RTA Web - Blanket Purchase Orders

A blanket PO is a PO in which a vendor doesn't need approval for everything that is purchased from them. Blanket POs are usually good for a specified period of time and have a set budget limit. Each time a PO is manually created, the RTA system checks to see if the vendor has an existing blanket PO.

Creating a Blanket Purchase Order

Turning on Blankets in the System

In the Classic RTA there is a main switch used to turn on Blanket PO’s in the system including the Web side. The Switch is found in the pull down menu under System > Setup System Switches> Main System Parameters under the Parts Parameters Tab Switch# 14

For more information on Switches refer to RTA System Parameters section in the RTA Manual

Below is the Switch for Blanket PO’s:

Adding a Blanket to a Vendor

A blanket PO gets added to the Master Vendor Record. To accomplish this:

• Go to the Vendor Section and either add a new vendor. See how to Add a New Vendor here OR

• Go into an existing Vendor a edit the vendor file. See how to Edit a New Vendor here

The Vendor Screen select the Blanket PO Info Section and hit the to Add a Blanket PO Record

Blanket Info:

• Blanket PO Number # – The Blanket Number that is assigned to the Blanket. Not Editable if the RTA Switches are not set to Use Your Own PO Numbers. See the Parts Parameters section in RTA System Parameters

• 🔓 Blanket PO Number # – The Blanket Number that is assigned to the Blanket. Can update or change it if the RTA Switches are set to Use Your Own PO Numbers. See the Parts Parameters section in RTA System Parameters

• 🔓 PO Budget – This is the maximum allowable money you can spend on the current Blanket PO

• PO Budget Used – This the current dollar amount that has been used against the Blanket PO on all closed Blanket Purchase Orders associated to this Vendor

• % PO Budget Used – This the current Percentage amount that has been used against the Blanket PO on all closed Blanket Purchase Orders associated to this Vendor

• Running PO Balance – This the current dollar amount that has been used or any amount that is currently on order against the Blanket PO associated to this Vendor

• Status – Current Status or state of the Blanket whether it is Active or Inactive

• 🔓 Current Ext. # – This the current Blanket Extension Number. The system updates this number as purchase orders are cut against the Blanket

• 🔓 Oldest Open PO Ext – This stores the starting or lowest extension number associated with this Blanket

• 🔓 Blanket PO Expiration – This is the Expiration Date for the current Blanket PO

• Prior Blanket PO – This stores the previous Blanket PO Number

• 🔓 Blanket PO Start Date – This is the Date the current Blanket PO started

Once the elements are set just hit the Add button

General Use of Blankets

• If a blanket PO exists, the option to use the existing blanket PO or to create a new, non-blanket PO is given

• Auto-generated POs automatically use the blanket PO if one exists

• As parts are ordered on blanket POs, the system tallies the cost of the parts purchased.

  1. The displayed purchase totals include part tax paid if System Switch #24 is set to Yes in Parts Parameters in Classic

     

• Warning messages are displayed if the blanket PO has expired or if an order exceeds the allowable budget

• When a blanket PO has expired or the budget limit has been reached and more parts need to be ordered, you can either

  1. exceed the existing blanket PO budget amount (password level 1 is required)

  2. increase the current blanket PO budget amount

  3. create a new blanket PO

  4. create a regular (non-blanket) PO

Refer to Blanket PO Info Tab for information on where blanket PO information lives within the purchase order file.