Requisition Setup

Requisition Setup

This article will provide an overview of the setup of the Requisition module in X4, including the creation of Approval groups and requisitioners and the definition and setup of the different roles within the Requisitioning process.

The Requisitioning module is an area of the X4 system where users can request to Purchase parts, while Approvers can decide whether or not to approve it and then create a PO from there. Approval groups can be set up with users being requisitioners or approvers. Your approvers can be set with limits to what dollar amount they can approve up to. Your requisitioners will only have the ability to submit requisitions, not approve them.

Before you start using the Requisitioning module, the account administrator will need to configure three areas of the system: 1 - Approval Groups, 2 - User Permissions, and 3 - My Account Settings. The System Administrator must set-up these areas before the requisitioning function will work correctly. In this article you will learn how to configure these areas.

1 - Setting up Approval Groups

The approval group setup can be accomplished in the three simple steps:

A - Creating an Approval Group

B - Adding users to the Approval Group (Requisitioners and Approvers)

C - Adding Accounts to the Group

Let’s get started!

A - To create a new Approval Group, go to the Approval Groups table:

• You can now see a list of existing groups. Click “Add New Record” at the top of the list to create a new one. 

• Now that you are on the “Approval Groups” form, fill out the “Approval Group” and the “Description” Fields. Hit “Save New Record” when you are done.

Note - If you want to tie this approval group to a project, specify the Project number, then turn “Project Related” to “True”.

B - Adding users to the Approval Group (Requisitioner and Approver)

After saving the Approval group, you will be able to access its two Related Tables . The first one is called “Approval Group Users”. This is where we will add users to the group:

There are two types of users in approval groups:

Requisitioners - Users who will only be able to submit requests for parts to be purchased.

Approvers - Users who can approve those requests up to a certain dollar amount.

Let’s start by adding a new Requisitioner:

• Back on the new approval group, click the “Add New Record” button on the “Approval Group Users” related table.
• There are only two fields that need to be filled out to add a Requisitioner: the “User ID” (must be in all capital letters) and the “User Name”. Leave the “Approval Limit” equal to “0”, then hit “Save and Return” when you are done. Yes, it’s that simple!

Now let’s add a new Approver:

• Click the “Add New Record” button on the “Approval Group Users” related table again.

• Set an “Approval Limit”. This is the highest dollar amount the approver can approve (e.g. $5,000).
• Add the “User ID” in all capital letters.
• Add the “User Name” as their display name.
• Set “Always Ask” to “True”. This will place this approver into the queue whenever a requisition is made against this approval group. Click “Save and Return” when you are done.

Note - If this user/approver has an email address in their contact record, he/she will receive an email notification when new requisitions are made against this approval group.

C - Adding Accounts to the Group

As you may already know, a general ledger (GL) is a chronological accounting record that businesses use to keep track of financial transactions. Transactions are categorized and summarized into accounts. An account is a unique record for each category of transactions (in this case, for each type of expense). In the requisitioning module in eMaint X4, you will need to associate at least one account number when setting up an approval group.

Under the “Approval Group Users” related table you will see the “Approval Group Accounts” table. Here you will add the accounts to which line items on the requisitions can be assigned and which are associated with the approval group.

• Click the “Add New Record” button on that section.
• Type in an “Account No” (the account numbers are alphanumeric with a 10 character limit).
• Enter an “Account Description” (this is the description of the account number, which can be used to inform your users of the specifics of the different accounts).
• Click “Save New Record” when you are done.

2 - User Permissions

Now that you have determined the composition of your approval groups, we will assign the necessary permissions to your approval group users. You will need to go to “User Administration” and add the appropriate rights to each user based on their roles within the Requisitioning Process.

A Requisitioner user needs access to the following in order to be able to submit requisitions:

Menu Options: Parts File Information, Requisition Cart and Requisition Center.

Additional Options (Security Access): Asset File, Contacts, Parts File, Suppliers, Req. Cart (Access, Add and Edit), Approval Group Accounts, Approval Groups and Requisition Details (Access, Add and Edit).

Note 1 - If you do not want requisitioners to be able to access, create or process Stock Requisitions, uncheck the boxes for the following Menu Options: Stock Requisition Cart and Create Stock Requisitions.

Note 2 - Removing the Additional Options that allow creation of Purchase Orders directly from the PO tab will prohibit your users from bypassing the approval process.

An Approver user will only need access to the following in order to be able to approve requisitions:

Menu Options: Requisition Approval.

Additional Options (Security Access): No security options under this section are necessary to approve requisitions.                                                                             

A Purchase Order Processor user will be the one with rights to process Purchase Orders (from pending to receiving). To be able to do so, this user needs access to the following:

Menu Options: PO Receipts (optional depending on the method you use for receipts), Update Pending POs and Purchase Order Center.

Additional Options (Security Access): Contacts, Parts File, Suppliers and Receive Parts (Manual).

3 - My Account Settings

As an account administrator you will be able to fine-tune the Requisitioning global settings within your X4 account. To do so, you will need to navigate to the “User’s Name” link on the top left hand corner of the screen and choose the “Account Settings” option, then click on the “Purchasing and Requisitioning Settings” option at the left portion of the screen.

The screen below will be displayed and allow for editing of the way in which stock requisitions are handled along with other administrative aspects of requisitioning. In this example, we will only fill out the first three fields on this screen: A - Select the Approval Group you created; B - Type in an account number (you could use the one you associated with the approval group); then C - Type in your user name into the 3rd field (or the user name of the person you want to be notified for Stock Reqs). Then, hit the “Save Settings” button when you are done.

Note - The approval groups must already be created in order for them to be assigned to specific tasks in this section.

A - Default Approval Group for Stock Reqs - A group needs to be chosen if you are planning to use the “Create Stock Requisitions” option. When going through the Stock Requisitioning process, the system will pull in all the items that are considered to be low on stock (Parts that have reached their reorder point). When those parts are pushed through and put into the “Stock Requisition Cart”, and then pushed into the next level for approval, the system will automatically grab the default approval group that you select here (with its own set of approvers).

B - Default Account # for Stock Reqs  - Allows you to specify an account number for stock requisitions if the parts do not have an account number already assigned in their detail records. If you have an account number on your parts already, the stock requisition account number will default to that part's account number.

C - Default User to Notify for Stock Reqs - This is the person listed on both the Requisition and the PO forms as the user to notify when stock requisitions are made and received.

D - Stock Orders below Order Point - Allows you to choose whether you produce a stock reorder when the on-hand quantity reaches the order point or just when it is below the reorder point. Choosing “Yes” indicates stock orders should be generated only when the on-hand is below the order point. Choosing “No” indicates stock orders should be generated when the on-hand is equal to or below the reorder point.

E - All Req lines must be approved - Setting this option to “Yes” will not allow the requisition to be processed until all lines are approved.

F - Limits approval queue to approvers with limits > 0 - Setting it to “Yes”, will not show those people who do not have approval ability in any approval queue.

G - Allow requisition to be self-approved if $amount is under the requisitioner's approval limit means that the requestor can approve his own requisitions if the approval limits are set properly.

H and I - Specialty Approver Group and Financial (emergency) Approver Group - Choose any approval group to be used in special circumstances and/or in case of emergencies. Before submitting a requisition for approval, there will be a button where you can select “More Approvers”. The approvers that you will see in this list are the approvers from the approval group that you select in these 2 areas. In the requisition submission screen, there are two sections with lists of approvers: Specialty Group and Emergency Group. Selecting any approver from these 2 lists will include this user in the approval queue.

J - Remove Detail Lines from Requisition Approval Email Notification - When Requisitions are approved, an email notification will be sent to the requisitioner. If set to “True” the email will not contain the list of the parts that were approved.