    • Transfer funds and track exchange differences
  • Barcode Scanning
    • Out of the box, Blue Link allows for barcode printing
    • Use verification scanning when packing product ready to be shipped
    • See Wireless Handheld Picking – Mobile Barcode Scanning under Optional Components below
  • Bill of Materials (BOM)/Production Control
    • Production control supports assembly and build to specification production
    • Track “soft costs” such as labor and overhead
    • 3 step assembly process, which can optionally be run as a single step
    • Print work order document for production department
    • Tracks and posts work in progress (WIP)
    • Automated production from sales order for made-to-order assemblies
    • Kitting functionality allows inventory to be sold as pre-defined kits or sold as individual items
  • Commission Processing
    • Commission split and basic reporting
    • See Advanced Commission Processing under Optional Components below
  • Contact & Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
    • Single point of entry for all names and address information
    • Tracks sales prospects as well as customers and suppliers
    • Create quotes for prospects or customers
    • Quotes respect customer contract pricing rules (price lists)
    • Convert quotes to orders in one click
    • Tracks multiple contacts per company and multiple companies per individual
    • Keep track of multiple lead opportunities, assign opportunities to reps and issue multiple quotes for an opportunity
    • Log verbal and email communication for prospects, customers, and vendors
    • Track next actions and workflows – steps and processes are user-defined according to your workflow
    • Marketing list management – generate a list of contacts based on specific criteria
    • Microsoft Office integration, including emailing via Outlook and merging with Word templates
    • Acts as a sales dashboard for next actions and follow-ups complete with task scheduling
    • More information about Blue Link’s Contact Manager Software
  • General Ledger
    • Real-time posting
    • Unlimited financial statement formats, with the ability to consolidate multiple companies on a single report
    • Reversing and recurring entries
    • Executive Summary – snapshot of key financial information, including ratios
    • Unlimited profit centers/departments
    • Drill down to transaction detail
    • Restrict transaction dates based on user-definable sliding window
    • Posting integrity rules prevent trial balance or control accounts from going out of balance
  • Inventory Management
    • Multiple warehouses
    • Handles serialized inventory
    • Multiple units of measure (UOMs)
    • Flexible and multiple pricing models – product and customer driven
    • Multiple Vendor association
    • Storage of UPC Code, weight, and dimensions per UOM
    • Association of a picture of each SKU
    • Automated reorder management – multiple methods to determine order levels and quantities with auto creation of purchase orders
    • “Available to Promise” to display future quantity availability based on currently recorded open purchases and sales
    • Inventory configurator – flexible and easy to use – available from sales order, quote, and purchase order screens
    • Easy setup of bills of material (BOM) for use as kits or assembled products
    • Inventory counts – full and cycle counts
    • Learn more about Blue Link’s ERP Inventory System
  • Job/Project Costing
    • Integrates with sales orders, purchase orders, accounts receivable and payable, etc.
    • Create estimates and track changes via change orders
    • Compare estimates with actual-to-date, report variances
    • Job profit and loss, and detailed cost reports available
    • Timecard entry tracks employee costs directly to jobs and optionally integrates with Payroll solution
    • Allocate inventory (and related costs) directly to a job as used
  • Landed Cost Tracking/Accruals
    • Define expected landed costs on purchase orders and factor these into inventory costs – for accurate product costing
    • Ability to specify default landed cost factors by product
    • Ability to apply each landed cost factor to each line on a purchase order using one of several pro-rated methods – or enter individually
    • Ability to reassign landed cost components to different vendors after receipt of purchase orders
    • Complete sub-ledger system – reconciles with General Ledger control accounts, with variance reporting
    • On-screen lookups and drill down to landed cost details from inventory screen
    • Drill down to landed cost details from Purchase Order History
    • Lear more about Blue Link’s landed cost tracking system
  • Look-up Screens
    • Single list access to all Customers, Prospects, Vendors, and Inventory
    • Key “look-up” details to perform narrowed search
    • User-defined layout controls what is displayed, including the order it is displayed in and what subsets of data to display
    • Links to applicable functions direct from the Look-up panel
  • Order Entry & Invoicing
    • Powerful order entry includes backorder processing
    • Flexible product lookups by class, description, and other attributes, with ability to quickly add multiple items to an order
    • Ability to reverse posted invoices and reinstate as sales orders – with complete audit trail
    • Credit check and credit hold rules with ability to record payments and apply credits from within the sales order
    • Recurring sales orders
    • Create purchase orders linked to sales order with optional drop ship functionality
    • Multiple shipments/invoices per order with backorder management
    • Flexibility in display of items on sales orders and associated documents
    • Use of Crystal Reports allowing full end-user customization of printed invoice with multiple language support
    • Flexible sales analysis and reporting
    • Unlimited customer contract pricing and discount rules (price lists)
  • Pricing Rules
    • Contract pricing — specify prices by product/customer with contract expiry dates
    • Multiple contracts/price lists per customer, with contract priority or “best price” options for each customer
    • Volume discounts
    • Define price matrices for automatic price discounts dependent on “categories” of customers
    • Make global price changes across products by amount or percentage and for given ranges or categories of product
  • Product Configuration
    • Allows you to “configure” a product by selecting applicable items from assigned categories
    • Allocate a category to a product as “Required” or “Optional”
    • Total cost of configured product is sum of all components selected on the sales order
    • Multiple different items can be selected from the same category of SKUs
    • Configurated item “broken out” on sales order, and printed on all documents including pick slip and invoice
  • Purchase Orders
    • Default pricing from vendor records or last purchase (optional)
    • Track job costing at the detail level on purchase orders
    • Print, fax, or email purchase orders
    • Purchase Order Requisitions to allow for PO Approval process
    • Manage backorders with the ability to over or under receive
    • Receive purchase orders with or without supplier’s invoice
    • Linked sales orders with backorders are automatically updated by received POs
  • Purchase Order Requisitions
    • Can be used if authorization to send a Purchase Order is a process of the company
    • Allows for an approval process of Purchase Orders if required
    • Prevents a PO from being sent without authorization
    • Review screen to see all PO Requisitions and the status of each
    • Allows for the creation of a PO for processing
  • Purchase Order Returns
    • Records/reserves items to be returned and removes them from available inventory
    • Track vendor RMA numbers
    • Print picking and packing documents
    • Record restocking charges
    • On shipping, reduce inventory and record accounting transactions
    • Create accounts payable credits
  • Reporting & Analytics
    • Ability to create a report based on data within the system which can then be updated on an automatic basis for real-time insight into business health
    • Reporting tools provided functionality for automatic emailing of invoices, order confirmations and many other documents and reports
    • Reports may be sent to external recipients (such as customers) or internal recipients (such as salespeople)
    • Design, build and share a variety of financial reports in Excel such as Profit and Loss Statements, Balance Sheets and Statement of Changes with information pulled from Blue Link
    • Reports can be exported directly into Microsoft Excel and data can be live-linked with Excel
    • Open database structure supports end user reporting with 3rd party tools such as Microsoft Excel, Power BI and Crystal Reports (based on security)
    • Uses SQL Reporting Services for scheduled/emailed exception and management reporting
    • Financial Report Writer – Excel Add-in
      • Transforms Excel into a tightly integrated analytical tool for your ERP data
      • Access live GL information stored within Blue Link from inside Excel for reporting, budgeting, and distribution purposes
    • Learn more about Blue Link’s reporting tools
  • Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA)
    • Track expected product returns from customers
    • Issue RMA number to receive against
    • Handles serialized and lot tracked items
    • Return to stock, or scrap
    • Handles re-stocking charges
  • Sales Analysis
    • Details of inventory sales by customer, total units and total sales
    • Booked sales by sales order date with selections to narrow details by date, salesperson, department, vendor, order type and customer
    • Printable reports in summary or detail form
  • Vendor Payment Processing
    • Single screen for almost all payment processing
    • Multiple open payment runs
    • Payment authorization/segregation of duties options
    • Date and discount sensitive “items to pay” lists
    • Support for Wire Transfer, ACH and Electronic Payments
  • Warehouse Shipping
    • This component increases the efficiency of shipping and allows a warehouse employee to select an order to ship, enter shipment details, print the documents required to accompany the order, and mark the order as shipped
    • Based on rules defined in the system, the act of “shipping” the order may also result in an invoice being printed (that could accompany the shipment), and even posted
    • Use this screen to enter ship quantities, record serial numbers, print picking slips, packing slips, and invoices (based on security), mark the order as “shipped”
    • Includes pack-to-container allowing you to identify what products were placed into which containers for tracking purposes
    • Links to 3rd party sites (such as FedEx, Purolator, etc.) to enable shipment tracking
    • Includes support for 3rd party multi-carrier and rate shopping solution (purchased directly from the supplier and integrated with Blue Link)
    • Learn more about Blue Link’s shipping and receiving software
  • Webservices API (eCommerce Integration & EDI)
    • Facilitates integration with 3rd party applications and for EDI
    • Facilitates complete two-way ERP eCommerce integration with B2C eCommerce webstores and marketplaces such as Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and Amazon
    • Includes “REST” services out-of-the-box
    • Up-to-minute live updates between Blue Link and the webstore (inventory, orders, shipments and payments)
    • Includes pack-to-container allowing you to identify what products were placed into which containers for tracking purposes
    • Links to 3rd party sites (such as Purolator) to enable shipment tracking
    • Two-way integration requires implementation of web services on the eCommerce webstore
    • Facilitates integration with EDI translation services
    • Imports and exports EDI transactions between Blue Link and approved EDI service providers
  • Workflow/Review Screens
    • Workflow and review screens for Sales Orders, Quotes, Purchase Orders and Production
    • Single list access to all open sales orders, quotes, purchase orders etc.
    • User-defined layout controls what is displayed, including the order it is displayed in and what subsets of data to display
    • Create multiple, task driven “views” or “filters” of the list that can be available to all users or just the individual, supporting workflow and segregation of duties for users
    • Perform tasks based on selected orders such as print documents, update statuses or post

Blue Link ERP Features – Demo Video

blue link demo video
Man writing testimonial on cell phone

We have been using BL for a number of years now. We have a quite integrated platform, connecting our inventory management, warehouse management, accounting, CRM, website platform, and EDI relationships. Working quite closely with the team at BL has been very enjoyable and progressive. BL has supported our business through new developments and custom coding as we have grown over the years.

Daniela Iaboni
Vice President, KidCentral Supply

Optional ERP Software Features

For more information about the optional features available in Blue Link ERP, click on the feature below. Optional components provide additional features to Blue Link’s core ERP functionality and can be added at any point in time at an additional cost.

  • Advanced Commission Processing
    • 4-way commission splits per order
    • Commission schedules allow granular definition of percentage paid – depending on both salesperson and products sold
    • Commission Payment Processing Screen calculates commissions to be paid, generates accounts payable transactions automatically
    • Holdbacks can be retained, and paid out later
    • Handles adjustments plus delay/accelerate commission payments
    • Support for “effective dates” for commission percentage elements
    • Split timing between invoiced and paid
    • Optionally restrict salespeople to their own accounts
    • Includes reports with order-level summary of commissions earned, commission adjustments, advances, and optional holdbacks
  • B2B Ordering Platform
    • B2B Order Platform for use by B2B customers and/or sales reps
    • Online product and price lookups (using customer-specific pricing)
    • B2B customers can place orders online
    • Online order status tracking
    • Create shopping lists
    • Salespeople can sign-in to place orders, view inventory, check pricing etc. for their customers
    • Multiple language support
    • User-definable text, screen colors, images, buttons, and labels
    • Language specific product images and descriptions
    • Configured from within the user interface, no HTML required
    • Completely integrated in real-time with Blue Link’s back-end ERP (inventory, orders, shipments, and payments)
  • Backorder Management
    • Comprehensive component for filling backorders, based on rules that can be user-configured
    • Allocates stock to all open customer orders containing back orders
    • Preview allocations based on your defined rules – user can edit before updating the actual orders
    • Backorders may be filled based on requested ship date
    • Optionally exclude (or include) orders on credit hold
    • Additional factors that may be specified include: “ready” orders, fill priority and ship complete
    • Automatically print picking/packing slips for orders filled (optional)
  • Credit Card Processing & Storage
    • Automates processing of credit cards from within Blue Link and handles pre-authorizations
    • Generates credit card charge and returns the authorization number
    • Handles pre-authorizations
    • Integrates with 3rd party applications – Elavon Converge and USA ePay
    • Requires 3rd party software
    • Storage is useful when customers pay with the same credit card multiple times
    • Credit card information is stored in a triple-encrypted separate database
    • This component will assist with PCI compliance
    • Learn more about Blue Link’s PCI compliant credit card tools
  • Electronic Payments/ACH
    • Ability to collect payments from customers and process payment runs electronically
    • Generates a file for transmission to your bank(s)
  • Electronic Document Management Software
    • Complete two-way integration with DocuWare – an electronic document management system
    • Store, index, search, display, download, retrieve, edit, and integrate documents between DocuWare and Blue Link ERP
    • Automatically index documents for quick storage and data population
    • Create automated workflows to help your business operate in a paperless environment
    • Workflows can be used to create an approval process and to create automatic email responses and alerts based on document status
  • Inter-Company Component
    • Allows for inter-company inventory transfer
    • Facilitates inter-company G/L entries and disbursements
  • Lot/Batch Tracking
    • Full lifecycle lot tracking (from purchase through inventory to sales history)
    • Tracks internal and external lot numbers
    • Auto or manual lot number assignment
    • Optionally use lot (specific) costing – tie specific costs to specific lots
    • Tracks expiry and best before dates to help prevent obsolete inventory
    • “Where used” reports facilitate product recalls and health alerts
    • Assists with regulatory requirements such as FDA/ISO/CIFA
    • Learn more about Blue Link’s lot tracking software
  • Payroll - PayMate
    • Integration with PayMate payroll software
    • Pull payroll information from PayMate into Blue Link’s GL
  • Point of Sale (POS)
    • Fully integrates with the Blue Link accounting data and provides access to inventory, customers, and pricing
    • Supports payments in multiple currencies including split currency payments
    • Supports split payments between types of payment (cash, credit cards and others)
    • Supports the use of gift cards and payment on account
    • Operates standard cash drawers, barcode scanners
    • Print to full page invoices or narrow column receipt printers
    • Configurable manager override options
    • Learn more about Blue Link’s POS software
  • Product Matrix
    • Originally for the apparel industry as part of garment wholesalers software, matrix functionality is useful for any industry that has a base product that varies in one or two elements
    • Simplified creation of inventory items for the related group
    • Table-view quantity selection for matrix products on purchasing and quotes/sales
    • Product availability views as a group
    • Products also available through non-matrix/standard purchasing and sales
    • Supports style, plus two other attributes such as color and size
  • Sales Budgets/Estimates
    • Create sales budgets/estimates by Customer/Product/Salesperson
    • Record separate budgets by fiscal or calendar year, broken down into periods within the year
    • Maintain multiple years of estimates concurrently
    • Track current and prior historical estimates for each period
    • Compare actual to current or prior estimates for the period(s)
    • Organize data by Customer, Product, Categories or Classes
  • Sales Order Accruals
    • Define anticipated selling costs with defaults
    • Attach selling costs (estimates/actual) to sales order
    • Costs may be factored into profitability and commission calculations
    • Ability to reassign sales accruals to different vendors after invoicing
    • Complete sub-ledger system – reconciles with General Ledger control accounts, with variance reporting
  • Scheduling for Service
    • Schedule service technician appointments with the Service Component
    • Schedule sales meetings with the CRM component
    • Allows you to create schedule groups (e.g. sales, technicians)
    • Allows you to send meeting notification to customers
    • Optionally integrates with Outlook/Exchange to sync calendars (requires 3rd party software)
  • Service & Repair Manager
    • Extends the rich functionality of the Sales Order module by creating a new service type of order
    • Record employee time, print employee productivity reports, track service history
    • Track service orders and multiple service requests per order
    • Assign service requests against specific equipment items
    • Track parts and labor against service requests
    • Learn more about Blue Link’s service and repair software
  • Sales Rep Tools for Sales Reps & Tradeshows
    • Sales application for remote sales reps, tradeshows and showrooms
    • Take orders in the field or at tradeshows, online or offline, with 3rd party solutions completely integrated with Blue Link
    • Real-time updates for inventory, pricing, sales orders, etc.
    • Learn More about Blue Link’s software for sales reps
  • Transformation Purchase Orders
    • Enables the transformation of one existing inventory item, through a 3rd party vendor, into one or more different items
    • Transformed items have the cost of both the original root product as well as the incremental processing cost of the 3rd party vendor
    • In multi-step transformations using multiple vendors, new purchase orders and drop ship information can be automatically created
    • Payables for the incremental costs are created automatically
    • Transformation PO can be used to tear apart assembled inventory
  • US Sales Tax Integration
    • For US sales taxes only
    • Automatically looks-up the effective tax rates based either on the Zip Code to which the product is being shipped or the specific shipping address and product categories
    • Requires 3rd party software – either Zip2Tax or Avalara
  • Warehouse Transfers
    • Automates transfers between locations within the same company
    • If the inter-company feature has been enabled, then this screen will also allow for transfers between companies
    • Transfers of serialized and lot tracked items between locations
    • Tracks items in transit between locations
    • Prints picking/packing slips for transfer
  • Warehouse Management Lite (WMS)
    • Advanced warehouse management and shipping functionality
    • Empty bin and shelf availability – system will show available locations in the warehouse to add SKUs when receiving product based on what space is empty
    • Integration with wireless handheld picking
    • Ability to set up stocking and non-stocking locations to show the true count of inventory available in the warehouse – product will show as available or already allocated to an existing order
    • Stocking location priorities and ratings for more efficient picking
    • Cross docking – ability to receive and ship product without putting it away
    • Ability to run the Blue Link WMS Lite screen on laptops, iOS, Android and Microsoft tablets in conjunction with wireless handheld picking devices
    • System logs every single movement of product in the warehouse
    • Learn more about Blue Link’s advanced WMS for small business
  • Mobile Scanning App - Wireless Barcode Scanning
    • Dedicated wireless barcode scanning solution for inventory look-ups, picking and packing and receiving inventory
    • The solution is available as an iOS app for use on iPhones, iPods and/or iPads
    • Wireless handheld picking of sales order
    • Wireless PO receipt and wireless put-away
    • Perform inventory inquiry and updating of inventory locations for lot tracked items
    • Perform inventory counts
    • Learn More
benefits of blue link erp

Benefits of Blue Link’s Inventory Management & Accounting ERP Software

With a focus on wholesale and distribution, Blue Link is built for companies that buy and sell inventory. Our sophisticated inventory management features work hand-in-hand with robust accounting and finance tools to manage all aspects of your business – inventory, accounting, order entry and processing, purchase orders, warehouse management, contact management, reporting and more.

  • Robust and reliable – Microsoft SQL-Server database
  • International – configurable for Canada, the USA, the Caribbean and other jurisdictions, including sales taxes and terminology
  • Real-time system – provides up to the minute information
  • Drill down interface – easy to access information for inventory, accounting etc.
  • User Defined Fields (UDFs) enable you to add custom details and notes to Customers, Vendors, Sales, Products and Purchases
  • User-controlled columns – detailed screens have individual user-controlled columns, ordering and filtering
  • Change-logging of key fields – captures before and after values as well as who and date changed
  • System-wide security restrictions based on user-login – different permission settings for different users and groups of users
  • Centralized customer and vendor notes that are available wherever Customers and Vendors are used
  • Remote access – you can access the system anywhere in the world via an internet connection
  • Quick Lookup Toolbar – instant access to specified orders, invoices, quotes, contacts and more
  • Remote order entry for sales reps and customers – a variety of tools for entering orders while onsite with customers, at tradeshows, on the road or in a showroom
  • Support for regulated industries – Blue Link handles compliance requirements for a variety of industries and regulations (FDA, DEA, Health Canada, Tobacco Tax Reporting, Cannabis Reporting, Lot Tracking, etc.)

Pharma ERP Software Features

Blue Link’s Pharmaceutical Distribution Software includes the following industry-specific functionality plus all the inventory and accounting features available out-of-the-box with the option to add any additional/optional components.

  • Electronic Serialized File Management
  • Saleable Returns – Verification Router Service
  • DEA & State License Expiry Date Management
  • Transaction History Management (T3)
  • Customer SKU Classification & Controlled Drug Scheduling
  • Suspicious Order Monitoring (SOM)
  • Identification of Product
  • Suspect & Illegitimate Product Handling
  • Controlled Substance Ordering System (CSOS)
  • Short Dated Drugs Management
  • Lot Tracking (Traceability)
  • Compliance Reporting

More ERP Features

b2b platform pharma

B2B Order Platform - Pharma Version

Includes all the functionality available as part of Blue Link’s B2B Order Platform, plus:

  • The ability to print Transaction Reports (T3’s) of Invoiced Orders
  • View Licenses and expirations of all ship-to locations
  • Integration with Blue Link’s Controlled Substance Ordering System “CSOS” functionality
  • Electronic Serialized Final Management (EPCIS) capabilities
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Blue Link ERP provides integrated Accounting Software and Inventory Management Software to small and medium sized businesses, primarily wholesalers & distributors. READ MORE

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