APS Open Market Purchasing

Phone: (800) 989-9066
Email: info@apswin.com

APS Open Market Purchasing

Open Market Purchasing automates the preparation of purchasing documents including Requisitions, Bid Solicitations, Bid Tabulations, and Purchase Orders.

You can build a command list from the APS pull-down menus.

Open Market Purchasing Benefits

Speeds Up Purchasing Cycle

Enter purchase information only once, saving time and eliminating data entry errors.

Information entered on requisitions automatically flows to the bid solicitation, bid tabulation, and purchase order without the need for rekeying.

Standard text lets you keep a master file of frequently-used clauses and specifications to copy into documents as needed.

Copy all line-items from one requisition to another, or within a single requisition.

Mail-merge letters and documents for vendors and departments.

Easy Access to Essential Management Reports

Query-by-form report generator lets you analyze all aspects of the purchasing cycle.

Bid tabulation spreadsheet automatically flags low item, low total, tie, etc., to help you make the best award.

Automatically record purchase history to identify the most cost-effective methods of purchase.

Use the workload summary to identify and eliminate bottlenecks in the workflow.

Financial System Interface

Customize extract formats to include only the data you need.

Summary or line-item information can be extracted and transferred to your financial system.

Install and extract vendors, requisitions, purchase orders, purchase history, and class-items.

From the REQ to the PO

In the Open Market Purchasing, APS combines the text processing power of the microcomputer with the database functionality and features you need to fully automate one-time buys of goods and/or services.

Requisitions

Repetitive typing of department address information is eliminated by using the master department address file. When entering requisitions, simply press a key to pop up a list of your departments, highlight the one you want, and press ENTER. You can assign requisition numbers manually or let the system automatically number them for you.

APS provides text processing capabilities to eliminate rekeying of "boiler plate" clauses, terms and conditions, shipping instructions, purchase descriptions, and specifications. Standard text processing lets you save frequently-used text and easily retrieve it when preparing bid solicitations, purchase orders, letters, and documents. You can also copy purchase descriptions from prior requisitions, paste them into new requisitions, and carry them forward to bid solicitations and purchase orders.

RFQ/Bid Solicitation

Open Market comes with a standard document format for printing bid solicitations; however, you can create your own print format to meet your specific needs. Bid solicitations are automatically printed from requisition information. Use text processing to retrieve and print "standard text" required on the bid solicitation and to modify the purchase description as needed. You can print bid solicitations by requisition number, or by date solicited.

Bid Evaluation

Bid Evaluation lets you quickly produce a spreadsheet report of bid responses to help you evaluate bids and make awards. A "tab sequence" number determines the order in which the bid will appear on the report. You can resequence bids to appear in a different order for public display or for a requesting department’s review. You can print either an extended amount analysis or a unit price analysis. Cost conversion features, vendor preference codes, and bid evaluation codes are also included. All information is available for on-line inquiry and you can control what information prints on the bid evaluation reports.

Purchase Order

Open market also comes with a standard document format for printing purchase orders. You can customize the print format to suit your needs. After bids are evaluated and awards determined, APS lets you automatically move all information forward to the purchase order as each line-item is awarded. Award information may be modified as necessary for the purchase order. Multiple purchase orders may by issued against requisition. You have the option to use the automatic purchase order numbering feature or to manually enter specific purchase order numbers.

ON-Line Inquiry

With APS you can quickly look up all information on requisitions, purchase orders, vendors, commodities, etc. For example, you can find purchase order information by purchase order number, vendor number, purchase order type, or purchase order date.

Quick & Easy Management Reports

From information captured throughout the automated purchasing process, Open Market Purchasing lets you generate many essential management and operational reports, such as:

A purchase history analysis showing class-item, unit of measure, quantity, average unit cost, extended amount, and number of items purchased. Total activity can be shown by vendor and by class-item.

A purchase history detail reporting class-items purchased, type of purchase, unit of measure, unit cost, and extended amount for each transaction involving a class-item. Total activity can be shown by vendor, class-item, department, and purchase order.

You can generate a workload summary by buyer code or a recap of all buyers showing how many requisitions and purchase orders were processed, dollar amounts involved, and processing time elapsed from date of receipt through issuance of order. This timely information lets management and staff pinpoint backlogs in the workflow, identify uneven workload and monitor the time required for each processing event in the procurement cycle. Decisions to redistribute workload, justify additional staff of allocate resources, and establish realistic goals to improve productivity are based on accurate and timely information.

You can print class-item summaries for the fiscal year, showing dollar amounts expended by class-item, by buyer code, and by type of purchase.

You can print purchase order status for a specified period showing vendor name, date issued, promised date, delivery date, final date, and dollar amount of order. A similar report can be generated for each vendor showing purchase orders awarded.

In addition to the many standard management reports, APS includes a query-by-form (fill in the blanks) report generator to help you answer those "one of a kind" questions that come your way. For example, how would you respond to: "We need to know how much this jurisdiction has spent with minority vendors for both this fiscal year and last fiscal year. I need that broken down by in-state versus out-of-state vendors at a summary level. You'd better get me the detail too, just in case. And can you have that ready for my Wednesday morning management meeting?" With APS Software, you can say "No problem."

Phone: (800) 989-9066
Email: info@apswin.com