Purchase Management and its associated Supplier Relationship Management and Purchase Contract modules handle entering purchase orders and tracking supplier performance. The central program that controls purchasing activity is Purchase Order Entry. Each purchase order (PO) can contain multiple detail lines, and each detail line indicates planned receipts to inventory, direct receipts to a sales order, or direct receipts to a manufacturing job. Purchase order receipt processing also updates suggested supplier and detailed purchase history files, so your purchasing history is continuously updated to help you make future purchasing decisions.
Both contract and consolidated purchase orders (POs) can also be created through Purchase Order Entry. Through these additional module licenses, you create a contract PO with a specific supplier to purchase part quantities using a recurring, regular schedule. The contract PO is active throughout the purchase schedule as various receipt transactions are placed against it to satisfy the requirements of the contract. Consolidated purchase orders are global POs you can create to buy part quantities for all the companies within your organization. Each release on a consolidated PO can be designated for a selected company, Site, and warehouse, ensuring that the correct parts and quantities arrive where they are needed.
If your organization licenses the Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) module, you can leverage the request for quote (RFQ) functionality. Use this feature set to create request for quote records that you then send out to various competing suppliers. You evaluate the responses from these suppliers in order to decide which businesses can provide your company with the quantities, price points, and delivery dates you need for your manufacturing and servicing business flow.
The RFQ information can then be reviewed through a central SRM tool, the Buyer Workbench. Through this tool, buyers can see the current state of their RFQs and purchase orders. All the entry programs involved in the purchasing process can be launched through this tool, including Purchase Order Entry, RFQ Entry, and various Suggestion programs. When you combine Purchase Management with the added SRM tools, purchase contracts, and multi-site functionality, you have complete control over your purchasing business flow.