Procurement module can be integrated along with EMS or it can be used as a module alone all by itself the system can take care of all the transactions related towards procurement of finished goods or raw materials. It can also produce various kinds of MIS reports to monitor progress from time to time.

When the system is being used as a standalone the system performs the additional function of handling the buyer enquiry, quotation & order. The handling of these buyer activities is performed by EMS core when the two systems are integrated; thus handling of buyer activities becomes a part of procurement when it is functioning as a standalone.

The system can take care of the following transactions.

• Buyer activities: --
  Buyer activity constitutes of following 3 steps.
  - Buyer enquiry. (The buyer makes an enquiry for items.)
  - Buyer quotation. (Quotation's are sent to buyers.)
  - Buyer order. (Order's are finalised with buyer's.)
  The system can pick up this data from the EMS core module when the two systems are integrated. The system stores information like buyer name, buyer reference number, item details, total value of order, etc. Confirmed buyer orders pass on to the next stage.
• BOM (order-wise) : --
  Depending upon confirmed orders the item quantity & raw material requirement are determined & stated in the BOM, which are prepared on the basis of Buyer order.
• Procurement order : -
  From a finalised buyer order/s procurement order/s are prepared. One buyer order can be split up into multiple procurement orders or incorporated into a single procurement order, similarly 1 procurement order can comprise of multiple buyer orders or a single buyer order.
  
  After preparation of procurement order a memo is sent to the warehouse stating requirements of finalised buyer orders, The material is despatched by the warehouse if available or else the procurement department is informed about non-availability of the material it is then the procurement department that raises a enquiry on the suppliers for the required items
  
  The system provides the flexibility for procurement of excess quantity over the required quantity since some material is generally lost during production or conversion process or for the purpose of stocking. This is referred to as tolerance factor & the details regarding this will be present in the item master.
• Enquiry to suppliers: -
  There are two types of enquiries.
  1. Direct enquiry -- These are enquiries made directly to suppliers without a procurement order these are made generally to maintain levels of stock of materials that are reorder level.
  2. Enquiry from procurement -- When a buyer order is finalised & the raw materials required are not available with the warehouses then the procurement department raises an enquiry for the required items towards the suppliers.
• Supplier quotations:-
  The system accepts the following kinds of quotations
  A. Direct quotation -- The system can accept direct quotation from suppliers without enquiry made to them or procurement orders.
  B. Quotation from enquiry -- When a enquiry has been raised on some supplier a quotation is received in return to this enquiry the system maintains & records all these quotations.
  C. Quotation from procurement -- When a procurement order has been prepared & some required item is not available in the warehouse instead of sending a enquiry & receiving quotations the user can enquire the details with the supplier telephonically or by mail & ask the supplier to send a quotation. The replies to enquiries from suppliers are handled by the system the quotation/s are maintained supplier-wise. There can be multiple revisions to a quotation for each enquiry. System compares quotations in terms of price, quality, delivery date & suggests the best quotation in each category.
• Purchase order & amendments: -
  Purchase orders are prepared from approved quotations. The purchase order is placed with the supplier, The purchase order includes information like delivery schedule details, quantity wise splitting of items. Any change in confirmed purchase order is referred to as amendment & the new purchase order is referred to as (APO) Amended purchase order. There can be many amendments to a purchase order during amendments any of details like item, quantity, rate, packing details; delivery schedule etc may undergo a change. There can be only 1 purchase order for 1 quotation.
• Purchase order closing.
  After receiving good's inspection is done against a supplier invoice & payments made to the suppliers.
• Post purchase activities : -
  (Major activities performed are).
  Supplier invoice -- This is an invoice that is provided on behalf of the supplier. Supplier invoice contains details of supplied goods against single or multiple purchase orders apart from this it contains information about items, packing details, quantity rate, delivery schedule, excise tax sales tax, octroi, etc. System can provide reports based on supplier invoices.
  Inspection of goods -- Inspection of goods is carried out on the goods received against a supplier invoice with reference to purchase order. The goods are rejected if they do not satisfy certain specific standards. The system has a provision to record rejected quantity of goods item-wise for each supplier invoice.
  Payments -- Finalised inspection is used for making payments to suppliers. System has provision to make payments against purchase orders for submitted supplier invoices at any time & in any mode like advance payments, payments in part, or full payment on delivery or payment after certain period of delivery. The system can handle import-related payments namely the Letter of credit L/C (revocable, irrevocable, & rotating kinds) when the system is integrated with EMS. REPORTS. The system provides the facility of printing various kinds of reports to monitor performance. The system can print the following types of reports.
• Procurement order status
  --(supplier & order wise). ·
• Details of Bill of Material (BOM).
• Priority item requirements based on procurement order.
• Enquiry document printing. · Enquiries (period & order-wise).
• Quotation comparison (based upon price & delivery date).
• Listing of raw material master.
• Listing of supplier items.
• Export of buyer order items not converted to procurement orders.
• Report for procurement order items not converted to enquiry/quotation.
• Report for procurement order items after enquiry/quotation is prepared but not converted to purchase order.

MASTERS

The system stores all vital information to the system in the masters these can be referred to as informational back-up centres for the system consider for example.

Once all the suppliers & the items they deal in have been entered into the suppliers master, then whenever a enquiry is being made the system will itself show the items a supplier deals in or alternately it can also be viewed as to which all suppliers deal in a certain item.

The various masters provided by the system are --

• Bank master.
• Party master.
• Company master.
• City master.
• Country master.
• Supplier item master
• BOM master.
• Common master.
• Executive master.
• Currency master.
• Item master.
• UOM master.

  These masters store information as indicated by their respective name.