purchase order software

6 months of free Purchase Order Software

I can’t believe that it’s been six months since we introduced the world’s first free e-procurement system.  It’s like watching my kids grow up…goes by so quickly.

People in over 100 countries have downloaded our free Purchase Order Software and we’re only getting started.

And while we’re happy that many users of the free software chose to upgrade to the paid version of SpendMap for one reason or another, we’re even more thrilled about how many smaller companies have implemented the totally free version.

It feels really good to help so many people who could never have afforded this type of technology before.

So What’s Next?

We were actually hoping that you can tell us!

We have a few ideas of our own for how to improve the project, like some cool new software features or maybe some new tools to help bring the members of the Free-Procurement community closer together (yes, that’s you!), but we thought we’d start by asking what you would like to see added.  Or changed. 

After all, this is your Project, as much as it is ours.

So could we ask a small favor in return for your free Purchase Order Software system?  Could you take a couple minutes and answer this short survey? 

I know, I know, we all have a bazillion things to do but it won’t take long and this type of feedback is really important to keep things moving in the right direction.

Thanks in advance for taking the survey, and also for downloading the free Purchase Order Software in the first place.

Have a great day!

Part numbers in free Purchase Order Software

Nancy in Pennsylvania recently asked me about the best way to set up her part numbers in SpendMap.  Specifically, she asked about the use of supplier item numbers when multiple suppliers provide the same item…

“How do item numbers  relate to supplier item numbers?  For example, if you have an item code but have several suppliers for that item, then I would think the item code needs to be generic (e.g. copy paper). But how or where do you record the item number from the supplier, so you order the correct things?  If you use the supplier’s item number, then how do you have multiple suppliers for that item?“

That’s right Nancy, you can set up a “generic” part number for the item, which will be the same regardless of how many suppliers you buy it from (let’s call it the “internal item code”).  Then, in the [Supplier] Folder of the Item Master File, you can set up as many suppliers for that item as you like, each with their own “supplier’s item code”…

Supplier's part numbers in free Purchase Order Software

The other alternative would be to set up multiple items in the Item Master, one for each supplier, but there are a number of benefits to having a single “internal” item code for all suppliers.

First and foremost, you will be able to run reports by your internal part number, so you’ll be able to see the purchase history of the item, regardless of who you bought it from.

Almost as important, there will only be one item in the Item Master File for your users to search for, regardless of who they’re buying it from, which is a bunch easier, especially for “casual” users like Requisitioners who may not be as well-trained as, say, Buyers or Purchasing Managers that use the system all day long.

Also please note that you can search for items by the supplier’s item number when creating Purchase Orders, Requisitions, or other transactions in the system, in addition to being able to search by your internal item number, by keyword in the description, and many other options.

Finally, since your suppliers may not be familiar with your internal item numbers, their part numbers (the “supplier’s item numbers”) will be inserted into the description of the Purchase Order automatically, so your suppliers will be able to see both your internal item number as well as their item number when processing Purchase Orders on their end.

Free Purchase Order Software Video Tutorial

This new video tutorial outlines the free version of SpendMap that automates Purchase Orders and a whole lot more.

Click the image below to watch the video on YouTube…

Watch on YouTube

New Tutorial: Importing items into free Purchase Order Software

We’ve had a few requests for help with importing your items (item catalogs) into the free Purchase Order Software during initial system setup (saves time over keying in all the item details manually).

So to help you out, we put together a new video tutorial on importing items into the Item Master File.

The video actually covers many generic concepts about SpendMap’s built-in integration tools, not just importing items, so it will also be helpful for you when importing other Master Files (suppliers, account codes, assets, etc), as well as setting up transactional interfaces (e.g. exporting approved invoices to your Accounts Payable system, etc.).

TIP: As you’ll see at the end of the tutorial on importing items, we’ve added a sample import configuration to your Evaluation System, along with a sample spreadsheet containing a few sample items that you can use to test the import utility.  If you recently downloaded the free version, you may need to select the menu Help > Check For Updates to get these files.

You can watch all 14 video tutorials to help implement your free Purchase Order Software on our YouTube channel.

Thanks, and please keep the feedback coming!

Need help with your free Purchase Order Software?

We’ve had a few requests for additional assistance to implement the free version of SpendMap. 

While we’ve had pretty much unanimously positive feedback on the video tutorials, the online help system and the other free implementation resources that we’ve provided, free or not there’s still some work that needs to be done to get a new Purchasing System up and running, and who has time these days?

We understand and we’re happy to help.

So we’re now offering “a-la-carte” professional services.  You can buy a block of hours for…

  • phone or web-based training
  • implementation consulting
  • system configuration
  • technical support

…or anything else that you might need help with.  We can help you set up your user accounts and Master Files, import your items and suppliers, or maybe just spend some time discussing your current purchasing processes and how best to improve things with SpendMap.

You can learn more about these stand-alone services, as well as the yearly Service Plan, on this page.

And don’t forget, we also offer a free Setup Session, to point you in the right direction.  Not a replacement for formal training or implementation consulting, but hey, it’s free!

Hope that helps.

Important update for your free Purchase Order Software

If you have successfully installed the free version of SpendMap and the system is able to check for updates when starting up, you can ignore this blog post.
 
As you may know, the free version of SpendMap checks for updates/patches automatically.  When an update is available, it is downloaded automatically and you will receive a message to re-launch the system.  This ability to automatically update/patch the system is absolutely mandatory for a project like this, due to the large number of free systems in use.
 
Unfortunately, we’ve had a few support tickets from people who are not able to activate and/or update the software due to restrictions on their firewalls or proxy servers, so we have redesigned the auto-update utility in the hopes of making it more “firewall friendly”.
 
Like all updates/patches, the updated version will be downloaded and installed automatically the next time you run SpendMap.  However, if you are having trouble connecting to our update server, obviously you won’t get the update.
 
So, if you have SpendMap running but are not able to apply auto-updates, you can download the new version manually with this file…
http://www.spendmap-updates.com/updates/free1164/patch.zip 
 
TIP: If you are not sure if your SpendMap system is able to auto-update, you can test this by selecting the menu option Help > Check for updates – If it is unable to check for updates, you will receive an error message.

Instructions for IT person or System Administrator:  After backing up the system, just unzip the patch.zip file into the root folder of each of your SpendMap systems.  For example, if you’re using both the Evaluation and Live systems, you’ll need to unzip this twice, into both of these folders (the example below assumes that you installed SpendMap into the default folder of C:\FREEPROCUREMENT)…
 
C:\FREEPROCUREMENT\Eval
C:\FREEPROCUREMENT\Live
 
If, however, you were not able to get SpendMap going in the first place, you can just download a new SETUP.EXE (which has the new auto-update feature built-in) and install the system from scratch…
http://www.spendmap.com/Register_Download 
 
For clarity, if you are installing from scratch, there is no need to download and apply the patch.zip file, as its contents are already included in the SETUP.EXE.
 
Finally, if the new update utility does not improve things for you and SpendMap is still not able to check for updates due to restrictions on your firewall or proxy server, as a last resort you can manually download and install the patch.zip file from time to time.  Any new or updated files will be added to the ZIP file accumulatively, so you can download and install the files as often as you like, perhaps once a month, or if we make a post like this in the future about an important update.  To make sure that you are notified about important updates, please follow our blog.

Limits on free Purchase Order Software

My credit card number was stolen a few weeks ago and my bank issued me a new card.  They also lowered my credit limit (to reduce the chance of fraud going forward, I guess) but without notifying me, so naturally I was surprised when my card was declined at a gas station over the weekend.  To make things worse, a $25 “over limit fee” shows up on my statement.  So they lower my limit without notice and then charge me for using their service.  Very nice.

Recently we’ve had quite a few questions about the “limits” on the free version of SpendMap.  Despite our best efforts to explain that the software is totally free, quite a few of you are still calling it the “demo” version and asking about the limitations in the free software, like if there are limits on the number of suppliers or items you can add, or how many Purchase Orders you can process, or how long the trial period is.

There are no limits.  It’s totally free.  Forever and always.  Really.  Really really!

The only limits are those that are imposed by the technology itself.  Since it is a desktop application, it’s not really suitable for a large number of users.  If you need to roll out your e-procurement system to hundreds or thousands of users, you should really be looking at our web-based system.

The only other limit, if you can call it that, is the limit on what you can accomplish on your own with the software, in between the duties of your regular business day.  But if you don’t have time for a do-it-yourself e-procurement project, we’re offering an affordable Service Plan so that you can directly engage our Client Services Team to make faster progress.

And no, there won’t be any surprise charges when you cut your 100th PO.

Q1 Results: Free Purchase Order software is spreading around the world

The long weekend here in Toronto was a great chance to reflect on our accomplishments and make plans for even better things to come.

For those of you that are following the Free-Procurement Project, I thought you might be interested to see our progress for the first three months…

For comparison, here’s what it looked like two months ago.

Importing items into free Purchase Order Software

I recently helped a Free-Procurement customer with importing his items into the Item Master File in SpendMap and I thought a couple of the tips I gave him would be useful for you as well.

What I’m going to outline here applies to importing most of the system’s Master Files, not just items…

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We put our money where our mouth is with free Purchase Order Software

It’s fitting, don’t you think, that you pay no money at all for this software that’s used to save you money (i.e. control your spending).

Talk about putting your money where your mouth is.