Purchase Order Business Process
Use the Purchase Order business process to track the commitment approval process of an order for goods or services.
Characteristics
This is a Project-level business process with a workflow, provided in the system template.
Record Statuses
| Status | Resulting State |
|---|---|
| Approved | terminal |
| Canceled | terminal |
| Rejected | terminal |
| Awaiting_Review | non-terminal |
| Pending_Approval | non-terminal |
| Sent_for_Revision | non-terminal |
Workflow
The default workflow for the Purchase Order business process is set up in a certain way; however, it may be used differently by your organization. Typically, a user with the necessary permissions can create the record and either move it directly to the end step or send it to others for review or approval. The recipients in the second step can approve or reject the record or send it on to others.
Creating a Purchase Order Record
Create a Purchase Order record by navigating to Commitments / Purchase Order on the Project/Shell tab, or from the Tasks log on the Home tab or relevant Project/Shell tab. Act on an existing Purchase Order task that has been assigned to you from the Tasks log.
Complete the Purchase Order form and attach related documents, if needed. After completing the form, select Send, and select an action in the Workflow Actions list to determine the next step in the workflow. Select Send to route the form to the next assignee.
Note:
You must enter a value in all required fields (*) before you can save the form.- Go to your Project tab, and switch to User mode.
- In the left Navigator, select Commitments, and then select Purchase Order.
- On the Purchase Order page, select Create. Refer to the tables below to complete the form. You can select Save at any time to save a draft version of the form. Draft versions are stored under Drafts.
- To add attachments, go to the Attachments tab, and select Attach Files
.
- After completing the form, select Send.
- On the Workflow Action Details tab, select who should receive this BP.
- If permitted, you can add users to the CC list. These users will receive a notification about this BP but are not assigned a task.
- If permitted, you can select lists of members in the Contact List section. These members also receive a notification about this BP but are not assigned a task.
- If permitted, you can adjust task due dates for all users, or set individual task due dates for each assignee.
- Select Send.
- In the Notification window, review the content, and select OK.
The record moves to the next step in the workflow.
Completing the Purchase Order Form
Key Information
Key information about this purchase order (PO) is provided below.
| Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Required | Enter a title. |
| Vendor | Required | Select the vendor for this PO. |
| PO Number | Editable | The unique number for the PO, which might come from a corporate financial system |
| Amount | Read-Only | Amount of this record or line item |
| Due Date | Editable | Target completion date for this record. A default duration has been set by your administrator but can be overridden here for this record. |
Description
Enter the description or scope of this PO. This information might appear in any formal printouts of this contract.
| Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Short Description | Editable | Enter a description of 250 characters or fewer. |
| Detailed Description | Editable | The detailed information about the short-description field. The field size can be expanded. |
Purchase Order Details
Details about the PO should be entered below.
| Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Payment Terms | Editable | Payment terms (in days) for this PO |
| Priority | Editable | Priority of this record |
| Effective Date | Required | Enter the date this record takes effect. |
| Expiry Date | Editable | Expiration date of the invoice, PO, or PO Amendment |
| Delivery Date | Editable | Date when the purchased goods should be delivered |
| Delivery Method | Editable | Indicates whether there is a preferred delivery or transportation method |
| Spec Section | Editable | Specification section |
Deliver To
The following information identifies the location and contact person for delivery.
| Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase Order Main Contact | Editable | Primary contact for the PO |
| Editable | Email address of the primary contact | |
| Mobile Phone | Editable | Phone number of the primary contact |
| Work Phone | Editable | Phone number of the primary contact |
| Delivery Recipient Name | Editable | Name of the recipient for the delivery |
| Delivery Address | Editable | Delivery address, including the street address, P.O. Box, apartment, suite, unit, building, floor, and so on. Do not include the contact's name. |
| Delivery City | Editable | City |
| Delivery Country | Editable | Country |
| Delivery State/Province | Editable | State or Province |
| Delivery Zip/Postal Code | Editable | ZIP Code or postal code |
Vendor Information
Details of the Vendor for this PO. If the Vendor has Unifier users, be sure to select the primary contact here so that they can see the PO.
| Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Legal Vendor Name | Read-Only | Lists the legal vendor name if the vendor name is different from the vendor full legal business name, the vendor has a name longer than 50 characters, or both. |
| Vendor ID | Read-Only | If Unifier is integrated with an external system, this field contains the ID that corresponds to the vendor in the external system. Populates based on the selected Vendor. If not integrated with an external system, leave blank. |
| Vendor a Unifier User? | Required | Indicates whether the vendor should be CCed when the PO is approved. CCing the vendor lets the vendor see the PO, with some restrictions. |
| Vendor User | Editable | Indicates whether the vendor is a user in the system |
| Vendor Contact First Name | Editable | First name of the main vendor contact |
| Vendor Contact Last Name | Editable | Last name of the main vendor contact |
| Vendor Contact Phone | Editable | Phone number of the main vendor contact |
| Contact Email | Editable | Contact email address for the main vendor |
Vendor Address
Vendor address to be used for this PO
| Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor Address to Use | Required | Address to use for this transaction. By default, the vendor's primary address is used. |
| Alternate Vendor Address | Editable | Alternate address listed for this Vendor |
| Address | Read-Only | Street address, P.O. box, apartment, suite, unit, building, floor, and so on. Do not include the contact's name. |
| City | Read-Only | City |
| State/Province | Read-Only | State or province |
| State/Province - Other | Read-Only | If selecting a country without defined states, provinces, or regions, this field provides additional information. |
| Country | Read-Only | Country |
| Zip/Postal Code | Read-Only | ZIP Code or postal code |
Unit Cost Information
Information on the cost per unit for this record. The Unit of Measure and Unit Quantity values are set to the project values by default.
| Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Unit of Measure | Editable | Unit of measure used for the unit-quantity and cost-per-unit amounts |
| Unit Quantity | Editable | Unit quantity that should be used to calculate the Cost per Unit |
| Cost per Unit | Read-Only | The total cost divided by the unit quantity |
Record Information
System information about this record
| Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Record Number | Read-Only | System-assigned record number |
| Status | Read-Only | Record status for a workflow BP record is based on the workflow action preceding the current workflow step |
| Creator | Read-Only |
Creator of this record
|
| Creation Date | Read-Only |
Date that the record was created
|
| Record Last Update Date | Read-Only |
Date that the record was last updated
|
| Business Process Record URL | Read-Only |
A shareable link to this record, for anyone with the necessary permissions
|
| Project Number | Read-Only | Unique Project Number |
| Project Name | Read-Only | Name of the project |
Currency
If the currency of this PO is different from the project currency, specify it here.
| Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction Currency | Editable | If there are multiple currencies defined, use this field to specify a currency other than the project currency. |
| Rate in Project Currency | Read-Only | Exchange rate that will be used to calculate the Project Currency Amount. This will be set after the record is saved, submitted, or sent forward in the workflow. After it is set for a record, it cannot be changed. |
| Project Currency Amount | Read-Only | This field shows the amount of the transaction, according to the project currency. |
Consolidating Line Items
Purchase Order line items can be consolidated from the following business processes:
- Budget Change
- Budget Transfer
- Change Order
- Change Request
- Contract
- Estimate
- Forecast
- Initial Budget
- Invoice
- Issue
- Journal Entry
- PO Amendment
- Potential Change Order
- Purchase Order
- Risk
- Work Release
Completing the Line Items tab
General
| Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Cost Code | Required | Enter a cost code. |
| Code Name | Read-Only | Populates the code name of the selected cost code |
Purchase Order Details
Enter the cost for this line item as a lump sum or a unit rate.
| Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Item Quantity | Editable | Enter the item quantity. |
| Unit of Measure | Editable | The default unit of measure used for any line items that are added to this record. |
| Item Unit Cost | Editable | Enter the item unit cost. |
| Amount | Read-Only | Amount of this line item |
Description
Enter additional information specific to this Purchase Order line item.
| Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Short Description | Required | Enter a description of 50 characters or fewer. |
| Detailed Line Item Description | Editable | Enter additional detailed information about the line item description field. |