Job Procurement

Owned by Maria Harreguy
Last updated: Nov 19, 2024
15 min read

Overview

At the beginning of a Project, especially in businesses like Plumbing Services and Concreters, and on high-rise construction buildings, there is most likely a detailed list of materials that will be required for the whole project. This list might have been used to quote the Project. It could be created from Workbench’s Quote module (with stock items and materials) or an external estimating software, either way, it can then be imported into a Job Procurement list to order and manage as the Job progresses. A variation or extra materials/stock items can always be added later, via a Budget Variation or directly on the Procurement List.

  • Procurement Lists are best utilised where Jobs/Sub Jobs have a fixed quantity of materials and fixtures for a project.

  • The audience is mainly Site supervisors/Foremen drawing down on the procurement list for quicker/more efficient purchasing. Once the purchase requisition/order is created it typically is directed to the desired workflow for review and approval.

The audience can be:

  • The Admin Procurement Team making company-wide decisions on supplier and price and POs raised.

  • The Site Supervisors/Foreman drawing down on the procurement list themselves and creating POs.

  • The Site Supervisors/Foreman requesting off the Admin team quantities required from the Approved Procurement List. The purchasing is done by the Procurement Team or Project Managers.

Once the purchase requisition/order is created it typically is directed to the desired workflow for review and approval.

 

Benefits of Procurement Lists for the organisation:

  • Quick and efficient quantity draw-down ordering of material/fixtures for the procurer at the sub-job level.

  • Fixed quantities are ultimately fixed, so in a perfect world quantity procurement should never be short or oversupplied by sub-jobs.

  • In some cases, fixed quantity procurement of materials and fixtures for large sites can be claimed (Revenue) upfront. However, the ordering of procurement lists by sub-job can greatly assist with expense cashflow alleviating strain on the business finances.

 

In the case of a business organisation that has the Stock module setup:

  • A standard set of parts/materials such as PVC Pipe, Copper, and Clips, that is consumed regularly for many projects via the yard/warehouse can be procured more efficiently and faster by drawing down on the list and creating the stock requisition.

  • A standard set of parts/materials on 1 x Procurement list can be configured to filter by activity code (i.e. PVC, Copper), thus allowing the Warehouse user to draw down on quantities and not worry about supplier pricing etc as this would be pre-configured in the procurement list tab.

 

In summary Job Procurement lists, are fundamentally all about a fixed quantity and potentially a fixed cost value by project(s). It is easier for site supervisors/foremen to draw down on stock/material quantities rather than creating a standard purchase order and worrying about costs etc.

 

Dependent on the processes of each company (described above) the Job Procurement supports two screen views:

Admin Procurement
This is intended for the Admin Procurement Team making the purchasing decisions back at the office.

Field Procurement
The Field Procurement view available to an onsite user will be provided through a combination of features on the Procurement tab.  This is intended for a field-based view to request items from the Admin team. However, it can also be enabled to allow field users to purchase themselves (see Permissions in the Configuration & setup).

 

  • The system is designed to detect when the preferred Procurement list is accessed by another user and displays a notification to prevent duplicate editing.

  • Job Procurement Lists highlighted in blue indicate new comments or requiring attention. Users are allowed/expected to be able to add comments for office staff to action its requests, or able to add lines, which will have to be checked and approved by the Office staff.

  • File users will only see unapproved lines in the List tab, and as those unapproved lines are approved they will move the Procurement tab.

  • A field user cannot Bulk Update or Recost. Access to the Purchase or Import buttons is enabled with permissions. In some business environments, Field users are not required to do any of the purchasing and they are limited to adding lines, comments, modifying lines added by this user, or quantities required to be purchased by someone else. Once the added lines have been edited by another user, they cannot be edited by the field user that added them.

  • Procurement Line Consolidation: When importing lines from a Budget into the Procurement list, Workbench consolidates lines with identical attributes into a single Procurement line. Specifically, any budget lines that share the same Item, CatalogueLineId, LineRef, Activity, and Work Centre will be merged. The system provides a reconciliation screen displaying the source details of each consolidated line, which is accessible in the Budget Details column of the List screen. This consolidation simplifies procurement by reducing duplicate entries and ensuring clarity in tracking the origin of each line item.

     

  • Holding Order report can be printed from a Procurement list, and sent to a specific supplier. This is used to communicate to a supplier the intention of purchasing a list of materials/services, that will be soon confirmed with Purchase Orders. For the report to work, a Supplier and a Job must be selected in the filters. A warning message displays if these filters are not selected.

 

Configuration & Setup

  • Decide what model to use:
    First of all you need to decide what if the model will be Procurer Team purchasing for the Field users or if any users (PMs/Procurers/Field Users) will be purchasing. Based on this, you will need to set up the different types of users with their own set of permissions and grids.

  • Licence:
    A site Licence for Advanced Procurement is required and a Role Licence. Check exact licence requirements navigate to Job Procurement first, then select Page Parameters on the User profile options at the top right.

  • Control Parameter:
    Job Procurement functionality has two versions, the initial one (legacy), and the current one (version 2) which is more advanced and manages the interaction between the Field Procurement users and the Back office Procurement users in a smarter and more controlled way, so both sides know when an action has been triggered by each other. The new version is enabled by default with the control parameter 'BETA FEATURE - Job Procurement Enhancements'. Enabled by default in all new implementations.

  • Enhancements on the latest version of Job Procurement Lists (vs Legacy):

    • Better collaboration when multiple users are working with the same List. Details of the last updated date and by whom are recorded. Also users can communicate with comments on each line, and these comments can be actioned and flagged as done by another user. New Comments in the list are highlighted which makes it easy to identify. The List is also highlighted in the List screen when it has been updated.

    • More restrictions available for Field users, if required, to:

      • limit ability to edit line details that have been edited by someone else

      • limit ability to Purchase

      • prevent them from opening PO or Inwards goods (so they cannot see costs)

      • can only see unnaproved lines on List screen, and approved lines on Procurement screen. Cannot approve lines.

      • have limited tabs and custom grids.

    • Price Requests can be sent to Suppliers, and these Prices can be imported to update the corresponding Procurement List line.

    • New Grids in Grid Management.

  • Permissions:
    It is recommended to search within a Role for the keyword 'Procurement' in the Permission name or permission details and you will get the up-to-date list of permissions for the module. Below is the current list of permissions and what each one is used for. Some of them are included by default in some roles. If no limitations are required for Field users, the easiest way to set up a user to use Job Procurement is by adding all the Procurement permissions on the role, that way you ensure all functionality will be available. However, when you want to start limiting what a field user or other users can or cannot do, you need to make decisions about what permissions are they allowed to have on their roles.

    • The permission ‘Procurement Lists’ will display an entry on the Job ellipsis.

    • ‘Job Procurement Edit and Purchase’: Without this permission a user can only edit This Qty and the new Comment fields and [Save]. They are not able to edit other fields, nor perform other actions. This permission is granted to the ‘General’ role by default for backward compatibility with the Legacy model.
      Some field users might only be allowed to edit This Quantity, but not the $ Value, indicating the Purchasing team that a quantity needs to be purchased. In this cases, this permission should not be assigned.

    • ‘Job Procurement View PO Details’: Allows PO to be opened from the Summary Tab drill-down.

    • To enable the [Procurement] button on the Procurement tab, users need these permissions (together with ‘Job Procurement Edit and Purchase’) to be able to create POs/Stock requisitions or Purchase Requisitions respectively:

      • ‘Procurement uses PO’

      • ‘Procurement uses PR’

    • To enable import options on the [Import] button, there are specific permissions:

      • Run wbImportProcurementLines

      • Run wbImportProcurementListLines

      • Run wbImportProcurementListPriceRequestCheck - Price Request Check

      • Run wbImportProcurementListPriceRequestUpdate - Price Request Update

  • Settings:
    'Job Procurement Tabs': use this setting if you wish to hide some of the tabs. If empty, all tabs will display.
    'Procurement Layout': This defines the global grid and/or individual grid for those users that require the field grid. A record for each field user will need to be created to indicate they will be using the field grid. Normally the back office grid is defined globally and individual users that require a different grid will have the Field grid. By default, all users with access to Job Procurement will use ProcurementDetailList, unless specified otherwise with this setting.
    Valid values are: ProcurementDetailFieldList
    ProcurementDetailList

  • Grid Management:

    • Back office functionality:
      From Grid Management use Grid Job Procurement Approval List for the List tab,
      Job Procurement Detail List for the Procurement tab,
      Procurement Summary List (same grid for office users and field users)
      to select the columns relevant to your operations, and the preferred column widths.
      When using Stock Requisitions, the Location column must be enabled on the grid, for a Stock Requisition to be created. If this column is not enabled, the Stock Requisition will not be created.

  • Field Procurement functionality:
    From Grid Management use grid:

    • Job Procurement Approval Field List for the List tab,

    • Job Procurement Detail Field List for the Procurement tab,

    • Procurement Summary List (same grid for office users and field users)

to select the columns relevant to your operations, and the preferred column widths. These grids are intended to support a field-based view with fewer grid columns, as this might be opened on a smaller device.

List tab & Procurement tab have their own grids

Make sure to use grids: Job Procurement Approval Field List, Job Procurement Detail Field List, Job Procurement Approval List, Job Procurement Detail List

And not the legacy ones: Procurement Approval List, Procurement Approval Field List




 

Screen Guide

From the Procurement List screen create a new list with the [New Job Procurement List] button. Or open an existing one by selecting the Description field. A useful filter in this screen is the Highlighed = Yes, which will reduce the list to only those blue highlighted lists, which means they require action from the Procurement Team. The Lists turn blue when a comment or a quantity to be purchased has been updated on the Procurement tab, or when the latest comment has not been marked as Done.

 

The simplified process starts with a user Creating a list and adding the lines on the List tab. These lines can be manually entered, imported from an Excel spreadsheet, or created from an approved Workbench Budget. Once all the details are entered, each line can be approved at different times, and as they are approved they display on the Procurement tab, where they can be purchased by creating a Purchase Requisition, a Purchase Order, or a Stock requisition if the Stock module is enabled, and there is stock for it in the yards/stock locations. As the lines are purchased, the History tab will display the list of all the documents generated to purchase these lines with direct links to them, their approval status, and some other relevant details. The Summary tab offers a great less crowded view to assist the users in understanding what is remaining to be purchased on each line.

With an Item code that is entered with Activity Code and no Catalogue item, you can later specify the Catalogue Line and Supplier when creating a Purchase Order. Remember that a PO for an Item must reference a Catalogue item from a specific supplier.

When importing lines from a Budget, any line with the same Item, LineRef, Activity, Work Centre, the system will consolidate these lines into one Procurement line with a reconciliation screen to show the source (Budget Details column in the List screen).

Procurement – List tab

The Procurement List tab (3) has a header section where the Description and Job fields are required. The supplier field is optional and serves as the default for the lines.
Should the list be similar to a pre-existing list, then the lines may be copied (2)
The List can be made Inactive once the Project has finished, or the Procurement defined in that specific list is completed (1)
The procurement items are specified in the grid, the Description and Activity being mandatory.
The lines that are ready for procurement must be marked as ‘Approved’ (7), and this will make them available on the Procurement tab.
Most columns are the same columns commonly used across the Workbench application and are self-explanatory. Some merit a brief explanation:

Bulk Update (4): When multiple lines need to be updated with the same values, the Bulk Update section can be used. First, use the filters to find the lines to be updated, then select these lines, set the values in the Bulk Update section, like Supplier, Fixed Cost flag, Approved, Required Date or Lead Days, then apply the changes with the Bulk Update button.

Lines that were created from a Budget line, will have an info icon (5) with details of the budget line that generated it. The budget lines in the Budget will also have a link to the Procurement List that they were added to.

The flag Fixed Cost (6) can be selected at line level to lock the price for Procurement. Recost will not update Fixed Cost lines.

Especially when multiple users will be involved in editing the List, the Comments (8) field becomes the main way of communicating what is to be done with each specific line. These comments will have a history with a time stamp, user that entered it, and a way for the user that actions that item to indicate that the comment has been processed, with a date and user name. This is to avoid overlap and allow for efficient communication. The same comments are visible from the List and Procurement tabs. Use the pencil to open the Comments screen and add or mark as done as required. The Done checkbox can also be used to indicate all the comments have been seen/actioned/acknowledged (see the section below for more details: Communication between Field users and Office Staff). However this flag does not add the details of whom has ticked the Done checkbox. For better auditability, use the checkbox on each Comment.

Import button has options to import budget lines, and the options to validate and import Price Request from Suppliers (see the section below for more details).

Recost updates Currency Code and Rate only on un-approved lines in the List tab, regardless of applied filters, from their catalogue line. This allows you to use the latest prices from the catalogues if they are updated, without having to update each rate on the Procurement List line by line.

 

Procurement tab

To prepare the procurement items we specify the Work Centre, the Stock Location (for Stock Requisition only), the Supplier (only when buying stock items into stock) and the respective This Quantity and This Value (2); and [Save]. To close off a line if no further procurement of the item are required, the Complete flag (4) may be ticked. To procure the whole quantity remaining, the This checkbox may be ticked (3)
Once the values are specified for This Quantity and Value we can select whether to procure via the Purchase Requisition, Stock Requisition, or Purchase Order process (6). The options Purchase Order and Purchase Requisition are configured via the 'Procurement uses PR' and 'Procurement uses PO' permissions. Note that Stock Requisitions does not require any specific permission to be available. As the purchase is processed, the relevant values for Requisition and Ordered will be displayed. Bulk purchasing of purchase requisitions may be processed using the existing ‘Bulk Lines Procurement’ screen under the Purchasing – Requisitions submenu.
Status (5) is used as a guide for the Purchaser and anyone looking at a line, to understand where this item is at. These are lookup values with a type = ProcurementListItemStatus. Default values in the database are N/A and Price Request. Additional statuses custom to each business can be added from Lookups.

 

Procurement Detail – Summary tab

The value in the Requisition or Ordered columns becomes the link to the PR List, Stock Requisition List and PO List respectively, filtering for the documents including the specific procurement line. The standard option to open in a new tab is available from this link.

 

Procurement Detail – History tab

  • The History tab lists all Purchase Requisitions (PRs), Stock Requisitions (SRs), and Purchase Orders (POs) created from this Procurement List with hyperlinks to each document.

  • This can be filtered to find a specific document as per usual.

  • To see PRs, SRs, and POs for a specific procurement line item, use the link from the Procurement tab Requisitioned or Ordered value respectively.

 

 

Communication between Field users and Office Staff

In those cases where Procurement Lists will be used by both Office staff and field staff, or even when there will be more than one person working and updating the Procurement List, there is a great mechanism to communicate and know that the lines or the List has been updated.

The column Last Comment can be used for communicating, and every time a new comment is added the field is highlighted in yellow and the latest comment will display. It could be an indication from a Field user to purchase something or to make some changes, and the user in the back office that processes and actions the instructions in the comment will mark the individual comment once it has been done.

Latest comments is always at the top of the list. Each comment has the details of the person who created it and a date, and the person who marked it as complete and a date.

The Procurement List will also be highlighted in blue on the Procurement List screen to indicate a new comment has been added.

 

 

Price Requests from Suppliers

Typically before approving an item (in the List tab), the procurement team will contact a few different suppliers to get prices and decide whom to buy from. To facilitate this process there is a way to prepare a list of items that need to be priced to send to the supplier. The supplier would then return that same file with the populated prices.


In the Apply filter button, there is the Excel Export (Price Request) option, which will export the filtered items after selecting a Supplier. The spreadsheet will have all items with no rate in them, and the Supplier AP Account populated. This will be used and it is a mandatory field for when importing these price updates back into the Procurement List.

Once the Supplier returns the file, it can be first imported using Price Request Check, which will validate that there are no extra lines that do not exist in the Procurement List. Once satisfied with that check, the file can be imported using Price Request Update, which will update all the values with those in the file.

 

 

 

 

Additional rules:

  • Duplicate validation:
    When creating a new line in the List to procure, the system will validate that the same line doesn’t already exist. Procurement lists can be extensive and it is easy to enter a duplicate line without noticing it. The system will validate Item + Code + Activity + Work Centre. For those lines that are only Activity and Work Centre and a description, the validation will ignore the Item and check the other fields. An example of the error validation is below.



Related Pages:

Stock Requisitions

Purchasing

Bulk Lines Procurement (for Purchase Requisitions)

FAQs:

Process Flow: