In Autoline, there is a facility for a non-inventory purchase control. This feature's main purpose is to control all items for which no current provision is provided, such as office consumables, fixed assets and services.
Some features of the sundry order functionality are:
The optional use of requisitions along with authorization of requisitions
A verification routine to match sundry orders with invoices produced from the Invoice Register in Purchase Ledger.
There are two ways that the orders can be verified:
Matching orders to invoices that have been entered through the Invoice Register.
or
Verification can be used to drive the batch input of documents, where the value of the order lines are loaded automatically into batch input along with the supplier details ready to amend/post
When the first method is utilized, the verification routine drives the NL postings to reverse entries from the Asset and Expense suspense accounts, and posts the cost allocations from the order lines.
Note: When used for verification, these cannot be used together. You must use one or the other.
There are various parameters used to control this function. Importantly, the location of where these parameters can be found are stated below:
System Utilities/Management Menu/User Details: Various parameters to control order limits, write-off limits and authorizations required for the user, as well as the default cost centre to which orders will be charged, and whether write-off accounts must be specified. These fields are self-explanatory, and are housed in the PL Sundry Orders tab of the User Details menu option.
Purchase Ledger, System Parameters, Sundry Order Control tab: Parameter settings that set various priorities to control user access for certain functions within Sundry Order control. It is beneficial to view the system parameters prior to actually using the module.
Purchase Ledger, System Parameters, Cash Postings Tab: The priority to use the write-off facility controls a user's ability to write-off a value when matching orders to invoices even if they have a write-off value set against their user name.
As there is a fairly significant amount of set-up to enable the sundry order functionality, it may be worth discussing with your installation consultant which parameters and files must be created.
The SUNDRY ORDER CONTROL menu is displayed when the Sundry order control option is selected from the PURCHASE LEDGER menu. The following options are displayed on the menu:
Create requisition: This option allows you to create a requisition, which can then be authorized and converted into an order.
Order maintenance: The Order maintenance option is used to create, amend or delete orders, and is also utilized to authorize requisitions. A list of orders awaiting the user's authorization can be displayed. This routine is also used to submit orders for processing and these can be output in various formats.
Order verification: The order verification routine is used to match orders to invoices. Depending on the parameter setting, it can compare values of orders to invoices received and write-off amounts. Alternatively, it can select orders and produce the corresponding documents for batch input.
Product maintenance: The Product maintenance option allows you to create, delete or amend product lines. By allowing you to manipulate the information of the product, this option gives you the option of updating or altering information relating to the product, and therefore maintaining it. An example of a product would be something like printer paper.
Report generator: The facilities of the Report Generator sub-system are common to all Autoline software applications. These facilities allow you to create your own reports from any combination of the fields on your records. Any combination of system-generated or user-entered fields can be used to provide detailed information in reports which you yourself design. Instead of being forced to depend on few standard reports, you can select the ones that meet your individual day-to-day requirements, or you can create special reports which solve particular problems as they arise.
Ad-hoc enquiries: The Ad-hoc enquiries are a powerful set of tools that allow specialized enquiries of any module. Enquiries can be formulated using field and verb references and reports can be saved for regular use enquiries.
Order header enquiries: The Order header enquiries option allows you to display details of the sundry order. These details may then be produced into a report and printed off, if desired.
Order line enquiries: The Order line enquiries option allows you to display details of the sundry order lines, and if necessary, a report can be produced containing the information.
Free text enquiries: The Free text enquiries option allows you to view all free text entries that have been made, and if needed, a report may be produced containing the fields selected to be viewed.
Products enquiries: The Products enquiries option allows you to display all details created on the sundry product maintenance form. You may then proceed to select which fields you want to be included in the report. When the report has been created, you may then proceed to print, fax or mail the report. The above three enquiries are effectively ad-hoc enquiries, hence do not have a help topic of their own.
