Week #2.

We’ve had a few questions about how to route Purchase Orders for approval.  In SpendMap, you don’t route POs for approval, you route Requisitions for approval.

But requisitions can then be converted into Purchase Orders automatically once they’re approved, so for all intents and purposes it’s the same thing. We just use the term “Requisition” to refer to the internal transaction that’s circulated for approval, while “Purchase Order” refers to the official order that goes to the supplier.

Many of you are coming from manual, paper-based environments, so you might be using the same piece if paper for both the internal approval process as well as placing the order with the supplier. 

While there are other options in SpendMap, if you want to stick close to the “single document” environment that you’re used to, here’s what you do…

First, use Purchase Requisitions, not Item Requisitions…

Also, select this option in Miscellaneous Requisition Settings so that the PO and Requisition have the same number (as opposed to having a separate sequence of numbers for Reqs and POs)…

When you switch from paper to an automated Purchase Order System, the ultimate solution might not necessarily mirror what you did in the old days (projects like this can be about process improvement and not just process automation), but starting off with a familiar routine can provide a level of comfort in the early days of implementing systems like this.

If you would like to learn about other options for Requisitioning and Approvals, there’s a series of 5 video tutorials on our YouTube channel…here’s the first one.

PS. Thanks to the 30 or so people who have downloaded the free Purchase Order Software so far!