Reviewing PO Lines
To review PO lines, you must have one of the following roles:
- Purchasing Operator
- Purchasing Manager
- Purchase Operator Extended
PO Line Review Workflow
A PO line is sent for review if there are data issues (such as incomplete/missing or invalid information) or alerts—as a result of the Purchasing Review Rules—thereby requiring the attention of a library staff person.
Review Within the Purchasing Workflow
PO lines requiring review appear on the Purchase Order Lines in Review page (Acquisitions > Purchase Order Lines > Review). You can also open this page with a specific tab pre-selected by selecting one of the following links on the Tasks List in the persistent menu (see Tasks in the Task List):
- Order lines - review - assigned to you
- Order lines - review - unassigned
Purchase Order Lines in Review Page
This page presents a record list of PO lines. For more about the Assigned to Me, Unassigned, and Assigned to Others tabs, see Assigned to Me, Unassigned, Assigned to Others Tabs. For more information about the PO line record list, see Searching for PO Lines. Only the person assigned to the PO line can edit the PO line information. Purchasing Operators and Managers can edit unassigned PO lines in the Unassigned tab and view the PO lines assigned to other library staff in the Assigned to Others tab.
Available Facets
The following facets are available:
- Alert – The type of alert that was generated for the PO line
- Purchase Type – The type of item the PO line represents
- Vendor – The vendor to which the PO is to be sent
- Vendor Account - The vendor account to which the PO is to be sent
- Rush – Indicates whether the PO line is to be rushed
- PO line Owner – The library that ordered the material
- Assignment – The user to which the PO line was assigned
The Assignment facet is available only to the Purchasing Manager in the Assigned to Others tab.
- Acquisition Method—The method by which the PO line was acquired, such as purchase or gift.
- Expected Receipt Date – The period that the PO line is overdue
The Expected Receipt Date facet is available only for claims.
- Reporting Code – The Reporting Code of the PO line
Available Actions
Depending on the nature of the PO line in review, you can process the line using the following actions:
- Edit – PO lines are edited to correct incorrect information or to add missing information (see Editing PO Line Information). When you select Save and Continue on the PO Line Summary page, the PO line returns to step 2 in the workflow, where it is revalidated (it is not normalized at this time).
If the PO line is still invalid, it is once again sent for review. If all data issues have been resolved, the PO line proceeds to the Packaging step in the workflow (see step 4 in the workflow). - Assign to or Release assignment – PO lines can be reassigned to another user or have their assignment released, meaning that the PO line is not assigned to any specific user (see Assigned to Me, Unassigned, Assigned to Others).
A PO line that is reassigned remains in review until its issues are rectified. - Start a trial or Request evaluation – When a trial is requested or started, for a PO line, it is automatically sent to the review task list. The PO line must be assigned to you in order to execute either action. If you have the Trial Operator/Manager role, you can start the trial (Start a trial). Otherwise, you can request that a trial be started (Request evaluation). For more information on trials, see Evaluations and Trials.
- Order now—Move the PO line to the normalization and validation stage (see step 2) of the purchasing workflow before being packaged (see step 4) and sent. For more information on packaging PO lines, see Packaging PO Lines into a PO.
If you select Order Now, you receive an Order Now message after the order is sent for processing. The vendor receives the order using the Order List Letter. For information on these letters, see Configuring Alma Letters. - Defer – PO lines in review can be deferred for any reason. PO lines that are deferred appear on the Review Deferred page until they are either reactivated (moved back to step 2 of the regular purchasing workflow), ordered (using the Order now option), or canceled. For more information on deferring PO lines, see Deferring PO Lines.
- Relink – Enables you to link the PO line to a different bibliographic record (see Relinking PO Lines).
- Cancel – When a PO line in review is canceled, it is removed from the review task list, but not from Alma. It can be found by searching on the page or using the facets on the left side of the page. For more information on canceling PO lines, see Canceling PO Lines.
- Delete – Deletes the PO line, as well as any transactions and inventory resources related to the PO line (see Deleting PO Lines).
To delete a PO line, you must have the Purchasing Operator Extended role.
Inventory Information
Inventory information appears in tabs under each PO line, except for service line types. For more information on working with these tabs, see Record Lists.
The Items tab appears for physical one time lines, and includes:
- Library
- Location
- Call Number
- Barcode
- Availability - When the item is received, the indicator is green.
- Received Date
The Holdings tab appears for physical continuous lines, and includes:
- Library
- Location
- Call Number
- Summary
- Items Received - Select to open the list of items.
The Electronic One Time and Electronic Continuous Lines tabs appear if the PO line includes a resource that is part of a collection, and includes
- Collection Name
- Service Type
- Availability
- Activation Date
Editing PO Line Information
You edit PO lines on the PO Line Summary page.
The PO Line Summary page header displays details of the PO line, its status (see Searching for PO Lines), type (printed book/E-book), the library for which the item is being ordered, and the order and line numbers. For examples of the PO Lines Summary page, see PO Line Summary Page – Electronic Item and PO Line Summary Page – Physical Item in Manually Creating a PO Line.
PO lines can be edited during any stage of the PO line workflow, but certain fields may be unavailable for editing, depending on the workflow stage/packaging status. For example:
- Acquisition method is editable only when the PO line is in the In Review status.
- Currency, Location, and Material supplier are editable only if the PO line has not yet been packaged.
To edit the information for a PO line:
On the Purchase Order Lines in Review page (Acquisitions > Purchase Order Lines > Review), select Edit in the row actions list in the Assigned to Me or Unassigned tab. The PO Line Summary page appears.
While editing a PO line from this page, the PO line is locked and cannot be edited by other library staff.
The tabs in which you edit PO line data are described in step 10 through step 20 in Manually Creating a PO Line.
Performing Global Changes on PO Line Sets
To perform global changes on PO lines, you must have one of the following roles:
- Purchase Operator
- Purchase Manager
- Acquisitions Administrator
- General System Administrator
To change a list of PO lines, you must first create a PO line set, which is a set of PO lines; see Managing Search Queries and Sets.
To perform global changes on PO lines:
Run one of the following jobs:
- Update PO Lines Workflow – Move PO lines to a specific stage in the workflow
- Update PO Lines Transactions – Modify PO line allocation between funds
- Update PO Lines Information – Update PO line information according to specified conditions
- Update PO Lines Information - Advanced – Modify PO line attributes after an order is created and sent to the vendor
- Change PO Lines Status – Choose a status (Cancel, Close, or Delete) to which to change a set of PO lines
- Update PO Lines Interested Users – Update the list of interested users defined for a set of PO lines
For more information about the jobs, and manually running jobs in general, see Manual Jobs.