MR-J  Generate Purchase Orders

Purpose of Program

Use this program to automatically convert suggested purchase orders to actual purchase orders.  This eliminates the need for manually entering purchase orders.  It can also be used to group purchases by vendor and date range and generate a report of suggested purchase orders for manual entry.

Purchase orders can be automatically converted as a batch, or a review function allows each suggested purchase to be viewed and edited before being converted.  The review function is especially useful with purchase orders because you may wish to override the vendor (MRP always suggests the primary vendor) and buy from someone else.

Within vendor all items selected for conversion are grouped into a single purchase order and are given the same receiving due date, regardless of the MRP suggested receiving date.  Because of this you should select items for conversion in groups of date ranges.

For example, let's say you want to purchase all items needed for MRP due dates from February 1-8.  Some items will have a four week lead time, some three weeks, some two weeks, etc.   Start with the items with a four week lead time.  Generate PO’s by entering a Start Date range of 12/28/XX thru 1/3/XX (4-5 weeks prior to the due date) and a Due Date range of 2/1/XX thru 2/8/XX.  Any MRP BUY records that are to be ordered within the start date range that are needed within the due date range will be selected for purchase order generation.  Set the Purchase Order Date Default to 12/28/XX and the Due Date Default to 2/1/XX prior to generating the PO's.  This tells you to send the PO's out on 12/28/XX and all line items on the PO's will have due dates of 2/1/XX.

Continuing our example, after generating the first date range, now generate another, this time for the three week lead time items.  Keep the due dates the same, but now enter a Start Date range of 1/4/XX thru 1/11/XX.  This will generate all the three week lead time items.  Your Purchase Order Date Default will be set to 1/4/XX and the Due Date Default will remain at 2/1/XX.  This tells you to send this batch of PO's out on 1/4/XX, with all line items having due dates of 2/1/XX.  Continue in this manner with the two week lead time items and then the one week lead time items.

Using this program requires some planning.  Unlike work orders, which always are for one item only, purchase orders can contain many line items, and purchased parts have a variety of different lead times.  Therefore you have to devise a batch purchasing method similar to that described above, where batches of PO's are generated according to lead time/due date combinations.  For some companies, thinking in terms of weekly batches makes sense, for others monthly batches are appropriate, for others semi-weekly or even daily batches are better.  Running this program in report only mode allows for evaluating different methods without actually placing the purchase orders.

This program is not suitable for entering scheduled or blanket orders, which should be manually entered.  Once entered, though, they are reflected in the MRP generation and, assuming all your requirements are covered, will not generate any suggested purchase orders.

General Program Operation

You can limit the items selected for conversion by entering a from/thru range of item numbers.  You can select item numbers from a lookup window by pressing the F2 key (or clicking on the Lookup button).

Enter a range of start dates.  These refer to the MRP Start Date, which is the date the purchase order should be placed in order to receive the item on time for when it is needed.

Enter a range of due dates.  These refer to the MRP Requirement Date, which is when the item is needed.  You should enter a fairly tight range of dates because all items selected are going to be grouped on a common purchase order by vendor and will all be given the same receiving date, which will override the MRP requirement date.

You can further limit the selection by entering from/thru ranges of item classes, inventory categories, and vendor codes.

If you only want a report of suggested purchase orders, answer Y to Generate a Report Only.  Otherwise, the purchase orders will be generated and you will get a report listing them.  If you are using multiple locations, you can enter the Location for which this batch of purchase orders are to be received.  If you are not using multiple locations, leave this field blank.

Enter the Purchase Order Date Default, which will be the order date of the purchase order.  You should set this date early enough to encompass the longest lead time of any item that will be on the purchase order.

Next enter the Due Date Default.  All items grouped on the purchase order will be assigned this receiving date, regardless of what the MRP requirement date is.  Therefore, you would normally use the earliest requirement date in the selection range the due date so that no item on the purchase order will arrive after its MRP requirement date.

You are next asked if you want to automatically generate the purchase orders or allow for a review.  If you enter an A for automatic generation, the program will create the purchase orders as a batch and will use the MRP suggested quantities, the default purchase order date and default due date, and the primary vendor specified in each item's inventory master record.

If you enter an R for review, each item will be displayed in a pop-up window for review.  The MRP start date (suggested purchase order date) and MRP requirement date are displayed for reference.  The purchase order default order date and due date are shown for comparison and can be changed if required.  You can override the quantity and the vendor.  Vendors can be selected from a lookup window by pressing the F2 key (or clicking on the Lookup button).

You must continue this process until all items within the selection range have been reviewed.  The program will then generate the purchase orders.  All items with a common vendor and common purchase order date will be consolidated into a single purchase order for that vendor and, if the default is so set in SD-D Material Requirements Defaults, the quantity will be rounded up to the next increment of Standard Pack as defined for the item in IN-B  Enter Inventory