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Hybrid Blanket PO's with Line Items

Escape does line item purchase orders, and blanket purchase orders without line items. This is not news. Some customers have requested the ability to have both in one PO! This document describes how you can currently achieve this goal, using a "hybrid" approach.

Why would we want a line item PO that was also a blanket? Here are the reasons:

  • We wish to create a purchase order to the vendor.
  • We wish to encumber a dollar amount in advance.
  • When the order is opened, we don't know exactly what will be purchased.
  • We want to subsequently add line items, but not change the encumbered amount.
  • We wish to later record receipt of items into the warehouse.

Example: Food Service wants to create a PO to Sysco for food items not to exceed $50,000 for the month of May. During the month, a variety of food items are purchased, some of which will be received into the warehouse for later distribution.

Setting Up a Hybrid PO

The "Hybrid" PO is actually just a standard line item PO that you use special procedures to process. It may be that you want to set up separate numbering for these PO's, but it is not required. The steps for setting up the Hybrid PO are:

  1. Create a standard po (line item type)
  2. Enter all required requisitioner, vendor, account info as usual
  3. Add ONE "not to exceed amount" line item for the amount to be encumbered. Descriptive text you want to appear on a printed PO can be entered.
  4. Submit, approve PO in normal fashion
  5. If a hard copy PO is needed, print then unprint the PO

You now have a purchase order that has been encumbered, and a PO number the vendor can reference when shipping.

Ordering and Receiving Items

Once the PO is set up, you can order items as needed, up to the amount of the PO. When ordering, do the following:

  1. Reduce the line item dollar amount of your "not to exceed" line item
  2. Add line items for items you are now specifying from the vendor (for warehoused items, include the stores item number)
  3. As items are received into the warehouse (or directly to sites) receive them into Escape

NOTE: When your "not to exceed" line item cost is zero, you must close the order or increase it with a change notice.