6. Templates
6.1 Overview
Templates are saved lists of items that are purchased on a regular or recurring basis. The principle of creating Templates is to save you time during the requisitioning process.
Time is saved by avoiding the need to continuously search catalogues and add items from search results. Instead you can open your templates and use this as either the basis for a new Shopping Basket or for adding to an existing Basket.
Both Catalogue and Non-catalogue items can be added to a Template but note that items from an External Marketplace supplier cannot.
The Template can be thought of as a list of core items or even as the creation of a number of personalised mini catalogues. They are sometimes described as shopping lists or recurring or skeleton orders. Moreover, the Template feature can be used to ‘park’ or temporarily save Shopping Baskets that are work in progress, enabling a user to have more than one current working Basket at any time.
Templates can be created for private use, shared with one or more individuals, or shared among all colleagues in an another PECOS P2P organisation. For whatever reason they were created, they can be easily edited, updated or deleted.
Templates can be accessed by selecting the Templates tab in the main P2P screen.
6.1.1 Three Click Shopping
To underline the advantages of Templates as a real time saver, it is possible, after logging in, to create a purchase requisition in a few seconds with just three clicks of your mouse!
- Click the Template tab
- Click add against the saved list you wish to re-order
- Click submit in the Shopping Basket
6.1.2 Catalogue Changes
Price Changes
An item’s price in a supplier catalogue can be updated either through manual adjustment by your system administrator, or through the electronic loading of a new catalogue by your supplier.
When such a price change takes affect, the price of an item saved in a Template is automatically updated. There is no need therefore to manually update your Templates.
Item Changes
A number of changes may occur to an Item after being added to a template:
- It may be deactivated from a catalogue by your system administrator.
- It can be removed by a supplier through its omission from a new electronic catalogue load.
- It may have expired because it has passed its End Date.
- An item may be moved from one catalogue to another (a supplier may have more than one catalogue).
- Your user permissions to suppliers and catalogues may also be altered.
In all such cases, items stored in Templates will become either invalid or Inactive and will be displayed as such.
PECOS P2P will validate items in your Templates with current catalogue content and when an item becomes invalid or inactive, the system will not add them to your Shopping Basket. All valid items selected will be added in the usual way.
After adding all items from a template which contains one or more invalid items, a message will be displayed at the top of the Shopping Basket describing the errors.
If an item saved in one of your Templates becomes invalid, remove it by following the steps in the ‘Editing Templates' section elsewhere in this chapter.
You will also see invalid items when you display the Template by clicking on its name. Invalid items are displayed with ‘Invalid’ or 'Inactive' in the Quantity Field. It is not possible to add such items from the Template.
This chapter contains the following three sections: