Documentation

Getting Schooled on your Free Purchase Order Software

Hey kids,

We’re a bit late for back-to-school but nevertheless thrilled to announce that SpendMap now comes with Walkthrough Tutorials to help you learn how to use your Free Purchase Order Software quickly and easily.

Unlike the “external” video tutorials, our new Walkthrough Tutorials are built right into SpendMap and take you step-by-step through popular areas of the software, guiding you every step of the way as you work in the system…

tutorial-PO-item

We’re starting off with 10 Walkthroughs in the Free Version of SpendMap that cover the basics of the Purchasing, Receiving and Email Integration Modules.

You can start the Walkthroughs from the droplist at the top-right corner of the Main Menu in SpendMap…

tutorial-droplist

Evaluation Copy with Sample Data Only

Please note that the Walkthrough Tutorials are only available in the Evaluation Copy of SpendMap (the copy with all the sample data) but they do not show in your Live Copy of SpendMap.

That’s because the Walkthroughs are dependent on the sample data in the system.  That’s also why we recommend that you complete the tutorials before making any significant changes to the sample data in your Evaluation System.  For example, if you delete a supplier or item that’s referenced during one of the tutorials, the Walkthrough will stop because the data in the system will be different from what the tutorial expects.

How Else can we Help?

We think we’ve covered the basics with the 10 Walkthroughs that we’ve already built but if you have any suggestions for other areas of the system that could benefit from one of these tutorials, please shoot us an email and let us know.  Thanks!

Finding answers about your Free Purchase Order Software

Chris works at a construction and maintenance services company in the United Kingdom and was asking about something that we wrote about a few months ago.

Of course we love to hear from anyone who has a question about their free Purchase Order Software but did you know that you can often find answers to your questions right here on this Blog?

To search for a topic, try clicking on the little “magnifying glass” at the right side of the menu at the top of the page or using the “Search Posts” widget in the right sidebar.

Catch a friend a fish and you feed them for a day…show a friend how to fish and you feed them for life!

fishing-for-answers in free PO software

We moved the Getting Started Documentation for your free PO Software

It may seem like a small thing but lots of people rely on the Getting Started Documentation, so we thought we should mention that it was moved to the top of the Online Help…

Getting Started Docs for free PO software

Help and Getting Started Documentation for your Free PO System

Marsha is implementing the free version of SpendMap at a university in Washington state and had this question about the Getting Started Documentation that comes with the free software, and how it relates to the rest of the Online Help…

“Since I have figured out that some items in the Getting Started documentation do NOT apply to the free version, I thought I would check to find out if these items in the “Network Installation Instructions” apply…”

Thanks for this great question, Marsha.

As it turns out, everything in the Getting Started Documentation is specific to the Free Version only, and does not apply to the Paid Version of SpendMap.

For clarity, the shortcut/icon called “Getting Started Documentation” will bring you to a section of the Online Help called “Free Version Guide”, which is but one of many sections in the overall Online Help System.  See screen shot, below…

So while it’s true that the other sections in the Help apply to both the Free and Paid Versions of SpendMap (which offer similar functionality), absolutely everything in the “Free Version Guide” (i.e. the Getting Started Documentation) applies to the Free Version exclusively.

Sorry if this caused any confusion.  Since the Free and Paid Versions offer the same functionality, it made sense to create a single Help System for both versions, and just add some additional/supplemental content for the Free Version to help you get started.

get-start-in-help

Update for free Purchase Order System (various fixes and new Online Help)

An update has been posted to correct a few minor issues in the free version of SpendMap, as well as various improvements to the Online Help.

At your earliest convenience, please select the menu HELP > CHECK FOR UPDATES from within SpendMap to update your system.

As always, this “patch” will NOT update your version number or change any features.

If you have any questions, please use the free support ticket system.

Regards,
– The Free-Procurement Project Team

PS.  Have you told anyone about us lately?  Please help spread the word.  Thanks!

Step-by-step Setup Guide for free Purchase Order Software

We’ve had a few requests for a step-by-step guide or video tutorial for setting up the free version of SpendMap.  Mostly we’re seeing that in the responses to the survey that we send out a couple of weeks after people download the free Purchase Order system.

Yes, we thought of that when we were putting together the video tutorials and other resources for the free version of SpendMap.  The problem is, each company will take different steps when setting up SpendMap, depending on their specific procurement processes and the features and modules of the system that they plan to use.

For example, some people just want to automate their Purchase Orders, while others want to automate Requisitions and approvals, POs, receiving, supplier invoice approval, and inventory control.  And even within each module, there are many features that you may or may not need, depending on how you manage your Purchasing.

In our experience, most people only use 20% or so of the features/functionality in this type of system.  The challenge is, the 20% that you need will be different than the 20% that someone else needs.

So unfortunately it just not practical to put together a generic, “one-size-fits-all” getting started guide that would work for everyone.

We did, however, create 20 or so video tutorials for you, which cover the most popular features that most people will likely need.

Also, the Online Help system has a Getting Started section for each of the primary modules, which appears as the first sub-section under each module…

getting-started with free PO system

You might also want to take a look at the subsection “Time to Implement” in the Getting Started Documentation that came with your free software…that will point you in the right direction.

Thanks for your input!