Buyer

The Buyer page displays all approved items that are on open purchase requisitions for properties you have security rights to access. These items can then easily be selected and placed on a purchase order.

The Buyer page allows items to be grouped and ordered in the most cost-effective manner by providing you the capability of creating purchase orders that combine items from multiple PRs intended for a single vendor.

Two types of users can access the Buyer page:

  • Standard users – Any full user who has been granted access to the Buyer page can locate and display approved items for the properties they have access to. They can create a purchase order from the items displayed.

  • Buyers – Full users who have been granted the Buyer permission on their user profile have the added ability to make modifications to the items displayed, if needed.

To open the Buyer page:

  1. Access the Requisition module by clicking the Requisition link at the top of the page.

  2. Select the Buyer tab.

ClosedFind Items

The top pane of the Buyer page allows you to specify criteria to locate items on open purchase requisitions.

  1. In the Warehouse field, select the warehouse that the items will be shipped to.

    You can only select items for one warehouse.

  2. In the Date Required fields, enter two date values to return all items that are required within the specified date range.

    The system defaults to a date range from two weeks in the past to four months in the future.

  3. In the Part# field, enter a value to return all requisitions for a particular part number.

  4. In the Vendor field, enter a value to return all items that will be ordered from a particular vendor whose last name contains the specified characters.

    This criterion is not case-sensitive.

  5. To return items intended for a particular Property, click the select link to select a property.

    If you do not select a value, items for all properties that you have access rights to are returned. You can select either a property or a region, but not both.

  6. In the Region field, select a region to return items in a particular region.

    If you selected a property, the Region field does not appear. You can select either a property or a region, but not both.

  7. Click FIND.

    A list of all approved items on open PRs appears at the bottom of the page.

    Only the first 2000 items are displayed. If your search returns more than 2000 items, you can either narrow your search or work with the displayed 2000 items first and then rerun the search.

ClosedEdit Items

Full users who have been granted the Buyer permission on their user profile have the added ability to make modifications to the items displayed. This might be done, for example, if the buyer wants to substitute a more suitable item than the one requested, needs to select a more cost-effective vendor for an item, or requires an increase in the quantity of specified item.

Buyers can increase or decrease the number of items, substitute one item or another, or change the requested date, vendor, or account to bill. Any modifications you make to an item on the Buyer page modifies the purchase requisition.

If the modifications would change the overall NTE (Not to Exceed) amount of the PR and the PR required approval, a red square will appear next to the line item and the buyer must reroute the PR for additional approval.

To edit an item:

  1. Click the Edit link to the right of the item you want to modify.

    The Edit Material dialog box opens.

  2. Modify any of the following values:

    • MATERIALS-Item – Click the Select link to locate and select an item and substitute it for the original item.

    • Request ID – Enter or select a work request ID if you want to change or associate a new work order with this item. If you click the Select link, you can enter criteria to locate and select the appropriate work request. If you enter a request ID number directly, the system will validate the request ID before adding the item. If a non-editable request ID is displayed, a single work request was associated with the entire purchase requisition and you cannot associate a request ID with individual items.

    • Description – Modify the description of the item.

    • Date Required – Click the calendar icon to select a new date on which the item is required.

    • Vendor – Click the Select link to select a different vendor to supply this item.

    • Account – Select a new value to associate this item with a different general ledger account.

    • Quantity – Modify the quantity of items to order and the unit of measure. If increasing the quantity causes the costs to exceed the PRs NTE (Not to Exceed) amount and the PR required approvals, you must send the PR through the approvals process again. For more information, see Send a Modified PR for Re-Approval.

    • Unit Cost - Modify the unit cost.

  3. Click UPDATE.

    The line item is modified on the Buyer page as well as on the original purchase requisition.

ClosedCreate PO

You can select items from the displayed list and create a purchase order. Since a purchase order must be sent to a single vendor, you cannot select items from more than one vendor.

The following information is displayed for each item listed:

  • PR# – the unique ID of the purchase requisition the item is listed on; clicking the PR# link opens the Purchase Requisition Details page

  • Line # – the line number of the item on the purchase requisition

  • Date Reqd – the date the item is needed

  • Item – the part number of the item; clicking the part number link opens the Material Item Details page

  • Vendor – the name of the company from which the item will be ordered

  • QTY/Unit Cost – the quantity of items to order and the item's unit cost

  • Cost – the total cost of all items (unit cost multiplied by quantity)

To create a purchase order:

  1. If you want to view the items grouped by the date they are needed rather than the vendor, click the Date Required link.

    The list is reordered so that you can see which items are needed when. Remember, you must still create a single purchase order for each vendor.

  2. Select the Show Details check box to show additional information about each item displayed.

    The following information is displayed and can assist you in determining the best way to group items on purchase orders.

    • Description – a description of the item

    • Request ID – any associated work order

    • Account – the general ledger account the item will be billed to

    • Requested By – the name of the user requesting the item

    • Property – the property where the item is needed

  3. Select the check box to the right of each item you want to add to the purchase order.

  4. Click CREATE PO.

    A dialog box opens asking you to confirm your choice.

  5. Click OK.

    The purchase order is created and a link indicating the PO number appears at the top of the search results. Clicking the link opens the purchase order. The purchase requisition the item is associated with is updated so that the item's status indicates the purchase order the item was placed on.