Topic overview

Purchase orders are used to instruct a supplier to supply the required tangible and intangible goods, describing the exact scope of an order.

Purchase order documents can be output and sent to the supplier to communicate the contents of the purchase order. After changes have been made to a purchase order and a resulting purchase order document, special purchase order documents of the Purchase order change document category can be output to inform the supplier of the changed purchase order document line items. This is also possible if a change has been made to a purchase order for which a purchase order change document has already been generated and sent. In this case, the changes are determined on the basis of the purchase order change document. Possible changes include adding new line items and changing or deleting existing line items.

The ordered goods become expected or open deliveries. If goods are delivered, the user records the quantities of the items received in the Receipts of goods application in the Inventory Management framework. When the receipt of goods is posted, the delivered items are added to the stock. Incoming invoices are checked and the values for the delivered items are recorded and compared in the Supplier invoices application.

This article describes how purchase order documents are mapped in the system and how the Purchase order documents query application is structured. You will also learn how a purchase order document can relate to other applications and business entities and how it is integrated into the business processes.

Instructions for handling purchase order documents, e.g. how to delete them or issue their copies, can be found in the article Procedures: Purchase order documents query.

An overview of the various business processes for purchase order documents and purchase orders can be found 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.

Purchase order document

A purchase order document is the voucher document for the purchase order. It is used to inform the supplier about the agreements of the purchase order made. Purchase order documents can be output and transmitted to suppliers on different output media.

Purchase order change document

A purchase order change document is a voucher document for the purchase order with which information on the changes to an existing order document already sent can be transmitted to the supplier. Purchase order change documents can also relate to purchase order change documents that have already been sent. Just like purchase order documents, they can be output and transmitted to suppliers on different output media.

Display and processing via the purchasing cockpit

As with the purchase orders, existing purchase order documents and purchase order change documents can be displayed in the purchasing cockpit. The precondition for this is that they have been output beforehand, because the system automatically creates the purchase order documents or purchase order change documents as a business entity in the system. Further processing options are available in the purchasing cockpit:

• Output of purchase order documents and purchase order change documents, individually or several at once, in the Purchase orders view
• In the Purchase order documents view:
  • Search and selection of purchase order documents
  • Display of the voucher references chain for a single, selected purchase order document
  • Output of purchase order document copies for selected purchase order documents

Application description

The Purchase order documents query application is used to display existing order documents and, if necessary, to output order document copies. In addition, the Purchase order documents query application can be used to delete an existing order document if no order change document has yet been made for this order.

The Purchase order documents query application is purely a display application. The data is taken from a purchase order at the time a purchase order document is created and can no longer be changed in the purchase order document.

Further information on the displayed purchase order data can be found in the Purchase orders article.

The Purchase order documents query application consists of an identification pane and a work pane with the individual order document line items.

Identification pane

The identification pane for purchase order documents contains fields that uniquely identify a purchase order document as well as basic data generally valid for purchase order documents. The fields are grouped into the following tabs:

• General tab
• Confirmation tab
• Delivery recipient tab
• Delivery partner tab
• Purchasing organization tab
• Invoicing party tab

Since the data is taken from a purchase order at the time a purchase order document is created and can no longer be changed in the purchase order, the fields under the tabs cannot be edited. The contents of the tabs are briefly described below.

Further information on the data displayed in purchase orders can be found in the Purchase orders article.

Identification fields

An entry in the Number field uniquely identifies an order document. In addition to this identification, the status of the order document and the supplier are displayed.

• Number – displays the unique identification of an order document. It consists of two entries: the purchase order type in the first field and the order document number in the second field. The purchase order type used is used together with the order document number to identify the order document. Select an existing combination of the purchase order type and order document number to load the order document you wish to view, output again, or delete.

• Status – displays the status information for a purchase order document. Order documents are given the status Completed after they have been created. See also the chapter Purchase order document status.
• Supplier – displays the supplier as the addressee of an order document. The supplier is uniquely identified by their partner number. Further details can be found in the article Purchase orders.

General tab

The General tab contains information on the persons and organizations involved as well as on the voucher date.

• Name and Address – display the name and address of the supplier according to the order document
• Care of – displays the contact person at the supplier stored in the order document
• External voucher number and date – two freely usable fields for text and date. They can be used in a purchase order, for example, if the corresponding request has not been entered in Comarch ERP Enterprise. The data is transferred to the purchase order document and displayed here. This data is for information purposes only, it has no further effect.
• Voucher date – the date on which the order document was created
• Order number – displays the purchase order from which the purchase order document originates
• Employee responsible – displays the internal employee assigned in the corresponding purchase order as the contact person within the company

Confirmation tab

The Confirmation tab contains information on any existing confirmations.

• Order confirmation required – this value is derived from the corresponding value of the purchase order when the purchase order document or the purchase order change document is created
• Confirmation until – this value is derived from the corresponding value of the purchase order when the purchase order document or purchase order change document is created. The value Confirmation until is only active if the value Order confirmation required is set in the purchase order document header.
• Confirmation on generation and Confirmation status – refer to the status at the time the current voucher was created
• Confirmation and Confirmation status – refer to the current status
• Confirmation outstanding – displays the corresponding value of the purchase order header. The field is deactivated if the order does not have the current voucher as the last order document.
• Confirmation expediter level – displays the current confirmation expediter level of the purchase order document/purchase order change document. The value is only active if the Order confirmation required value is set in the purchase order document header.

Delivery recipient tab

The Delivery recipient tab contains the data of the partners involved in the delivery receipt.

• Delivery recipient – displays the delivery recipient according to the purchase order document. The recipient is uniquely identified by their partner number. The delivery recipient accepts the delivery of the ordered items.
• Name and Address – display the name and address of the delivery recipient according to the purchase order document
• Care of – displays the contact person at the delivery recipient
• Carrier – displays the carrier according to the purchase order document. The carrier is uniquely identified by their partner number. Carriers are responsible for shipping goods. They transport the merchandise or delegate the transportation to a company (forwarding agency).
• Warehouse – displays the warehouse according to the purchase order document. It indicates where the ordered items are to be delivered.

Delivery partner tab

Under the Delivery partner tab, you will find the data of the partners involved in the delivery as well as the delivery terms.

• Delivery partner – displays the delivery partner according to the purchase order document. The delivery partner is uniquely identified by their partner number. Delivery partners are responsible for the delivery or shipment of the ordered items. They are partners with the Supplier role who do not match the supplier, but must be assigned to the supplier as delivery partners. Further details can be found in the article Purchase orders.
• Name and Address – display the name and address of the delivery partner according to the purchase order document
• Care of – displays the contact person at the delivery partner according to the purchase order document
• Delivery term – displays the terms of delivery according to the purchase order document. Delivery terms describe agreements made between the buyer and the seller. They are used to specify the type of delivery and the place of delivery, for example, Free domicile or Pickup. An INCO term as a delivery term always specifies a location reference.
• Shipping terms – displays the shipping terms according to the purchase order document. Shipping terms describe the way in which the items are transported, e.g. by special delivery, courier, or post.

Purchasing organization tab

The Purchasing organization tab contains the data of the purchasing organization and the quotation.

• Purchasing organization – displays the purchasing organization according to the purchase order document
• Name and Address – display the name and address data of the purchasing organization according to the purchase order document
• Care of – displays the contact person for the purchasing organization
• Payment method – displays the payment method according to the purchase order document. The payment method indicates how the invoice is to be paid, e.g. by direct debit or cash on delivery.
• Quotation – if the underlying purchase order has been generated from a quotation, the quotation’s type and number are displayed here

Invoicing party tab

The Invoicing party tab contains the data of the invoicing party and the invoice.

• Invoicing party – displays the invoicing party according to the purchase order document. The invoicing party is uniquely identified by their partner number. Invoicing parties are responsible for ensuring that invoices for the delivered items are issued and, if necessary, tracked. Further details can be found in the article Purchase orders.
• Name and Address – display the name and address details of the invoicing party according to the purchase order document
• Care of – displays the contact person at the invoicing party according to the purchase order document
• Fixed value date – displays the fixed value date according to the purchase order document. It determines the date on which the payment terms defined in the purchase order header become effective. The data displayed here is for information purposes only, it has no further effect.
• Payment terms – displays the payment terms according to the purchase order document. Payment terms describe the conditions that apply to the payment of the invoice, for instance deadlines and percentage rates for the granting of discounts. If the invoice recipient (here: the purchasing organization) adheres to one of the specified deadlines when paying, it can then deduct the discount percentage stored for this interval from the invoice amount. Further details can be found in the article Purchase orders.

Work pane

The work pane contains purchase order document line items. These include information about the service to be provided by the supplier, answering the following questions:

• Which items are to be delivered?
• In what quantity?
• At what price and under what conditions?
• On what date?
• Where should they be delivered?

Line item list

The item list displays one entry per order document line item, which can consist of one or more lines.

Change status

At the beginning of an entry, you will sometimes see an icon displayed before the number, indicating the change status of an order document line item. The change status is only displayed for purchase order change document line items. It indicates whether the line item has been added, changed, removed, or canceled in the underlying purchase order since the last order document or order change document. Deleting a cancellation is also noted as a change. No icon is displayed for unchanged line items. The change status can be as follows:

Icon	Status	Explanation
	Added	A new order document line item has been added.
	Changed	The order document line item has been changed.
	Removed	The order document line item has been removed.
	Canceled	The order document line item has been canceled.
	Cancellation deleted	The order document line item’s cancellation has been deleted.
	Unchanged	The order line item is unchanged.

The system automatically determines the change status of a line item when an order document is created. This status cannot be changed manually. When deciding whether an order line item has been changed or has remained unchanged, only the order line item data that is also displayed in the purchase order document is considered. For example, if only the price of a line item has changed and an order change document is created for an unpriced purchase order document, this item is considered unchanged. You can find a detailed list of all order item data that is considered for this distinction in the article Purchase orders: Actions.

Buttons in the header of the line item list

If required, you can display additional lines with further data for each order document line item. Alternatively, you can also use a display filter to display only certain line items. Several buttons are displayed in the header of the line item list for this purpose. You can use these buttons to influence which line items are displayed and which additional information is displayed for each line item. This is described in detail under:

• [Purchase order change document] button
• [Confirmation] button
• [Delivery recipient] button
• [Delivery partner] button
• [Sub-items] button

Displayed data of order document line items

The following information is displayed for each order document line item under the specified column headings:

• Line item according to purchase order document – displays the line item number. It is used to uniquely identify individual order document line items. The line item number can also be used to link individual line items in different vouchers via a voucher reference.
• Ordered item – displays the item ordered according to the purchase order together with its description

• Preferred date – displays the preferred date according to the order document line item
• Delivery date according to purchase order document – displays the delivery date according to the order document line item
• Ordered quantity – displays the ordered quantity. It indicates the expected quantity of the item.

• Gross price according to purchase order document – displays the price according to the order document line item. The price is the monetary value to be paid for one unit of the item ordered.

• Gross amount according to purchase order document – displays the gross amount according to the order document line item. The amount is the product of the total quantity and the unit price for this item.

It is displayed whether an order document line item has been canceled. A line item is canceled if the corresponding line item in the purchase order was canceled at the time the order document was created.[/alert]

[Purchase order change document] button

The [Purchase order change document] button can only be used for order change documents. You can use the button to influence which order document line items are displayed in the list.

• If the button is activated, all order document line items that have been removed, changed, canceled, or added to the underlying purchase order are displayed. Unchanged items are not displayed.
• If the button is not activated, all order document line items valid for this order document are displayed. Line items that have been removed from the underlying purchase order are not displayed.

[Confirmation] button

The [Confirmation] button displays another line with the following data for each purchase order document line item:

• Confirmation – displays the last confirmation received for the order document line item, if available. The button in front of it can be used to display further details, such as apportioning received, in a dialog window. If apportioning is available, the dialog button is filled in.
• Confirmation status – displays the current confirmation status of the order document line item
• External voucher number – displays the external voucher number according to the order document confirmation
• External voucher date – displays the external voucher date according to the order document confirmation
• Delivery date according to confirmation – displays the delivery date according to the confirmation line item
• Confirmed quantity – displays the quantity according to the confirmation line item. If the confirmation line item is canceled, this field has a fixed value of 0.
• Gross price according to confirmation – displays the gross price according to the confirmation line item
• Gross amount according to confirmation – displays the gross amount according to the confirmation line item
• Canceled according to confirmation – displays the cancellation status according to the confirmation line item.

If the purchase order change document involves a change to the original purchase order, another line with the same data at the time the purchase order change document was created is displayed in front of it.

[Delivery recipient] button

The [Delivery recipient] button displays another line for each order document line item with the following data of the delivery recipient under the specified column headings:

• Delivery recipient – displays the partner number of the delivery recipient
• Name – displays the name of the delivery recipient
• Care of – displays the contact person of the delivery recipient from the purchase order

[Delivery partner] button

The [Delivery partner] button displays an additional line for each order document line item with the following data of the delivery partner under the specified column headings:

• Delivery partner – displays the partner number of the delivery partner
• Name – displays the name of the delivery partner
• Care of – displays the contact person of the delivery partner from the purchase order

Totals field

A totals line displayed below line items contains the sum of all gross amounts of the displayed order document line items.

[Sub-items] button

You can use the [Sub-items] button to show or hide sub-items.

Purchase order document status

The status information of a purchase order document forms an additional information element of its own. Order documents only have a general status at the level of the entire order document, which is displayed with an icon in the identification pane. Order document line items do not have a status.

The general status of a purchase order document includes the following statuses:

• Invalid – a purchase order document is invalid because an error occurred during creation or deletion
• Completed – a purchase order document is assigned the status Completed immediately after it has been successfully created
• Reorganization started – this status is assigned if a reorganization of an associated purchase order has started

Customizing

Settings in the Customizing application are not relevant for the Purchase order documents query application.

Business entities

The following business entity is relevant for the Purchase order documents query application, which you use, for example, to:

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

Purchase order document: com.cisag.app.purchasing.obj.PurchaseOrderCorrespondence

The business entity belongs to the following business entity group: com.cisag.app.purchasing.OrderData

Authorizations

Authorizations can be assigned both using the authorization roles and by assigning an organization. The authorization concept can be found in the technical article Authorizations.

Special capabilities

The following special capabilities exist for the Purchase order documents query application, which relate to actions. You can assign authorizations for these capabilities in the Authorization roles application.

• Override voucher document templates: com.cisag.app.general.OverrideDocumentOutputOptions
  This capability allows you to override the output settings defined in the voucher document template in the output dialog when outputting voucher documents.
• Use different e-mail sender: com.cisag.sys.services.output.UseDifferentMailFrom
  You can use this capability to change the sender’s e-mail address in the output dialog during voucher document output.
• Use different fax sender: com.cisag.sys.services.output.UseDifferentFaxSender
  You can use this capability to change the sender’s fax number in the output dialog during voucher document output.

Organization assignments

Organizational structures are used to control which data is visible, usable, or editable. The Content-based authorizations function must be activated in the Customizing application for this purpose.

In order for a person to see the Purchase order documents query application in the user menu and be allowed to open it, they must be assigned to an organization that is integrated into one of the following organizational structures:

• Procurement

For a person to be able to query an order document, one of the organizations assigned to them must be entered in the Authorizations table in the Purchase order types application.

Further information on the Authorizations table and a comprehensive overview of the content-based authorizations can be found in the Content-based authorizations article.

Special features

There are no special features for the Purchase order documents query application.

Authorizations for business partners

The Purchase order documents query application is released for business partners of the Supplier category.

Application-related action: [Output copy of purchase order document…]

The application-related action [Output copy of purchase order document…] is available in the Purchase order documents query application.

You can use the [Output copy of purchase order document…] action to output a copy of a purchase order document. Depending on the original, either a priced or unpriced purchase order document or a purchase order change document is then output.

Preconditions

An order document copy can be output at any time.

Dialog window

When you select the [Output copy of purchase order document…] action, a dialog window with various setting options is displayed. The settings are grouped on two tabs:

• Background settings
• Output settings

The settings under Background settings and Output settings apply to all applications. The output settings and how they are created are briefly explained below.

Output settings tab

The output of a purchase order document copy is controlled via voucher document templates. These contain settings such as the structure and format of a voucher document and the permitted output media (printer, email, fax). A voucher document template for the printer medium contains, among other things, information on single or double-sided printing or the number of printed copies.

You can view some of the settings in the Purchase orders application under the Voucher output tab (see the article Purchase orders).

The system determines a valid voucher document template for a purchase order document and uses it for the voucher document output. The valid voucher document templates are set up in the customer master data. If no template is found, the system adopts settings stored for the purchasing organization of the order in the Customizing application (Purchasing function, Documents sub-function).

Voucher documents are generated in the correspondence language of the supplier.

Effects

Each time the [Output copy of purchase order document…] action is executed, the system outputs a copy of the currently open purchase order document or purchase order change document. Depending on the original, either a priced or unpriced order document or an order change document is issued. The copy is output on the output medium determined or specified in the purchase order and with the format according to the voucher document template stored or selected in the purchase order. A copy counter is incremented by one for each copy output.

The output of order document copies has no further effects.

Application-related action: [Output confirmation reminder…]

If the Order confirmation required property is set according to both the last order document header and the purchase order and a confirmation is still outstanding for either the order document header or one of the line items of the last order document, and the Confirmation until deadline has expired, and the last order document or order change document of the purchase order is currently displayed, a confirmation reminder can also be issued for the purchase order via the Purchase order documents query application.

This always refers to the last order document or order change document and not to any deviating current data of the purchase  order.

Preconditions

A confirmation reminder voucher document can only be issued if the Confirmation outstanding value is set in the order header and the Confirmation until date is less than or equal to the current date (i.e. today or in the past).

In addition, the last order document or order change document for the purchase order must be open in the application.

Effects

Each time the action is executed, the system generates a confirmation reminder voucher document on the determined or specified output medium and with the format according to the stored or selected voucher document template.

All line items of the last order document are displayed in the voucher document with their current confirmation status.

If required, the printed confirmation expediter level can be increased. You can also specify a voucher  date for the generated voucher.