Deferring PO Lines

Owned by Daryl Boone
Last updated: May 23, 2019 by Jennifer Koerber (Unlicensed)

 

Overview

Role: Purchasing operator

Use cases: there may be times when an operator would prefer to Defer an Order until more funds are available or while they are awaiting further information from a selector or the vendor, etc.

 

Overview of Deferring in Alma

PO lines on the Purchase Order Lines in Review page can be deferred.

  • If a packaged PO line is deferred, it is removed from the PO, but the remaining lines remain packaged. If it is the only PO line in the PO, the PO is deleted.
  • Once a PO line is removed from deferment, it re-enters the ordering stream where it left off:
    • If it was In Review and the issues that put it in review have not been corrected, it returns to review
    • If it was previously packaged or if it was In Review and everything needing review has been fixed, it will go straight to packaging

To Defer a PO Line Currently In Review

There are two ways to access the Defer function for a POL:

  • From the PO Lines In Review page
    1. Find the POL you want to defer
    2. Click on the row action item list icon
    3. Select Defer
    4. Choose a date to be reminded about the deferral and a reason for the deferral from the drop down menu
    5. Add a note if desired - this note appears in the Notes tab of the PO Line and is not identified in any way as a deferral note, so any kind of note can be added here
    6. Click Defer

 

  • From the Edit view of a PO line in review
    1. Click on Defer at the top of the Purchase order lines details page, Summary tab
    2. Choose a date to be reminded about the deferral and a reason for the deferral from the drop down menu
    3. Add a note if desired - this note appears in the Notes tab of the PO Line and is not identified in any way as a deferral note, so any kind of note can be added here
    4. Click Defer

Reviewing Deferred PO Lines

When a PO line is first deferred, it shows up in the Unassigned tab of the Review Deferred list. You can see this list by going to Acquisitions >> Review Deferred.

Once the reminder date arrives, the PO Line is automatically assigned to the person who deferred it, unless it has been assigned to someone else either manually or by way of them touching the PO line.

On the reminder date - and only on that date - a link to this list is also available in the tasks list as Order Lines >> Deferred >> Assigned to you. When you click this link, you go to the Review Deferred list with a filter of Reminder date today. This option only appears in your task list on the actual reminder date, although the POL continues to be available through Acquisitions >> Review Deferred after that date.

Editing/Reactivating/Packaging Deferred PO Lines

  1. To get to the list of Deferred PO Lines, either select it from the tasks list or go to Acquisitions >> Review Deferred
  2. Select one of the following action options:
    • Edit
      • In addition to the usual fields that you can edit in the PO Line, there are two additional fields in the PO Line details section: Referral reminder and Referring reason
      • Changing the Referral reminder to a future date will make it appear in the task list (again) on the chosen date
      • You may also change the Referring reason if appropriate
    • Reactivate
      • If all red alerts have been taken care of, the order will be sent to autopackaging
      • If there are still alerts that need to be addressed, the order will be sent to review
    • Order Now
      • Reactivation and ordering (packaging) can be done in a single step by updating all the information in the PO Line and clicking on Order Now
    • Cancel
    • Delete 

 

 

 

 

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