Purchase Order Approval

Purchase Order Approvals

Purchase Order Menu

P.O. Approval Menu

Purchase Order Approvals

This menu option is only available when the 'Enable P.O. Approval' feature is activated in the Company Inventory Parameters, and can be used to process Purchase Orders submitted for approval before being sent to the vendor.

This utility only allows either the purchasing Requester or the P.O. Approver to view and process the associated Purchase Orders.
Each Requester can be assigned an Approver with a higher limit in Operator Codes, where the purchasing limit per P.O. is defined in the Security Role Permissions.

The processing flow based on P.O. Approval Status is:

Draft:
A P.O. has a Draft status when the purchaser/Requester first creates it before it is saved, or after it has been saved but has a zero dollar total, or if the Requester Cancelled out of the details screen regardless of the amount.
Comments can be updated for the P.O. in the Purchase Order Approval Notes.
Only the Requester or the Approver can access a P.O. in Purchase Orders with a Draft status.
Other operators must use Purchase Order Inquiry to view the P.O.

Under Limit - Approved:
When a Purchase Order is saved and the P.O. total value is under the purchaser's limit the P.O. Approval status is automatically updated to Approved and the P.O. is ready to be sent to the vender.

Over Limit - Pending Approval:
When the purchasing employee/Requester saves a new P.O. and the total exceeds the limit or when the Requester modifies an existing P.O. and saves it, the status is automatically updated to Pending Approval.
An email alert is automatically sent to his defined Approver who must approve the PO, if it is within the Approver's own limit.
If that Approver's limit is not high enough, then the P.O. would need to be Reassigned in this 'Purchase Order Approvals' utility to be approved by his Approver moving the P.O. up to the next link in the approval chain.
Any Approver with an allowable Limit above the P.O. total can approve/reject a Purchasing Request, and then this Approver becomes responsible to approve the P.O.
An email alert is automatically sent to the next P.O. Approver and the P.O. status remains Pending Approval.
Comments can be updated for the P.O. in the Purchase Order Approval Notes.
Only the Requester or an Approver with an allowable Limit can access a P.O. in Purchase Orders with a Pending Approval status and if the Approver re-accesses the P.O. in Purchase Orders he has the option to Approve it there too.
Other operators must use Purchase Order Inquiry to view the P.O.

Rejected:
When the P.O. Approver does not approve the P.O. expenditure, and the P.O. is rejected in this 'Purchase Order Approvals' utility, the status changes to Rejected and an email is sent to the Requester.
Comments can be updated for the P.O. in the Purchase Order Approval Notes.
Only the Requester or the Approver can access a P.O. in Purchase Orders with a Rejected status and if the Approver re-accesses the P.O. in Purchase Orders he has the option to Approve it there too.
Other operators must use Purchase Order Inquiry to view the P.O.

Approved:
When the P.O. Approver does approve the P.O. the P.O. Approval status is automatically updated to Approved and the P.O. is ready to be sent to the vender.
Approved P.O.s can only be re-accessed in Purchase Orders by the Approver or original Requester.
No further notes can be added for this P.O. in the Purchase Order Approval Notes.

Note: A Purchase Orders with a negative total value respects the same Approval Status based on the dollar amount as an "absolute value".
This means the negative sign is ignored when considering the PO total, so a PO with for a -$100.00 (negative) requires the same approval as a PO with a $100.00 (positive) value.

The selection prompts in the Purchase Order Approvals screen are:

PURCHASE ORDER

Leave this field blank to include all P.O.s that are in the P.O. Approval processing, or enter a specific P.O. number, or select the P.O. from the Purchase Order Search window.
Purchase Orders that have been received are no longer reflected in this list.

Although all P.O.'s are listed, only the Requester or the Approver can select and drill down to access a P.O. in this utility.

VENDOR NAME

If a specific Purchase Order has been selected the Vendors name is displayed for information.

SHOW ONLY MY LIST

This filter is disabled if a specific P.O. is being viewed.

Check this box to only include P.O.s that the logged in operator has been assigned as the Requester or as the Approver.

Uncheck this box to return a list of all Purchase Orders in the 'P.O. Approval' processing, or to filter the list by only Requester or only Approver.

REQUESTER

This filter is disabled if a specific P.O. is being viewed, or the Show Only My List has been checked.

Leave this field blank for all Requesters, or to narrow the Purchase Order list, enter a specific Requester or select one from the Operator Name Search window.

APPROVER

This filter is disabled if a specific P.O. is being viewed, or the Show Only My List has been checked.

Leave this field blank for all Approvers, or to narrow the Purchase Order list, enter a specific Approver or select one from the Operator Name Search window.

Resulting Purchase Order List:

The Purchase Orders that are in the 'P.O. Approval' processing and that match the selection criteria are listed on the screen by P.O.#, Vendor Name, current Approval Status, Requester Name and Approver Name.

Cancelled and Closed (received) Purchase Orders are not included in the list, nor are Purchase Orders generated directly from a Sales Order or from a Contract.

The list can be resorted by any column in ascending or descending order, by clicking on the column heading.

To select a value from the displayed list, double-click on the appropriate record, or highlight the record and click the SELECT button to view the Approval detail information.
Only the Requester or the Approver assigned to a P.O. can select and view that P.O.s data.

SELECTED PO APPROVAL ACTIONS:
This action window can only be accessed by the Requester or the current Approver of the Purchase Order.

The Purchase Order number, Order Date, Order Total and Approval Status are displayed for information only.
View Document Information windows are provided to drill down to view the header and details of the P.O.

Requester:

NAME

The original purchasing employee's name as defined in the first Operator Codes record for his "System ID' is displayed as he is the Requester.

Note: When the Requester has a maximum purchasing limit according to his Security Role Permissions the P.O. does not need further approval if it is a "Draft" so the P.O. can be approved just by completing and saving it in Purchase Order entry.

REQUEST DATE

The date that the P.O. was "saved" and the request for Approval was submitted is displayed.
This is the date the P.O. Approval Status changed from "Draft" to "Pending Approval".
This date is updated again if the P.O. has been re-access by the Requester to reflect the latest "Pending Approval" date. There will be no date if the P.O. is still in "Draft" status.

Action:

The SUBMIT button is only active for the Requester when the P.O. has a dollar Total but also has a Draft status, and if clicked will update the P.O. Approval Status to Pending Approval.
The SUBMIT button is not enabled for the Approver or other purchasers.

Click the SUBMIT button if the P.O. is ready for the Approver to review.

DATE: Accept today's date or enter the actual submission date.
Confirmation is required where Accept submits the P.O. and Cancel aborts the action.
If the submission Date is Accepted the "Request Date" and the "PO Approval Status" are updated and an email is sent to the Approver assigned to this Requester.

Approver:

NAME

The name of the Approver assigned to the Requester of this P.O., as defined in the Operator Codes for the first record for his "System ID' is displayed.

APPROVED DATE

This date will be blank if the P.O. is not yet Approved and will display the approval date when it is Approved.

Actions:

These actions are available to the Approver when the Approval Status is "Pending Approval", as follows:

- The APROVE button is only active for the Approver if the P.O. Total is within his 'Approval Limit' defined by his Security Role Permissions.
This button is not enabled for the Requester. It is not enabled for the Approver if the P.O. Total exceeds his limit.

Note: If the Approver re-accesses the P.O. in Purchase Orders he has the option to Approve it there too.

Click the APROVE button if the order has been reviewed and approved and is ready to be sent to the Vendor.
Comments can be added in the Purchase Order Approval Notes window.

APPROVAL DATE: Accept today's date or enter the actual approval date.
Confirmation is required where Accept approves the P.O. and Cancel aborts the approval.
If the Approval Date is Accepted, an email is sent to the Requester to alert him of the status change.
EMAIL APPROVED P.O. TO VENDOR: This auto-email option for the approved P.O. to be emailed to the Vendor is hidden if 'Contact Emailing' is not activated in the Company Email Configuration and no email is sent if the Vendor does not have a Contact with an email address flagged to receive Purchase Orders setup in the Contact Information.
Check this box to send the P.O. by email to the Vendor's Contact Information now that it is approved.
Uncheck this box if the approved P.O. should not be emailed to the Vendor at this time.

- The REJECT button is only active for the Approver if the P.O. has a status of "Pending Approval" and the P.O. Total is within his 'Approval Limit' defined by his Security Role Permissions.
This button is not enabled for the Requester. It is not enabled for the Approver if the P.O. Total exceeds his limit.

Click the REJECT button if the order has been reviewed and does not pass approval and needs to be returned to the Requester for modifications.

DATE

Accept today's date or enter the actual rejection date.
Confirmation is required where Accept rejects the P.O. and Cancel aborts the action.

If the rejection Date is Accepted the "Rejected Date" and the "PO Approval Status" are updated and an email is sent back to the Requester.

Comments can be added in the Purchase Order Approval Notes window.

- The REASSIGN button is only active for the Approver if the P.O. Total exceeds his 'Approval Limit' defined by Security Role Permissions, and can be used to reassign the P.O. to his own P.O. Approver who has a higher approval limit.
This button is not enabled for the Requester. It is not enabled for an Approver if the P.O. Total is within his limit.

Click the REASSIGN button if the order needs to be reviewed by a P.O. Approver with a higher purchasing limit.

REASSIGN APPROVAL

The Approver with a greater limit who has been assigned to the current Approver with the lesser limit, is displayed and cannot be changed.
Confirmation is required where Accept updates the P.O. to the new Approver and Cancel aborts the action.

If the reassign action is Accepted the P.O.is updated and an email is sent to the new Approver.

Comments can be added in the Purchase Order Approval Notes window.

APPROVAL NOTES

Comments can be added in the Purchase Order Approval Notes window.
These comments are for the Approval process and do not print on the P.O. itself.

Finished?

Click OK to send the emails and exit the screen.

The notification emails are sent.

Topic Keyword: RSPO08 (7085)