Fulfills direct procurement requirements through conversion from demands to purchase orders, issuance, and confirmation of purchase orders. Includes dedicated processes for the purchasing of direct materials, indirect materials, and services (for example, subcontracting for components, Internet-based employee-centered approach for MROs).
Conversion of Demands to Purchase Orders
The requirements that have been created and released for procurement (for example, demands for spare parts coming from plant maintenance, demands for raw materials determined in a planning run, or requests for office supplies entered by an employee) are transferred to purchasing as purchasing requisitions. They are presented to the purchasing agent in worklists that support him or her in converting the requisitions into purchase orders. The purchasing agent can check the source of supply and the price and conditions that have been assigned to a requisition and start a request for quotation or bidding process if necessary. Release procedures are available to control critical procurement processes.
Confirmation and Monitoring Purchasing Activities
Several types of purchase order confirmation can be received from the supplier (for example, order acknowledgements, loading confirmations, or shipping notifications). Depending on the rules that have been customized, reminders are sent automatically if follow-on activities (for example, a confirmation or delivery by the supplier) are missing or delayed. Functions for transportation management and foreign trade are available for both the inbound and outbound sides. Monitoring functions provide an overview of the status of all running procurement processes.