This manual is divided into three sections: the "Users Guide", the "System Administrators Guide", and the "Reference Guide". The chapters in the first section, "Users Guide", describe the functions of the system and give examples to demonstrate the use of the system. The second section of the manual, the "System Administrators Guide" includes: Chapter 38, Purchase Order Setup, Chapter 39, Maintaining the Purchase Order System, and Chapter 40, Modifying the Purchase Order System. These chapters cover the administration of the Purchase Order system. The chapters in the last section, the "Reference Guide", give detailed information for each menu, data entry form, process, and report in the Purchase Order system.
Chapter 38, Purchase Order Setup should be read first. It describes the information that must be entered into the system before purchase orders can be created. Required information is entered into the following files: payment terms, company receiving addresses, inventory master, vendor master, and vendor price file.
The "Users Guide" should be studied next to understand how to use the Purchase Order system. Chapter 28, Working with the C/Books Accounting System describes how to make menu selections, how to use data entry forms, and how to run reports and processes. The information in this chapter can be applied to all the C/Books accounting systems. The rest of the "Users Guide" covers the range of the purchasing process. The use of the automated process to restock inventory is demonstrated with examples in Chapter 29, Restocking Inventory. Examples given in Chapter 30, Special Inventory Purchases and Chapter 31, Non-Inventory Purchases show how to create a purchase order manually when it is not possible or appropriate to use the restocking process.
The demonstration of the purchasing process continues in Chapter 32, Printing Purchase Orders where a sample purchase order is printed, and the effect of doing so is discussed. Chapter 33, Receiving Shipments covers the automated receiving process as well as the manual entry of receiving slips. Examples are used to demonstrate the handling of under or over shipments, returns, and defective shipments. The final phase of the purchasing process is demonstrated in Chapter 34, Recording Vendor Invoices. Here, examples are given showing how vouchers are created in response to receiving a vendor invoice. Both the manual and automated methods are shown. The subject of reconciling a vendors invoice is also covered.
Chapter 35, Accounting For Freight shows the different ways freight can be entered into the Purchase Order system. The reports described in Chapter 36, Tracking Order Progress, answer the following questions: when should an order arrive, what are the future cash commitments, was a total order received, was a shipment billed correctly? The last chapter in the "Users Guide" lists and explains the error messages that may be encountered while using the Purchase Order system.
Once you start using the Purchase Order system, refer to the "Reference Guide" for information on a particular screen, process, or report. If you come across an error message you do not understand, look it up in Chapter 37, Error Messages in the "Users Guide".
The maintenance chapter, Chapter 39, Maintaining the Purchase Order System, covers topics such as deleting old records, cleaning up PO balances, and maintaining the Vendor Price List file.
Advice on modifying menus and data entry screens is found in Chapter 40, Modifying the Purchase Order System. This chapter also describes how to restrict access to menus and menu choices for internal control.