E. Blanket Purchase Orders and Standing Orders

This functionality has been replaced by the ESM Purchase Agreement tool. Click here or contact ESM Support for more information.

Blanket Purchase Orders house transactions created with the BPO along with user-created notifications based on value and end date. If the entity is integrated to a general ledger system, the individual transactions referencing the BPO will encumber as expected Purchase Orders. The overall Blanket Purchase Order value is not encumbered at the time of creation.

Standing Order functionality allows for tracking of invoices against a supplier agreement or contract. Once a standing order has reached its expiration date, or its value has been exhausted, no additional invoices can be created against it. Notifications can be configured to alert users once a standing order is within a specified time frame for expiration, or once total payments against the standing order reaches a specified dollar or percentage limit. A standing order will encumber funds up front during the creation process using the specified account codes.

Configuring Blanket/Standing Orders- System Administrator

To allow users to create Blanket and Standing Purchase Orders, check the privilege under Add/Edit User.

To configure the display of Blanket Purchase Orders on the Checkout Tab, access the Workbench Page Configuration from entity admin. The Blanket Order field displays in the transaction header and the field name can be relabeled. In the Checkout view, the Blanket Order field displays in General Details and the label displays as specified if edited in Workbench Page Configuration.

Creating a Blanket or Standing Purchase Order

If user has the BPO/SPO functionality assigned by the System Administrator, the Blanket/Standing Order link displays beneath the search bar in the ‘Go to’ section.

Click the Blanket/Standing Order link. The user can click the New Order button to create a new BPO/SPO. Existing orders show in the All Orders Area. To view an existing SPO/BPO, click in the order number.

Click the New Order button to create a new blanket or standing order.

Search for the supplier and use the Select button to choose.

Complete the General Details box.

The BPO required fields are Order Classification, Order ID, Start Date, and Total Order Value. The user can choose to enter an Order Description and/or Expiration Date.  Select Continue to progress to the next step.

The SPO required fields are Order Classification, Order Number, Order Description, Start Date, and Total Order Value. The SPO also allows for a Fiscal Date entry for encumbering. Select Continue to progress to the next step.

Users can create Notifications based off the Order Value and Expiration date. Select the Add Notification button.

To create an Order-Value based notification, enter the Basis (dollar or percentage of amount remaining) and users to notify. The search bar below allows the creator to select the users. Select Update before exiting the pop-up window to save the notification.

To create an Expiration- based notification, enter the number of Days and search for users to notify using the search bar. The Next Notification date will auto-generate after entering the days above. Select Update before exiting the pop-up window to save the notification.

Select Continue to proceed to the next step.

BPO/SPO Creators can associate attachments with the BPO/SPO record. To add or edit attachments, select Manage Attachments.

Users can browse their machine to add new attachments by selecting Choose File or remove existing ones by selecting delete.  Select Update to save attachments prior to closing the pop-up window.

Select Continue to proceed. If a new BPO/SPO was created, the user will return to the BPO/SPO Page, showing the new order. If an edit occurred, users can see transactions associated with the BPO.

To edit an existing BPO/SPO, or see the associated transactions, select the BPO/SPO name.

Creating a transaction for a Blanket Purchase Order.

After adding items to the cart from the Supplier associated with the BPO, proceed to Checkout. Select the appropriate BPO from the drop-down menu under General Details.

The user can click the Details link, which generates a popup displaying the blanket order general detail (minus the total order value, as this is deliberately not included) and all attachments. The user can download attachments by selecting their links, if present.

The transaction can be submitted for approval or released based on the Entity’s configuration.

If the amount of the transaction exceeds the available funds for a BPO, upon submitting for approval/release, the transaction is marked invalid with an error indicating the transaction total exceeds the remaining value of the blanket order. Similar checks are also made if the transaction is edited by an approver.

The System Note will display as Alert with the same message and the transaction status changes to Invalid Transaction.

The transaction can be modified such that the transaction total no longer exceeds the available value of the blanket order.

After releasing the transaction, the Blanket Order number displays in View Order.

Reporting capabilities are also available in the data Categories of theReporter. The Blanket Purchase Order will be identified under the field, “Order classification.”