Printing POs to disk in your Free Purchase Order Software

Alan works in the graphic design industry in Glasgow, UK, and he was asking why he’s getting the message “PDF file creation is not available from here” when he selects the “Disk (PDF) file” option when processing new Purchase Orders in his PO Work Area…

Save PO to Disk

As it turns out, we recently added support for PDF file creation in that area, so if you’d like to save new POs to disk rather than printing a hard copy, that option is now available. If you’re still getting the message “PDF file creation is not available from here”, just select the menu HELP > CHECK FOR UPDATES to update your free version of SpendMap.

But please note that printing POs to disk is usually not necessary (which is why that option was not available previously). Here are a few reasons why you might be doing that, along with alternate (recommended) functionality to consider…

PO history

If you are saving a copy of your POs to disk to have around for historical/audit purposes, please note that every new PO that you process is stored in SpendMap automatically, whether or not you print a hard copy or save a copy to disk. At any time, you can reprint a processed PO, or pull up the details of the order on-screen. Here are the applicable menu options…

– PURCHASING > Purchase Orders > Re-print or re-send a processed PO
– PURCHASING > Status & Inquiries > PO Status
(TIP: you can also re-print a copy of the actual PO document, using the [Print] button at the bottom of the screen)

There are also many reports that show Purchase Order history, under…
– PURCHASING > Reports > Purchase Order Reports >

E-mailing POs to suppliers

You might be saving a copy of new POs to disk in order to e-mail them to your suppliers. But a better alternative would be to select the “e-mail” option in the Send Document Via field on the PO Header Screen, in which case the PO will be e-mailed to the supplier automatically (with no extra work) when the PO is processed…

Send Purchase Order by e-mail

That way, you won’t have to manually create an e-mail for each PO, manually attach the PDF file that you created, etc.

In addition, if you process a batch of POs for multiple suppliers, SpendMap will automatically create a separate e-mail for each supplier, and attach only their POs. By comparison, if you use the “Disk (PDF) file” option when processing new POs, you’ll get a single PDF file with all POs that you’re processing (for all suppliers), so you’d have to process the batch in pieces in order to get a separate PDF file for each supplier.

Anyway, we took all that into account with the “e-mail” option in the Send Document Via field. For more details on how we intended for you to send POs to your suppliers by e-mail, check out this section of the Online Help…
– System-Wide Features and Information > Documents and Reports > Sending Documents Electronically

Don’t need a copy of your Purchase Orders at all?

Some of you might be printing to disk because you don’t need any hard copies at all (e.g. if you’re calling in your orders to your suppliers), so perhaps you’re using the “Disk (PDF) file” option to avoid sending the print job to your printer?

If so, please consider using the “None/verbal” option in the Send Document Via field, in which case new POs will not be printed or transmitted when processed. Again, you can use this option when you only want to store the PO in the system, but you have another means of informing the supplier about the new order (e.g. by phone).

Got anymore feedback for us?

We’re not exactly sure why a few of you have asked for the ability to (manually) save a copy of each new PO to disk, but we try to listen so, again, we did add that ability recently. If you still want to, you can now select the “Disk (PDF) file” option when processing new Purchase Orders from your PO Work Area.

If there are other reasons why you’re manually saving POs to disk that we haven’t thought of, please let us know by adding a comment to this blog post, or e-mail us at free-procurement@spendmap.com

Thanks!

E-mail Setup in your Free Purchase Order Software

email purchase order

>>> 07/29/2015 update – The free version of SpendMap now includes a free, built-in e-mail service, which you can use instead of configuring the system to use your own e-mail server or ISP. This post has details. The balance of this post, below, still applies if you want to set the system up to use your own e-mail server or ISP.

Most people who use the Free Version of SpendMap want to send Purchase Orders and other documents to their suppliers by e-mail.

You can also enable various e-mail notifications, to let people know about important events, without them having to log into the system (e.g. “You have a new Requisition waiting for your approval” or “Your Requisition was rejected”, and so on).

For SpendMap to send e-mail to your suppliers and staff, you need to enable and set up the e-mail connectivity module, which is included in your free PO software.

Everything you need to know to get e-mail going is in the Online Help system, but I’ve taken the liberty of writing it out in detail here, to save you some time…

E-Mail Server Settings

Before we get started, it helps to understand that SpendMap is no different from any other e-mail client (e.g. Outlook, etc.) when it comes to sending e-mail. Just like Outlook needs to “connect” to your outgoing e-mail server to send messages, so does SpendMap. So you can probably borrow the settings from your standard e-mail software and plug those into the E-Mail Settings Utility in SpendMap, using this menu option…
– PURCHASING > Setup system > e-mail settings

Most people use the SMTP protocol (as opposed to MAPI), so I’ll assume SMTP for now. If you have any questions, or if you prefer to use MAPI and need any tips after reading the Online Help, please log a free support ticket.

>>>CORRECTION<<< After we posted this article, we realized that the MAPI option might be better than SMTP for many smaller companies (the target market for the Free-Procurement Project). If you have any trouble using the SMTP option outlined below, you might want to give MAPI a try instead. Here’s another post with more details.

OK, back to what we were saying…

On the E-mail Settings screen, select “ISP or SMTP server” in the two fields at the top of the screen.

Then, in the block of fields labeled “SMTP” just below that, enter your outgoing mail server’s name or IP address. It will usually look something like “smtp.service-provider.com”. Again, you can probably get that from the Settings area of your e-mail software, or you might have to contact your service provider or IT Department.

Next, enter “587” for the port number, unless your service provider advises you otherwise.

Then enter the user account (or e-mail address) that you use to log into to your e-mail account, and the associated password in the adjacent field.

That’s usually all that is needed for SpendMap to connect to your outgoing mail server.

Other E-Mail Settings

Other than that, you will need to fill in the three fields at the bottom of the screen (Proper User Name, User E-mail Address, and SpendMap User ID). This will improve the formatting of the e-mail messages that your suppliers receive. Again, the Online Help has details of what those fields are used for.

So those are the only mandatory (i.e. minimum) fields that you have to fill in. You may, however, want to review the other (optional) fields. For example, if you want to add some text to the cover page of the e-mail that goes along with each new Purchase Order to your suppliers, you can use the Boilerplate field in the center of the screen. If so, this blog post may also be of interest.

And it’s also quite popular to enable the setting to “Maintain a log of sent e-mail messages” but, again, all that stuff is optional. And again, the Online Help has all the details.

Test to Confirm Settings

Once the E-mail Settings are configured per above, it’s time to test that SpendMap is in fact able to connect to your outgoing e-mail server. Rather than processing a new PO to do this test, I prefer to just try e-mailing a report, which has less variables than processing a PO, so it’s faster/easier to confirm that it’s working.

So just run any report and select the “e-mail” option when it asks you “Where do you want to send the report?”. Any report will do, but personally I like to use a small report for testing, so maybe try the User Master File report, which you can find here…
– PURCHASING > Reports > Master file reports > Users master file

So, assuming the report shows up in your e-mail client, then that means that SpendMap is able to send e-mail.

Additional Setup for Specific Types of E-Mail

Once you have the e-mail feature working per above, you can enable the various types of e-mail messages in SpendMap.

Sending Documents by E-Mail

If you would like to e-mail Purchase Orders or other documents to your suppliers, please see this section of the Online Help…
– System-Wide Features and Information > Documents and Reports > Sending Documents Electronically

E-Mail Notifications

If you would like SpendMap to send e-mail notifications to your users when certain events occur (e.g. an e-mail to the Approver when someone processes a new Requisition, etc.), please see this section of the Online Help…
– System-Wide Features and Information > System-Wide Features and Utilities > Automatic E-mail Notifications

No shortcuts for PO Software

Seth Godin’s words are always worth repeating, but perhaps never more so than his recent blog post about shortcuts.

How does this relate to the world of Purchase Order Software and e-procurement?

Far too many software vendors push the message “easy, easy, easy” during the sales process.

And as a result, far too many nice people become frustrated and disappointed when they get around to actually implementing their new Purchasing systems, only to find out that there’s actually a little work involved (sorry folks, this isn’t a word processor that you can just install and start using).

Seth’s closing remarks are worth repeating here: “It will take you less time and less effort to do it the (right) way than it will to buy and try and discard all the shortcuts“. Well said, Seth.

But the good news is, as you work to get your free Purchase Order Software up and running, there’s lots to look forward to.

Measure twice. Cut once.

TIP: If you’re ready to start implementing the free version of SpendMap, please see “Time to Implement” in the Getting Started Documentation that came with your free software.

Adding freight to POs in your free Purchase Order System

Anna works in the medical industry in sunny Florida and asked about how to add freight and other such additional/supplemental charges to her Purchase Orders using the free version of SpendMap.

Great question, Anna. And thanks for using our free support ticket system.

There are actually a few options for adding freight to your Purchase Orders, depending on the stage of the purchasing process that you are made aware of the additional charges, how you want the freight charges to appear on the actual PO, how you do your account coding for these additional/supplemental charges, and the modules of the system that you are using.

Where/when to add freight

“Automatic” is always the best option, so if you know about the additional freight charges in advance, you can enter that information along with the supplier’s pricing in the [Supplier] Folder of the Item Master File, either as a fixed dollar amount or as a percentage of the item’s price, and SpendMap will auto-magically add a new line item for freight to the PO or Requisition, each time you order the item…

Freight on Purchase Order

Alternatively, you can add freight manually when creating the actual PO, if the amount isn’t known in advance of creating the order.

Finally, if you don’t find out about the freight charge until the supplier’s invoice shows up (and assuming you’re going to approve a charge that wasn’t on your original PO), you can add Freight and other “miscellaneous” charges while approving the supplier’s invoice for payment, in the Invoice Approval Module, using the [Add] button at the bottom of the Invoice Approval Screen.

TIP: To add new charges at the invoice approval stage like this, the applicable settings must be enabled in Invoice Options. Also, if you’re using the Invoice Discrepancy Approval Feature, you can specify a separate invoice tolerance/threshold for charges that are added at the invoice approval stage, in each user’s profile.

One line for freight or many (or none)?

Regardless of where (what stage) you decide to add your freight charge, you don’t necessarily have to show Freight separately on your orders. The alternative would be to just include the freight charge in the price of the item itself, in which case you might want to include “Price includes freight” (or similar) somewhere in the description of the item.

So why bother showing a separate line item on the Purchase Order for Freight?

Clarity: Properly communicating your intentions to your supplier should always be considered. For example, does the supplier intend to bill you separately for Freight?

Account coding: Are you using the G/L Account, Cost Center, or other “account coding” fields to track your orders? If so, do you charge Freight to a separate/dedicated account code, or is it charged to the same accounts as the main/parent item? If you include freight as a separate line item on the PO, it can have its own account coding.

Taxes: As with Account Coding (above), do you pay the same sales tax on Freight as you do the parent line item?

Assuming you want to show Freight as a separate line item on the PO (as opposed to just building it into the price of the item itself), you have the option of either 1) having a single line item for freight (i.e. a single freight charge for all items on the order), or 2) multiple lines for Freight (which, again, can each have their own Cost Center/Department and other account coding, etc.).

If you opt for one or more separate line items for freight, keep in mind that you can do that as a “one-off” item, so that you don’t need to add an item to the Item Master File for this.

On a separate but relate note, you might also want to read up on SpendMap’s “Included Charge” feature, which can be used to “lump” charges like this into the value of the main/parent item throughout the system for reporting purposes (e.g. for inventory valuation purposes, if you use that optional module). For example, if the main/parent item was, say, $100 and the freight was $15, by making the freight an “Included Charge”, the value of the item will show as $115 in stock, when you take the item out of stock and charge it to the end-user Cost Center, etc. For more details, check out the Online Help for this field on the PO Line Item Details Screen…

Included Charge on PO

Retiring Last Year’s Free Purchase Order Software (v11.64)

It has been over three months since we announced the free upgrade for last year’s release of the free version of SpendMap (v11.64), so now the time has come to officially stop supporting the old version.

Going forward, we can only provide support for the latest release (v11.98).

If you’re not sure which version you are using, just select the menu HELP > ABOUT.

For instructions on how to update your system, from within SpendMap please select the menu HELP > CHECK FOR UPDATES. This will not actually install the update. Rather, if you are using the old version, this will expose a red hyperlink at the bottom of the Main Menu in SpendMap…just click the hyperlink to see full upgrade instructions.

NOTE: The upgrade utility will bring forward all your data, history, settings, etc., so you will not lose any of your work in SpendMap.

Thanks,

The Free-Procurement Project Team
Totally FREE software that automates Purchase Orders and a whole lot more
Powered by SpendMap

Barcode and Faxing Modules in Free Purchase Order Software

Due to licensing restrictions related to the third party software that we use in SpendMap for sending faxes and printing barcode labels, which limits the number of copies that we are allowed to distribute, unfortunately we will not be able to include faxing and barcode label printing in the Free Version of SpendMap.

Please note, however, that you can send Purchase Orders and other documents to your suppliers using the E-mail Module instead, and you can still scan your suppliers’ UPC barcodes to simplify your inventory transactions if you wish, and you can print your own barcode labels using third party software (you just can’t print the barcode labels using SpendMap itself).

We were hoping to include the same functionality in our Free Version as we offer in our Paid Version, but unfortunately we just couldn’t get approval to give the faxing and barcode label printing technology away for free with the rest of SpendMap.

Sorry folks, we tried.

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!

Is free Purchase Order software right for you?

Barry in Washington, D.C. commented that we might want to be a bit more forthcoming about the differences between the Free and Paid versions of SpendMap. free vs. paid purchase order software

Sorry about that, Barry. We didn’t mean to hide anything.

In a nutshell, while they are functionally very similar, the Free Version is a Windows/desktop application that was designed for small businesses and small buying groups in larger organizations, while the Paid Version is a web-based (browser-based) system that is more suitable for midsize and large organizations (since it runs in your web browser with no software to install, it’s easier to deploy to a large number of users).

Technology aside, there are also differences in the way that we sell, implement and support the two products. For example, the Free Version is all set up for SMBs to do a self-evaluation, while we offer a more “consultative” sales approach for our larger customers who are considering the Paid Version (bigger companies tend to have more complex needs when it comes to their e-procurement systems, which often makes a self-evaluation impractical).

Similarly, the Free Version assumes a do-it-yourself implementation using the various resources that we provide with the free software (e.g. online help, video tutorials, online support system), while our larger, paying customers get to work directly with our Client Services Group and have access to our full line of Professional Services, such as priority phone support, web-based and on-site training, implementation consulting, and custom programming services.

Again, these are just the main differences between the Free and Paid Versions of SpendMap. For more details, we added a new subsection called “Is this right for you?” to the Getting Started Documentation that comes with the free software. Just select the menu HELP > CHECK FOR UPDATES, then exit and re-run SpendMap. The new section is right at the top of the Getting Started Documentation.

Hope this helps.

Tracking purchases by project or job in free Purchase Order Software

Jolene from Helston in the UK asked if she could track her Purchase Orders by project or job using the free version of SpendMap…

“Most of our jobs are ongoing and can take up to 6 months to complete, is there an easy way of viewing all items purchased for just one particular job?“

Yes, there are a number of ways that you can get a list of items purchased for a project or job. There is a Job Master File and a Project Master File under the Master Files menu section, so you can put your project/job numbers in there, then select the applicable number in the Project or Job Fields on the Purchase Order Line Item Details screen.

At that point SpendMap will know which project or job each Purchase Order is for, so you can sort and/or filter many reports by these fields. For example, try running the PO Listing Report for a particular project or job, using this menu option…
– PURCHASING > Reports > Purchase Order Reports > PO Listing

Again, that’s just one report that can be run by project or job but there are many others.

You can also search for Purchase Orders and other transactions on-screen using these fields. For details, see this section of the Online Help…
– System-Wide Features and Information > System-Wide Features and Utilities > Lookup (Searching)

On a separate but related note, the Project and Job Fields are user-definable (i.e. you can rename the field titles), and there are also other user-definable “account coding” or “tracking” fields available in SpendMap, some of which have even more capabilities than the Project and Job Fields. So if you only need to track purchases by Project or Job but nothing else, you might want to use the (user-definable) Cost Center field, rather than the Project or Job fields, since there is more reporting available for the Cost Center Field than any of the other fields. So consider renaming “Cost Center” to “Job” and then you can use the Job Field for something else, or you can just rename it to “N/A” or “Not Used” or something if you don’t need it (you can’t have two fields with the same title).

For more details, take a look at the subsection called “Account Code Fields and Segmentation”, in this section of the Online Help…
– System-Wide Features and Information > Master Files > Account Coding (Overview & Guidelines)

Have a great day!

Keep your Purchase Orders out of your supplier’s Junk Mailbox

Are you sending Purchase Orders to your suppliers using the e-mail feature in the free version of SpendMap?

If your e-mailed POs are getting caught in your suppliers’ Junk Mail filters, you might want to try adding some text to the e-mail cover page. Without some content in the body of the e-mail, the e-mail will include only an attachment (the attached PO) and one line of text (the default e-mail footer “Get your FREE Purchasing Software at…”, which also includes a hyperlink). In some cases, a one-line e-mail with a hyperlink and an attachment will be enough to trigger a supplier’s SPAM filter.

So consider adding some text to your e-mail cover page for Purchase Orders, using the field called “Boilerplate for POs/Releases/RFQs”, in the E-mail Settings utility, which you can find here…
– PURCHASING > Setup system > e-mail settings

Here’s some sample cover page text to consider…

—

Dear Supplier,

Please process the following orders/confirmations.

If you have any questions, please contact us before processing this order.

Also please add this e-mail address to your “safe sender” list or address book, to help ensure that you get our Purchase Orders going forward.

Thank you,

ABC Company – Purchasing Department
(other contact info here)
(avoid adding hyperlinks like e-mail addresses or your company’s URL, as additional links can increase an e-mail’s SPAM score)

PO history

E-mailing POs to suppliers

Don’t need a copy of your Purchase Orders at all?

Got anymore feedback for us?

Share this:

E-Mail Server Settings

Other E-Mail Settings

Test to Confirm Settings

Additional Setup for Specific Types of E-Mail

Share this:

Share this:

Where/when to add freight

One line for freight or many (or none)?

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: