Create a Blanket Purchase Order

Create a blanket purchase order to set up multiple purchases from one vendor that will occur over a specified amount of time, up to a specified monetary amount.

To create a blanket purchase order:

  1. On the Navigation menu, click Purchasing > Purchase Orders.
  2. On the toolbar of the Purchase Orders form, click New > New Purchase Order. The screen refreshes to show a <New P.O.> with Blanket prefilled in the Type field on the General tab.
  3. Enter information on the General tab. If you do not specify a purchase order number in the Number, DPS assigns a number, followed by (Blanket).
  4. Enter data on the Agreement tab.
    • You must specify the start and end date of the blanket agreement.
    • If you specify line items on the Line Items tab, each item's Amount is its limit. As an alternative, specify the blanket order's Not to Exceed amount.
    • Excess Receiving is not used for blanket orders, because they are agreements and not purchase orders.
  5. On the Shipping tab, select a ship-to code.
  6. Optional. Enter data on the Line Items tab. It is not necessary to specify items or services, if they or their quantities are not known now. If you specify items or services, DPS copies them to each release order that you make under the blanket order, reducing each item quantity by the quantity received, and uses the net amount of each of the original items or services in the blanket order as the limit for total purchases of that item under the blanket order.
  7. On the Billing tab, specify the bill-to code and payment terms.
  8. On the Clauses tab, select any clauses to print on the top or bottom of the blanket order agreement.
  9. On the Default Distribution tab, specify the cost distribution for releases.
  10. Click Save.
  11. Click Submit to do either of the following:
    • Send the purchase order to an approver if you use approval workflows for approving purchase orders. (You turn on the use of approval workflows for purchase orders in Settings > Purchasing & Inventory > Company Settings.)
    • Change the purchase order's status from In Progress to Approved if you do not use approval workflows.
    After it is approved, you can print the blanket order to use as the agreement.
  12. Send the blanket agreement to the vendor for signature.
To purchase items under the blanket agreement, create a release.
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