Procurement

End-user documentation

Procurement

Procure-to-pay operations for vendors, vendor groups, purchase orders, goods receipts, vendor bills, returns, tax reports, and procurement settings.

Purpose and What Problem This Solves

The Procurement module controls how the business requests, orders, receives, bills, and returns goods or services from vendors. It helps prevent informal buying, missing receipts, duplicate bills, and weak supplier records.

Who normally uses this module

What You Can Do Here

• Maintain vendors, vendor groups, contacts, and files.
• Create purchase orders with line items, budgets, taxes, and approval context.
• Record goods receipts and compare received quantities to ordered quantities.
• Create vendor bills and support accounts payable review.
• Process purchase returns and procurement tax reports.

Core Concepts and Terms

Learn these words first. Most user mistakes happen when a beginner opens a form without knowing what the record represents.

Beginner Quick Start

Use this first-run path in a training database or with a supervised account before handling live records.

1. Create vendor groups and vendor records with complete tax and contact information.
2. Create a purchase order with correct item, quantity, price, tax, and delivery details.
3. Receive goods against the PO and record variances immediately.
4. Create or review vendor bill details only after receipt evidence is available.
5. Run reports for open POs, received-not-billed items, returns, and tax exposure.

Standard Operating Procedures

These SOPs describe the routine operating pattern. Your company policy may add approvals, attachments, or segregation-of-duties controls.

Create a purchase order

1. Confirm business need, approved requester, budget, vendor, delivery location, and item details.
2. Create the PO with quantities, prices, taxes, payment terms, and notes.
3. Submit for approval if required.
4. Send or reference the approved PO when ordering.

Receive goods

1. Open the PO and compare delivery documents against expected items.
2. Record received quantity, damaged quantity, lot/serial details, and location when needed.
3. Flag short, over, damaged, or wrong items immediately.
4. Save the receipt so Warehouse and Finance can continue their workflows.

Review a vendor bill

1. Match the bill to vendor, PO, and goods receipt.
2. Confirm price, quantity, tax, discounts, freight, and terms.
3. Hold bills with unresolved receiving or pricing variances.
4. Approve for payment only when evidence supports the liability.

Industry Notes and Good Practice

• Procurement quality is strongest when PO, receipt, and bill are matched before payment.
• Receiving teams should record what arrived, not what was expected. Variances are normal and should be visible.
• Vendor master data affects tax, payment, compliance, and reporting. Keep it controlled.
• Returns should reference original PO/receipt context so stock and payable effects stay explainable.

Controls, Data Quality, and Review Checklist

Use this checklist during onboarding, monthly review, and process audits.

• Every active vendor has complete contact, tax, and payment information.
• Purchase orders are approved before orders are placed where policy requires it.
• Receipts are recorded promptly and variances are documented.
• Vendor bills are matched before payment approval.

Related ERPat areas

FAQ and Troubleshooting

Why can I not receive against a PO?

Check PO status, permissions, item setup, and whether the PO is already fully received or closed.

What if the vendor sent more than ordered?

Record the actual received quantity and flag the variance according to policy.

Can I pay a bill without a receipt?

Only if your policy allows it. Most goods purchases should be matched to receipt evidence.

What should beginners learn first?

Vendor setup, PO creation, receiving, bill matching, and purchase returns.

ERPat Procurement user guide. This static HTML page is documentation-only and does not change module routing, permissions, or runtime behavior.