PO #        (Automatic)

This is the unique identifier for the order and cannot be edited. This field is automatically set from a control table, which ensures that no two orders have the same ID. The "next" available number can be set on the Setup Screen, however you cannot change it to a lower number.  Some systems may also use a maximum PO number on the Setup Screen to limit the orders to a specific range.

The PO # is normally assigned in a simple numerical sequence, however you can assign a project-related prefix on the Project List screen, as long as you do this before creating the first order for the project. The same numbering rules for general orders apply to those with a prefix, however the highest number is limited by the format you choose for each project. This is described in the entry for the prefix field linked above.

Revised

This date indicates a revision date for issued orders. It is updated automatically if you either 1) make changes to an item on an issued order or 2) if you use the Save as Revised version of the Save command when editing the order itself. You can also change the date manually to allow for changes that are not caught by the automatic revision tracking system.  This date appears as the "Revised" date at the top of the standard purchase order format.

Note: There are a number of very useful shortcut keys available when editing a date field. These can make date entry much faster and easier, so be sure to check them out!

Sold by

Use this drop-down list to pick a salesperson for the order. If the desired employee does not exist on the list, you can use the "Add" button just to the right.

Project

If an order is part of an FF&EZ project, select the project ID here. Otherwise skip over this field. If you need to add a project for this order, click on the Projects button under "Views" to add a new project.

If you create an order manually and do not select a project (such as a single order to a client), you will need to set the billing type, tax rate and tax type manually. If a percentage based purchasing fee is used, set this on each order item.

Client ID

(Required) This is a short code for the project client. If this is a new client, you can click the Clients button under "Views" add a new one. (See the Clients section for more information.)

Information stored in the client record will be displayed for each order when you are in the List screen.

Note: since projects must already have a client, this field is automatically filled and is read-only if you select a project first, and is updated if you change the project. Also, you cannot change the client for non-project orders once the order has been issued.

Client Ref

This field allows you to record the client's own reference number for an order. This information will be copied from the matching field in the project record if an order is generated from the FF&E Worksheet.

Tax %

This field is used to set an overall tax rate for the order, but it is used in different ways depending on the billing type:

• On for-profit (billing type 1) projects, it is copied from the specifications, but does not interfere if there are different tax rates on the individual specs being ordered. Unless the "Use as VAT" option is selected on the project screen, the orders screen will show "Est. Tax" as "N/A" since the order would not be taxable to you. If the tax is a VAT type, an estimated tax amount will be shown.
• On purchasing management projects, you have the option of not copying the tax rate to the order or order items when they are created. This is a project-wide setting (on the project screen) that can be overridden each time you convert FF&E Worksheet items to orders. If the tax rate is not copied, the resulting zero tax rate makes the "Tax Quote" field available on the Orders screen instead. You can enter an exact quote from the vendor in this case.

Always fill out tax information, especially on purchasing management projects. The vendor payment status reports use estimated or quoted taxes to project remaining amounts owed to a vendor. On resale projects, the tax is applied on your invoices to your  clients.

Once set, the tax rate can be overridden on each item if needed. This is the rate that will be applied if you invoice a client for a sell price or purchasing fee or if a vendor invoices you for taxes. For orders created from the FF&EZ Worksheet, this value cascades automatically from the value on the specification which is initialized from that entered on the Project List screen. Project orders that are entered manually use the value from the Project List screen. If you are being quoted a tax amount for an order, you should enter the tax rate as zero so that you can use the "Tax Quote" field instead.

If you change the tax rate on an order, the system requires that you save the change (that is, confirm it) before it will allow you to edit any order items. This is because it needs to update all the items with the new tax rate first.

Order items can have different tax rates (typically when they include non-taxable items), so if you change the order's tax %, be sure to review any non-taxable items.

Tax Freight?

This field only appears on manually created orders that are not assigned to a project. Depending on other billing selections, it applies the tax rate (above) to 1) the freight quote entered elsewhere on the this screen and 2) to invoiced freight amounts being passed on to a client in a billing type 1 order. If a project is selected, the project's setting is used instead.

On Hold

An unissued order can be placed on hold to prevent accidentally issuing it. This option can also be selected directly by clicking on the "Hold" column on the order list (you don't have to be in "edit" mode to do this).

Closed

This check box indicates that an order is closed. It is checked automatically by some expediting processes as well as the "Void" command.

Closed orders normally disappear from both the Orders screen and Expediting screen displays (the latter only shows active, issued orders). On the Orders screen you can display closed orders with a control on on the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen.

Vendor ID

(Required) Enter the ID for this order's vendor or manufacturer, as listed in the Vendor file. By clicking on the drop-down button, the system will display a pick list of the current vendors from which you can select one.  If you need to add a new vendor, you can do so by clicking on the [Add] button just to the right. (See the Vendors section for more information.)

The vendor is assigned automatically when you use the FF&E Worksheet's Order... command (this is the normal way to create project orders).

Note: Once an order has been issued, only a user with a level 1 privileges can change the order's vendor.

The "info dot" is a quick way to see more detail about the item next to it. Here, you can see more information about the vendor simply by placing the mouse pointer over the dot. The pop-up that appears will include live links to email and web pages if you have entered them on the Vendor screen.

Billing

For project orders, this option will be set automatically based on the similar options on the Project Screen (but it can be overridden here for any order). The three options represent three relationships to your client:

1. Resale: You are charging them a profit against the vendor's charge to you. Your invoices will be for the "sell" price of the items on them.
2. You are charging a purchasing management fee and the vendor bills them directly or you are an internal department managing purchasing for another department in your organization (where, like an outside client, the vendor invoices the other department or G/L account, not you). Your invoice will be for the purchasing fee based on the FF&E cost (not sell) and can be zero if your client is internal.
3. Like #2, you are acting as a purchasing manager, but invoices go to you for transmission to your client accompanied by a check request for direct payment to the vendor. This scenario also works for internal departments — the difference is to whom the vendor sends the invoices and the addition of your producing check requests in addition to your own fee invoices.

VAT?

This field only appears on manually created orders that are not assigned to a project and where billing type 1 (above) is selected. This tells the system that the tax rate should be applied as a VAT type. If a project is selected, the project's setting is used instead.

Estimated Tax

Tax Quote

This space will be occupied by one of these two fields, depending on the billing type for the order (i.e., project) and whether a tax rate has been specified for the order:

• "For profit" projects (billing type 1): Unless the "Apply as a VAT type" has been selected on the Projects screen, the tax on the order will be shown as "N/A." The tax only appears on your own client invoices, not purchase orders. If the VAT option applies, you will see the same display described next, but the VAT will also be applied to client invoices.
• Purchasing management projects (billing types 2 or 3): A tax rate can be entered on the Projects screen and used to estimate taxes on a quote. However, you can choose not to transfer that rate to the orders. If you don't and the tax shown on the order is zero, the "Tax Quote" field will appear. If a vendor gives you an expected tax amount for an entire order, enter it here. FF&EZ will help you check the actual tax on the vendor's invoices against this number.
• If the order has a tax rate entered, the system will use that to calculate the "Est. Tax" instead.
• If a VAT applies on a billing type 1 project and an order is from a vendor that is not exempt from the VAT, you have the option of excluding an order item from the VAT if an exception is applicable. This is done on the Item Form. This option does not affect the tax on the client invoice for the item (sell price), since that still applies.

Please note that for purchasing management orders, both the quote and the rate are not "official": the actual tax amount is considered to be the amount shown on a vendor invoice, to which the quote or calculated amount can be compared.

If the Project Screen's "Apply as a VAT type" option is marked, orders will automatically include a VAT (tax) calculation for the FF&E cost amount on billing type 1 projects (for profit). Instead of a "Tax Quote" field, the screen will display the estimated tax amount instead. This is updated automatically if related changes are made to the order. It is an estimate since the final tax is always determined by what the vendor invoices (and whether freight is also taxed).

The tax calculation will also include a tax amount for the freight quote (if entered) and the project has been set up to tax freight. See Project List for how to do this.

Note: Freight is always taxed at the rate shown on the project screen, not on individual orders.

Freight included

This note appears when a project has a tax on freight enabled, as a reminder that a calculated tax amount will include the freight quote in the tax base.

Freight Quote

If a vendor gives you an expected freight amount for an entire order, enter it here. FF&EZ will help you verify the freight on the vendor's invoices against this number. If the associated project is set up to tax freight amounts, this value will be included in calculating estimated tax on an order (if applicable).

Both calculating deposit requirements and reconciling vendor final invoices are much easier if you keep this field updated with the total expected freight amount.

Note: Some item tax rates/amounts are different

This note is a flag to indicate when individual items have exceptions to the tax calculation. It will appear if a single item in an order has a different tax rate applied on the item screen. The most common instance would be a line item that is not taxable, where the "Tax %" on the item has been set to zero.

The other possibility is when a VAT applies to an order in a project where freight is taxable, but the VAT on a particular order item does not apply to the item or its associated freight. In that situation, the user can mark the item to exclude the VAT on the order, but also enter a freight amount to exclude from the estimated tax calculation. This only applies when a non-zero tax rate is entered on the order, enabling the calculated version, since you can enter any amount for a tax quote.

Status Notes

You can enter "internal" notes that apply to the whole order in this field. These should be entered in a "last entry on top" style to make it easy to see the most recent development on a problem order (see Add Note below). This field only prints on certain reports used for order management and expediting.

Add note

This button automatically adds your FF&EZ user name (in a multi-user system) and the date to the top of the "Notes" field and leaves the cursor ready for you to type a note.

Revision Notes

This notes box does not appear unless an issued order has had vendor-oriented changes made to it or to one of its items. When a change is made FF&EZ automatically creates a date-stamped* note to indicate what the change was (except for changes to the long description, which are noted generically). Revision notes automatically print on orders when you re-print them, unless you disable the option to do this prior to printing (see Re-print Orders under "Processing Tools.")

*and "user-stamped" in multi-user systems.

Vndr Dep Inv #

This is the number from the vendor's invoicing document. If this is from a proforma invoice, enter a "p" and the word "Proforma" will be entered for you when you exit the field. FF&EZ tracks the status of outstanding deposits and a blank Invoice # is treated as "missing" for status purposes, so if no deposit is required, you can enter "n" and "N/A" will be substituted in the same way, keeping this order from being flagged as "expecting" a deposit invoice entry.

Vndr Inv Date

Enter the date from the vendor invoice (if any). As for any date field, double-click for a calendar or press the + or - keys to increase or decrease the date, starting at the current date.

Mdse. Deposit

Enter the amount of the deposit for FF&E merchandise. Right-click to pop up a menu with "50%," "100%" and other percentages of the total cost.

If a vendor requires a partial deposit and then full payment prior to shipping, you can create multiple entries using the Multiple button in this section. See "Handling Multiple Deposits" below.

Freight Deposit

Enter the amount of the deposit for freight. Right-click to pop up a menu with "50%," "100%" and other options, based on a non-zero "Freight quote" amount entered in the "Vendor/Supplier" section above.

Tax Deposit

Enter the amount of the deposit for taxes (if not zero). Right-click to pop up a menu with "50%," "100%" and other percentage options that are based on the tax quote (if any) or the tax rate (if any), as entered in those fields above this section. This will include taxes on freight if the project has been set up that way.

Total Required

This calculates the total deposit needed. This is the amount that will appear on a deposit check request.

Chk Request

After you use the Processing tool to issue a deposit check request for this order, the request # will be displayed here. Since the request is a "parent" to this order, if you display the Request List screen, it will be positioned on this request.

Dep. Paid

The amount of the deposit paid to the vendor. This field can be filled in manually here if you are recording a single check that covers the deposit on a single order. However, if you have a check that covers multiple orders, you should use the Enter Customer Deposits tool on the Processing form.

If you right-click on this field, a context menu will appear with an option to enter the total deposit amount for you.

Dep. Check #

Use this field to note the number of the client's check that was used to pay the deposit. If you use the Enter Customer Deposits tool, this will be filled in for you.

If you only need to record that the deposit check is being sent (where you don't have easy updates regarding check status), you can enter an "i" or "I" (only) and the system will fill in "In Process." This will still flag the order as one on which a deposit should have been paid so that FF&EZ can double-check vendor invoice amounts.

There are other single-letter shortcut entries you can use:

C = Credit Card

A = Amex

D = Discover

M = Mastercard

V = Visa

Request Paid

The date the deposit check or charge was recorded.

Dep Applied

This is the total amount of the required vendor deposit for this order that has been applied by the vendor. This display field is updated automatically when vendor invoices are reconciled to order items using the Enter/Reconcile Vendor Final Invoices tool on the Processing form.

Add

Used to add a new order to the system. Choosing this command will create a blank record on the screen with the Order # pre-filled with the placeholder "New" (the actual number is not assigned until you save the order).

To cancel the Add command, press [Esc] or use the Cancel button.

Once you have entered the desired information for the record, click on the Save button or press [Alt-S] to save your work and leave the editing mode. The order number will be assigned at that point, and FF&EZ will automatically display the Item Form to allow you to add an item to the order.

All new records will be indexed automatically so that they will be appear in their proper place in the database.

Edit

The Edit command is similar to the Add command, except that you are working with an existing record. The Edit command always acts on the record currently highlighted on the screen, so if you wish to edit some other record, use the up and down arrow keys or the Find or Search commands to highlight the desired record first.

The Edit command does not change the items. Use the smaller set of item editing buttons for this.

Changes you make to a order record will be reflected in any reports. Once you have made the desired changes, click on the Save button or press [Alt-S] to save your work and leave the editing mode.

On all issued orders, you also have the Save as Revised command, which automatically enters the current date into the "Revised" date field on the order screen. Note that this date is also updated if you make changes to an item on an issued order.

If you edit vendor-oriented fields in an order that has been issued, FF&EZ will create an automatic revision note to record the basic changes you made. This appears on the order when it is reprinted.

To cancel the Edit command, press [Esc] or use the Revert button.

Clone

Use this command is used to create a new order entry from a copy of the currently highlighted order on the order list, including all the line items in the order. Using this command, you can quickly create a order that has identical or similar contents. When the command is chosen, you will see the Order editing screen with all of the information copied, except it will have "New" as the Order #. Note that the items in the order will not appear until you save the order.

When cloning an entire order that includes special line items like "extra freight" or a lump sum discount, the system will ask whether you wish to include these items with the original list of items. If you answer "No," only standard product items will be copied from the source order. We recommend that you answer "No" unless unusual circumstance apply.

To cancel the Clone command, press [Esc] or use the Cancel button.

Void / Un-void

This button will close the currently highlighted order and mark it with a voided date. If you choose this command, you will be asked to confirm your choice. While using the list at the top of the screen, the shortcut for the Void command is the [Del] key (this key works on text as expected when you are actually editing text entries).

Voided orders will normally disappear from the list unless you have disabled the "Hide closed orders" option at the bottom of the screen.

You can "un-void" an order that has been voided using this same button. Its label will reflect which of the two options are possible.

Process...

This command displays the Processing Form, which is used to select orders to issue, set purchasing order format options and issue them. You can also use this form to re-print previously issued orders, enter vendor invoices, print check requests and invoice your client. For more information, see the "Process Form" later in this chapter.

Export

FF&EZ can export orders and their detail in several basic formats and data combinations. This function will display an export setup form used for this purpose. Note: This is a very basic export, since in practice most exports require a custom plug-in to match specific client needs. If a plug-in is present, the export setup screen will default to that as the export type.

Query

When you choose this command, the system will display the Query Form. This command is used to limit the display (and subsequently, reports) to clients that meet certain conditions. For more information, see the Query Form topic.

You can close the Query form by pressing [Esc].

Print

This function displays the Reports Form, on which you can select and print reports specific to this form. For more information, see the detailed descriptions and procedures about reporting elsewhere in this manual. Please note: The reports on the Reports Form are used for printing status and analysis reports. If you want to issue or re-print orders, print invoices, etc., use the Processing button instead. The distinction is that the Processing function changes data while the Reports function does not.

Show Client Deposits

Show Order Summary

Show Vendor Deposits

This button cycles through the next of three possible display options for the lower right corner of the screen. By default, the Order screen always displays the "Vendor Deposits" status block, however you can use this button to display the next available block. On a billing type 1 project, this will be the "Client Deposits" (to your firm) and then the "Order Summary" block. On purchasing management projects, it will only show the latter.

You can also cycle through these blocks using the [Alt-W] shortcut key combination or by right-clicking on the title of the block. 

Hide closed / voided orders

This option controls whether the system displays orders that have been marked as "closed." This simplifies the display on this screen and the Expediting screen. It is enabled by default.

Auto-add

If enabled, when you add a new order and save it, this automatically continues the operation of adding new orders without needing to use the Add command again. It is automatically canceled if you cancel a new item without saving it. 

Tips

The "Tips" option controls whether or not you need "fly-over" help or hints when your mouse cursor hovers over a control or a field. This can be extremely helpful for new users, since these explain the purpose of the item and may list shortcut keys that can speed up simple operations.