Purchasing · Setup & configuration · 10 min read

Set receipt tolerances, matching policies and approved suppliers

Define how much a supplier may over-deliver, how strictly bills are matched, and which suppliers you may buy from.

Before you begin

• purchase.configure writes tolerances, policies and qualifications. purchase.policy.approve puts a policy in force, approves, blocks or excepts a qualification, and retires an active policy.
• A policy or qualification is written by one person and approved by another.

Receipt tolerances

1. Open Purchase > Configuration > Receipt tolerances and press New.
2. Set Applies to: every supplier, one supplier, or one product. Pick the Supplier or Product when asked.
3. Enter Over-delivery allowed (%) and Under-delivery that closes the line (%), both 0 to 100, and an optional Note.
4. Keep Active ticked and press Save.

The most specific active row decides: product, then supplier, then company. Only one active row per exact scope: 'An active tolerance already covers exactly this; change that one.' The over-delivery allowance also limits what a supplier may announce on a shipping notice. See Receiving goods.

Bill matching policies

1. Open Purchase > Configuration > Bill matching policies and press New policy.
2. Enter a Code (upper case, cannot be changed), Name and optional Arabic name.
3. Choose Match: Two-way (what was ordered), Three-way (what was received) or Four-way (received and accepted).
4. Choose Applies to: whole company, a supplier, a product category or a product, and pick it.
5. Enter Quantity tolerance %, Price tolerance % and Price tolerance per unit. Price room is the larger of the percentage of the ordered price and the per-unit amount.
6. Tick the holds you want: Hold a goods bill with no purchase order, Hold a tax rate different from the order (on by default), Bill services only for what was accepted.
7. Press Save. It is a draft.
8. A second person presses Put in force.

To change an active policy, press New version, edit the draft and have it put in force. The old version becomes Superseded. Press Archive to retire a policy; retiring an active one needs the approval right.

Worked example. Three-way, quantity tolerance 10%, order 10, received 8. Billing 8.8 passes (8 x 1.10). Billing 8.9 is held. A bill can never exceed what was ordered. With price tolerance 2% and 3.00 per unit on a price of 100, the room is 3.00, so 103.00 passes and 103.01 is held. A product-level policy wins over a supplier one, then category, then company.

Approved suppliers

1. Open Purchase > Configuration > Approved suppliers and press New.
2. Choose the Supplier, For (everything, a product category or one product), the category or product, Valid from, Valid to, Rank and Evidence (what the supplier was qualified on).
3. Press Save draft.
4. A different person presses Approve. Evidence is needed.
5. To stop buying, press Block and give a reason. To allow a short-term exception for an expired qualification, press Exception, enter Until (today or later) and the reason.

Statuses: Draft, Approved, Expired, Not yet in force, Blocked, Archived. Qualification only restricts buying when Commit only to approved suppliers is on, but a blocked supplier is refused always.

What happens next

• Receipt tolerances apply at the next receipt and shipping notice.
• A policy in force applies at the next bill posting. A held bill is re-checked when you press Match again.
• Orders and awards for an unqualified supplier are refused: '<Supplier> is not an approved supplier for <product>.'

Good to know

• 'Somebody other than the author must activate this policy.', 'Somebody other than whoever wrote it must approve a supplier qualification.', 'Record the evidence the supplier was qualified on before approving.'
• 'MP-STD v1 already covers the same scope. Make a new version of it, or archive it first.' 'Only a draft policy can be edited. Make a new version of an active one.'
• 'A qualification cannot end before it starts.' 'A blocked supplier gets no exception; unblock by writing a new qualification.' 'An exception runs to a day that has not passed.'
• Archiving a blocked qualification removes the block. Restrict who may archive.
• Only a draft qualification is edited. To correct an approved one, block or archive it and write a new one.