Purchase Orders

Use Purchase Orders in the browser application to keep track of what you are buying and the vendors from whom you purchase items.

You can create purchase orders from requisitions, requests for price quote, or from other purchase orders. You can track purchase orders and items for your purchase orders. You can use blank and service purchase orders, up to a given amount and through a date that you specify. You can keep an audit trail of purchase order changes. You can also track and reverse committed expenses and display them in project reports.

Activation and Browser/Desktop Application Access

When you select or clear the Enable Purchase Orders in the Web Application option in Settings > General > Modules, the changes take effect the next time that you log in.

When Enabled

When you select the Enable Purchase Orders in the Web Application option, the following application paths display in the Navigation pane of the browser application:

• Purchasing > Purchase Orders
• Purchasing > Items

The following application paths continue to display in the Navigation menu of the desktop application:

• Purchasing > Purchase Requisitions
• Purchasing > Request for Price Quote
• Purchasing > Receiving
• Purchasing > Purchase Template Editor
• Purchasing > Item Review

When Disabled

When you clear the Enable Purchase Orders in the Web Application option, you can only access the following Purchasing applications from the Navigation menu in the desktop application:

• Purchasing > Purchase Requisitions
• Purchasing > Request for Price Quote
• Purchasing > Purchase Orders
• Purchasing > Receiving
• Purchasing > Purchase Template Editor
• Purchasing > Item Review

The Items application remains, under the name Items Master, in Settings > Purchasing & Inventory > Items Master in the desktop application.

PO Record Access

Whether you select or clear the Enable Purchase Orders in the Web Application option, all PO records created in either the desktop application or browser application are accessible in both applications.

Role Security and Buyer Access

In the desktop application, your user account must be listed as a buyer on the Buyers tab of the Purchasing & Inventory Company Settings form in Settings > Purchasing & Inventory > Company Settings. This is also where you can assign other users to view, create, edit, and/or close purchase order records.

Multiple Companies

If you use multiple companies, note the following:

• Each purchase order is owned by a specific company. When you look up a purchase order, the search results list displays the purchase orders that belong to the active company.
• The vendors available are those with accounting set up for the active company.

Multiple Currencies

If you use multiple currencies, note the following:

• You can create a purchase order from more than one purchase requisition and request for price quote, but all of them must use the same transaction currency.
• Vantagepoint uses the functional currency of the active company to compare and apply buyer and approver authorization limits in the purchase order submission, approval, blanket purchase order, and release processes.
• After you final print a purchase order, Vantagepoint calculates and keeps data for its committed expense in the functional currency of the company that own the project, phase, or task, and in the project's project currency. For the amount of the billing extension, data is kept in the project or billing currency.

  You specify the currency basis by selecting or clearing the Use Billing Currency not Project Currency option in Settings > Accounting > Labor Options.

Approvals and Purchasing

You can choose whether or not purchase requisitions, request for price quotes, and purchase orders (including change orders and release orders) must go through an approval process. See Approval Process for Purchasing Applications Overview for more information, including the procedures for reassigning an approval step and assigning a delegate to complete approvals in your absence.