View Printable Version

---

What do you mean, my PO was lost in the mail!?!

---

Session Number: 27333
Track: Procurement to Pay
Sub-Categorization: eProcurement
Session Type: Tips and Tricks
Presenter: David Best (Florida State University)

---

Target Audience: Functional
Audience Level: General
Level of Customization: Bolt-On
Project Phase: Production
Project Go Live: Q3 2008
Version Presenting: PS 9.0
Product: PeopleSoft
CPE Eligible: No

---

Universities deal with a wide range of vendors to meet their diverse needs. Some are close business partners with whom a high volume of orders, invoices and payments are exchanged on a regular basis. Many more are one time vendors. The procurement system must be versatile enough to place orders with all types of vendors in a fast and reliable manner. This presentation will examine the five Purchase Order (PO) dispatch methods that are available in PeopleSoft. Emphasis will be placed on the transmission of documents to vendors, where the efficiencies of electronic requisitioning, workflow, and sourcing automation can be lost if the vendor does not receive a dispatched PO promptly and dependably, or alternatively, the vendor receives more than one copy of a PO and the university must deal with duplicate shipments.
All dispatch methods rely on the accuracy of the vendor file, so the presentation will touch on elements of vendor file maintenance that enhance the success of PO dispatch. Important fields and setup techniques will be discussed, plus queries that can be used to find and resolve errors such as specifying email as the dispatch method and not having an address in the email field.
Dispatch via print and phone predates electronic procurement systems. These methods lack the speed and efficiencies of newer dispatch methods, but are the only means available for ordering from some vendors, especially small, local and/or disadvantaged ones. Since these methods still fill an important niche, we’ll see how best to utilize them.
Transmittal via fax machine added new levels of speed, reliability, and verification to the PO dispatch process. Integration with fax servers automated the process even more and further reduced both human and materials resource costs per order. Although viewed by many IT professionals as a waning technology, fax remains the preferred method of dispatch for many vendors. Still, faxing is not without problems, and when errors do occur they can be serious. One “looping’ episode on a fax server can result in multiple transmission of the same purchase orders hundreds or even thousands of times before a human intervenes to stop the flow.
E-mail dispatch holds the potential to carry the benefits of fax technology to even high levels. It can accommodate PO attachments like no other dispatch method. So why after many years and achieving commonplace status among so many businesses and individuals alike has it not replaced fax as most reliable and often used method of PO dispatch?
EDX is the most recent addition to our stock of dispatch methods. When implemented in conjunction with other Direct Connect integrations like those to online marketplaces, EDX dispatch streamlines the transmission of orders to suppliers like nothing before it. So, why is it currently used with so relatively few vendors? This presentation will look at the setup for EDX order dispatch via eProcurement, some special benefits for linked suppliers, and some management challenges as order volumes and opportunities increase.
Lastly, the presentation will touch on some dispatch issues and precautions when testing in non-production environments, special problems with change orders, and the cloning of dispatch processes to send duplicate copies of POs and change orders to document management repositories as images of the originals.