Requisition Defaults

Requisition defaults come from the purchasing policies defined in SM ARTStream Purchasing. For instance, the currency in which the requisition is created comes from the Site policy. The Requester Identifier defaults into the requisition from the information entered in the Requester window. The default Ship-To Address and Buyer W orkgroup come from the requisition entity associated to the requester.

Information such as Site, Requester, Order Type, Ship-To, Currency, Buyer or Buyer W orkgroup will default into the requisition by simply accessing the Requisition activity and entering the requisition header key information (Requisition Identifier and Date Needed).

Special attention must be given to the Site selection since SM ARTStream Purchasing will select the last Site used by the requester as the default Site in a new requisition.

Other requisition defaults will vary depending on the types of items requested. The use of vendor items generates all the details about the item requested. W hen using catalogued vendor items, the only adjustments required may be the quantity and the date at which the item is needed. The use of other items such as description-only items requires that the details (information such as the Description, Quantity, Unit of M easure and Vendor Identifier) related to these items be entered manually. Description-only items are the type of item that will be used most often in SM ARTStream Purchasing at the University of Ottawa.

The table on the next page indicates:

• which fields of the Requisition window may contain default information; • the primary source for this default information;

• the secondary source for the defaults if none were established in the primary source; • whether or not the information in this field can be overridden at entry time by the user.

Requisition Defaults

Fields Primary source for default

Secondary source for default

Override

Site Last Site used None Yes

Requester User ID None Yes

Date needed (requisition header)

None. Serves as default for the requisition lines

None Yes

Date needed (requisition line)

Requisition Header None Yes

Ship To (requisition header) Requester Requisition Entity Yes

Ship To (requisition line) Requisition header None Yes

Currency Site None No

Vendor (requisition header) None. If used, serve as default for the requisiton lines.

None Yes

Accounting Distribution Defaults not used None Yes

Description only item: Description: Quantity: UOM : Unit Price: Vendor: Purchase Site:

Buyer or Buyer W orkgroup:

None None None None Requisition Header Requisition Entity Requisition Entity None None None None None None None Yes Yes Yes Vendor Item(catalogued): Description: Quantity: UOM : Unit Price: Vendor Item ID Vendor: Purchase Site:

Vendor Item Definition Vendor Item Price Vendor Item Definition Vendor Item Price Vendor Item Master Vendor Item Master Vendor Item Definition

None None None None None None None No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No

7.1.1.1 Requisition Line Exceptions

W hen a requisition line contains incomplete information or when a description-only item is used,

SM ARTStream Purchasing generates an exception after the approval has occured. W hen this happens, the message “Review requisition line exceptions” is sent to the buyer workgroup’s To Do List. This workgroup includes all purchasing officers. One of the purchasing officers reviews the exception and adds or corrects the information after its has been approved.

7.1.1.2 Requisition Approval Process

SM ARTStream Workflow is the tool that is used to automatically route business documents to the assigned approver; SM ARTStream Purchasing has its very own workflow for requisition approval. At the University, we have elected to implement this W orkflow based on “user to user” relationships or “user to workgroup” relationships. For example, if the workflow for a particular unit specifies that USER “Y” is the approver for USER “X”, then every time USER“X” forwards and saves a requisition, USER “Y” will be the designated approver. If USER “Y” happens to be an approval workgroup then any user that’s a member of this workgroup can approve the requisitions for USER “X”. An approver may also be a requester but no requester can approve his own requisitions.

Some users are not normally authorized to process requisitions within their respective units but have exceptionally been granted access to the requisition activities because these activities are included in the security group to which they belong. Granting access to these activities was done to reduce the number of security groups to be maintained; there are minimal risks associated with the approach procedures were put in place to monitor unauthorized activities. For example, if a requisition is entered by an unauthorized user,

SM ARTStream Purchasing will send a workflow message to a Materials Management Services workgroup. One of the members will, in turn, contact the Administrative Officer responsible for the unit, to advise him of the unauthorized requisition entry. This unit is then required to take appropriate action, to delete the unauthorized requisition.

7.1.1.3 Requisition Statuses

The requisition status changes throughout its processing cycle. For each requisition there is a document status and for each line, a line status. The current status of the document or line dictates what actions are available in SM ARTStream Purchasing. Possible actions are to “approve” or “reject” a requisition and to “cancel”, “delete” or “close short” a requisition or a requisition line. The following diagram illustrates the requisition statuses throughout the purchasing process:

Figure 7.1 :