Purchasing Quantum's Purchasing Module is used to orchestrate the submission, review and approval of purchase requisitions. It interfaces with the Accounts Payable, Inventory and General Ledger modules. The Purchase Order module helps ensure that the correct quantity and quality of supplies and materials is ordered and received when it is required. One of the major benefits of using this package is its ability to enhance a buyer's productivity. Many of the manual clerical functions is automated by this module including purchase order printing, vendor performance analysis, purchase history reporting, projected cash requirements and more. Requisition Entry Vendor Performance Analysis and Reporting Reconcile Purchase Orders from within Accounts Payable Cash Requirements Projection Reporting Receivings Due Reports Default Item Prices, Unit of Measures and Primary Vendor Multiple Ship-To Addresses Automated Receivings On-Line Purchase Order Inquiries with Drill Down to Line Items Purchase Order Types This module supports four types of purchase orders: normal orders, drop-ship orders, blanket orders and releases against blanket order. For normal orders, the buyer selects a vendor, decides which items to order and then prints a purchase order to be sent to the vendor. The vendor ships according to the contents of the purchase order. Drop ship orders are of two types. The most usual is when the supplier ships directly to your customer. This type of purchase order would likely be initiated becuase of a customer order for items you do not stock or purchase requests from a remote site that you wish to have delivered directly to the buyer. Blanket orders (also called running orders) are long-term agreements with the vendor to purchase at some future date or in installments (called releases). Blanket orders are usually contracted to obtain lower prices based on the projected volume of purchases over the life of the order. Purchase Order Inquiry This program delivers quick, on-line access to vendor purchase orders and requisitions. It shows who ordered from this vendor, when the order was placed, the status of the order, where the items will be shipped to and the type of order. It also provides you with an option to drill down to the line items of this order and view item numbers, descriptions, expected cost, status of each line item and more. Purchase Order Entry Quantum provides users with a series of streamlined Purchase Requisition/Order entry screens. When you select the vendor, several fields automatically default from the Vendor file. Buyers can indicate a specific ship-to address and add comments (either pre-defined comments or free-form text). The Purchase Order line item screen is where you enter any number of items to be included on the purchase order. If you are using the Inventory module then several fields will default based on the item selected. These fields include cost account, description, expected cost and unit of measure. Interface with Accounts Payable After the order has been placed the vendor usually sends an Invoice. It is at this time that the invoice is reconciled against the original purchase order before being approved for actual payment. Geneva allows users to spread and allocate the invoice's expense to a single account, to multiple accounts based on the items ordered or across multiple programs and cost centers like a regular invoice. If you enter a Purchase Order number when processing the vendor's invoice then the P/O Reconciliation screen will appear. This is where you click the items that are on the purchase order. The program will check for the following: you are being invoiced for items that are on the purchase order the actual cost of the invoiced items does not exceed a user-defined tolerance (for example -- the cost is not greater than 5% of what it cost last time) the items you are being invoiced for have actually been received Purchase Order Related Reports Quantum delivers several Purchase Order related reports as a standard part of the module. These reports include purchase requisition edit list, buyer list, drop-ship lists, purchase order approval reports, purchase order line item history reports, vendor performance reports, item master listings, vendor purchase history reporting, projected cash requirements reports, outstanding uninvoiced purchase orders, purchase orders due to be received reports, P/O receivings audit trail reports, drop ship receivings reports and more. For more information about the P/O module call Geneva at (336) 275-8887 or e-mail at tvincent@genevasoftware.com