Software Tips & Tricks

Too many options for users in free Purchase Order Software

(or “I don’t want my users seeing that”)

One of the most common topics of discussion we’ve been having in our free system setup/training sessions has been around user profiles and how to restrict users so that…

  1. they can’t do certain things in the system,
  2. they can’t see certain information, or
  3. just to make it easier for users that don’t need access to the entire system.

Most of you seem to be logging into the Evaluation Copy using the user ID with full access to all functionality (the user “FULL”), but this user profile, while convenient for evaluation purposes, would be unusual for a real user account in your Live/Production system.

Rather, you would likely set up restricted user profiles with access to only the areas of the system that each user needs.  This is especially true for “casual” (occasional) users like Requisitioners and Approvers that may have little or no training on the system, so you want to make it as easy as possible for them.

To learn now to customize each user’s profile, check out this video tutorial or read “About User-Definable Menus and Pop-Up Prompts” in the Online Help.

When a PO is just a PO

We still see it from time to time; the 13-digit PO number.  You know, first you take an incrementing PO number, then you jam the date at the front, stick on the cost center or job number, and maybe sprinkle in the Buyer’s initials for good measure.

If you’re coming from a manual, paper-based process to manage your Purchase Orders, you wouldn’t be the only one to use your PO numbers for purposes other than identifying the order.  After all, when all you have to rely on to track your spending history is a filing cabinet, what other alternatives are there?

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Alternatives to using item catalogs

When our customers first see what can be done with the Item Master File (item catalog) in SpendMap, their first reaction is usually elation.  They love that they can put a list of approved items in front of their Requisitioners and Buyers, they love how most of the data entry goes away (item descriptions, pricing, account coding, etc. will default on new orders based on the selected item), and they love how they can run reports to get accurate spending history by part number.

But at some point the reality sets in and then comes the inevitable “You mean I have to set up all that item information?”.

So this post outlines some options for (and alternatives to) maintaining item catalogs in SpendMap.

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Requisitions vs. Purchase Orders

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.  (more…)

New YouTube Channel for Tutorials

Last couple weeks we’ve been working on a new YouTube channel  with online software tutorials.  Should be really helpful for new users.  A great compliment to the new Help System (which so far is getting rave reviews).

Six tutorials posted so far…mostly high-level stuff for now…
http://www.youtube.com/user/spendmap

YouTube is fun…feeling like a movie star!

😀