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Procurement Overview

xAssets Procurement Guide
Introduction

Procurement Overview

This guide covers the xAssets Procurement module, which manages the full purchasing lifecycle for assets -- from initial purchase request through to a deployed asset in service. It is an optional module that can be enabled when your organization needs formal procurement tracking, approval workflows, or a complete audit trail of asset acquisitions.

Who This Guide Is For

This guide is for purchasing managers, approvers, requesters, and administrators who need to:

  • Raise purchase requests for new assets
  • Create and manage purchase orders
  • Configure approval workflows and thresholds
  • Track order status from placement through receipt
  • Record partial or full delivery of assets

When to Use the Procurement Module

Use this module when your organization needs one or more of the following:

  • Formal approval workflows -- purchase orders must be reviewed and approved before being placed with a supplier
  • Audit trail -- you need a record of who requested, approved, and received each asset
  • Budget control -- approval thresholds prevent unauthorized spending
  • Supplier management -- you track which assets were ordered from which suppliers, with purchase order numbers for cross-referencing

If your organization simply adds assets to the database as they arrive (without a formal purchasing process), you may not need this module.

Key Capabilities

  • Purchase Requests -- raise requests for specific asset types with quantities and estimated costs. Each request becomes an asset record as it moves through the purchasing process, avoiding duplicate data entry.
  • Purchase Orders -- group one or more purchase requests for the same supplier into a single order. Each PO is tied to one supplier.
  • Multi-level Approval -- configure up to 6 levels of approval based on order value, department, or custom criteria. See Multi-Level Approval.
  • Order Tracking -- track order status from New through Awaiting Approval, Order Placed, Partially Received, Received, and Complete. See Purchase Order Status.
  • Goods Receipting -- record partial or full receipt of ordered assets, with automatic status updates. Split multi-quantity lines when only some units have arrived.
  • Processing Transformations -- validate PO data at each status change using custom business rules. See Purchase Order Processing Transformations.

Roles in the Procurement Process

Role Typical Activities
Requester Creates purchase requests for needed assets
Purchaser Groups requests into purchase orders and places them with suppliers
Approver Reviews and approves or rejects purchase orders based on configured rules
Receiver Records asset receipt against purchase orders as goods arrive

Tip: A single person can hold multiple roles. For example, in a small organization, the same person might create requests and place orders. Approval roles are controlled by user group membership and custodian records -- see Standard Purchase Approval.

Getting Started

If you are setting up procurement for the first time:

  1. Procurement Configuration -- enable the module and configure basic settings
  2. Procurement Configuration Options -- review all available settings
  3. Purchase Request -- understand purchase request concepts
  4. Purchase Order -- understand purchase order concepts
  5. Procurement Process -- walk through the end-to-end workflow

What You Will Find in This Guide

Chapter What It Covers
Introduction Product overview, capabilities, and roles
Concepts Purchase requests and purchase orders -- core data objects
Procurement Process The end-to-end purchasing workflow
Standard Purchase Approval Basic approval workflow configuration
Multi-Level Approval Advanced multi-level approval workflows
Purchase Order Status Status lifecycle and transitions
Purchase Order Approval Levels How multiple approval levels interact
Purchase Order Approval API Calls Programmatic approval management
Purchase Order Processing Transformations Validation rules at status transitions
Procurement Configuration Options All available settings and options