To activate the Buying Group feature, check the box at the Restrict
Entry to a Single Buyer field in the Purchasing
Control Settings (PO ACF).If your system is using the Buying Group feature, then for all products on a purchase order:
you must specify a buyer, and
the buyer must be the same.
If using the Buying Group feature, the system conducts a series of validation tests to ensure the buyer is the correct buyer for the selected product or vendor. If the Buying Group feature is NOT active, you can specify any buyer.
To activate the Buying Group feature, check the box at the Restrict
Entry to a Single Buyer field in the Purchasing
Control Settings (PO ACF).
In Purchase Order Entry, if you do not manually specify a buyer at the Buyer Group field, the program searches the buyer hierarchy and attempts to find a buyer for the purchase order. The following routines each allow you to specify a buying group (each of which contains a single buyer). In Purchase Order Entry, when you enter data into the fields associated with the below routines, the program checks these routines. When it determines the buyer, it applies it to the Buyer ID field.
Advanced Product Settings - buying group by product
Vendor Ship-From Settings - buying group by vendor ship-from address
Advanced Vendor Settings - buying group by vendor
You can also specify buying groups by vendor via the Buying Group
Settings.
When entering a purchase order, if the Buying Group field in the Advanced Product Settings contains a response for a specified product, the program uses it. If that field is empty, the program checks the Ship-From field. If the Ship-From field contains a ship-from address, and if that address contains a buying group in the Vendor Ship-From Settings, the program uses it. If the Ship-From field is empty, or if the specified ship-from address does not contain a buying group, the program checks the Buying Group field associated with the selected vendor. If this field (in the Advanced Vendor Settings) contains a buying group, the program uses it.
If the program cannot find a buyer using this hierarchy, an error message appears and you must exit the program and enter a buyer into one of the above routines for the selected product or vendor before you can proceed with the purchase order.
If you specify a buyer in Purchase Order Entry, the system
confirms that the buyer exists in a buying group. If yes, then
when you specify a vendor, the system confirms that either
the buying group is associated with the vendor, or
no buying group is associated with the vendor.
If the buyer passes step 2, then when you specify a product, the system confirms that either
the buying group is associated with the product or with the ship-from address (if any) linked to the product, or
no buying group is associated with the product or with the ship-from address (if any) linked to the product.
If the buyer passes the above tests, the system uses the specified buyer. If the buyer fails any of the tests, an error message appears. You can
exit the routine and enter the buyer into one of the above routines for the selected product or vendor and proceed with the purchase order,
enter another buyer, or
empty the field and have the system search for a buyer as described above.
In Purchase Order Entry, the following is true if the Buyer Group feature is active on your system.
For purchase orders created on-the-fly from within order entry, the program does not specify a buyer and places the purchase order hold. To remove the Hold status, you must re-access the purchase order and specify a buyer.
If you enter a buyer before you enter a vendor, the vendor you enter must be associated with the specified buyer or no buyer at all. The buyer is determined by retrieving the Buyer Initials from the indicated Buying Group. The lookup displays all users who are buyers. Staff members are considered to be buyers if they have been assigned one or more buying groups.
Once you enter the first product for the indicated buyer, you cannot change the field.
After you specify a vendor ship-from, the system checks the Buyer field again. If a buyer is present, the vendor ship-from must belong to that buyer’s Buying Group or have no Buying Group specified.
If, when entering a product in Purchase Order Entry, a buyer has NOT been established, the system assigns the buyer based on the buying group of that product. The logic follows the hierarchy from the product to that product’s vendor ship-from, then to that product’s vendor (subsidiary).
When entering individual products in Purchase Order Entry and a buyer has been established on the General tab, the system checks each product based on that product’s vendor, vendor ship-from, and the product itself to ensure that the buying group matches the specified buyer. Otherwise, an error message appears.
Each product on a PO must
- have a buying group specified somewhere in it’s hierarchy, and
- be the correct buyer for that PO.
If you do not establish a vendor ship-from location on the General tab, the system determines the vendor ship-from based on the first product entered on the purchase order. Once you establish a vendor ship-from, all subsequent products added to that purchase order must originate from the same vendor ship-from location.
The system checks each product to ensure that if a buying group is specified on the product level, the buyer is the same as the one indicated on the General tab. Note that since a single buyer can be responsible for multiple buying groups, the system checks the Buyer’s Initials, not the Buying Group.
When the auto replenishment process creates a purchase order, it places it on hold. A buyer then reviews these purchase orders before releasing them for processing. If any products do not meet their minimum order quantities, a message appears and the system holds them until the indicated product quantity ordered has been appropriately updated.