BLANKET POs AND RELEASES

Use blanket purchase orders and their associated releases to establish purchasing agreements with vendors to facilitate the purchase of repeatedly bought items. Blanket purchase orders cannot be vouchered against or received. The blanket purchase order acts as both a template for setting up new releases quickly and a control device to limit (at your discretion) what is bought and how much is spent by whoever creates the release.

You must create release orders from blanket orders with the Create Blanket Purchase Order Releases function. You can select lines from the blanket for copying over to the new release. The release order has the same purchase order number as the blanket from which it was created. However, it is assigned a unique release number to differentiate it and other releases from the blanket order itself. Once you create a release, it can be maintained, printed, received, and vouchered just as a normal purchase order is.

Releases are treated as normal purchase orders for commitment purposes. All unreleased amounts on blanket order lines are calculated and reported separately. This amount can be included in or excluded from the commitment total, based on the Include Unreleased Blanket Amounts on Commitments flag in the Configure Purchasing Settings screen. For commitment calculation purposes, the unreleased blanket line amounts, not the total blanket amount set up in the blanket header, are used. (The blanket header amount does not have the additional charge information necessary for commitment calculation.)

Procedure:

• Use the Manage Purchase Orders screen to create a blanket order. From the Type drop-down list, select Blanket Order.

• Authorization for this procedure occurs on the Manage Buyers screen. In the PO Entry Authorization group box on this screen, select the Blanket Order check box.

• Value of purchase order and PO lines cannot exceed maximum limits as determined on the Manage Buyers screen.

• Option One: On the Create Blanket Purchase Order Releases screen, use the Search Criteria or click to load the blanket order for which a release order is to be created.

• Use the Manage Buyers screen to authorize people to enter release orders. Select the Release Order check box in the PO Entry Authorization group box.

• The values of purchase orders and PO lines cannot exceed maximum authorization limits set on the Manage Buyers screen.

• A release order is created for all lines with a copy flag of Y. Release quantity or release amount (depending on the type of line) must be greater than zero.

• Validations may occur depending on the check boxes in the Blanket PO Restrictions group box in the Blanket Info tab of the Manage Purchase Orders screen for the blanket order.

• To maintain the release order, use the Manage Purchase Orders screen. Use or to load the release order you wish to maintain.

• Option Two: You can also create blanket release orders on the Manage Purchase Orders screen. Click to load the blanket order, and click the Create Release button to generate your next release. Maintain the release information on the same screen.

Validations may occur depending on the values in the Blanket PO Restrictions group box in the Blanket Info tab of the Manage Purchase Orders screen for the blanket order.

You cannot add new lines to the release order when the Restrict Release Items to Items on Blanket drop-down list is Yes in the Blanket Info tab.

Account Distributions

Charge all purchases to a valid project/organization/account or account/organization. Costpoint uses these charge accounts to calculate and distribute purchase commitment amounts and to distribute vendor charges when the vendor invoice vouchers are posted against the accounting ledgers. You specify all charges at the purchase order line level, although you can enter default values on the Manage Purchase Orders screen and populate the Accounts subtask with those charge numbers.

The amounts to be charged include extended amount of the items purchased (quantity net unit price), sales tax on the item (if taxable), any line charges added to that line, and any sales tax on the line charges (if one or more are taxable). The tax rate applied is based on the sales tax code associated with the ship ID for that particular line.

For a charge number to be valid, all the standard Costpoint accounting criteria must be met. You can use only detailed account numbers, and all elements and charge combinations must be active. In addition, accounts you enter must be set up with an account entry group linked to the Manage Purchase Orders screen. (Such accounts should also be linked to the Manage Purchase Order Vouchers screen to ensure that these charges can be used when the PO is invoiced.)

You can allocate a given purchase order line amount across combinations of multiple valid charge numbers. You can also charge the PO line amount across as many charge numbers as you wish. You can allocate the amount by using a percentage or by entering a specific amount to charge and allowing Costpoint to calculate percentages. If the PO line amount changes after you have set up the charges, the function recalculates charge amounts based on the original percentages. If you have set up reference numbers, you can also enter these on each of the PO line charge.

If you use Costpoint Inventory, remember that any parts to be received and tracked in inventory must be charged to an inventory abbreviation. This abbreviation loads the project, account, and organization information into the Accounts subtask of the Manage Purchase Orders screen. If you enter an inventory abbreviation on a PO line, you must also enter an inventory part in the Item field. You cannot use an inventory abbreviation to order goods, services, miscellaneous charges, or non-inventory parts. You cannot allocate inventory parts to multiple charge numbers on a given line.

Line Charges/Miscellaneous Line Types

Use Costpoint to set up PO line charge type codes for two different purposes. In the first case, you can use line charge types in place of an item (part, good, or service) on a new PO line. If you do not enter an item on the PO line in the Manage Purchase Orders screen, you must enter a line charge type code in the Misc Type column. The PO function then looks up the line charge type to populate a description field (provided one has not already been entered) and various other default values.

In the second instance, you can use PO line charge types to set up one or more line charges against an existing PO line. These charges can represent additional amounts the vendor charges beyond the unit price and associated sales tax specified on the PO line. Typical line charges include freight and shipping costs, insurance, lot and setup charges, and Nonrecurring Engineering (NRE) costs.

If you use Costpoint Inventory, you can roll these costs, along with sales tax, into the value of the inventory parts for the purchased items if the Roll-Up PO Charges in Material Cost (Expense Inv Only) check box is selected on the Configure Inventory Settings screen in Costpoint Inventory. If the inventory abbreviation on the PO line has an inventory account type of A, the line charge and tax costs are rolled up to prevent inventory discrepancies.