Purchase Orders

From your portal you can create an purchase order and send this to your Approver. Once approved your purchase order will be sitting in your portal as Approved and will be valid for matching to the incoming invoice from the Supplier.

From your portal, click on Purchase Order. 



Create new PO request

A new purchase order request is launched for you. You must allocate a Supplier and you can update the description field to name the PO.  You can search for your supplier by typing in the first three letters and choose from the display. 

The company assigned Approvers will be shown.  You may be able to change this and this will be dependent on the Approval workflow your company has.  


   Approval workflows


Add item/s in quick code view

Add in an item line for the purchase. You will need to allocate the appropriate expense type and complete any mandatory fields.  They will be outlined in Red if mandatory 

You can attach a quote from the Supplier. If you emailed the quote to your vault you can find it from the document images on the left.  Click on the image thumbnail to attach. 

Or you can upload a document directly into the Purchase Order.

This maybe mandatory and if so you will be prompted before you can save the PO



Updating items in Quick Code

You can complete the mandatory fields in the Quick Code work area, if these are the only fields that you need to update before saving and submitting for Approval.




Updating items in Detail view

You can also work in the Detail view to do other actions like Splitting an item. 



Split an item

You can split the item to different cost centres, projects codes or expense types if required using the Split feature.

Learn more:  Splitting items/expenses


Add delivery details

You can add delivery information into the Purchase Order and this will be shown on the PO that is sent to the supplier


Submit for approval

When you have completed adding in the items you can submit for Approval.

Information Dependent on your company workflow you may have Approvers auto assigned or you may be able to choose from a dropdown.    

Approval process

Once submitted the PO status changes to 'Pending Approval" and the nominated Approver will be contacted via email to approve.

If the PO is approved or rejected you will be advised and the PO status will be updated to either 'Approved' or 'Rejected'.

If the PO is 'Approved' there is no further action required of you until the supplier invoice is received and matched to the PO.


Information You can track the status of the purchase order from your portal dashboard.    

Purchase Order is rejected

If your purchase order is rejected you will advised by email. The Rejected purchase order will appear in your home page. You will be able to see the Authorisor notes and take the appropriate action.



Purchase Order to supplier

Your Approval email will include the Purchase Order attached and this can be forwarded to the Supplier


Purchase Order Printing

You can print the Purchase Order from the Summary.


Closing Purchase Orders 

To close a purchase order, it needs to be linked to atleast one supplier payment and all the linked supplier payments have to be finalised. There are 3 ways to close a purchase order.

From Supplier Payment

When linking a purchase order to a supplier payment, you can tick the "Complete purchase on payment" box, so the purchase order will be closed when the linked supplier payment is finalised. This can be done as a claimant or approver or payer or admin.

From Purchase Order

As a claimant or payer, you can go into a purchase order and close it. The Close Purchase button will only appear if there is atleast one supplier payment linked to it.

Information The system won't let you close the purchase order if the linked supplier payments are not finalised.

Bulk Close

On the Claim Search screen as payers or admins, you are able to choose Open PO in the Status filter and obtain a list of open purchase orders. You will see checkboxes against the Purchase Orders that can be closed. 

You can either tick selected purchase orders or click on Select All button to select all the open purchase orders that can be closed and then click on Close Selected Purchase Orders button to close all those purchase orders. The system will also show the number of purchase orders that you're going to close in brackets within that button.

InformationThe system will show this bulk close option only when you search for purchase orders using the Open PO status.

The system doesn't show checkboxes against some purchase orders when -

  • It is not linked to atleast 1 supplier payment.
  • It is linked to atleast 1 supplier payment but one or more linked supplier payments haven't been finalised.
Information
This operation may take a few seconds especially when there is a large number of purchase orders that need to be closed.

Company logo's for Purchase Orders

Purchase Order's generated from ProSpend can be company branded. We have now released the option to set-up a different logo for each Category in multi-entity databases.

The logo to appear will be assigned based on the Category chosen for the first item of a Purchase Order.

Different Terms & Conditions can also be set up for each Category. When a Purchase Order is approve, the Purchase Order creator is sent an email with the PO and T&C's attached for forwarding to the Supplier.



If you would like us to set up new logos and T&C's please contact Support.

Notes on the Purchase Order Copies for different Companies

The system can now display different notes on the Purchase Order copies depending on which category/company the PO has been raised for.



Cancelling Approved Purchase Orders

Claimants can now cancel an approved Purchase Order if there are no Invoices linked. When opening an Approved PO they will see a 'Cancel' button on the top.


If there are Invoices linked to a Purchase Order, it cannot be cancelled but can be Closed. When opening the approved PO, the 'Close Purchase' option is available.

InformationIf a Purchase Order is cancelled incorrectly, only a Payer or Administrator is able to re-instate the claim.    

Cancelled Status on the Purchase Order Copy

If a purchase order claim is cancelled in ProSpend, the system will now show the status on the purchase order copy as "Cancelled".




Approved Status on Approved Purchase Orders

When a purchase order is approved and the purchase order .pdf is generated, it will now contain text that shows it has been Approved.


Self Approval for Supplier Payments and Purchase Orders

If the first approver of a claim is the claimant itself, when the claimant submits that claim, the system will auto-approve it and it will move on to the next approver or to the payer (if there is only one approver).

If the approval limits are enabled, the system will apply those limits. If the claim exceeds the claimant’s approval limit, the system will stop them from submitting the claim unless there are more approvers after the first step.



If self approval is disabled, the system will stop the claimants from submitting the claim.



InformationSelf approval can only be enabled for supplier payments and/or purchase orders.

Activity Code or Activity Name on the Purchase Order Copy

The system can display the activity code or the activity name on the Purchase Order copy.



Send Purchase Orders Directly to Suppliers

Previously, once a purchase order has been approved, only the claimant who raised it receives a copy of it. You can now choose to send these purchase order copies directly to the suppliers or any other nominated email addresses.

When a supplier is chosen on a new purchase order, the system displays an "Email PO" switch which when turned on will allow the claimant to update the email addresses that the approved purchase order are emailed.


If there is an email address setup in the supplier profile, the system will default it in the "Email To" field. If it needs to be changed, the claimant can update the email address or they can also add additional email addresses separated by commas.

The "Email PO" switch by default will be turned off allowing the claimant to switch it on when sending the purchase order directly to the supplier. If the switch needs to be enabled by default, please log a support ticket from the portal which is accessed from within ProSpend by clicking on the help icon on the top right hand corner.

Once the "Email To" field is updated, the claimant can complete the purchase order and clicking submit. Once the approver approves that purchase order, the system will send the purchase order copy to those email addresses entered in the "Email To" field. The system will also continue to email a copy to the claimant.

If the claimant forgets to switch on the "Email PO" functional switch or update the correct email addresses before submitting the purchase order, they have an option to perform those actions once the purchase order has been approved. This can also be used if the claimant decides to send the purchase order to additional email addresses post approval.

To achieve this, the claimant needs to find the approved PO from their dashboard, go into the claim, click on "Actions" and click on "Email PO".


The system will display a pop-up box allowing the email addresses to be entered and upon clicking "Confirm", the system will email the POs to those email addresses.


The claim audit history will reflect the above actions with a date/time stamp.


The email sent to the supplier has the following look and feel. This email will be sent from no-reply@expense-manager.com.


Re-Open Purchase Orders when they are in Finalised Status

You can now re-open the purchase orders when they are in finalised status.

Information You cannot re-open a purchase order if it has been both finalised and exported. If you want to re-open a purchase order that has been finalised and exported, you need to remove it from the export batch first and then re-open it.

Change Filenames for Supplier Payments and Purchase Order Claim Summaries

Once you export claims to your finance systems, you have an option to download archive files from ProSpend which contains the claim summaries. These claim summaries have all the claim data along with the documents. Please see the archive files section in the export claims page for more information on this.

By default, these archive files are names in the following format - "Claim{Claim ID}".

You now have an option to change these filenames for supplier payments and purchase orders. You can now include the claimant name, the supplier name and/or the invoice date in these filenames.

Please reach out to our support team if you want this to changed.


Importing Purchase Orders

As an admin or a claimant, you can import purchase orders in bulk using an import template.

Please contact ProSpend support team to get this template which will be unique to your database.

Below is the link to all of the updated user guide on our Help Site -

Importing Purchase Order


Client Account Number on the Purchase Order Claim Summary

The system now displays the client account number on the purchase order claim summary which is sent to the claimant and the supplier.



Purchase Orders can be Made Mandatory/Not Mandatory by Supplier

In the supplier setup, there is a new field called "Require Purchase Order". You can use this field to make the purchase orders mandatory or not mandatory for invoices from that supplier.

The default option will be the rule you have setup in the past. For example - if you have setup a rule in the past which requires POs for any invoices above $5,000.00, that will be the default option and will be applied to all the suppliers. If you would like to change the default option to something else, please log a ticket via our support portal and we can change it for you.


Defaulting the Cost Centre and the Expense Type Details when new Purchase Orders are Created

Each supplier can be setup with a default cost centre and a default expense type. 

Previously, these defaults were being applied to supplier payments only. We have now included purchase orders to use these defaults too. When a purchase order is created, ProSpend automatically adds the first line and this first line will have the above defaults.

The system will also set these defaults to any additional lines that are added later.


Supplier Name for Supplier Payments and Purchase Orders on the Export Batch Screen

We have added a new column on the export batch screen to show the supplier name for supplier payments and purchase orders. 


Not Approved Status and Draft Watermark on Purchase Orders

If a purchase order is in "Not Submitted", "Pending Approval" or "Rejected" statuses, the system displays "NOT APPROVED" on the purchase order. Additionally, a "DRAFT" watermark is shown on the purchase order.

If a purchase order is in "Approved" or "Finalised" statuses, the system displays "APPROVED" on the purchase order.


Ability for the Approvers to be able to Close POs from Supplier Payments

Prior to this release, when a claimant raised a PO on behalf of the approver, the approver could approve the invoice for payment but could not close the PO. They would see the below error.



With this release, approvers can now check the ‘Close purchase on payment’ checkbox to close the linked PO. By closing a PO, approvers can now ensure that the PO is no longer available to be matched to more invoices.

(ProSpend Ref - ER-2198)


Open and Closed Purchase Orders

Previously, irrespective of purchase orders being open or closed, the system just showed the status as Approved or Finalised. We have now added 2 new statuses for purchase orders - Open PO and Closed PO. 

If a purchase order has been Approved or Finalised and if it is still open, you will see Open status along with Approved or Finalised status.

If a purchase order has been Finalised and if it is linked to atleast one supplier payment and if it is closed, you will see Closed status along with Finalised status (once a purchase order is closed, the system will automatically finalise it).

Claimant and Approver Home Screens

If a purchase order has been closed, you will see Closed badge in the Description column on the claimant and approver home screens. However, if a purchase order is open, you won't see any badge in the Description column. You will still see Approved or Finalised statuses in the Status column at the end.

There are also 2 new Status filters - Open PO and Closed PO which will allow you to filter open and closed purchase orders respectively.

Payer and Admin Claim Search Screen

On the claim search screen, if the purchase order is closed, you will see Closed status under Finalised status in the Status column but if it is open, the Status column will just show Approved or Finalised. 

This screen also includes 2 new Status filters for Open PO and Closed PO.

(ProSpend Ref - ER-2706)


Close Purchase Orders in Bulk

We recently released some changes to the Claim Search screen for payers and admins which enables them to filter open purchase orders or closed purchase orders. To know more about this, please see below.

You can now close the open purchase orders in bulk.

On the Claim Search screen, you can choose Open PO in the Status filter and obtain a list of open purchase orders. You will see checkboxes against the Purchase Orders that can be closed. 

You can either tick selected purchase orders or click on Select All button to select all the open purchase orders that can be closed and then click on Close Selected Purchase Orders button to close all those purchase orders. The system will also show the number of purchase orders that you're going to close in brackets within that button.

Information The system will show this bulk close option only when you search for purchase orders using the Open PO status.

The system doesn't show checkboxes against some purchase orders when -

  • It is not linked to atleast 1 supplier payment.
  • It is linked to atleast 1 supplier payment but one or more linked supplier payments haven't been finalised.
Information This operation may take a few seconds especially when there is a large number of purchase orders that need to be closed. 

(ProSpend Ref - ER-2775)


Ability to Edit Purchase Order Numbers

Previously, when a purchase order is created, the system defaulted the claim ID as the purchase order number and it was not possible to change it. 

With the recent release, the system will still default the claim ID as the purchase order number, however, it can be overwritten with any other text.


The system still has duplicate check in place, so the purchase order number has to be unique.


This purchase order number will then appear in the purchase order drop down within a supplier payment.

This purchase order number will also be used for auto matching the supplier payment to a purchase order i.e if this purchase order number is on the invoice, the system will scan it and then match the supplier payment to the correct purchase order.

For purchase orders that have been imported via the import file or via sync from external systems, this PO number field will be locked by default unless you have edit imported purchase orders option turned on in your ProSpend site. In these cases, the PO number will be obtained from those sources.

(ProSpend Ref - ER-2951)


Purchase Order Closed and Re-Opened Emails

You can now choose to send emails to the claimants when their purchase orders are closed and re-opened by payers or admins.

Below is what the email to the claimant will look like when the purchase order is closed by a payer or an admin -

Below is what the email to the claimant will look like when the purchase order is re-opened by a payer or an admin -

By default, these emails are disabled. To enable them, please login as Admin, go into Users, click into a user profile, scroll down to Notification Preferences, tick Purchase Order - Closed and Re-opened Emails and click on Save Changes.


(ProSpend Ref - ER-2681)


Copy Purchase Orders

You can now copy your past purchase orders to create new ones. As a claimant, you can go into any of your past purchase orders which can be in any status and click on Copy button on the top to create a new purchase order with most of the data being the same. 

Below are the details that will be copied over from the original purchase order -

Header fields

  • Claimant name
  • Claim category (header category)
  • Supplier
  • Claim description
  • Delivery details
  • Approval workflow
  • Reference
  • Amounts On
  • Email To
  • Email Address (if present)
  • Amounts are

Item fields

  • Expense category
  • Cost centre
  • Project group (if present)
  • Project (if present)
  • Expense type
  • Activity code (if present)
  • Description
  • Description 2 (if present)
  • Custom fields (if present)
  • Units (if present)
  • Price (if present)
  • Item code (if present)
  • Gross amount
  • Tax code
  • Tax amount
  • Splits
  • Recipients

Below are the details that won't be copied from the original purchase order -

  • Purchase order date - this will be set to the date on which the purchase order is being copied.
  • Quote document, notes and supporting documents won't be copied, so the claimant can add new documents and notes.
  • The new purchase order won't be linked to any supplier payments, even if the original purchase order is linked to any supplier payments.
The new purchase order will be created in not submitted status irrespective of the status of the original purchase order. This way the claimant can update any details that have to be updated and then submit it for approval.

(ProSpend Ref - ER-2709)


Option to Not Show Split Lines on Purchase Order Copies

By default, if a PO has an item that has been split, the system shows these split lines on the purchase order copies that are sent to the claimants and the suppliers.

For example - below PO item has 3 splits in ProSpend -

Below is what the PO will look like -

There is now an option which will exclude split lines and show only one line per item. If this option is enabled, the above PO will look like below -

If the new option is enabled and if an item has splits,

1. Information from the main item will be will be shown on the purchase orders for below columns -

  • Qty
  • Price
  • Amount
  • GST Amount
  • Total (incl. GST)

2. Information from the first split line will be shown for below columns -

  • Order Details
  • Activity Code
  • Project Group Code / Name
  • Project Code / Name
  • GST (Tax Code)

By default, the system will continue to show splits on purchase order copies but reach out to us if you want to hide them.


(ProSpend Ref - ER-2839)


Option to Lock the Purchase Order Number Field

Currently, if the purchase orders are created manually or in some cases, if the purchase orders are imported, the system allows the users to change the PO Numbers.

We have now introduced an option to lock this field, so the users cannot edit the PO numbers. The system would continue to set the PO Numbers as below -

  • For purchase orders created manually, the system will default the claim IDs as the PO numbers.
  • For purchase orders imported, if there is a column for PO numbers in the file, then the system will use those numbers. If not, the system will default the claim IDs.

Please reach out to us if you want the PO Number field to be locked.

(ProSpend Ref - ER-3265)


Ability to Setup a Different Purchase Order Required Amount for Each Category

Previously, ProSpend had an option to setup only one purchase order required amount for the whole database i.e if we setup 5,000 as the purchase order required amount, then no matter which category the supplier payment is linked to, the system will always require a purchase order if the invoice value equals or exceeds 5,000.

The above caused issues when you have setup companies in different countries as categories in ProSpend . For example - 5,000 for Australian category is not the same as 5,000 for US category.

PO Required Amt Config in Category Section

We have now introduced an option to setup different purchase order required amounts for each category. To access this, please login as admin, go into Category section, click into a category and the click into Settings.


In settings, there is an option called PO Require Amt. You can enter the purchase order required amount here. 


Information You just need to enter amount value in here. You don't have to populate any currency code.

Once this is saved, any supplier payment which has its first line linked to that category which will have this rule applied. For example - if we enter 10,000 in the PO Required Amt field in Jims Construction category, any supplier payment which has its first line coded to that category will require a purchase order if the total supplier payment value equals or exceeds 10,000. If the total value is below 10,000 a purchase order won't be required but you can still link one, if needed.


Warning The system will only look at the category from the first line when applying this rule. In the above example, the second line is linked to Petes Plumbing category which has PO Required Amt field set to 20,000 and the system still requires a purchase order because the first line is linked to Jims Construction which has PO Required Amt field set to 10,000.

Audit

The system also audits any changes to this new field. You can view the audit history by going into each category.


Supplier Setup

In the supplier setup, one of the options in the Require Purchase Order field has been changed to "Default - POs are mandatory if the invoice value is more than value setup in each Category". If you choose this in a supplier profile, then the system will apply the PO required amounts setup against each category. You can still use Required and Not Required options in the supplier profiles to make the POs completely mandatory or optional.

(ProSpend Ref - ER-2746)


Ability to Force Invoices Linked to Particular POs to Go Through Approval or Have Them Auto Approved

Previously, each client could choose if the invoices linked to POs are to be auto approved or if they are forced to go back to the approvers for second approval. This was setup by your ProSpend consultant at the time of implementation and from there on all the invoices created will follow the rule that has been setup.

Invoice Approval Field

We have now introduced a new option on the purchase order screen - Invoice Approval - which will allow you to choose if the invoices linked to each PO will have to go through approval of if they can be auto approved. This will provide you with flexibility of having different rule for different POs.


This field will have 2 options -

  • Always Require Approval - If this option is chosen on the PO, then all the invoices linked to that PO will always go through the approval process irrespective of the invoices being below PO value + variance or above PO value + variance. These invoices will use the claimant’s invoice approval workflow. 
  • Auto Approval Below Variance - If this option is chosen on the PO, then all the invoices linked to that PO will go through the below process -
  1. If the invoice value is below the PO value + variance, then it will be auto approved.
  2. If the invoice value is above the PO value + variance, then it will go through the approval process. The claimant’s invoice workflow will be used for this purpose.

The system will do this check at the time of invoice submission, so depending on the option that is chosen on the PO at that point, it will either auto approve (below variance) the invoice or send it for second approval.

Available Defaults

The new field can be set with different default options for each client. Below are the available options -
  • Always go through approval and the field will be locked - this option will default the “Always Require Approval” option on the PO screen and the field will be locked.


  • Auto approval (below variance) and the field will be locked - this option will default the “Auto Approval Below Variance” option on the PO screen and the field will be locked.


  • Always go through approval but users will have an option to change the field - this option will default the “Always Require Approval” option on the PO screen but the users will be able to change it to “Auto Approval Below Variance” and back and forth.

  • Auto approval but users will have an option to change the field - this option will default the “Auto Approval Below Variance” option on the PO screen but the users will be able to change it to “Always Require Approval” and back and forth.

Note - because the Invoice Approval field can be changed until the PO is finalised, the system will just process the invoices by doing the check at the point of invoice submission.

Claim Audit

Any changes made to the Invoice Approval field will be audited and will be shown in claim history.

Mobile App

The Invoice Approval field is available when creating POs on the mobile app too.


Claim Status Report

There will be a new column in the claim status report called "Linked Invoices Approval" to display the value of this new field on the POs. The values shown will be as per the selection on POs at the point of running the report. This column will be at the end of the current report i.e after the Approval Comment column.


The POs created before the release of this feature won't have any value in this column.

Caveats

If the Invoice Approval field default is changed, please keep the below caveats in mind -

  • The changes will be applied to new claims only.
  • Old claims will have old settings.
  • If you move from one of the unlocked field options to one of the locked field options, we will lock the Invoice Approval field for all existing POs.
  • If you move from one of the locked options to one of the unlocked options, we will open up the Invoice Approval field for all existing POs.

(ProSpend Ref - ER-3511)


List of Purchase Orders Shown in the Purchase Order Field in Supplier Payments

We have made some changes to the list of purchase orders that will be shown in the purchase order field in supplier payments.

The system will still continue to show only approved or finalised purchase orders that are open for the selected supplier but the list of options available will vary depending on your permissions.

User Permissions Not Enabled

If user permissions are not enabled on your site and if Access All Purchase Orders checkbox is not ticked in your profile, then you will see only purchase orders that you have created in the past.

If Access All Purchase Orders checkbox is ticked in your profile, then you will see all the purchase orders in the system.

User Permissions Enabled

If user permissions are enabled, depending on the permissions your profile has, you can see purchase orders as below.

Access All Purchase Orders Permission Enabled

If this permission is enabled, you will see all the purchase orders in the system.

Access Purchase Orders Linked to Expense Categories Permission Enabled

If this permission is enabled, you will see purchase orders linked to categories ticked in the Expense Category permission. The system will use category from the first line of each purchase order to determine which purchase orders are to be shown in the dropdown. For example - if the Access Purchase Orders Linked to Expense Categories permission is ticked and in Expense Category permission, Jims Construction category is ticked, then the system will show all the purchase orders that have Jims Construction as the category in the first line.

If the Access Purchase Orders Linked to Expense Categories permission is ticked and if the Expense Category permission isn't ticked or if the Expense Category permission is ticked but doesn’t have any categories ticked, you will just see purchase orders linked to your default category. Again, the system will use category from the first line of each purchase order to determine which purchase orders are to be shown in the dropdown.
Access All Purchase Orders and Access Purchase Orders Linked to Expense Categories Permissions Enabled

If both the above permissions are enabled, then you will see all the purchase orders in the system because Access All Purchase Orders will take precedence over Access Purchase Orders Linked to Expense Categories permission.

Access All Purchase Orders and Access Purchase Orders Linked to Expense Categories Permissions Not Enabled

If both the above permissions are not enabled, then you will see only purchase orders that you have created in the past.

(ProSpend Ref - ER-3238)


Order Coding Details in Stacked View on Purchase Order Claim Summary

By default, the order coding details on purchase order claim summaries are shown in different columns.

We now have an option to show these details in stacked view.

Please reach out to us if you want this changed.


(ProSpend Ref - ER-3801)