A purchase order  allows you to submit a purchase order request to a project manager or PO approver and electronically confirm the services/assets have been properly received before processing the vendor bill payment.


General Setup:

 Management has defined the following aspects/conditions regarding the implementation of the PO process, except in the following scenarios:

 

  • Purchases lower than $1,000 (before taxes).
  • Subcontractors paid via Payroll (through Ceridian).
  • Expenses or transactions paid with departmental credit cards or user’s credit card.  All these transactions will be submitted via Expense Report.
  • Utilities and general services such as courier, hydro, staples and cell-phone; and any other transaction in which the amounts cannot be estimated at the beginning of the negotiation.
  • A purchase order cannot combine multiple currencies.  If your transaction is a combination of multiple currencies, you should create one purchase order for each currency.
  • The purchase approval process is driven by the department OR  project displayed in the PO heading and it considers different approval levels:


The Purchase Order section has the following options

  •  Enter Purchase Order: To create a purchase order and submit it for approval.
  • Approve Purchase Order: To approve purchase orders submitted by your team members.        (Information available only to Supervisors and purchase order approvers)
  • View and Edit Purchase Orders: To review historical purchase orders submitted by you and your team members.


Steps to submit your Purchase Order.-

In order to submit a Purchase Order (PO); log into NetSuite account using the “XXX– Purchasing,  Receiving and Expenses” role and click the link “Create a New Purchase Order” as follows:

 

A screen with the purchase order form will open up displaying the following fields. All the mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk *

 

Vendor Name: Select the vendor who you are buying the item or service from. 


Subsidiary: It refers to what BAM Subsidiary will be assuming the charge.   Click the dropdown list and select the appropriate subsidiary.

 

PO Requester:  It refers to the person and/or department who are requesting the purchase.  If you are submitting a PO on behalf of another department, you must select the name of the person who asked you to create the PO; otherwise select your own name.  (Last name, Name).

 

PO Created by:  It displays the user name of the person who created the PO in NetSuite.  This field will be automatically populated by NetSuite after you save the record.

  

Currency: This represents the currency that you will use to pay for this purchase. By default US$ currency will be displayed but you can select any other currency.  In case the currency list is limited you need to submit a ticket to add the required currency to the vendor profile. 

 

PO Date: By default it displays the day you are creating your PO but you can override this date.

 

Receive by: It refers to the date you are expecting to receive the asset/service.

 

Quote #: In case you receive a quote from your vendor; you should include the reference or quote number.

 

Memo: A general description/explanation about the purchase should be included in this field.

 

Approval Status and Next Approvers: These are disabled fields that will be auto-populated according to the system configurations and approval levels status.

 

Project code: Pick a project code IF your purchase is related to a specific project.   You can combine multiple projects into one PO ONLY IF all the projects have the same project manager.

 

Department: This field will display the department where the PO requester belongs.  This field cannot be changed or overwritten by the user.  It will only change accordingly if a project is selected.

 

Under the Item Main Tab, the PO form displays two different tabs, Expense or Item tabs, despite both tabs containing almost the same column fields, and the main difference is on how the information will be displayed in different reports. 

 


Expenses Tab:  It allows you to charge expenses directly to any GL account.

 

Items Tab:  It should be used when the purchase is being charged against a project code; this will allow the system to obtain appropriate project reports since the information can be more specific about the items type/name recorded within the GL account.


 

Line Items: 

They represent every line used in your Purchase Order.  Either you use Expense or Item tab, if your purchase will have multiple deliverables or will be paid in several installments; you must break-down your total purchase by the total deliverables/payments and create one line for each payment.  (Example: An acquired program payable in 3 milestone payments, you should break-down your total purchase by 3 and create one line for each payment we will submit to the vendor)

 

On the “Expenses” sub-tab:     All the mandatory fields are marked with asterisk *

 

  1. From the “Account” field pick the GL account where you want to charge your purchase.
  2. The “Project” and “Department” fields will be automatically populated with the information included in the heading of the PO.
  3. Select the “Business Line” and “Brand” where this expense will be allocated.   These are mandatory fields and will only be auto-populated when you have selected a project; otherwise, you have to select the proper information from the drop-down list.
  4. On Expense Location select the option where the expense took place.  It is important for reporting to our funding organizations. (e.g. We can claim differently for Ontario expenses compared to those outside Canada) 
  5. Enter a brief “description” about the service/asset you are including in your purchase order.   Keep in mind including proper explanation about the transactions will expedite the PO process and will avoid potential rejections from your purchase approvers.
  6. ‘In the “Total Amount (Incl. taxes)” field, enter the amount of your purchase.
  7. On the “Expected Receipt date” include the date when you are expecting to receive your items/invoices.
  8. You should check the “Closed” box only when you are certain you will not receive any further delivery or invoice from your vendor related to all the items/expenses included in your PO.   Example:  A PO included items/expenses which were going to be delivered in five different times; after the second delivery you realized you don't longer need the items/expense; therefore you must close all the lines included in your PO related to third, fourth and fifth delivery. 

Once you have entered the entire information click “Save” button; this will allow you to review your PO and edit it again without sending it to your approver.  Once you are certain all the information is correct, please click “Submit for Approval” button; this will lock the document for you to edit and will send a notification email to the next approver.   (Hint:  The “Submit for Approval” button will display after you save the record for the first time. Your purchase order will not be submitted until you have not clicked this button.)


On the “Items” sub-tab:     All the mandatory fields are marked with asterisk *

  1. From the “Item” field pick the item ID that is related to your purchase.  In most of the cases, the item ID has the same description as your GL account name. (Example:  Item name:   50145 - Scenario/Project Proposal – Other)
  2. The “Project” and “Department” fields will be automatically populated with the information included in the heading of the PO.
  3. Select the “Business Line” and “Brand” where this expense will be allocated.   These are mandatory fields and will only be auto-populated when you have selected a project; otherwise, you have to select the proper information from the drop-down list.
  4. Enter a brief “description” about the service/asset you are including in your purchase order.   Keep in mind including proper explanation about the transactions will expedite the PO process and will avoid potential rejections from your purchase approvers.
  5. If it is applicable, enter the warehouse “location” from the drop-down list. 
  6. Define the “Quantity” and the individual “Rate” of the items you are acquiring.  The “Total Amount” field will be automatically calculated by the system considering the quantity times rate.
  7. On the “Expected Receipt date” include the date when you are expecting to receive your items/invoices.
  8. The “Match bill to receipt” field will be automatically checked by the system.
  9. You should check the “Closed” box only when you are certain you will not receive any further delivery or invoice from your vendor related to all the items/expenses included in your PO.   Example:  A PO included items/expenses which were going to be delivered in five different times; after the second delivery you realized you don't longer need the items/expense; therefore you must close all the lines included in your PO related to third, fourth and fifth delivery. 


Once you have entered the entire information click “Save” button; this will allow you to review your PO and edit it again without sending it to your approver.  Once you are certain all the information is correct, please click “Submit for Approval” button; this will lock the document for you to edit and will send a notification email to the next approver.   (Hint:  The “Submit for Approval” button will display after you save the record for the first time)



Communications Tab:  It allows you to create and keep track of any comment, email or clarification about the transaction within the same document.   This tab has available the following options:

 

 

  1. Files – You can attach a PDF copy of your signed agreements and contracts in the same document following these steps:
    1. Click on “New File” box and a new window will open for you to look in your computer for the file to be uploaded, as per image below:

 

Please make sure you select the following options:

 

  1. Attach from:  Select “Computer” from the drop-down list
  2. Folder: Click the down arrow, click List, and a drop-down list will display.   You must select the following folder “Attached Files for POs: FY2017”; otherwise your files will be misfiled within the NetSuite general cabinet.
  3. Select File:  Browse through your computer and select the file you previously saved containing all the images of your transactions.



User Notes – You can include a clarification or any particular comment regarding your transaction in the same purchase order.

  1. Select the “User Notes” tab.
  2. To create a new notes click on “New Note” and a new window will open for you to enter the following information:

You can also create a new note, message or activities directly from the “Create New” icon included at the top left side of your document; subsequently the Note Window will show up.  See below: