​Introduction

You can create a purchase order from one single requisition, as this document describes, or from any item(s) from any requisition.

The Purchase Orders > Req Status screen displays individual requisitions. Here you can select a single requisition with a Status of Ready for Purchasing and create a purchase order from it.

There are some steps that agencies can customize, including:

• If your agency has enabled automatic purchase order numbering, a purchase order number will not be assigned until the PO has been marked as ‘Complete’, ‘Approved’, or ‘Ordered’.
• Some agencies may require an approver to approve purchase orders before they can be ordered.
  

Select a Requisition

1. Open Purchasing, and then select Purchase Orders.

2. Click Req Status.

3. From the Status drop down menu, select Ready for Purchasing, and then click Find. You may need to ensure that the Request Date Range is set to All Requisitions, and Departments (if used) is set to All Departments.

Figure 1 - Req Status screen

• Click the plus sign (+) next to a requisition if you want to view the items on a requisition.​

4. Click Select next to a requisition. It will open on the Requisition screen.

Figure 2 - Requisition screen

5. If desired, review or add notes and/or attachments for the requisition. Do not use special characters or symbols, including &,',“,<,and \, iif adding notes or comments:

a. Click the Req Notes icon to review or to add general requisition notes.

b. Click the Req Atch icon to review or to add attached scanned documents.

c. Click the Notes icon on a specific line item to review or to add requisition notes.

d. Click the Atch icon on a line item to review or to add attached scanned documents.

6. Click Make PO. (The Make PO button will not be displayed if any requisition line item has been added to a purchase order - either current, rejected, or voided, and regardless of the requisition status.)

Enter Purchase Order Information

1. The PO screen will open with all of the items from the requisition. Enter the purchase order “header” information – the department, PO number, vendor, contract numbers, notes, etc. as determined by your agency’s purchasing processes.

Figure 3 - PO screen

2. If your agency uses Departments, select a department from the Department drop down menu. If your administrator has not created any departments, there will be no Department menu. Agencies are not requied to use Departments.

3. If needed, manually enter a purchase order number, up to eight alphanumeric characters, in the PO # field. If your agency uses automatically assigned purchase order numbers, there will not be a PO # field. Rather, the number will be automatically entered when the purchase order is marked as ‘Complete’, ‘Approved’, or ‘Ordered’.

Figure 4 - Department and PO number example

4. Either manually enter a vendor number (Vendor #) and suffix, or search for one and select it, or add a new vendor number. Generally it is best to search for and select a vendor.

In rare cases, a vendor number is not required (if, for example, you want to record an encumbrance for a project without a specific vendor). However, once the purchase order is approved or ordered, you cannot add a vendor.

To search for and select a vendor number

a. Click the asterisk next to the Vendor # field.

b. In the Vendor Look Up, enter any combination of search criteria – Name, City, etc. You can enter just the first few letters to find a vendor that begins with those letters. You can also use the wildcard (%). A vendor has to have been has been added or activated in STARS to be available.

c. Click Find.

d. Click Select next to the vendor you want to use. The Vendor Number and Suffix will be entered automatically in the Vendor fields on the PO screen.

Figure 5 - Vendor Look Up

 

To add a new vendor

If you cannot find a vendor or want to add a new vendor that has not yet been entered in STARS, click the plus sign (+) next to the Vendor # suffix field to enter a new vendor name and address. (When a new vendor is entered, a W-9 form can be printed with the purchase order.)

Figure 6 - Add a new vendor

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Optional steps:

1. If needed, enter a State Contract number to associate with the purchase, or click the asterisk to select a state contract number from the drop down menu. This will add the number to the purchase order for documentation.

2. If needed, enter a Required Delivery By date or select one using the calendar icon.

3. Click Menu next to a line item for further actions to take on individual items.

4. If needed, click the PO Options drop down menu, and then select Not Invoiced or PCard Purchase (e.g., if the purchase is made at the point of sale and you do not want to send transactions to STARS). NOTE: Your administrator may encumber P-Card purchases which would override this selection.

5. Click Save. The purchase order is ready to be ordered. If you may want to add additional purchase order information.

6. If your agency requires purchase orders to be approved, click Complete. The designated PO Approver must then approve the purchase order before it can be ordered.

Notes, Attachments, and Approvals

After the purchase order is saved, the following options are available depending on your agency’s process:

1. Click the PO Atch icon if you want to attach scanned documents for the purchase order.

2. Click the Vendor Notes icon if you want to add notes for the vendor. There are three tabs on the Vendor Notes pop-up dialogue box: Default, Additional, and Confirmation. These will print on different sections of the purchase order.

• On the Additional tab, type a note (up to 2000 characters) for the vendor and click Save. Do not use special characters or symbols, including &,',“,<,and \. This will print in the Comments section of the purchase order.
• Click the Default tab to see if the Purchasing administrator has created default notes. You can select which notes would apply to the purchase order or deselect any default notes and click Save. This will print in the Vendor Notes section of the purchase order. However, selecting too many default notes may cause them to print past the page margin. For longer notes or information, add an attachment.
• Click the Confirmation tab to add a Vendor name and contact number information (up to 50 characters) that will print next to the Purchasing Agent/Approver signature line of the purchase order. Do not use special characters or symbols, including &,',“,<,and \.

3. If your agency requires that your purchase orders be approved, do one of the following:

• Click Complete. This button is displayed if you are a Purchaser but not a PO Approver. The designated PO Approver must approve them.
• Click Approve if you are a PO Approver and your agency requires that your purchase orders be approved.

Print Your Purchase Order

After saving the purchase order, your agency may require that it be approved. Otherwise, the purchase order is ready to be ordered and printed or e-mailed to the vendor.

1. Click Ordered. For agencies that opt for automatic purchase order numbering, a PO Number will be displayed.

2. Click Print to display a PDF copy of the purchase order.

3. Select either Purchase Order Preview or PO Form #2. PO Form #2 is the same as the Purchase Order and includes the fiscal coding of each individual line item.

4. Click Preview to display the purchase order in PDF format.

5. Depending on your PDF software, click the appropriate icon on the toolbar to print, save, or e-mail the form, or click File, Attach to E-mail to send to the vendor. Contact your support personnel if you need assistance.

6. Submit the purchase order to the vendor according to your agency’s polices.

If you print the purchase order again after five minutes, the purchase order form will indicate “COPY” in the upper right hand corner.

If you click Print a second time, two more options will be available – Original PO and Original PO #2. Since an Approver or Purchase can make changes on a purchase order (e.g., increase the quantity of a line item), the Original PO will print the purchase order as it was before any changes made by an Approver or Purchaser.

When a purchase order is finally “ordered”, any line item on the purchase order with a transaction code 215 (encumbered) will be sent to STARS. A purchase order marked as Not Invoiced or PCard Purchase will not send any transactions to STARS, unless overridden by the Purchasing administrator.

Encumbrances

Only encumbered items will create transactions in STARS. When items that have been encumbered (e.g. using a TC 215) are ordered, the Purchasing application will send a TC215 to STARS at the end of the day for each encumbered line item.

When a purchase order is voided, the application will send a TC 225 to STARS for each encumbered line item.

When a purchase order with encumbered line items is voided (deleted), the application will send a TC225 for each encumbered line item and delete any line items of the purchase order in the Purchasing application table that have not been ordered. For these line items, if the MOD field is blank, STARS will treat it as a partial just as if the user had entered a “P” in that field. If the user enters an “F” in the MOD field, STARS will finalize it.

Using a P-Card

If you select PCard Purchase (i.e., no encumbrance is generated), then use a TC 228 in the P-Card application.

If you do not select PCard Purchase or the administrator overrides the PCard Purchase selection, so that the purchase is encumbered, and you paid with a P-Card, use a TC 235 (with the reference document number of the encumbrance) in the P-Card application.