OneSite Purchasing Overview

Purchase Orders

To create a purchase order, the user first selects a vendor. The entire vendor list can be imported into OneSite Purchasing from your company’s accounts payable system, then easily filtered so that only the vendors used by that property are listed. The user can find the correct vendor by vendor name, by vendor number, city, state, or by searching by the first letter of the vendor name. The vendor address is shown to help confirm that the correct vendor is selected. Once the vendor has been selected, the user begins entering the line items. Line items can be added to the purchase order using one or more predefined shopping lists or by selecting individual line items. The user can select from any line items previously ordered from the selected vendor or can add a new item. For each line item, the expense and capital general ledger account, the last known price, the vendor part number, and the description can be “memorized” by the system. In addition, each line item can be categorized for reporting purposes. Once all of the line items are entered on the purchase order, and any additional comments are entered, the purchase order is submitted for approval.

Recurring Purchase Orders

If items are frequently reordered, users can save steps by having OneSite Purchasing automatically create recurring purchase orders. The system will automatically alert an approver if a recurring purchase order requires approval.

Budget Checks

At any time during the addition of line items for the purchase order, a quick budget check can be performed. The purpose of this check is to highlight any over-budget conditions for the pending order.

Budget Controls

Your company can establish purchase order approval logic to control how budget limits and user spending limits are factored in the approval process. OneSite’s inherent flexibility as a web-based application allows the process of purchase order approval to be controlled and defined by each company to fit unique requirements. When a purchase order is submitted, the approval logic runs automatically. Each user can be given a per-order spending limit or budget controls can be set up to check the budget of individual G/L accounts, to check the account category budget, or both. Invoices are checked for PO-to-Invoice variance and vendor specific approval conditions.

Depending on the setup options your company selects for each over-budget condition, the system can either warn the user that the condition exists (for example, warning that the month-to-date budget for a particular G/L account has been exceeded), or else require approval. When approval is required, the user is prompted to select an approver and enter a message or justification for the approver. In addition to using the OneSite interface, the approver can receive a notice by e-mail that summarizes the request for approval.

The Approval Process

OneSite Purchasing is designed with the regional manager in mind. Approvers receive an up-to-date budget variance check when reviewing any purchase order or invoice for approval. In addition, approvers can easily approve all items for a particular property at once, or review and approve all items for all properties assigned to them for approval through the home office.

Invoices

The central activity of OneSite Purchasing is the recording of invoices. Companies can establish those vendors for which purchase orders are required and those for which invoices can be entered without purchase orders being required. Users start by creating a new invoice. The first step in this process is the selection of the vendor, using the same simple interface used to select a vendor for a purchase order. Once the vendor is selected, the user can add items to the invoice by direct entry, by copying items from a purchase order, or by using a user-defined template that can automatically fill in frequently ordered items. Purchase orders can remain open if line items are on back order. As line items are entered on the invoice, the form can automatically calculate subtotals, shipping, tax, and the allocation summary. Once the line items on the invoice have been entered correctly, the invoice is submitted as "ready to transfer."

Exporting to the Company Accounting System

A property manager, regional manager, or other designated user can be given the responsibility of determining which invoices are "okay to pay" and should be transferred to the company accounting system. The selected invoices will be automatically transferred from OneSite to your system when the property date is advanced. OneSite exports invoices using an extensible markup language (XML) schema, making for easy integration with any system that supports this industry standard.

OneSite Purchasing offers complete integration with OneSite Accounting accounts payable. Vendors set up in accounts payable are updated automatically in OneSite Purchasing. Invoices posted to OneSite Accounting can be paid with records of each payment available in OneSite Purchasing. Such tight integration enables your property staff to manage important vendor relationships.