​Introduction

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

The PO screen displays items from all available requisitions. Here you create a purchase order from any individual line item(s) from any requisition. For example, you might want to do this so that you could place one order from one vendor​ for all office supply items from all requisitions.

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. 

Finally, be aware that only those line items that have been coded with encumbrance transaction codes are sent to STARS. All other transaction codes are not. A purchase order marked as Not Invoiced or PCard Purchase will not send any transactions to STARS, unless overridden by the Purchasing administrator.

Enter Purchase Order 'Header' Information

1. From the Purchasing main menu, click Purchase Orders, and then click the PO tab.

2. Enter “header” information – the department, the PO number, vendor, contract numbers, notes, etc. as needed for your situation or your agency’s purchasing processes.

3. 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 required to use departments.

4. If needed, enter a purchase order number, up to eight alphanumeric characters, in the PO # field. Some agencies use automatically assigned purchase order numbers, in which case 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 1 - Department and PO number example

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

In some 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 that has been added or activated in STARS will not be available in Purchasing until the day after it is entered in STARS.

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 2 - Vendor Look Up

 

To add a new vendor

a. 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.

Figure 3 - Add a new vendor

 

b. Enter a new vendor name and address.

c. When finished, click Save.

6. If desired, 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 only for record keeping.

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

8. If desired, 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.

9. Click Save.

Optional 'Header' Information

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 only for record keeping.

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

3. If needed, click 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.

4. Click Save when finished.

Add Individual Items to the Purchase Order

​After saving the "header" information:

1. Check the Sel check box next to each individual requisition item you want to add to the purchase order.

Figure 4 - Line Item review

2. If you want to review a requisition line item on the PO screen you can:

a. Click the requisition number (Req #) to view the entire requisition on the Requisition screen.

b. Click the line item Notes icon to view any notes. (An icon with a pencil indicates there are notes. A pink icon means there are important notes that must be read.)

c. Click the Atch icon to view any attached documents on the Attachment screen. (A filled-in icon indicates there are attachments.)

3. If the text in the Description field extends beyond the text box, double-click the field and a separate Description window will be displayed. You can change the description if necessary. Do not use special characters or symbols, including &,',“,<,and \.

4. If necessary, you can change the quantity (Qty) and/or the unit of measure (U.M.) on a line item. For example, you may want to change this if an item is only available in a certain quantity or unit of measure.

5. Click Save when finished with the purchase order. (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’.).

​Optional steps

​1. To view only the items you have selected and hide all other items, you can check the View Selected Items check box .

2. If needed, click Menu next to a line item to take more action on each line item.

3. Click Coding Info if you want to view the fiscal coding on each line item. If the coding needs to be changed, the purchaser must click Menu next to the line item and select Reject Line Item.

4. Click Save when finished with the purchase order. (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’.)

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 i​​f 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 and . 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. Your PC or IT administrators may have security policies set to prevent the PDF software to connect to your e-mail client. Contact your support personnel for 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 were 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.​