Topic overview

Purchase orders reflect the authorization for a supplier to deliver required material and non-material goods. Frequently, the order is preceded by a decision-making process that is based on a determination of the demand. This, in turn, often leads to supplier quotations submitted in response to purchasing RFQs. The decision-making process should thereby ensure that the optimal supplier is found. The optimal supplier can deliver the proper goods to the proper location in the proper amount and at the proper time, while normally at the same time offering the best terms and the best price.

In case no binding quotation precedes the purchase order and there are no valid supplier contracts for the ordered goods, then the sup­plier must confirm the offer as a real order.

The purchase order describes the exact range of services of the order. The ordered goods become expected or undelivered goods. When goods are delivered, the user enters the quantities of the incoming items in the Receipts of goods application in the Inventory Management framework. Posting of the receipt of goods adds the delivered items to the inventory. Incoming invoices are checked and the values for the delivered items are entered or synchronized in the Supplier invoices application.

This document describes the structure of the Purcha­se orders application. The panes in the application and the input fields are described in detail. For example, each field is explained by providing its meaning along with the values or data you can enter or, if applicable, the location from which automatically displayed default values and default settings, if applicable, are taken.

The actions you can use to edit a purchase order and generate subsequent vouchers such as purchase order documents and return of goods have been described in the article Purchase orders: Actions.

Instructions for handling purchase orders, for instance how to create or edit the purchase orders, have been provided in the article Procedures: Purchase orders.

Purchase order types are a part of the identification of purchase orders and contain settings and defaults. They have been described in detail in the article Purchase order types.

You will get an overview of the different business processes involved in purchasing in the article Introduction: Purchasing.

Definitions of terms

Purchase order

A purchase order is a request to a supplier to perform services or deliver goods at a specified time. A purchase order may contain information about the item, price, quantity, delivery date, terms of payment and delivery, and the delivery address. Purchase orders can be referenced to purchasing RFQs in the system and therefore be part of a voucher references chain.

Application description

The Purchase orders application is used for creating and editing purchase orders. The purchase order is the core element of purchasing proce­sses. It defines the range of services and the conditions for the purchase of goods and services.

The Purchase orders application comprises of an iden­tificatio­n pane and a work pane with individual purchasing line items.

Identification pane

The iden­tificatio­n pane of the purchase order contains relevant fie­lds for clear identification of the purchase order and pu­rchase or­der he­ader. It contains the gene­ral­ fields for the purchase order under the following tabs:

• General tab
• Confirmation tab
• Delivery recipient tab
• Delivery partner tab
• Delivery terms tab
• Purchasing organization tab
• Invoicing party tab
• Invoicing terms tab
• Classifications tab
• Order discounts tab
• Voucher output tab
• File attachments/texts tab

The contents of the fields and tabs are described in detail below.

Defaults

The purchase order header contains:

• General data of the order that is valid for all line items and cannot be created differently there, for instance the order currency,
• Defaults for the order line items that are transf­erred to the line items and ca­n be differently saved there per line item, for instance delivery terms.

Data is automatically displayed in many fields like the purchase order header and the individual order line items. This data is accepted as settings and defaults from the master data of other areas. Thus, several purchase order data items are used from the purchase order type. If definite data has not been entered in the order type, this data can be accepted in the order from, for instance, the supplier. As a general rule, defaults can still be changed.

The individual fields are listed and described below. Possible sources of defaults and settings are also indicated. All data absolutely required for a purchase order (= required fields) is highlighted in their corresponding fields.

Fields for identification

The purchase order type and purchase order­ number are used for identification. The summarized status of the purch­ase order and the supplier are displayed next to this identification.

• Number – the Number field displays the unique identification of the purchase order. It consists of two pieces of information: purch­ase order type in the fir­st input field and purcha­se ord­er number in the second input field. The purc­hase or­der ty­pe used together with the purchase order number distinguish the purchase order.
  • Order type – select an existing purchase order type for the purchase order you want to generate or edit. Once generated, the new purchase order can no longer be changed.
  • Order number – the purchase order number is automatically generated from the system on the basis of the number range determined in the purchase ord­er type. It cannot be specified manually. If required, enter the purchase or­der number of the purchase order you wish to edit as a selection criterion.

• Status – displays the status information of this purc­hase o­rder. The purch­ase o­rder is created again with the status that has been stored in the order type as creation status. It can be changed manually, if necessary. For more details, see the Status and status changes section.
• Supplier – a supplier has a unique identification and allocation through a partner number. Only a partner that has been assigned the supplier partner role relative to the purchasing organization can be selected.
  Further details on the Supplier partner role are available in the article Partners, Supplier view.
  If the order is created from a quotation, the supplier is accepted from there. If order line items have been created, the assigned supplier cannot be changed.
  Once you have created or sele­cted the supplier, you can activ­ate the transfer of defaults and settings saved with this partner to the order header through Comarch ERP Enterprise by pressing the Enter key. The insertion point then jumps to the item field in the line item editor.
  Alternatively, you can activate the acceptance of supplier’s de­faults and settings by selecting the functions [Validate] or [S­ave].

General tab

The General tab contains information about the concerned persons and organizations as well as dates and deadlines.

• Name and Address (each supplier) – the system fills in the Name and Address fields automatically (from the previous voucher or from the partner master data).

• Care of – a contact person for the supplier can be selected, changed, or entered as desired in Care of. In this case, a default purchasing contact person from the partner master data of the supplier is displayed, if applicable.
  The contact person is accepted as default from the quotation connected with the order, if required.
  For more details on the functionality of this field and possible procedures, see the article “Care of” field.
• External voucher number and date – these are two user defined fields for text and data. You ca­n use them, for instance, to cre­ate the order id­en­ti­fication and the order date of your supplier.
  The data entered in these fields are used only for information purposes and for searching, for example, in the purchasing cockpit. They have no effect in the system.

• Creation date – the creation date is the date on which the pur­chase order was created. The system enters the current date automatically. However, it can be overwritten, if this would be useful for analyses or statistical purposes, for example.
• Preferred date – the preferred date describes the time point at which you or your company expect delivery of the items.
  The preferred date is accep­ted from the supp­lier quot­ation as def­ault. Otherwise the system auto­matic­ally enters the current date. You can change this date.
  This field is displayed with the due date type that was specified in the master data of the supplier. Among other things, the due date type defines the precision for date and time values in the form of a defined time period, for instance days or calendar weeks.
  This due date type cannot be changed; you must enter the preferred date using the specified due date type, thus for example as a certain calendar day, calendar week, or month.
• Employee responsible – in this field, an employee of your company can be selected as the internal contact person. The employee must be entered as a partner with the internal employee role assigned, which in turn assigns the employee to your company.
  The concerned employee, if any, is accepted as default from the quota­tion.
  Determination of default: The system checks whether the current Comarch ERP Enterprise user edit­ing the purchase order is assigned an internal employee.
  The database currently being used by Comarch ERP Enterprise is relevant for this. The system manages all master data and transaction data for the ERP applications for each company in an online transaction processing (OLTP) database.
  The employees of the company are also entered as master data in this OLTP database.
  If Comarch ERP Enterprise now finds that the current user is assigned to an internal employee in the currently active OLTP database, this field displays the employee as a default. The employee can be changed, however.
• Number of delivery duns – this field displays the number of delivery dunnings created. But the value can only be changed through the corresponding function for generation of delivery dunnings.
• Order confirmation required – the supplier confirms the purchase order scope and the specified terms with a purchase order confirmation.
  Select here whether an order confirmation is nece­ssary or not. If a confirmation is necessary, it is expected until the Confirmation until date.
  The selection is accepted from a supplier quotation, if the order has been created from it. Otherwise the default, if any, is accepted from the supplier’s master data.

Confirmation tab

• Purchase order document number
• Confirmation and Confirmation status – the first field displays the last purchase order confirmation relevant to the order header.
  The second field displays the current confirmation status. If a purchase order is being processed, the tooltip text displays the corresponding purchase order. This can differ from the last order confirmation, if any.
• Confirmation until – this value is used only if a confirmation is necessary according to the corresponding setting. Depending on the settings of the Confirmation expediter term in Suppliers or Customizing, the Confirmation until value is specified.
• Confirmation of external voucher number and date – the External voucher number and External voucher date values of the purchase order confirmation are displayed in accordance with the Confirmation field.
• Confirmation outstanding – the display value is activated if the attribute Order confirmation required is on in the order and the last purchase order header and a required reply has not been entered for all relevant line items or base. It is the precondition along with the value Confirmation until for generating a confirmation reminder.If the display is not activated, either all expected reportings are available or the reminder has been deactivated, as no value has been set in Order confirmation required in the order header.

• Confirmation expediter level – this field is available only if the last purchase order document has a value larger than 0 in the corresponding field. You can override the value according to the last purchase order header through the order header to generate the next confirmation reminder, wherein the value in the order header must never be larger than the value in the last purchase order header and must not be negative.

Delivery recipient tab

The Delivery recipient tab contains entries about the site (logistics organization) or about the external customer that receives this purchase order.

• Delivery recipient – the delivery recipient receives the delivery of the ordered items. The delivery recipient is either the site of the warehouse to which the delivery is to be made or a partner with Customer role. It is explicitly identified and displayed in this field via its partner number. The name and address data is taken from the master data of the delivery recipient and displayed.
  Further details on the Customer partner role are available in the article Partner, Customer view.The display of a customer as delivery recipient along with an empty warehouse means that line items created with this combination cannot be delivered through receipt of goods. Therefore, there are no inventory postings either, since this concerns third-party orders. In such a case, the purchase order is created from a sales order.

• Name and Address – the system fills in the Name and Address fields automatically. These data come from the partner master data of the delivery recipient and cannot be edited in this field. The delivery recipient is tra­nsfe­rred as default from the quotation connected with the order, if any, or through external third-party order from the sales order.
• Care of – a contact person for the delivery recipient can be selected, changed, or entered as desired in Care of. In this case, a default purchasing contact person from the partner master data of the delivery recipient is displayed, if applicable.
  For more details on the functionality of this field and possible procedures, see the article “Care of” field.
• Carrier – the carrier is responsible for shipping goods. It authorizes a company to transport the goods (shipping company) or transports the goods itself. The carrier can be any partner identified as a carrier in its master data.
  The default carrier is taken from the master data of the delivery partner, if applicable. The carrier can match the delivery partner. If more than one carrier is assigned to the delivery partner, the “preferred” carrier is applied as the default.
• Warehouse – the warehouse in purchase orders indicates the receipts warehouse to which the ordered items must b­e delivered.
  The warehouse is accepted as default from the suppl­ier quotation or contract connected with the purchase order. Otherwise the purchase order type warehouse can be used. If no warehouse has been entered there, then it is tra­nsfer­red as default from the delivery partner. If there is no warehouse allocation there either, then the warehouse saved in the Customizing application (Purchasing function) for the purchasing organization is used as the receipts warehouse.

The warehouse can be changed. If required, select another warehouse that is available in the system and that is permissible for the purchasing organization.

• Default warehouse – this field specifies whether or not, or under what conditions, the warehouse is to be preassigned. The value here is used as a default when the basic line items are newly created. This setting can be changed for each line item. Possible values are:
  • Always use default
  • Insert defaults if empty
  • No default

For further details, please refer to the Purchase order types article.

• Inventory owners origin – the inventory owner is the legal possessor of the specified warehouse inventory. It indicates to whom the goods are supposed to belong for receipts posting.
  This field specifies the method that is to be used to identify the inventory owner. Possible values are:
  • Delivery recipient firm
  • Purchasing organization firm

The type is used to preassign this value. It can be changed up until the first line item is entered.

• Sales order – the voucher reference is displayed on the corresponding sales order in these fields if the current purchase order has been generated on a sales order.
  The Sales order field then contains the unique ident­ification of the sales order to which the purchase order belongs. A sales order line item is identified with three entries:
  • The sales order type in the first field
  • The sales order number in the second field

Voucher reference cannot be changed.

Delivery partner tab

The Delivery partner tab contains data of the partner involved in delivery.

• Delivery partner – the delivery partner takes responsibility for the delivery or shipment of ordered items. The delivery partner is a partner with the supplier role assigned. It is explicitly identified and assigned in this field via its partner number. The default name and address data is taken from its partner master data.
  Any partner assigned as a delivery partner to the supplier in the supplier’s master data is permissible as the delivery partner. The delivery partner can match the supplier.
  Further details on the Supplier partner role are available in the article Partners, Supplier view.
  If the order is generated from a quotation, the supplier is tra­nsfe­rred as de­fault from the delivery partner speci­fied there. Otherwise, the delivery partner ente­red in the supplier data is accepted. If several deli­very partners are listed under the supplier, the delivery pa­rtner marked as “preferred” in the purchase order can be used. You can choose a different delivery partner assigned to the supplier.
  If order line items have been created and saved, the assigned delivery partner cannot be changed.
• Name and Address – the name and address of the delivery partner are automatically populated by the system (from the previous voucher or from the partner master data).

• Care of – a contact person for the delivery partner can be selected, changed, or entered as desired in Care of. In this case, a default purchasing contact person from the partner master data of the delivery partner is displayed, if applicable.
  For more details on the functionality of this field and possible procedures, see the article “Care of” field.

Delivery terms tab

The Delivery terms tab contains terms for the delivery.

• Delivery term – delivery terms describe agreements between the buyer and seller. They are used to specify the type of delivery and the place of delivery, for example, Free domicile or Pickup.
  If an INCO term is included as a delivery term, you must specify a location reference.
  Refer to the Delivery terms article for fur­ther information on the INCO terms.
  The delivery term is accepted from the supplier quotation connected with the order. Otherwise it can be transferred from the purchase order type. If the delivery term is not entered there, the default is taken from the delivery partner data.
  You can replace the default. The delivery term selected in this field is accepted as default in the order line items.
• Shipping terms – shipping terms describe the manner in which the items are transported, for example, via freight forwarder, courier, or mail.
  Select an available shipping term.
  For further information on shipping terms, refer to the Shipping terms article.
  The shipping term is transfe­rred from the supplier quotation connected with the order, if required. Otherwise, it can be transf­erred from the purchase order type. If the shipping term has not been specified there, it is accepted from the delivery partner’s data.
  You can replace the default. The shipping term selected in this field is accepted as default in the order line items.
• Delivery restriction – here you enter the delivery restrictions on the part of your company: Is the supplier permitted to make partial deliveries? You can choose among the following:
  • No restriction
  • Deliver order in full
  • Deliver line items in full

The default delivery restriction is taken from the supplier, if applicable. It is only for information purposes and currently causes no effects on the system.

Purchasing organization tab

The Purchasing organization tab contains data of the purchasing organization responsible for the purchase order and other data.

• Purchasing organization – the purchasing organization is an organization responsible for processing the purcha­se order. It is also the one to receive the invoice from the invoicing party. It is explicitly identified in this field via its partner number. The name and address ­data is copied in the order at the time of creation of the order.
  The purchasing organization must be selected before the new action is executed and cannot be changed thereafter. The OLTP client is always the purchasing organization in a single-site environment without content-related authorizations.
  Moreover, the purchasing organization is the organization relevant to the authorization.
  For more details, please refer to the articles Introduction: Multi-site and Content-based authorizations.
• Name and Address – the system fills in the Name and Address fields automatically. These data come from the partner master data of the purchasing organization and cannot be edited in this field.
• Care of –  contact person for the purchasing organization can be selected, changed, or entered as desired in Care of. In this case, a default from the partner master data of the purchasing organization is provided, if applicable.
  For more details on the functionality of this field and possible procedures, see the article “Care of” field.
• Firm – the finance organization (firm) of the purchasing o­rganization is accepted in this field when a purchase order is created. The value cannot be changed.
• Quotation – the Quotation field contains the voucher reference to a supplier quotation. The supplier quotation type and number identify the supp­lier quo­tation with which the pur­chase order is co­nnected. This voucher reference is generated by the system and cannot be changed hereafter.

• Payment method – the payment method describes the manner in which the invoice is to be paid, for example, via bank collection or cash on delivery.
  The payment method, if any, is accepted in this field as de­fault from basic the supplier qu­otation. If this information was not entered there, the default payment method is taken from the supplier master data of the invoicing party. You can select a different payment method. For more information please refer to the de­scripti­on in the Payment methods article.
• Price classification – price classification is a parameter for determining prices and discounts. The value is taken from the supplier master data of the partner, which is specified via the Partner usage attribute. The value cannot be changed directly.

Invoicing party tab

The Invoicing party tab contains data of the invoicing party.

• Invoicing party – the invoicing party is responsible for issuing and following-up on an invoice for the delivered item. It has a unique identification and all­oca­tion in this field. The name and address data is copied in the order at the time of­ creation of the order.
  Any partner assigned as an invoicing party to the supplier in the supplier’s master data is permissible as the invoicing party. The invoicing party can match the supplier.
  Further details are available in the article Partners, Supplier view.
  The invoicing party entered for the supplier is applied as the default. If several ­invoicing parties are assigned to the su­pplier, the ­invoicing ­party mar­ked as “preferred” is u­se­d in the purc­hase order. You can choose a different invoicing party assigned to the supplier.
  The invoicing party can be changed until line items have been entered and applied to the line item table.
• Name and Address – the system fills in the Name and Address fields automatically (from the previous voucher or from the partner master data).

• Care of – a contact person for the invoicing party can be selected, changed, or entered as desired in Care of. In this case, a default purchasing contact person from the partner master data of the invoicing party is displayed, if applicable.
  For more details on the functionality of this field and possible procedures, see the document “Care of” field.

Invoicing terms tab

You will find terms for invoicing of the ordered item under the Invoicing terms tab.

• Currency – a currency is a monetary unit. Enter the order currency in this field. A foreign currency is also involved since the currency used depends on the supplier and is used for external vouchers such as invoices. All prices and values are determined or calculated foremost in this currency.
  The order currency is accepted as default from the supplier master data of the invoicing­ party depending on the company of the purchasi­ng organization. It can no longer be changed in this field, as soon as line items have been entered and applied to the line item table.
  The system checks whether the order currency selected in this field can be convert­ed to all internal currencies of the purchasing organization. The relevant exchange rate usages and the exchange rate category result from the customizing for purchasing depending on the purchasi­ng organization.
  For more information, refer to the Exchange rates article.
  The system displays a warning if order currency and price list currency are not identical. This warning can be ignored.

• Discount origin – in this field, choose whether base discounts and ‑surcharges are to be entered manually or taken from a price listing. Alternatively, the discounts can also possess the Quotation price origin, if the order has been created from a quotation. Up to four disco­unts and surch­arges can be effective in addition to the dis­cou­nts and surcharges already entered for the individual order line items. If Price list or Price list, manual is used for discount origin, the discounts and surcharges found by the system are displayed and cannot be changed.
  If you choose the Price list, manual setting, this affects the default determination as follows: If the system finds corresponding base discounts in the valid price lists, it enters them in the fields. The Price list, manual setting is thereby retained. If the system does not find any corresponding base discount, it switches the discount origin to Manual and you can create order header discounts and surcharges manually.
  The discount origin can be changed until line items have been entered and applied to the line item table.

For more details on purchase prices and pricing, please refer to Introduction: Purchase prices.

• Price listing – more than one price list can be assigned to a price listing. For successful price determinations based on the calculation time and the reference date, the price listing must contain at least one valid price list. The price lists are valid during a certain time period.
  The purchase price lists describe the valid price components: prices, discounts, and surcharges. Each can be referenced to individual items, item price classifications, suppliers, or supplier price classifications. The price list selected in this field along with the price lists it con­tains specify the basis for determining the amounts in the purchase order.
  For more details on purchase prices and pricing, please refer to Introduction: Purchase prices.

The partner usage relevant for price determination in purchasing is stored in the Partner usage field under Purchasing, Prices in the Customizing application and is dependent on the purchasing organization. The partner usage saved there serves as default in the order.

• Discount 1-4 – discount- or surcharge-type price components can be entered in these input fields. The entry is made depending on the price component type, which was chosen in the second input field on the right in each case.
  A discount is a price component and acts as a reduction to the a­gree­d price or amount during the pricing. The discount is expressed in pe­rcen­tage in the order header and is normally created as a positive value.
  A surcharge is a price component and acts as a surcharge on the a­greed price or amount during the pricing. The surcharge is created as a positive percentage value in the order header.
  Discounts and surcharges can also be entered as negative values. In this case, however, they are determined according to their sign. That is, a discount with a negative sign acts as a surcharge, and vice versa.
  Up to four disco­unts and surch­arges can be effective in the order header in addition to the dis­counts and surcharges already entered for the individual order line items. If required, the discounts and surcharges can be changed, provided the Manual option is indicated as the discount origin, but only until line items have been entered and applied to the line item table.
  If Price list, Price list, manual or Quotation has been selected in the discount origin, the discounts and surc­harges fou­nd by the system are only displayed in this field and can­not be cha­nged. If the system does not find any corre­sponding base discount in the Pri­ce list setting, it swi­tches the discount origin to Manual and you can create or­der base discounts and ‑surcharges manually.

For more details on purchase prices and pricing, please refer to Introduction: Purchase prices.

• Reference date for price determination – the prices for an item can differ on various dates since price lists have a validity period. This field specifies which price list is used for the price determination on the basis of price list’s validity period.
  The current date is always provided as the default.

The value can be changed until line items have been entered and applied to the line item table.

For more details on purchase prices and pricing, please refer to Introduction: Purchase prices.

• Calculation time point – the date and time entered in this field define the time point for which the system searches for valid prices in a price list. If prices have been changed multiple times within a validity period, the entry in this field is use to define the exact time point for the valid price determination.
  The price list is determined via the date entered in Reference date for price determination.
  The current time is used as the default for the calculation time. The calculation time can be changed until line items have been entered and applied to the line item table.

For more details on purchase prices and pricing, please refer to Introduction: Purchase prices.

• Payment terms – the payment term describes terms that are to apply to payment of the invoice. Deadlines and percentages for granting a cash discount can be stored in the payment terms. If the invoice recipient (here, the purchasing organization or its firm) adheres to a specified payment deadline, it can deduct the cash discount percentage stored for this interval from the invoice amount.
  The payment term effects the calc­ulatio­n of cash purchase value in the purc­hase ord­er. For more information, refer to the Payment terms article.
  The payment term from ­the supplier quotation connected with the order is accep­ted as defa­ult. Otherwise, it is taken from the supplier master data of the invoicing party.
• Fixed value date – the fixed value date is the time point at which the pay­ment te­rms specified in the order header take effect.
  The fixed value date in the purchase order is used only for information purposes and has no effect on the system.
• Partner usage – the partner usage defines the supplier that the system uses as the relevant partner during price determination. This means that the price-relevant information stored for this supplier is taken into consideration during price determination.
  The supplier specified here is also the source of the price classification, for example.
  For more details on purchase prices and pricing, please refer to Introduction: Purchase prices.
  Choose one of the following settings:
  • Supplier
  • Invoicing party

The partner usage relevant for price determination in purchasing is stored in the Partner usage field under Purchasing, Prices in the Customizing application and is dependent on the purchasing organization. The saved partner usage acts as default in the order. This default ca­n be changed if no line items hav­e been crea­ted and accepted in the line item table.

Classifications tab

Purchase order classifications can be assigned to the purchase order.

• Classification 1-5 – existing classifications of purchase order classification type 1 to 5 can be assigned to the pur­chase order.
  Based on the assignments to classifications, data can be organized and structured for all manner of analyses or queries.

Order discounts tab

The calculation basis for the base discounts, the multi-line item discounts, and the order value discounts is shown in a list on this tab. The list also contains the corresponding discounts and the associated discount values.

• No multi-item discounts – with this checkbox, you can activate the calculation of multi-item discount for this order:
  • Selected – multi-item discounts are not considered in this order’s pricing
  • Not selected – multi-line item discounts are considered, depending on the relevant line item data (such as total quantity, item price hierarchies, and the like) and header data (such as price listing)
• No order value discounts – you can activate the calculation of multi-item discount for this order with this function:
  • Selected – order value discounts are not considered in this order’s pricing
  • Not selected – order value discounts are considered, depending on the relevant line item and header data

Voucher output tab

The Voucher output tab displays some of the valid set­tings for the output of purchase order voucher documents in a table with several rows. The following voucher documents can be output for a purchase order:

• Purchase order document
• Pickup slip
• Delivery dunning
• Return of goods slip
• Confirmation reminder

The actions for generating the subsequent vouchers and displaying voucher documents have been described in Purchase orders: Actions.

The output settings displayed under this tab have the voucher document templates for the various voucher types. The valid voucher document templates are entered in the supplier master data of the supplier (purchase order document) or the delivery partner (delivery dun, ret­urn of g­oods sl­ip). The voucher settings in the supplier data again transferred as a copy from the settings sa­ved for the purchasing organization in the application Customizing, function Purchasing, sub-function Documents and can be changed there spe­cific to the supplier. If multiple setti­ngs are recorded for one voucher document category, the one marked as “preferred” will be used by default.

Further details on the output settings can be found under Outputting voucher documents in the Opera­ting guidelines. It also describes which other applications and system and user settings are significant for outputting voucher documents and when which settings are applied.

The following settings can be viewed and changed, if required, in these fields under the giv­en column headings.

• Voucher category – the voucher document category for which the output settings are being defined is displayed in this row
• Medium – the output medium on which the voucher document is output according to the template is displayed. The following output media are possible:
  • Printer (output to file is also possible in this case)
  • E-mail

If there are several voucher document templates for a voucher document category and they are saved in the client master data or Customizing for several output media, you ca­n sele­ct an output medium in this field.

• Communication ­connection – in this field, you can enter a fax number or e-mail address if you have the appropriate authorizations.
  Also refer to the chapter Authorizations.
  To enter multiple e-mail recipients, enter the e-mail addresses one after the other, separated by commas and blank spaces. This manually entered recipient data replace the automatically determined recipient data for the e-mail and fax output media, if applicable.

File attachments/texts tab

Additional texts and text modules for the entire purc­hase or­der can be created under this tab. These are normally used for the voucher output in order to add texts to the voucher documents. They are taken from the quotation, if applicable.

If an icon is displayed on the File attachments/texts tab, this indicates that texts are available.

For more details, please refer to Texts and Text modules.

Work pane

The work pane contains the purchase order line items. They incl­ude the supplier’s services to be carried out:

• Which items have been ordered and have to be delivered by the supplier:
  • Quantity?
  • Price?
  • Date?
• How should the items be delivered:
  • Terms?
  • From which address?
  • To which receipts warehouse or client?

The work pane consists of an order line item table and an order line ite­m editor. The order line item table shows an excerpt of the order line item data in the views. The selected view determines which data is displayed.

The purchase order line items are created individually in the line item editor. It displays other data related to the order line items, if required. The fields of the line it­em table are filled with the same data as the fields with the same name in the line item editor.

Some order line item fields are filled with default values accepted from the order header. These line item values can be replaced with other data. Other defaults can be taken from the item or from another origin.

Total field

A total field is display on the right side of the line item editor header. The total displayed contains the total amount and not the data in the line item editor. Therefore, it is a gross amount that is displayed on the Order values tab in the order header and is the total of gross amounts of all relevant order line items.

Sub-items

In addition to base line items, sub-items can also be used in purchase orders. Sub-items are entered or generated as a supplement to existing basic line items and are dependent on these basic line items. If the basic line item is deleted, the sub-items are also deleted. The data of the basic line item are applied in part to sub-items. Some data can only be changed on the level of the basic line item and are applied automatically to the sub-items.

If Price list is chosen as the price origin, discounts in kind in the form of exclusive bonus quantities created in price lists can also be inserted automatically in the order, if applicable. Besides the header data, the main parameters for determining discounts in kind are the item and the total quantity of the basic line item.

If the item assigned in the basic line item is a kit item, the components of a kit bill of materials are displayed as sub-items. The components of the kit bill of materials are specified in the application of the same name.

For more information, see the article Kit bills of materials.

If the structure category of the kit bill of materials is variable, the sub-items in the order can be changed, deleted, or newly added.

Order line item table

Various views are available in the line item table in the purchase order. They give an overview of all order line items. Some views also serve the follow-up processing of the purchase order.

The actions for generating the subsequent vouchers and displaying vo­ucher d­ocume­nts have been described in the article Purchase orders: Actions.

• Header – the most important information on the range of services of the order line item is displayed
• Weights – net and gross weight of the order line item are also displayed in addition to item and quantity
• Reservation – a purchase order line item is a demand coverage element in conjunction with reservations. This view displays the most important related information. It is only available when the Reservations property is activated in Customizing for the OLTP client.
• Values – different pricing values and amounts are displayed besides the item
• Delivery order for return – the delivered and allocated quantity for the Delivery order for return process are displ­ayed besides item and quantity. This view offers the preparation of a return of goods with corresponding delivery order for the event that the receipt is posted in the system through receipt of goods. In this case there is also a corresponding inventory posting on return of goods. Contrary to the Return with inventory posting process, the delivery order is only generated here and not posted yet so that it can be optionally supplemented to a picking, for example.
• Return of goods with inventory posting – the delivered and allocated quantities are displ­ayed besides item and quantity for the Delivery order for return process. This view offers the preparation of a return of goods with corresponding delivery order for the event that the receipt is posted in the system through receipt of goods. In this case there is also a corresponding inventory posting on return of goods. In contrast to the Delivery order for return process, the delivery order is posted immediately in this case.
• Return of goods – the delivered and allocated quantities are displ­ayed besides item and quantity for the Return of goods process. This view offers the preparation of a return of goods with corresponding delivery order for the event that the receipt has not yet been posted in the system through receipt of goods. In this case there is no inventory posting on return of goods.

Following order line item data is displayed in the tables in the aforementioned views under the given column headings:

Line item editor

The purchase order line item data is displa­yed in the line item editor under the following tabs:

• General tab
• Confirmation tab
• Delivery recipient tab
• Delivery partner tab
• Prices tab
• Account assignment tab
• File attachments/texts tab

The tab contents are described in detail below.

If the [Validate when accepting] button is activated, the system verifies whether all required fields have been filled and all data entered are permitted while accepting the or­der line it­em to the order line item table. Otherwise, this is validated only during saving and verification.

The line item number of or­der line it­em is displayed in the line item editor header. This number is displayed, re-entered or edited in the line item editor on a current basis.

• Line item – the line item number is displayed in Line item. It gives the exact id­ent­ifica­tion of the individual purcha­se ord­er line it­ems and is generated a­utomati­cally.
  See also the description for this field in Order line item table.
  You can assign the line item number in this field manually. As soon as a line item has been applied to the line item table, the line item number cannot be changed anymore.
  The system sorts the line items automatically based on the line item number. The user cannot change this sorting process directly. It can only be influenced by the assigning of line item numbers manually.

General tab

Basic order line item data is created with the General tab. For example, the ordered item, quantities, due dates and if applicable, the receipts warehouse. Furthermore, it also contains vo­ucher refe­rences for the quotation and contract; the order line item status; and the quantities from receipt/return of goods and supplier invoice.

• Item – one item is entered for each line item. You ca­n use the items that have Re­lea­sed status and those for which the purchase-related data has been created in the Purchasing view on the basis of the purchasin­g organization. The system checks the item for usability and displays a corresponding message.
  For more details, see the article Items, Purchasing view.
  The system provides you with a selection dialog for reference items. This special feature is described in more detail in Selection dialog for reference item.

The item can b­e accepted from a quotation. In so doing, you can choose between [Accept individually] and [Accept in full]. Activate the [Accept indi­vidually] option with the Acc­ept line items w­ith the editor che­ckbox (refer to Purchase orders: Actions).
The line items can be placed one af­ter the other in the li­ne item ed­itor if the [Acce­pt individually] option is activated. The line items can be accepted unchanged or reworked to the order. A line item can also be skipped or its acceptance can be canceled.
If a line item is accepted from a quotation with the [Acc­ept a­ll] option, then you ca­nnot change the order line item to some extent because it has already been sa­ved. This also applies to line items that you have generated using [Find and add line items]. If required, you can delete the rel­evant ord­er line it­em and cr­eate a n­ew­ on­e.

• Total quantity – here, the total quantity designates the quantity of this item that is to be delivered.
  Choose an appropriate physical or counting unit of measure (such as kilogram or piece), and enter the requested quantity.
  The system checks the quantity unit for permissibility. The following quantity units are permissible:
  • Purchasing units stored for this item in the master data under Purchasing or Supplier
  • All quantity units of the same physical type as the purchasing units, which can be converted into purchasing units

Determination of default:
The quantity is always acce­pted along with the unit from the source voucher to the destination voucher if the order has been generated from another voucher, for instance from a purcha­se template or a quotation, or line items have been accepted from another voucher through the [Insert from] function.
Otherwise, the first purchasing unit assigned to this supplier in the item master data is applied as the default.
Otherwise, the first purchasing unit is applied as the default.
The total quantity affects the calculation of lin­e item and order amounts.
Negative quantities are not permissible in a purchase order line item.

• Canceled quantity
• Reduced total quantity
• Origin of binding unit
• Binding unit
• Contract line item – a purchase order line item can refer to a supplier contract line item and call quantities or values of a supplier contract item.
  The Contract line item field contains the unique identification of the contract line item to which the order line item refers and outputs the voucher reference of the supplier contract. A supplier contract line it­em is identified with three entries:
  • The supplier contract type in the first field
  • The supplier contract number in the second field
  • The supplier contract line item in the third field

You can create the supplier contract line item manually. Alternatively, the system can automatically determine an appropriate contract line item, enter it in this field and gene­rate the voucher reference. Activate the Automatic contract selection checkbox in the line item editor for automatic determination. If several valid contra­ct line items are found, a selection dialog box is displayed. This ­dialog is described in detail in Purchase orders: Actions.

• Automatic contract selection – automatic contract selection is a function that checks during the creation of every ord­er line item whether there is a valid contr­act line item for the order line item and then generat­es a voucher reference, if required. In this field, choose whether an automatic check is to be performed when new order line items are created.
  This selection can be set as default in the purchase order type for all orders of th­is type.
  The selection of a contract li­ne item with autom­atic contract selection has been described in Purchase orders: Actions.
• Ordered item – the originally ord­ered item is visible in the Ordered item field if the client has not asked for an item based on the order line item, but another item instead.
  The originally ordered item is acce­pted from a quotation connected with the order if is already available in the Requested item field.This field is also used if you have entered an EAN or Supplier’s item number in the Item field—provided the corresponding function is activated in Customizing. The system then automatically moves the number entered there to this field.
  Display only.

• Identifier – an identifier iden­tifies a definite ite­m or item variant. Comarch ERP Enterprise provides the ide­ntifi­ers serial number, batch and lot.
  If the item is run in this order line item in Ide­ntifier­s, you can select an ide­nti­fier here.
  This identifier created in this field serves as default for the identifier to be delivered for the supplier. The ident­ifier created here is accepted as default during the assignment through the order reference during the receipt of goods. During the automatic assignment, the system validates whether the identifier for receipt of goods line items and order line items is the same.
• Delivery date – the delivery date indicates the time point at which the supplier has promised the delivery of the it­em.
  The value of the preferred date for this line item is applied as the date. You can change the date. The due date can be a different time point for each order line item, and can be changed for each line item separately.
  The Preferred date field is displayed as a date. If the preferred date is entered as a different due date type, such as calendar week, the system will convert the preferred date to a date.

See also the description of the Preferred date field under General in Identification pane.

• Availability date
• Preferred date – the preferred date designates the time point at which your company expects the ordered item to be delivered.
  The preferred date can be a different time point for each order line item, and can be changed for each line item separately.
  This field is displayed with the due date type that was specified in the master data for the supplier.
  The preferred date is accepted from the order ­header and serves as default for the del­ivery date.
  See also the description of the Preferred date field under General in Identification pane.
• Status – displays the status information of this order line item.
  See also Status and status changes.
• Reference – Reference is a field in which the user can enter brief texts. Use the field as necessary, for example, to reference a price list or to indicate prior contacts with this supplier, such as telephone calls or previous quotations.
  The reference is accepted as default supplier quotation, if required.
  The data entered in this field is used for information purposes only. It has no effect in the system.
• Warehouse – select a wa­rehou­se available in the system through this field. This warehouse is where the ordered item is supposed to be delivered.
  The warehouse is accepted from the order header as defa­ult and can be changed for every ord­er line i­tem individually.
  Also see the description of Warehouse under Delivery recipient in the order header.

• Delivered quantity – disp­lays the delivered quantity of this order line item. The delivered quantity is derived from the posted receipt of goods and if necessary, the returns with an inventor­y posting through corresponding delivery orders that contain voucher references to this order line item. It cannot be changed directly.

• Invoiced – disp­lays the invoiced quantity of this order line item. The invoiced quantity is derived from the posted supplier invoices that contain the voucher references to this order line item. It cannot be changed directly.
• Quotation line item – a purchase order line item can relate to a supplier quotation line item. The Quotati­on line item field contains the unique identific­ation of the quotation line item to which the ord­er line item refers and outputs the voucher reference of the supplier quotation. A supplier quotation line ­it­em is identified with three entries:
  • The supplier quotation type in the first field
  • The supplier quotation number in the second field
  • The supplier quotation line item in the third field

The order line item can also relate to a quota­tion other than the one displayed in the order header under Purchasing organization.
The system generates the voucher reference and enters the identification of the quotation line item in these fie­lds if the order has been gener­ated from a quotation or the order line item has been inserted from a quotation using the [Find and ad­d line items] function. Voucher reference cannot be changed.

• Production order line item – a purchase order line item can relate to a production order line item. The Production order line item field contains the unique identification of the production order line item to which the order line item refers and outputs the voucher reference of the production order. A production order line item is identified with three entries:
  • The production order type in the first field
  • The production order number in the second field
  • The production order line item in the third field

Selection dialog for reference item

If you have entered a reference item using its ite­m number in the order line item and transfer this to the line item table, either the system replaces the reference item automatically with one of its variant items or it opens a dialog window in which you can select one of the variant items belonging to the reference item.

For more details on this function, please refer to Action: Select variant item for reference item.

For the price determination, the system uses the price information stored for the variant item. If no price information is stored for the variant item, the price information of the reference item is used. If no price is found for the reference item either, the system changes the price origin over to manual, if necessary.

Confirmation tab

The Confirmation tab displays the information about the confirmation status of the line item.

• Purchase order document number
• Confirmation and Confirmation status – displays the last confirmation entered for the line item, if there is any.
  The field displays the line item’s current confirmation status. If a purchase order is being processed, the Tooltip text displays the corresponding purchase order. This can differ from the last order confirmation for the line item, if any.
• Ordered quantity – displays the quantity ordered.
• Confirmed quantity – displays the confirmed quantity. If a confirmation is in process, this value is deactivated.
• Delivery date according to purchase order document – displays the delivery date according to the last purchase order document. This value can differ from the current value according to order line item, if any. If the line item has not been ordered yet, this value is empty.
• Delivery date according to confirmation – displays the delivery date according to the last confirmation. If there is no confirmation, this value is empty.
• Confirmation outstanding – the check mark is placed at this display value if the attribute Confirmation required is on in the order and in the last purchase order header; and a required reply has not been entered for the current main line item or one of the related sub-items.
  If the check mark is not placed, either all expected reportings are available or the reminder has been deactivated because no value has been set in Confirmation required in the order header.

• Confirmation of external voucher number and date – the External voucher number and External voucher date values of the purchase order confirmation are displayed in accordance with the Confirmation field.

Delivery recipient tab

The Delivery recipient tab contains entries about the site (logistics organization) or about the external client that receives the goods of this purchase order line item.

• Delivery term – Delivery terms describe agreements bet­ween the buyer and seller. Here, the type of delivery and the place of delivery, for example, Free domicile or Pickup, is specified, if applicable.
  If an INCO term is included as a delivery term, you must specify a location reference.
  Re­fer to Delivery terms for further information on the INCO terms.
  The delivery term is accepted from the purc­hase order he­ader or quotation line item. You can r­eplac­e this de­fau­lt individually for every order line item. To do so, choose another delivery term.
• Shipping terms – shipping terms describe the manner in which the items are transported, for example, via freight forwarder, courier, or mail.
  For further information on shipping terms, refer to the Shipping terms article. The shipping term is accepted from the purc­hase order header or quotation line item. You can repl­ace this defau­lt individually for every order line item. To do so, choose another shipping term.
• Delivery recipient – the delivery recipient receives the delivery of the ordered items. The delivery recipient is either the site of the warehouse to which the delivery is to be made or a partner with Client role. It is explicitly identified and displayed in this field via its partner number.
  The display of a client as delivery recipient related to an empty warehouse means that a line item created with this combination cannot be delivered through a receipt of goods. Therefore, there are no inventory postings for such line items either, since this concerns third-party orders. In such cases, the purcha­se order lin­e item is created from a sal­es order lin­e item.

• Name and Address – the system fills in the Name and Address fields automatically. These data come from the partner master data of the delivery recipient and cannot be edited in this field. The delivery recipient is tra­nsfe­rred as default from the quotation connected with the order, if any, or through external third-party order from the sales order.
• Care of – a contact person for the delivery recipient can be selected, changed, or entered as desired in Care of. In this case, a default purchasing contact person from the partner master data of the delivery recipient is displayed, if applicable.
  For more details on the functionality of this field and possible procedures, see the article “Care of” field.
• Carrier – the freight carrier is responsible for shipping goods. It authorizes a company to transport the goods (shipping company) or transports the goods itself.
  The carrier is accepted from the order h­eader or quotation line item as default and can be chan­ged in this field per order line item.
  For more about permissible entries, also see the description of the field under Delivery recipient in Identification pane.
• Inventory owner – the inventory owner is the legal possessor of the specified warehouse inventory. It indicates to whom the goods are supposed to belong for receipts posting.
  The value results from the Purchasing organization firm or the Delivery recipient firm (site of warehouse), depending on the setting for the inventory owner origin in the header.

Owner of inventory cannot be created directly.

• Default warehouse – this field specifies whether or not, or under what conditions, the warehouse is to be preassigned. Possible values are:
  • Always use default
  • Insert defaults if empty
  • No default
  • Use fixed main line item (for sub-items only)

For further details, please refer to the Purchase order types document.

• Sales order line item – the voucher reference is displayed on the corresponding sales order line item in these fields if the current purchase order line item has been generated on a sales order.
  The Sales order line item field then contains the unique ident­ification of the sales order line item to which this purchase orde­r line item belongs. A sales order line item is identified with three entries:
  • The sales order type in the first field
  • The sales order number in the second field
  • The sales order line item in the third field

Voucher reference cannot be changed.

Delivery partner tab

The Delivery partner tab contains data of the partner involved in delivery.

• Delivery partner – the delivery partner takes responsibility for the delivery or shipment of ordered items. You can select another delivery partner for each order line item. This partner is allocated to the supplier and hence permitted.
  For more information on the delivery partner, please refer to Delivery partner tab of the order header.
• Name and Address – the name and address of the delivery partner are automatically populated by the system (from the previous voucher or from the master data).

• Care of – the delivery partner’s contact person can be selected or created under Care of.
  For more details on the functionality of this field and possible procedures, see the article “Care of” field.
  The contact person is accepted from the order h­eader or quotation line item as default and can be changed in this field individually for every order line item.
• Credit note method – the supplier is relevant in the Invoicing party role for the supplier credit note method (LGV). They are distinguished as follows:
  • If the supplier does not take part in the supplier credit note method, the attribute is set as Deactivated and cannot be changed
  • If the supplier takes part in the supplier credit note method, the only conditions that can take place are Allowed and Not allowed. The default setting for main line items is determined by the item and can be changed manually.

Discounts in kind and kit components always accept the value from the main line item.
The setting is fixed to Deactivated for material provided to vendor for external manufacturing.

Prices tab

The Prices tab contains the data for determining the prices and amounts for the order line it­ems.

• Gross price – the price is the equivalent value in money that must be paid for one unit of the item ordered.
  If Price list, Price list, manual, Quotation or Contract has been entered as price origin, the price is determined from the corresponding source. The price cannot be changed anymore, unless you change the price origin to Manual

For more details on automatic price determination, please r­efer to Introduction: Purchase prices.
If the order line item was generated or inserted from a qu­otation line it­em, the price is acce­pted from there.
The price can be manually created by selecting Manual price origin and can be ch­anged until the order is completed in its entirety. It is also possible to change the price if the receipt of goods and supplier invoice line items have already be assigned.
The re­lated currency is ac­cept­ed from the pur­chase o­rder he­ader and cannot be changed.

• Price dimension – the price dimension defines the number of units to which a price applies. Definitions are expressed in powers of ten, so that a price may be for 1, 10, or 100 units, for example.
  If Price list, Price list, man­ual, Contract or Quotation has been entered as price origin, the price dimension is deter­mined from a price list or accepted from the contract or quotation connected to the order and then displayed in this field. It cannot be changed anymore, unless the price origin is changed to Manual.
  If Manual is selected as the price origin, the price dimension along with the price unit can be entered manually. If the price is entered manually, the system displays the price dimension stored in the purchasing data of the item as the default.
  You can choose another price dimension, provided it is permissible. The price dimension can be chan­ged until the order is completed in its entirety. It is also possible to change the price dimension if re­ceipt of go­ods and supplier invoi­ce line it­ems have already been a­ssign­ed.
• Price origin – the price origin defines the location from which the system expects the data for the price determination in the purchase order. Possible values are:
  • Price list
  • Price list, manual
  • Manual
  • Contract
  • Quotation

Price origin types Contract and Quotation are determined automatically. Price is then accepted from the quotation if the order li­ne item has been generated from a quotation line item. This is correspondingly applicable for contracts if a price has been saved there.
The price origin types Price list, Manual and Price list, manual are accepted from the order type. You can manually c­hange the price origin at a­ny time ag­ain for any order line item in one of these three price origin types.
If Price list is selected as the price origin, the price as well as additional price components are identified and taken from a price list.

If Price list, manual is selected as the price origin, the system automatically switches the price origin to Manual if the system is unable to find a price in the price lists.
If Manual is selected as the price origin, the price dimension along with the price unit can be entered manually.
For more information, refer to Introduction: Purchase prices.
If the Price list setting was chosen, the determined price cannot be changed unless the price origin is changed from Price list to Manual again.

• Discount 1-4 – in addition to the base discounts, you can also enter your own discounts for each line item.
  A discount is a price component and acts as a reduction to the agreed price or amount in calculations. The line item discount is expressed as a percentage, an absolute amount, or an absolute quantity, that is, as a discount in kind in the form of an inclusive bonus quantity. Normally, it is entered as a positive value.
  A surcharge is a price component and acts as such on the agreed price or amount in calculations. The surcharge is entered as a positive percentage value or an absolute amount.
  Discounts and surcharges can also be entered as negative values. In this case, however, they are determined according to their sign. That is, a discount with a negative sign then acts as a surcharge.
  If you have selected Manual or Contract price origin, you can create discount or surcharge type price components in these input fields, depending on the price compon­ent type selected in each case in the second input fie­ld on the right. If Price list, Price l­ist, manual or Quotation has been selected in the discount origin, the discounts and surc­harges are only displayed in this field and cannot be changed.
  The discounts and surcharges are taken into consideration when determining prices and amounts and when calculating the purchase price and the purchase value.
  For more details on purchase prices and pricing, please refer to Introduction: Purchase prices.
• Procurement costs 1-2 (in %), Procurement costs 3-4 – Percentage procurement costs are procurement-related price components that raise the list price for an item by a percentage.
  Absolute procurement costs are costs incurred for procurement of a particular quantity of an item.
  That is, they refer to the total line item quantity. Packaging costs, in particular, are one possible example.
  You can enter two percentage-based and two absolute procurement costs per order line item. The
  procurement costs are taken into account when calculating the cost price and the cost value.
  The value specified in the purchasing data of the item for the supplier is accepted as default for Procurement costs 1 and Procurement costs 3.
• No base discounts – in No base discounts, you can choose whether or not base discounts and surcharges are to be used for determining the net amount.
  If you have selected No base discounts, all other discounts and surcharges displayed in the Identification pane under Payment terms are ignored for this order line item.
• Net price – the net price is the item price, minus all discounts and plus all surcharges relevant to the line item.
  Cash discounts and procurement costs are not considered for this. The system calculates the net price
  and displays the result here.
  The net price is always determined in the “Gross” price representation.
  The value is always rounded according to the decimal place setting for prices in Customizing. It is always based on the price unit and price dimension of the line item.

• Cost price – the cost price is the price determined for an order line item that comprises of item price, discounts
  and surcharges and reduced on cash discount, if applicable, and increased according to the procurement costs.
  The system calculates the cost price and displays the result here. The cost value is the basis for the
  calculation (see Line item values tab):
  Cost price = cost value / total quantity
  The value is always rounded according to the decimal place setting for prices in Customizing. It is always based on the price unit and price dimension of the line item.
• No multi-item discounts, No order value discounts – these settings are effective only if the functionality
  has not been deactivated by the relevant button in the base. The relevant function per line item can be deactivated.

Account assignment tab

Information for the cost accounting is entered here. Cost accounting is used to apportion costs to their sources, cost centers and cost units. As a result, it is possible to track which areas of the company incurred which costs for the corresponding products.

• Cost center – cost centers are functional areas of the company that form a physical and/or organizational unit, such as divisions, departments, etc. They define the location where the costs originated: “Where were the costs incurred?”
  Select the cost center of the area or department for which the item is to be purchased. The default results from the relevant master data, such as the item or the related supplier quotation and depends on the posting rules in the account or cost type with active controlling.
  The cost center is applied as a default in downstream vouchers to the point of the inventory posting. It can then be used for various analyses as a part of Financial Accounting or cost accounting.
• Transaction type account classification
• Cost unit – a cost unit is a criterion for classification of costs according to the actual tracking and can be used for demand-focused items or processes to be purchased (e.g., projects), among other purposes. Cost units define the reason for originating of the costs: “For what purpose did the costs originate?”
  Select an appropriate cost unit here, such as an item, an item classification, or a project. The default results from the relevant master data, such as the item or the related supplier quotation and depends on the posting rules in the expense or billing account or cost type with active controlling.

The cost unit is applied as a default in downstream vouchers to the point of the inventory posting. It can then be used for various analyses as a part of Financial Accounting or cost accounting.

• Account origin – An account is determined on the basis of an account origin. The default for this setting is taken from the item accounts classification.
  The following settings are possible:
  • From account assignment – if this entry is selected, then the field Account is a display field and displays the account that has been automatically determined on the basis of the account assignment. If the default From account assignment has been selected in the item account classification for account origin, the account origin cannot be changed.
  • From voucher – if this entry is selected, then the field Account is an empty field in which an account needs to be entered. This account is used, for instance, for a supplier invoice line item or as an offset account in an inventory change nominal ledger posting. If the default From voucher has been selected in the item account classification for account origin, the account origin cannot be changed.

• Allocate cost data
• Account – the account is displayed or the account must be entered depending on the setting for account origin. The following is applicable if the account is determined on the basis of an account assignment:
  • The account of kit main line item is used for kit components.
  • An expense account is specified for central purchasing or third-party order.
  • If the item is entered in the inventory and activated in the nominal ledger posting function, an inventory account determination is carried out. The receipt of goods or supplier invoice billing account is used from the offset account table of the account assignment.
  • An expense account is determined in other cases and for items that have not been entered in the inventory.

File attachments/texts tab

Additional texts and text modules for the individual order line items can be created under this tab. These are normally used for the voucher output in order to add texts to the voucher documents. They are taken from the quotation, if applicable.

If an icon is displayed on the Texts tab, this indicates that texts are available.

For more details, please refer to Texts and Text modules.

Status and status changes

The status information of the purchase order builds an additional inher­ent information element. Using this, you can quickly have an idea of the current batch status of the purchase order and the individual order line items. The status information is stored in the system.

Statuses are entered on the level of the entire purchase order and the individual order line items. Therefore, the status of the order header compiles the status of the individual line items.

Possible status

The purchase order uses the following statuses:

• General status (can be changed manually in some cases)
• Purchase order status (automatically determined)
• Cancellation status (can be changed manually)
• Confirmation status (automatically determined)
• Delivery status (automatically determined, can be completed manually)
• Invoice status (automatically determined)
• Inter-company billing status (automatically determined, only in multi-site systems)

The order line items have their own general, purchase order, cancellation, delivery, invoice, and internal billing statuses, which may differ from the order header. The general status describes the usability of the purchase orders in the system. The order status displays whether the line items have been already ordered or whether a change of order is required. The cancellation status displays whether the line item is canceled and displays on the order level whether all line items have been canceled. If order confirmations are being processed, the confirmation status displays the relevant status per line item or for the entire order. The delivery status displays whether goods appropriate to the order have been delivered. The invoicing status shows whether the ord­er line items have already been billed. There is an additional status in Multi-site systems that displays whether the order line items have already been billed internally.

The actions to change the general order status have been described in Purchase orders: Actions.

Purchase orders and order line items can show the following statuses:

• General status:
  • In process
  • Released
  • Blocked
  • Completed
  • Invalid (only order header)
  • Reorganization begun (only order header)
• Purchase order status:
  • Not ordered
  • Ordered
  • Purchase order document canceled
  • Purchase order change document required
• Confirmation status:
  • Not confirmed
  • Confirmation in progress
  • Partially confirmed (only header)
  • Confirmed
  • Cancelation confirmed
  • Receive change recommendation
  • Partially rejected (only header)
  • Deprecated
  • Cancelation rejected
  • Confirmed conditions changed
• Delivery status:
  • Not delivered
  • Delivered in part
  • Delivered in full
• Invoice status:
  • Non-invoiced
  • Invoiced in part
  • Invoiced in full

There is another status in a multi-site environment:

• Inter-company billing status:
  • Not cleared internally
  • Cleared internally in part
  • Cleared internally in full

An additional status is available only in the line items if the reservations are activated for the client in Customizing:

• Reservation status (demand coverage):
  • Disabled
  • Not reserved
  • Partially reserved
  • Completely reserved
  • Completed

Customizing

Base function

The following settings in the Base function in Custo­mizing are relevant for the Purchase orders application.

• 1st-3rd internal currency – one of up to three internal currencies is designated as the primary currency.
  Several fields for pric­es and amounts can contain a currency in the purchase order that are normally accepted from the supplier master data. It must be possible to convert the currency into any of the internal currencies.
  The corresponding conve­rsion fact­ors ar­e entered in the Exchange rates application in the Base framework.
• Country-specifics sub-function – if Intrastat is activated for the client, the Intrastat tab is displayed in the identification pane of the application and the line item editor. You can enter the data for the Intrastat declaration there if needed.

Purchasing function

The following settings in the Purchasing function in Custo­mizing are relevant for the Purchase orders application.

• Exchange rate usage, Exchange rate category – these settings control the conversion of other currencies into your company’s primary currency for purchasing vouchers.
• Component valuation price – this setting is used only for kit components. It is used to determine a valuation for each component. The component values are totaled at the levels of the kit basic line items.
  If the kit basic line item is price-relevant, then the kit price is distributed proportionally to the components based on this valuation.
• Ordered quantity – manual delivery completion – while generating a purchase order document, this setting controls which quantities and values will be accepted in the purchase order item for order line items whose delivery status has been manually completed.
  You can select whether the total quantity with the related values or the quantity delivered until now needs to be accepted with the related values.
• Specification of confirmation­ expediter term, Confirmation expediter term – if the parameter Specification of confirmation expediter term is activated, you can specify a time period in the Confirmation expediter term field. This time period is relevant for the reminder of an outstanding order confirmation. The default setting of the value Confirmation until in the confirmation order header is derived from the current date and expediter term.
  If the parameter is deactivated, Confirmation until has the maximum value for a date in the purchase order header.
  Please note that you can override this setting to the supplier, if required.
• Documents sub-function – the settings in the Documents sub-function in­fluen­ce the output of the voucher documents for purchasing. For instance, a vouc­her docu­ment template is selec­ted here that governs the structure of the Purchase order document voucher category.
  The voucher document template stored here applies, provided no deviating information is entered in the master data of the relevant partner. The settings in the partner override the Customizing settings. If more than one template is stored for a voucher document, the template identified as the preferred template is used. Further information can be found in the Voucher output tab chapter.
  In addition, it is possible to specify here which employee master data the system uses for the sender address for e-mails. If Fixed address is selected, a default e-mail sender address can be specified for all voucher documents in a category, for example, order confirmations.
• Prices sub-function – the Partner usage, Multi-it­em discounts and Order value discounts settings in the Prices sub-function influence the calc­ulation of the prices and amounts in purchasing.
  If the Display next discount scale parameter is activated, the Purchase orders application determines whether another scale exists for a larger quantity. In doing so, it is not checked whether by increasing the quantity, this scale would be used for the line item at all and whether the terms and prices saved in the higher scale are more economical.
• Return of goods sub-function – specify the delivery o­rder types to be used for ret­urn of go­ods in the Delivery order type field. It is used automatically if return deliveries are generated in the Purchase orders application or in the cockpits for purchase orders and purchase order line items with the actions:
  • [Generate delivery orders for return of goods]
  • [Generate delivery orders with inventory posting and output return of goods slip]
  • [Generate delivery orders without inventory posting and output return of goods slip]

(Refer to Purchase orders: Actions).
Specify a posting key for the return of goods in the Posting key field. Select a posting key in this field that is to be used for returns of goods by your company to suppliers. You can specify posting keys with the Receipt posting process for which the Quantity transaction parameter has been selected. Inventory valuation is also usually selected for the posting key. Returns of goods are thus mapped as negative receipts.

For further information on return of goods, refer to the article Return of goods and credit notes.

Inventory management function

The following settings in the Inventory management function in Custo­mizing are relevant for the Purchase orders application.

• Reservations sub-function – if this function is activated for the client, the reservation view is available in the line item table. Furthermore, the line item editor also displays the reservation status (demand coverage) in the status.
  An order line item can also be an origin of demand for return of goods. The Delivery order for return and Return of goods slip with inventory posting table views contain additional information when reservations are activated.

Business entities

The following business entity is relevant for the Purchase orders application that you use, for instance, to:

• Assign authorizations
• Set up activity definitions
• Import or export data

Purchase order: com.cisag.app.purchasing.obj.PurchaseOrder

The business entity is part of the following business entity group: com.cisag.app.purchasing.OrderData

Authorizations

Authorizations can be assigned by means of authorization roles as well as by assigning an organization. More about the authorization concept can be found in the techni­cal article Authorizations.

Special capabilities

The following special capabilities relate to actions and are available for the Purchase orders application. You can assign authorizations for these capabilities in the Authorization roles application.

• Override voucher document templates: com.cisag.app.general.OverrideDocumentOutputOptions
  You can normally overwrite output se­ttings defined in the voucher document template­ in the output dialog window for the voucher document output with this capability.

• Use different e-mail sender: com.cisag.sys.services.output.UseDifferentMailFrom
  This capability allows you to change the e-mail address of the sender during voucher document output in the output dialog.

• Use different fax sender: com.cisag.sys.services.output.UseDifferentFaxSender
  This capability allows you to change the fax number of the sender during voucher document output in the output dialog.

Organizational assignments

Organizational structures are used to control which data can be viewed, used, or edited. The Content-based authorizations function must be activated in the Customizing application for this purpose.

To ensure that a person can see the Purchase orders application in the user menu and can open it, the user must be assigned to an organization that is connected to one of the following organization structures:

• Purchasing

To ensure that a person is able to open a purchase order and edit the data in it, one of the organizations assigned to the user must be created in the Purchase order types application in the Authorizations table.

For more information on table Authorizations and a comprehensive overview on the content-related authorizations, please refer to Content-based authorizations.

Special features

There are no features for the Purchase orders application.

Authorizations for business partners

The Purchase orders application is enabled for business partners coming under the Supplier type.