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Requisitions and Purchase Orders

A requisition is what somebody has asked to buy, before anybody has committed to it. A purchase order is the commitment to a supplier. Approving the requisition and issuing the order are the two control points, and both can be routed through an approval matrix.

Where to find it

Admin Panel → Purchasing:

  • Purchasing — the Requisitions and Purchase orders tabs, and Raise a requisition

Admin Panel → ERP - Setup:

  • Approval Matrices — the shipped Requisition approval and Purchase order release matrices

Architect Panel → ERP - Procurement:

  • Purchase Requisitions — the badge counts requisitions waiting on an approver
  • Purchase Orders — the badge counts orders issued and not yet fully received
  • Cost Centres — the badge counts cost centres with nobody to approve their spend

Raising a requisition

  1. Press Raise a requisition. Choose the Company, a Suggested supplier if you know one, the Currency and Needed by.
  2. Add lines: Item, Description, Qty, Unit, Unit price, Tax, Cost centre and Account. Totals are worked out by the server.
  3. Press Save and submit for approval, or Save as draft to finish later.

A requisition with a line that has a quantity but no price is refused at submission, naming the line. Approvers, budgets and approval value bands all read the value, so an unpriced requisition would be approved at nothing.

Approving a requisition

  • Without a matrix: anyone holding the Approve purchase requisitions permission for that company sees it in My approvals and can Approve or Reject. Rejecting needs a reason.
  • With a matrix: enable the shipped Requisition approval matrix and submission opens an approval run. Its example stages send everything to the cost centre's budget holder (the owner on Cost Centres) and anything over 10,000 also to a second approver. Approval matrices are configured as described under Approval Matrices.
  • The requester can Recall a submitted requisition to Draft, or Cancel it.

From requisition to order

  1. Open an Approved requisition and press its Create button for the purchase order, then enter how much of each line to order. A line left at 0 stays open.
  2. The draft order opens. Use Edit purchase order to choose or change the supplier, the Supplier's order ref., prices and dates while it is still a draft.
  3. The requisition moves to Ordered by itself once everything on it has been ordered.
  4. If that order is later cancelled, the requisition goes back to Approved so it can be ordered again, unless another live order still covers it.

Ordering is refused for a supplier that is on hold, inactive or at a status that blocks ordering.

Issuing the order

  • Issue to supplier (Draft to Issued) needs the Issue purchase orders permission. Issuing locks the lines, commits the spend against the budget and tells planning the supply is coming.
  • With the Purchase order release matrix enabled, use Send for approval (Draft to Pending Approval) instead; once approved, Issue to supplier is offered. Its example stage is a single Buyer release.
  • Issuing is checked against the budget for the order's cost centres and accounts, which can refuse it. Budgets and commitments are set up by Finance; see the ERP finance documentation under Budgets.

Once issued, print or e-mail the order from Print and send, or let it go automatically to a supplier that trades by EDI or PunchOut (see EDI & Trading Partners and PunchOut Procurement).

After issue

Goods receipts move the order to Receiving and Received by themselves. Close finishes a received order. Close short finishes an order whose balance is never coming and releases what it still commits. Cancel withdraws an issued order.

When a document reaches a status it cannot leave (Cancelled, Closed, Rejected, Ordered), any approval still open on it is withdrawn automatically, so approvers are not left with a request for a document that no longer needs one.

What goes wrong

  • Submit is refused for an unpriced line: enter the price, or remove the line.
  • Issue to supplier is missing: you lack Issue purchase orders, or the matrix is enabled and the order must be sent for approval first.
  • Ordering is refused for the supplier: it is on hold or blocked. Finance can release it.
  • Submit is refused because no approver resolves: a budget-holder stage found no owner on the cost centre. Fill in the owner on Cost Centres.

Worked example

An engineer raises a requisition for 10 sensor kits at 180.00 on the Workshop cost centre and submits it. With the requisition matrix enabled it goes to the workshop manager, who owns the cost centre, and approves it. The buyer opens the approved requisition, creates a purchase order to the usual supplier and issues it; the budget check passes and the commitment is recorded. A month later the supplier cancels the line; the buyer cancels the order and the requisition returns to Approved, ready to order elsewhere.

Recommendations

  • Fill in cost centre owners before enabling the requisition matrix.
  • Keep Issue purchase orders separate from the people who raise requisitions.
  • Close short rather than leaving part-received orders open; it frees the budget.
  • Price every requisition line, even with an estimate.