Purchasing provides you with request for quotation (RFQ), and quotation features to handle your sourcing needs. You can create an RFQ from requisitions, match supplier quotations to your RFQ, and automatically copy quotation information to purchase orders. Purchasing provides complete reporting to control your requests for quotations and evaluate supplier responses.
Identify requisitions that require supplier quotations and automatically create a request for quotation.
Create a request for quotation with or without approved requisitions so that you can plan ahead for your future procurement requirements.
Record supplier quotations from a catalog, telephone conversation, or response from your request for quotation. You can also receive quotations electronically.
Review, analyze, and approve supplier quotations that you want available to reference on purchase orders and requisitions. You should be able to evaluate your suppliers based on quotation information.
Receive automatic notification when a quotation or request for quotation approaches expiration.
Review quotation information on-line when creating purchase orders or requisitions and copy specific quotation information to a purchase order or requisition.
Identify a supplier that you want to use only for receiving RFQs and quotations. You can later be able to access purchase history to help you decide if the quotations are acceptable.
Hold all purchasing activity on a supplier at any time. You can still match invoices to approved purchase orders or receipts for this supplier. You can release a supplier hold at any time.
Create, change, and review supplier information on-line. You can enter supplier site information, supplier contacts, and supplier-specific delivery information.
Review the purchase history for a specific item. You can identify the suppliers you used in the past, quantities you ordered, and pricing information. You can match this information to specific purchase orders.
Simplify the sourcing of commonly purchased items. You can define requisition templates for your commonly purchased items. Requestors can use these requisitions templates to create simple, pre-sourced requisitions.
Source the items for which you negotiated purchase agreements automatically. If you created sourcing rules and Approved Supplier List entries for the items, supplier information is entered automatically in the Requisitions window when you create requisitions. You can also place supplier information for items onto blanket purchase order releases.
Specify planning constraints, such as lead time, minimum order quantity, or fixed lot multiples, for each supplier site for an item so that if a supplier cannot currently meet your demand, Supply Chain Planning automatically uses another supplier that you specify. See: Defining the Supplier/Item Attributes.
| Electronically Received Catalog Information | You can receive price/sales catalog information electronically from your supplier through the Purchasing Documents Open Interface. The information is imported directly as blanket purchase agreement lines or catalog quotations. See: Receiving Price/Sales Catalog Information Electronically. |
| Flexible Document Numbers | Purchasing identifies each RFQ or quotation with a unique document number. You decide whether you want to enter document numbers manually or have the numbers assigned automatically. |
| Sourcing Power | Purchasing lets you source your items so you can negotiate the best deals with your suppliers. You can create requests for quotations, record the results, and reference the corresponding quotation when creating your purchase order. You can also review historical purchase prices so that you can evaluate how to purchase your items more effectively. |
| Supplier Defaulting | For each supplier, you can define default preferred ship-to locations, freight terms and carriers, free-on-board information, tax names, and payment terms to be used when you enter purchase orders. You can always override any default. |
| Supplier Purchasing Hold | You can prevent purchasing activity on specific suppliers at any time by using the Suppliers window to provide a reason for holding the supplier. You cannot approve any purchase order for a supplier on hold; however, you can receive and match against approved purchase orders or receipts for a supplier on hold. You can release a hold at any time. |
| AutoCreating RFQ and Quotation Information | You can AutoCreate RFQs directly from requisitions. You can also Copy quotations directly from RFQs to facilitate recording responses from your suppliers. See: Copying Quotations from RFQs. (If you receive catalog information from your supplier electronically, that information is sent automatically in the form of a catalog quotation. See: Receiving Price/Sales Catalog Information Electronically.) |
| Request for Quotation Requirement | You can identify whether a request for quotation is necessary for a specific item or requisition line. |
| Supplier Lists | Purchasing lets you create supplier lists so that you can predefine groups of suppliers to whom you want to send RFQs. You can establish supplier lists according to criteria you define (item, manufacturing category, geographic location, or other) and you can combine supplier lists to produce many copies of your RFQ automatically. |
| Purchasing History | Purchasing lets you review your purchase price history information to help you source your items better. You can either review all historical prices for a particular item or the last prices you paid for a specific item by quantity. You can review the detailed information of the purchase order corresponding to this last price. |
| Flexible, Custom Notes | Purchasing lets you quickly add extended Notes and instructions to your RFQs and quotations. You can include standard notes or create your own custom notes. You can use as much descriptive text as you need. |
| Automatic Sourcing | Automatic sourcing automatically defaults sourcing information onto the requisitions, blanket purchase orders, or quotations you create. You can easily assign any item with an item number to a specific blanket purchase agreement or quotation you created. Purchasing automatically assigns the name of the supplier for the blanket purchase order and quotation to any requisition for this item. (If you receive catalog information from your supplier electronically-and you specified sourcing rules to be sent electronically also-then the sourcing rule and Approved Supplier List entry for this supplier is entered in your system automatically.) See: Automatic Sourcing. See: Approved Supplier List. |