Getting Started

The Procurement module manages the purchasing cycle for your business: supplier records, requisitions, RFQs, purchase orders, goods receipts, landed costs, supplier invoices, matching, settlements, analytics, and Accounting handoff.

This guide documents live SikaBooks behavior. It is written for operators and administrators, so it explains both the daily workflow and the settings that control it.

Recent Workflow Controls

• Purchase orders use approval control - Draft POs must be submitted and approved before they can be sent or received.
• Rejected POs can be corrected - only Draft and Rejected POs are editable.
• PO self-approval is controlled - staff cannot approve a PO they submitted. An owner assigned to the current approval step may use the explicit owner override, which is recorded in the audit trail.
• Supplier invoices enforce document integrity - supplier, PO line, goods receipt line, and receipt/PO chain must align.
• Cumulative overbilling is blocked - a new invoice cannot bill more than the remaining available quantity on the linked PO or goods receipt after prior invoices are counted.
• Standalone Procurement can track settlements - when Accounting is not enabled, matched supplier invoices can be settled operationally inside Procurement.
• Integrated Procurement hands payment to Accounting - when Accounting is enabled, Procurement creates or links the payable flow and Finance pays from Accounting.
• Supplier offers are compared with the approved estimate - accessible labels and signed variances help reviewers spot competitive, high, and unusually low offers without deciding the award automatically.
• Approval reminders preserve SOD - requesters can remind assigned approvers, while automatic escalation follows the snapshotted policy and never silently skips a step.

Accessing Procurement

After signing in, open Procurement from the tenant sidebar. Procurement Overview is the permission-aware operations hub for assigned approvals, sourcing, deliveries, matching exceptions, and recent work. Historical spend and supplier-performance analysis remains in Analytics.

Dashboard Overview

The operations hub is organized for action:

• My work shows records assigned to or submitted by the current user. Authorized managers and owners can switch to Team operations for business-wide work.
• Needs Attention lists overdue or blocked work by severity and age, with only the action the user can perform.
• The lifecycle band opens actionable Demand, Sourcing, Ordering, Receiving, and Invoice matching registers.
• Four operational signals show Needs my action, Submitted by me, Open deliveries, and Current exceptions.
• Recent Procurement Activity combines the latest visible document activity instead of repeating separate recent-record tables.
• Open Analytics is available only with Analytics access. Spend trends and supplier scorecards do not appear on the operations hub.

Approval counts use the same assignment rules as Needs my action in the approval queue. Personal scope never exposes another user's assigned or submitted work. Disabled features and unauthorized actions are neither queried nor linked.

Navigation

Use the Procurement menu for:

• Dashboard - role-aware Procurement Overview, attention queue, lifecycle, and recent activity.
• Suppliers - supplier registry, compliance, tax, and payment data.
• Requisitions - internal requirements and customer-demand sourcing requests.
• RFQs - quote requests, supplier invitations, and awards.
• Agreements - framework purchase agreements.
• Approvals Queue - approvals assigned to you.
• Purchase Orders - PO creation, approval, sending, PDF, receiving, and change orders.
• Supplier Invoices - invoice capture, matching, handoff, and standalone settlement.
• Analytics - spend, backlog, and supplier performance insights.
• Reports - purchase order, supplier spend, matching, performance, and fulfillment reports.
• Settings - receiving, RFQ, matching, currency, and accounting integration settings.
• User Manual - this guide.

Goods receipts, landed costs, and change orders are usually opened from the related purchase order or goods receipt detail page.

Role-Based Quick Start

End-to-End Operating Workflows

Direct purchase order

1. Create a supplier or select an existing supplier.
2. Create a draft PO with products or free-text lines.
3. Submit the PO for approval.
4. Approver approves or rejects.
5. Send the approved PO and download the PDF if needed.
6. Receive goods against the PO.
7. Capture the supplier invoice and run matching.
8. Settle in Procurement if Accounting is disabled, or complete the bill/payment in Accounting if Accounting is enabled.

Requisition to RFQ to PO

1. Requester creates and submits a requisition.
2. Approver approves the requisition.
3. Buyer creates an RFQ from the approved requisition.
4. Buyer invites suppliers and opens the RFQ.
5. Suppliers submit quotes through the Supplier Portal, or the buyer records quotes internally.
6. Buyer closes the RFQ, selects a supplier, records any required rationale, and submits the award for approval when a matching policy applies.
7. An approved award, or a direct award where no policy applies, creates one draft PO.
8. The PO follows normal approval, sending, receipt, invoice, and payment flow.

Purchase agreement release

1. Buyer creates a draft purchase agreement with supplier, terms, ceiling amount, validity dates, and line items.
2. Buyer activates the agreement.
3. Buyer releases selected agreement quantities to a draft PO.
4. The draft PO must still be submitted and approved before use.

PO change order

1. Buyer opens an eligible PO and creates a change order.
2. Buyer adds, updates, or removes lines and submits the change.
3. Approver approves or rejects.
4. Approved changes are applied to the PO and captured in the audit trail.

Receipt-linked supplier invoice with Accounting

1. Receiving clerk records the goods receipt.
2. If Inventory and Accounting are enabled, receipt posting can create the operational bridge: Dr Inventory / Cr GRNI.
3. Finance captures the supplier invoice and links invoice lines to the PO lines and goods receipt lines.
4. Matching validates quantity, price, and document chain.
5. Matched receipt-linked stock lines clear GRNI when handed to Accounting.
6. Finance approves and pays the Accounting bill.