4.3. procurement

The technical design of a product implements the specifications of the product policy, and is actually a function in the organization of a customer benefit. In terms of color, this rectangle was assigned to production. However, this also defines which repetition factors must be included in the product and procured. Likewise, the required potential factors must be procured. The design was assigned to procurement in this outline for practical reasons. Other classifications would also be possible.
 
To realize a benefit for the customers, concrete products are planned. In particular, it is noted from which number of which materials the product is built and how much work must be used for this. These BOMs link the article numbers of the goods master data with those of the material master data. (Arrow 4) The technical documentation should be archived under the article number. For technical reasons, it would make sense for the BOM administration to have an independent system next to the article numbers; However, a partial agreement between the article number in the goods master data and the parts list number would make sense.

The design is very busy before a market launch of the product. It is still not a one-time process. Every product should be checked for improvement on a regular basis. The parts lists must be updated if other parts are to be used, e.g. to use the same materials in different products and then be able to shop more flexibly. 
 

This data is the mirror image of the product master data from the sales. They are the same. The price here, however, is a standard cost rate recorded as the average purchase price. The actual purchase prices can fluctuate and be different for different suppliers. The procurement market must be monitored and the standard cost rates adjusted if necessary. Services can also be defined as material type. Storage is not possible here. For the definition as material type or input article, it is also not of central importance whether the input article is needed directly for the products or indirectly for the company. Also, the purchase of regularly required physical goods and services for general areas of the company can be better controlled by the registration as a kind of material.

In the material master data, you should be able to define with which suppliers (Vendor No.) this material can be procured. On the other hand, pricing is not very useful here because they can change frequently and the update would cause a lot of work. However, the master data allow evaluations regarding materials of great importance, for which the current prices can then be obtained at regular intervals. Here, the change to another supplier could make sense, while in a small volume of the cost of the conversion to another supplier of the savings would not be justified. Those would be the prices of other providers but arguments for price negotiations. Then price comparison files can also make sense here.

A price comparison file could be created for each data record from the fields "date", "vendor", "own material no.", "Material no. Vendor, unit of measure, price and comment. In the comments it could be noted that e.g. a price only applies from a minimum quantity. Sorting by vendor would allow you to update your data. The sorting according to the own material no. would perform the price comparison.

The vendor master records contact data from current and potential suppliers. In procurement market research, supplier no. and input article no. linked (arrow 5). For orientation, it would make sense to use a label for the industry and the supplier's offer. The supplier number is also the vendor no. for the personal account in accounting. If it is only a potential supplier for whom contact data and prices have already been entered, there is still no vendor account in accounting.

In the context of the supplier base, comment fields should also be provided for evaluations. Here positive and negative experiences can be deposited. If the quality of the material should be commented, a link to the article no. getting produced. Nevertheless, the connection to the supplier base makes sense, because a quality assessment is formed in comparison to other suppliers. If the quality of a material was badly rated by all manufacturers, the design (5) would have to look for an alternative. The material would then not be bad overall, it just would not have the necessary properties.

In procurement market research, information about possible sources of supply is collected on a mirror image basis for sales market research in a systematic and random manner. In addition to supplier no. and input article no. Data about prices, quality and possible quantities are stored. In the first stage, however, one does not want to contact the potential suppliers.

In order to move away from categorizing randomized information on how to proceed according to plan, it is first necessary to define the amount of information that one wishes to learn. In addition, it is necessary to record the suppliers who work in the catchment area. It then searches for sources from which to populate the data. Finally, one would define the distances in which the procurement market research should be updated. This does not preclude that randomly obtained information is recorded at any time. For each information you should also record the date and source.

In the inquiry file the under the supplier no. stored contact data and the under the input article no. stored descriptions of the material linked (arrow 6). The evaluation of a price comparison file or the collection of assessments of individual suppliers is therefore also part of the procurement market research.

From the data of the procurement market research individual potential suppliers can be selected, with which concrete supply relations are to be initiated. (Arrow 9) It should be noted with which suppliers one asked when for which products. If you have refusals or no answers, you do not need to ask again. Inquiries can be sent in writing, by e-mail, by phone or orally. For telephone and oral inquiries, a note should be created, which can be saved in a file. Each record should have an identification number to which an inbound quote (the supplier in its reply and its own offer file) may refer. This file should also contain notes on the written and electronic inquiries. There should still be a flag for the reason of the request and the external circumstances, e.g. only in general the file should be updated, or whether concrete negotiations were conducted. This file delimits the procurement market research file. Suppliers whose products are considered unsuitable are normally not requested.

Requests requested as well as unsolicited offers can be confirmed with supplier no. and input article no. be recorded. (Arrow 7)

The records from the request file that receive qualified responses are copied to a quote file and marked accordingly in the request file. In the offer file the own article numbers are compared with the article numbers of the suppliers. At the time of the request, they usually could not be known. When ordering, the item no. immediately be used by the supplier. Unsolicited offers can also be included in this file, but the own request no. must remain open.

The collection of unsolicited offers and responses to inquiries can also be a guide to future purchases. One knows the sources of supply and the price level. For offers in response to a request, the data of outgoing requests is completed. If complex catalogs and price lists have been sent especially for unsolicited offers, only the existence of the information with the date of receipt will be noted. If necessary, if e.g. If you want to create an offer comparison for different articles, this data can be evaluated purposefully. In case of a response, the offer no. saved to the request. (Arrow 10)

Orders are placed based on current or past offers. If delivered later, you should check the adherence to the appointment. For this, a file with assigned jobs must exist, which is differentiated from completed and still running jobs. All orders, whether on the basis of a received offer or from existing supply relationships, are here recorded with quantity, price and the announced delivery dates. In doing so, it must be recorded whether the appointment was bindingly committed or estimated to be non-binding. For this, the supplier then usually sends an order confirmation with which a legally binding contract is concluded. If delivery dates are exceeded, inquire.

In Fig. 23 on page 96, the color of the rectangles was differentiated between purchasing and procurement. Existing supplier relationships do not always include offers. (Arrow 8) The prices are valid until the supplier informs about a price change. Therefore, skilled labor can be saved on such regular purchases. Experienced shoppers engage in procurement market research and bargaining with buyers, while regular purchases are made by less skilled workers or increasingly even by software.

The outbound request file is the basis for collecting responses. If a supplier does not answer, it can be concluded that he does not offer the articles or has no interest. Incoming offers from which, if necessary, an order is placed after negotiations are transferred as a record in the order file and the order no. deposited with the request. (Arrow 11) The issued orders are provided as expected deliveries. (Arrow 12) Most of the time in the order file, the answer to the later questions is what? (Account) where? (Cost center) and if necessary for what? (Insurance provider) are deposited. After transferring the data set to the accounting department, this information no longer has to be requested.

When purchasing, it has to be distinguished whether goods and services have been purchased for consumption in current production, for the general area or whether investment goods for use in production or in the general area. With the delivery a given order is done. In a less narrow definition, the tasks of inquiry, offer and order are also assigned to purchasing. It is checked here whether the delivery is complete and whether the goods are in the contracted condition or damaged. In the case of services, it should be noted whether the task has been completed, how long work has been done, and which spare parts were installed during a repair. These findings are necessary to check the supplier's invoice. The data from the fulfilled orders and the orders placed for them are forwarded for the examination of the supplier's invoice. (Arrow 13)

Discovered errors and deviations between ordered and delivered quantity are noted in the file. The purchaser can then contact the supplier.
 
The purchases for the production must reach the place of consumption. This can be done by the supplier delivering directly to the place of consumption or by organizing this transport internally. It is also possible that the goods must be collected from the seller. For several different consumption types, intermediate storage in a material store is common. In inbound logistics, it must be known when and which transport must be carried out and which goods are to be stored where.

Goods for the general area can be picked up by the consignees upon receipt of the goods.

In the file of the issued orders, the incoming deliveries are marked and from the data records a file of the fulfilled orders is created. This also happens, the delivery was not faultless. The errors can be noted in both files. Upon receipt of the invoices, the payment can then be temporarily stopped.

From the incoming invoices an invoice receipt file with the supplier number, amount and due date is created. Thus, the fulfilled orders for the examination of the factual correctness are adjusted. The supplier invoice is factually correct, if the goods were delivered and was faultless, and if quantity and price match the order. The amounts and amounts are to be booked accordingly, ie to be factually assigned. The questions are what? (Account) where? (Cost center) and if necessary for what? (Payers) to answer. If the assignment is possible at an early stage, this data can already have been deposited when the order was placed.

Purchased goods and services are invoiced by the suppliers if they have not been paid immediately. The due date of the invoices must be recorded and the timely payment must be organized. Checked invoices must be transferred in the invoice file with the due dates to a file from which the payments are made. (Arrow 14)

Outgoing bank transfers can be generated automatically in Electronic Banking from the transfer file. Outgoing cash payments are mostly spontaneous purchases and there are no orders placed. The data that is read from the order file during invoice verification must still be recorded as far as necessary.

Incoming invoices and outgoing payments are the central work contents of the people still working in Accounting 2.0. However, this work is increasingly being dropped. he contents of the incoming invoices and in most cases also the resulting bookings are known from the file of fulfilled orders. Only the invoice receipt file must be created, in which a consecutive invoice number is assigned. It is still the due date for the organization of payments to note. If the check is not complete, individual data fields must be added.

It would be useful to have a text file with the history of the transaction and the respective document numbers with the date (requirement message, inquiry, quotation, order, delivery, invoice, payment), the accounts used in the accounting department and, if necessary, with deposited comments under the invoice number with one or two leading letters to create and under the same name to create a graphic file with the bill. Also the other documents of the history could be digitized under their document number in the same way. This would not only fulfill the retention requirements; for a test e.g. For the release of the payment all information would be available immediately.