Using Blanket Orders
Creating blanket orders for pre-approved funds and drawing down those funds with release orders and invoices.
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Blanket Orders
The Blanket Order functionality provides communities with the ability to create a blanket (or contract) order for the provision of unspecified products and services to one supplier over a specified time-frame. The blanket order is pre-approved using the standard approval process and then products and services are provided on a purchase-on-demand basis. Users draw down on the blanket order as required without the need for a purchase order each time.
Note: Blanket Orders must be enabled for your community and once enabled it can then be enabled/disabled for certain suppliers. To enable this feature contact us at support@unimarket.com
See the below articles for more:Creating a Blanket Order - allow buyers to purchase goods and services without the need to raise a new purchase order each time.
Making Changes to Blanket Orders - After a blanket order is created the creator of the blanket order or a Community Administrator can edit the access (users included in the Available To field). If Edit Blanket Orders is enabled for your community the creator and community administrators can also change the dates however, only the creator of the blanket order creator can increase or decrease the amount.
Note: If a user does not see the options in the actions menu to make the needed changes to the blanket order, check to make sure that a buyer group is assigned to the Supplier that the blanket order is with. Drawing Down Using an Invoice - The supplier invoices against the blanket order and the invoices are then routed to the blanket order creator and authorized users for approval. Once the invoice is approved a matching release order is automatically generated which draws down on the blanket order.
Drawing Down Using a Release Order - Authorized buyers can create a release order which draws down on the blanket order. Release orders do not require further approval.
Approving Blanket Order Invoices - Users with access to the blanket order (users included in the Available To field for the blanket order) have the ability to view and approve invoices on the Blanket Order.
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Creating a Blanket Order
Blanket Orders allow Buyers to purchase goods and services without the need to raise a new Purchase Order each time. For example, staff out in the field may pickup items from the store and provide the Blanket Order number as authorization. The Supplier then invoices against the Blanket Order.
Blanket Orders can also be used for services where the exact amount of the service is not known up front. For example the total cost of mechanical repairs will not be known until the work is complete. In this scenario a Blanket Order can be raised for an estimated amount which authorizes the Supplier to complete the work. The Supplier then invoices the actual amount against the Blanket Order.
Blanket Orders must be enabled for your Community.
Create a Blanket Order
Once enabled, Users with the Create Blanket Order role can create Blanket Orders by selecting Blanket Order from the Create button in the top right of the Marketplace dashboard or on any selected supplier.
The Order Details will need to be completed. The fields included are as follows:
- Description: The name of the Blanket Order.
- Details: Details of the products or services are optional.
- Supplier: The Supplier you would like to create a Blanket Order for (Community Administrators can disable/enable Blanket Orders for individual Suppliers. Only Suppliers that have this enabled will appear).
- Amount: The maximum amount you would like approved for the goods or services. You can choose to withhold this from the Supplier and set up an Alert Amount if you want the system to send you an alert when this amount is reached from the Notifications section further down the page
- Valid From: The date the Order becomes effective.
- Valid To: The date the Blanket Order closes and users will no longer be able to draw down on it. An Alert Date can also be set in the Notifications section.
- Default Account Code: The default Account Code all Release Orders will use - this can be split between multiple account codes if Split Account Codes are enabled for your community.
- Allow Release Order Coding: If checked, Release Orders can use different account codes than the one entered here.
- Billing and Shipping Locations: Where the Order is billed to and shipped to.
- Available To: You can choose which users can draw down and approve invoices on the blanket order.
You can set an array of notification settings for the Blanket Order described below:
- Send to Supplier: Click to send the Supplier an email notification when the Blanket Order is Approved. When uncheck they will still be able to find the order through the Supplier Portal.
- Hide Amount from Supplier: If this checkbox is checked the Supplier will be unable to see the amount of the Blanket Order or the Funds Remaining.
- Alert Amount: When the funds on the Blanket Order go below this amount an Alert will be sent to the Buyer.
- Alert Date: If you set an Alert Date a notification is sent to the Buyer at this date to remind them of the Expiry Date of the Blanket Order. If you leave this blank no notification is sent regarding the expiry.
Once finished click Create at the bottom of the page and the Blanket Order will be sent for approval using your standard approval work-flow. The resulting Blanket Order can be viewed on the View Orders page (you can narrow the results by selecting the filter Order Type: Blanket).
Save Option for a Blanket Order
Since a high amount of information is required when creating a Blanket Order, you can save your work as needed. Saved Blanket Orders can be completed later from the View Requisitions screen and will also generate an Incomplete Requisition task.
Note: The email notification for Blanket Orders are sent separately to the supplier due to the options available. Customers will always get the full version while the supplier will get what the customer has selected during creation. For more on blanket orders see Blanket Orders.
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Accepting Blanket Order Invoices
Users with access to the blanket order (users included in the Available To field for the blanket order) have the ability to view and accept invoices on the Blanket Order.
Approving a Blanket Order Invoice
- From the Tasks Menu select Invoices
- Using the filters at the top of the page locate the invoice.
- You can either select Approve/Reject to the right of the invoice in the list or,
- Open the invoice by clicking on the invoice number and clicking Accept/Reject from the top right of the screen.
- The invoice will default to the account code on the blanket order unless the creator selected 'Allow Release Order Coding', in which case you will be able to change the account codes if needed.
- Then click Accept/Reject.
- The value of the resulting Invoice will be subtracted from the Blanket Order Amount.
For more on Blanket Orders, please refer to Blanket Orders.
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Making Changes To Blanket Orders
If blanket orders are enabled for your community you can also choose to have Edit Blanket Orders enabled. This feature allows users with the creator of the blanket order and the approver(s) the ability to edit the dates however, only the creator can increase and decrease the amount. If the change is made during the approval process this will move forward to create a PO. If this change is made after the PO has been created a new blanket order number will be generated, carrying over any existing release orders and invoices.
Note: Edit Blanket Orders doesn't need to be enabled to edit the access (users included in the Available To field). Edit Access
The edit access tool will allow the creator (buyer) of the blanket order or a community administrator to add additional users into the Available To section. Users in the Available To section will be able to purchase on the blanket order by selecting the blanket number in the checkout screen for the same supplier orders. Those same users will also be able to accept/approve invoices that have been issued directly against the blanket order.
- From the left Hamburger Menu, select View Orders from the Orders menu.
- Locate the order using the search filters at the top of the page. For more search filters just click More Options to the right of the search boxes.
- Open the order by clicking on the order number and select Edit Access from the Actions menu in the top right of the screen.
Edit Buyer
The Buyer on blanket orders in Unimarket can be edited from the original buyer for the instances when the original buyer has left the organization or has moved into a different department and the ownership of the blanket order needs to be taken over by another user. The creator of the blanket order or a community administrator have the ability to Edit Buyer on an order.
- From the left Hamburger Menu, select View Orders from the Orders menu.
- Locate the order using the search filters at the top of the page. For more search filters just click More Options to the right of the search boxes.
- Open the order by clicking on the order number and select Edit next to the current buyer name.
- A popup will appear, allowing you to select a new buyer from a drop down list. Once you select the new buyer you will need to enter a note and select OK to finalize the update.
Edit Dates
Blanket Orders in Unimarket can be extended or shortened in time by editing the Valid From date or Valid To date. The creator of the blanket order, the approvers, or a community administrator is capable of doing this.
- Select View Orders from the Orders menu.
- Locate the order using the search filters at the top of the page. For more search filters just click More Options to the right of the search boxes.
- Open the order by clicking on the order number and select Edit Dates from the Actions menu in the top right of the screen.
- A popup will appear, allowing you to select a new valid from date and/or valid to date. Once you select your new dates, a new blanket order number will be generated, carrying over any existing release orders and invoices.
Increase Amount
Changes can also be made to the total amount of a blanket order by the blanket order creator only.
- Select View Orders from the Orders menu.
- Locate the order using the search filters at the top of the page. For more search filters just click More Options to the right of the search boxes.
- Open the order by clicking on the order number and select Edit Amount from the Actions menu in the top right of the screen. A popup will appear, prompting the user to choose an increase or decrease in the total amount.
- If the user chooses to increase the amount, they will be prompted to provide the new total amount, as well as any justifications required by the community.
- Once the increase is applied, the change will create a new blanket requisition that routes for approval for the new total amount. Once those changes are approved, all existing release orders and invoices will be carried over to the new blanket order number.
- To make things easy for suppliers, they are informed of the changes, but can still invoice against the original blanket order number. The invoices will be routed to the most current version of the order automatically.
Decrease Amount
A decrease in the amount to a blanket order may be useful to bring the balance of a blanket order down to 0 to close out the order. This is performed the same way as an increase, except when the pop-up appears you would select Decrease Amount instead. The creator of the blanket order or a community administrator is capable of doing this.
After selecting the new amount, a new order number will be generated. This change will not be routed for approval because no additional funds are required.
Close a Blanket Order
Users with the Create Invoices role or the blanket order buyer can close a blanket order by opening it and selecting Close from the More Actions menu on the right of the screen.
For more on Blanket Orders, please refer to Blanket Orders.
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Copying a Blanket Order
To Copy a Blanket Order, find the Blanket Order on your View Orders page and open it. From the More Actions menu at the top right, click on Copy. Copying the Blanket Order will take you to the Create Blanket Order page and will pull the details from the Blanket Order you copied.
The Valid From Date will update to the current date but you can edit this if needed. You will need to enter the Valid To Date. Changes to the billing/shipping addresses, Account Codes and other Requisition details can be made in the Checkout screen. Once checked out, a Blanket Requisition is created and routed for approval.
You can also find more information about Blanket Orders in our Unimarket Help Documents.
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Blanket Order Credits
Blanket order credits will be applied to new blanket orders from when your community has enabled Blanket Order Credits. Please engage with your Account Manager to enable this setting.
When raising a credit against a Blanket Order, an Invoice Acceptance task is generated for the 'Available To' members who can accept and apply this against any Retrofit Release Order on the blanket. When this is performed, the amount will be added back to the available funds on the Blanket Order.
Note: This currently only applies to credits submitted directly against a blanket order and does not apply to credits applied directly to a release order that sits under a blanket order. 1) A Blanket Order has Release Orders/Invoices entered and these reduces the Funds Available (e.g. Funds Available $93,000 after 2 invoices were Accepted)
2) Create a Credit invoice against this Blanket Order:
3) When clicking on Accept/Reject button for a Credit invoice, a succeeding screen will confirm to which Release Order will the credit be applied.
Once a Credit Invoice is Accepted, the Funds Available will be updated accordingly with the Credit Invoice Amount:
The system will update the Funds Available on Blanket Orders as follows:
- Approved Release Orders reduce the available funds
- Invoices against Retrofit Release Orders in the Invoice Accepted state will do the following
- If the invoice total is a negative (i.e. a credit) the available funds will increase
- If “Include Shipping” and “Include Tax” are both enabled, we credit the Invoice Total value
- If “Include Shipping” is enabled, but “Include Tax” is disabled, we will use the Invoice Subtotal plus the Shipping value
- If “Include Shipping” and “Include Tax” are both disabled, then we use the Invoice Subtotal only
- If the invoice total is a negative (i.e. a credit) the available funds will increase
Note: The Available Funds cannot be more than the original Blanket Order approved total. If a credit is ever entered that is greater than the original total, the Available Funds will be limited to the original amount. (For example, Blanket Order for $10000, Available Funds $8000, credit invoice for $3000 would set Available Funds to $10000.)
Note: Both the Blanket Order and Retrofit Release Order being credited will need to have been created after enabling the 'Blanket Order Credits' setting, in order for the available funds to be updated.
To apply this feature to existing blanket orders, you will need to create a new version of the Blanket Order through a copy or recreating it to a new Blanket Order with the same details.
Hot tip!
Blanket order funds available are easily seen on the Order Export. The Blanket Order report now includes the requisition number, and members listed in the 'Available To' field (both enabled and disabled users). -
Drawing Down Using an Invoice
Upon receipt of an invoice from a supplier, users with the Create Invoice role can create invoices against a blanket order, which is then routed to the blanket order creator and authorized users for approval. If it is approved a matching release order is automatically generated which draws down on the blanket order.
Drawing Down Using an Invoice- Under Marketplace, select Orders from the left menu and locate the blanket order by using the search filters at the top of the page. For more search filters just click the Filters button on the right.
- Open the blanket order by clicking on the order number.
- Click Invoice Order in the top right of the screen.
- Entering the Invoice Number, Invoice Date and any other information needed like attachments or comments.
- Add the products by clicking on Add Invoice Item, entering the product details and clicking Add or, Add More if adding more products.
- Once you are happy click Create at the bottom of the Invoice Order page to route the invoice for approval.
Note: An invoice can still be entered for Blanket Orders past their Valid To date. As long as the invoice date is between the Valid From and End Dates of the Blanket order and there are still Funds Available to draw from. For more on Blanket Orders, please refer to Blanket Orders.
- Under Marketplace, select Orders from the left menu and locate the blanket order by using the search filters at the top of the page. For more search filters just click the Filters button on the right.