Purchasing Role
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The purchasing role is for managing the purchasing of parts from vendors and services from subcontractors. Within SME this involves the Purchase Order (PO) module for parts purchasing and Orders (service, install, and itemized invoices).
Let's go through the main SME functions to accomplish this role:
- Orders: Orders consist of service orders, install orders, itemized invoices and possibly proposals. When an order is created, parts may be added to the order. Sometimes these parts are not available in the desired warehouse or are normally ordered Just In Time (JIT) since they are unique for the order or they are the type of part that you do not want to keep in stock (maybe because it becomes obsolete quickly such as computer parts or it is expensive and/or not ordered often enough to justify keeping inventory). These parts must have a PO generated so that they get ordered to meet the customer needs.
- Push Method from Orders to PO's: PO's can be automatically created from orders using Actions>Create PO for JIT Only items to order only the parts not in stock. Or use Actions>Create PO's for all items if you just want to order all new parts regardless if SME shows some parts available in stock. SME is smart in that it will generate multiple PO's for each vendor of parts, it will also combine parts from the same vendor. For example, if you have 10 different items on the order with 6 from one vendor and 4 from another vendor it will create 2 PO's, one for each vendor, one PO will have the 6 items for the first vendor and the second PO will have the other 4 items for the second vendor.
- To see which items need to be ordered, with JIT counts, look in the Materials tab and look for JITCount field.
- New for SME6.2: Expand the details of the material by selecting the + sign of the material item. Also look at Link Status, if it says Has JIT items, thatn there are JIT items to be ordered.
- To see which items have already been ordered look at the POCount or POStatus. This will show parts on a PO, but not yet received.
- To see related PO's to the order, go to Purchase Orders tab. You can double click on the PO to jump to the PO.
- To see which items need to be ordered, with JIT counts, look in the Materials tab and look for JITCount field.
- Pull Method on PO's from Orders: Another way to order parts for orders is to first create a PO, then pull parts from various orders onto the PO. After the PO is created and vendor selected, select Actions>Add Items from Service or Add Items from Install or Add Items from Invoice.
- Push Method from Orders to PO's: PO's can be automatically created from orders using Actions>Create PO for JIT Only items to order only the parts not in stock. Or use Actions>Create PO's for all items if you just want to order all new parts regardless if SME shows some parts available in stock. SME is smart in that it will generate multiple PO's for each vendor of parts, it will also combine parts from the same vendor. For example, if you have 10 different items on the order with 6 from one vendor and 4 from another vendor it will create 2 PO's, one for each vendor, one PO will have the 6 items for the first vendor and the second PO will have the other 4 items for the second vendor.
- PO's: You will need to make sure that PO's are generated as mentioned above and that PO's are sent out to the vendors to be ordered.
- You may want to stage sending out PO's based on the due date. For example if an order has lots of parts that need to be installed together, you would order the longest lead time item first and then order the other items to meet the delivery date of the longest lead time item. By ordering as late as possible, you improve company cash flow. To remember to create the PO's, create an activity on PO's that have not been ordered and set the activity date to the date that you should order these parts.
- When the parts are received, you would create a bill in your accounting program. With the SQLink, QuickBooks (QB) sync program, bills can automatically be sent to QB based on when they were received.
- Subcontractors: Services on Orders can be assigned to subcontractors. Purchasing may be assisting in managing the subcontractor vendors. Once a vendor is assigned to a service item on an order, the cost of the service item will be what you pay the subcontractor and the price is what you charge the customer, and of course the difference is the company profit. When the order is invoiced, a bill should be setup in the accounting system for the subcontractor work performed. This bill will be reconciled against invoices sent by the subcontractor to your company. With the SQLink program bills are automatically sent to QB for subcontractors.