Tools for Approvers

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Level III Feature

 

Approvers' tools are useful if you are sending emails to have PO's approved.  To reach this part of the program, start at the Main Purchase Order Screen and select ORDER TOOLS >> TOOLS FOR APPROVERS.  The following dialog box appears:

 

POAppTool

 

First a bit of background.  In the Level III program, you can send an email to an individual with approval authority.

Quick definitions:  The person who prepares the purchase order and initiates the process is called the "originator."  Everything begins with the originator.  Once the purchase order is prepared, the originator sends a "request for approval" or "Approval Request" to an individual who has approval authority.  This person is called the "approver."

When the originator sends the email, AnyPO includes special encoded attachment.  When the email attachment is opened, AnyPO will start and a special approval dialog box will open (shown below).  (You can also trigger this dialog box when AnyPO starts using an alternative method described: here.)

POApprov5

You'll be taken to the first PO that requires approval.  If there are additional PO's that need to be approved, it will take you to those as well.  All of the PO's which required approval - whether it is only one PO or many PO's - are saved on a list.  This list is the original to-do list.

The Original To-do list is not generated when the originator sends the email.  Rather, AnyPO waits to generate it until you use the red dialog box shown above.  The reason for this is that the Original To-do list is way you can re-examine PO's after you have processed them.

There is a list that does keep track of PO's as they are sent from originators.  That's the secondary list (described below).  When originators send emails, PO's requiring approval are added to the secondary list.  That means if you don't use the red dialog box, you wouldn't see these new PO's on the spreadsheet.  You would, however, see the last set of PO's that you processed.  More about that below.

 

Viewing Purchase Orders on the Original To-do List

Let's say that you have run through the approval process and have exited from the red "Approval" dialog box (above).  If, after some reflection, you have second thoughts about a PO on the original list, it is possible to re-look at it.

To do so, select ORDER TOOLS >> TOOLS FOR APPROVERS.  All of the purchase orders on the original list appear on the spreadsheet displayed on the dialog box.

If you want to revisit one of the PO's, select it from the list and click on "Find."  You'll be taken to the PO.  If you decide to make a change in its approval status (either approving it or revoking approval), you can do so by clicking on the "Approve" button on upper right of the screen or selecting ORDER TOOLS >> ORDER APPROVAL from the Main Menu.

 

Removal Function

You'll probably never ever have to use this button.  AnyPO automatically clears the entries on the Original To-do list when you process a new batch of PO's requiring approval.  If, for some reason, however, you want to manually remove PO's from the the Original To-do list, you can use this feature.

 

Secondary List

In the addition to the original list, a secondary list is kept by AnyPO.  This secondary list includes any purchase order from the original list that you have not yet reviewed.  Normally, you'll probably review and approve (or not approve), all of the PO's on the original list, but you may decided that you need more time think about a certain PO.  You do that by clicking on the "No Approval - Keep" button.  That means you don't want to take any action, but the PO will be placed on the secondary  list so you can access it again.

You may also get interrupted or run out of time and may not finished approving all PO's.  When you click on the "Close" button in special approval dialog box (above), any PO's that you haven't yet processed are placed on the second list.

The secondary list appears in the window at the bottom of the screen.  AnyPO uses the internal purchase order number and separates each with a vertical bar.  Here's what it looks like:  000998|000999|001000|.  In this example, PO numbers 998, 999, and 1000 are on the secondary list.

"Approval Process" Button. To view the PO's on the secondary list, click the "Approval Process" button.  That re-opens the red special approval dialog box (above) and you can run through each of PO's, view them, and decide whether or not they should be approved.  When you choose either "Approve" or "No Approval," the PO number is removed from the list.

"Clean List" Button. This button allows you to remove all PO numbers from the secondary list.  You'll rarely, if ever, use this feature.  The best way to deal with the secondary list is to click on the "Approval Process" button, described above, and as you go through each PO, you can either approve or not approve.  As you do that, the PO number will be removed from the secondary list.  

However, if the secondary list has become garbled in some way - or if you've already looked at all of the PO's on the list and it's no longer necessary for you to deal with them, you can use the "Clean List" function.  Click on the "Clean List" button.  A message will appear asking if you wish to continue with the removal.  Click YES to remove all PO's from the list.  If don't want to remove the PO's, click NO or Cancel.

 

Communicating With Originators

From time to time, you may find it is necessary to communicate with originators.  There are two features on this dialog box which allow you to do that.  At the bottom of the screen are listed the two most recent originators.  You can email them by clicking on the "Open" button.

If there is a specific purchase order you need to discuss with an originator, select the PO from the original to-do list(found on the spreadsheet at the top of the screen) and then click on the "Email" button.  The email screen will appear with the originator's email address and the PO number in the subject line.