Setting up the purchase restriction functionality

The configuration is very flexible allowing you to have control over the following:

What you want to restrict (item, item restriction group, item group, item category 1-6, narcotic category, or handling status)
From where (supplier, country, address category, supplier restriction group, supplier group, business partner category, state (within country), or area)
To whom (warehouse, country, state (within country), inventory contract type or inventory contract number. The latter two are only applicable if DC1 Contract Managed Inventory (CMI) is activated.)
By whom (handler, cost centre, or order type)

You can combine all four restriction categories or choose those that are applicable. At least one selection must be made.

Other features that can be configured for a purchase restriction are as follows:

Validity period
An alert message that can be sent to the applicable personnel
Additional restraints to be applicable for the order line (minimum/maximum amount/quantity) or order (minimum/maximum amount/quantity)
Exceptions to what was defined in the purchase restriction, permitting the purchase under certain circumstances or with a lower degree of severity

The handling of the order during purchase order maintenance is dictated by the degree of severity placed on the purchase restriction. See Severity below.

The following needs to be set up for the purchase restrictions functionality.

Task

File/Table

To do

Create supplier restriction groups

Work with supplier restriction groups

In some instances, certain items may not be purchased from particular suppliers, e.g., medicines, region-specific products, chemicals or items that are restricted in certain countries. By arranging these suppliers into groups, universal rules or regulations regarding the purchase of these may be applied more easily.

Access this file, add a new group and complete the following fields:

Supplier restriction group: Enter a name for this new group.
Description: Enter a description for this new group.

Attach supplier restriction groups to your suppliers

Work with business partners/Supplier file

This is where you attach the supplier restriction groups to your suppliers. If you have defined several supplier restriction groups, you are able to attach your supplier to more than one at a time. Navigate to the Supplier file panel, click the Restrict groups function key. On the Business partner file maintenance, Restriction groups panel, highlight the applicable restriction group or groups and click the Attach option.

Create item restriction groups

Work with item restriction groups

If you want to prohibit certain items from being purchased from suppliers access this file, add a new group and complete the following fields:

Item restriction grp: Enter a name for this new group.
Description: Enter a description for this new group.

Attach item restriction groups to your items

Work with items/Basic data

This is where you attach the item restriction groups to your items. You can attach several item restriction groups to one item. Navigate to the Basic data panel, click the Restriction groups function key. On the Item file maintenance, Restriction groups panel, highlight the applicable restriction group or groups and click Attach.

Activate purchase restriction keys

Work with purchase restriction keys

You must activate the applicable purchase restriction keys. These keys use several DC1 parameters and restrict purchases based on these, through the what, from, to or by parameters in the Work with purchase restrictions file.

Note: This preloaded table may only be changed by users who have DC1 Administration authority.

To activate a purchase restriction key, highlight the record you wish to activate, click Change and set the Active field to YES. You can also change the description, if you wish.

Create purchase restrictions

Work with purchase restrictions

This is where you create the purchase restrictions; configuring the basic details and principles that apply.

On the initial panel, click Add and then complete the following fields that are relevant for your restrictions:

Restriction: Enter a name for the new restriction.
Description: Enter a description for the new restriction.
What: Enter a code from the Work with purchase restriction keys table. This will determine what items or item categories will apply to this restriction. This may be a blanket rule for a specific item or item group, or be one of the restriction item groups that you have configured.
From: If applicable, make a valid entry, such as supplier, country, address category, supplier restriction group, supplier group, business partner category, state (within country), or area, depending on what restriction key has been allocated to this field. This field is only valid if the restriction has been configured to include this type of restriction in the Work with purchase restriction keys table.
To: If applicable, make a valid entry, such as warehouse, country, state (within country), inventory contract type or inventory contract number, depending on what restriction key has been allocated to this field. This field is only valid if the restriction has been configured to include this type of restriction in the Work with purchase restriction keys table.
By: If applicable, enter the by whom parameter (e.g., handler, cost centre, or order type) for this purchase restriction.
Severity: The handling of the order during purchase order maintenance is dictated by the degree of severity placed on the purchase restriction. The following severity codes can be assigned triggering different results during order/quotation entry:

Code	Description	Other information
1	Purchase is not allowed	Entry of order line will be stopped.
2	Warning	A warning message will be displayed, but entry of order line can proceed.

Receiver of alert

Alert messages for purchase restrictions can be configured to send when the purchase order is created in batch, for example from Data Interchange. If you want to send an alert message for this purchase restriction, enter the user ID of the person who should receive this message. See Working with Alert Management messages for instructions on how to configure the system to send/receive alerts as well as working with alert messages.

Alert message

Enter the alert message.

From date

Enter a date from which this restriction will apply.

To date

Enter a date until which this restriction will be in force.

Additional restraints
If you want to define additional restraints for the purchase restriction, click Next. You can use the fields on this panel to achieve, e.g., any of the following results:

Do not permit the purchase if the order line quantity is below 10 of Item group AAA
Do not permit the purchase if the total order amount is less than 1000 SEK

When defining the fields on this panel the following rules apply:

You can define order line restrictions or order restrictions.
If any item related (what) key is defined for the purchase restriction, the order conditions will not be available. This is because it is not relevant, e.g., to use item code to perform a check on order header.
For order line conditions any key can be used, for example only a ‘To’ key.

Once you have completed all the necessary fields, click OK.

On the Work with purchase restrictions, Details panel you are able to create the specific rules for each purchase restriction, allocating the details of each. Click Add.

On the Work with purchase restrictions panel, complete the fields with the key values for the applicable purchase restriction keys (What, From, To and/or By):

What: If applicable, select a value to indicate what it is that is subject to this restriction.
From: If applicable, select a value to indicate from whom or from where it is that is subject to this restriction.
To: If applicable, select a value to indicate to whom or to where it is that is subject to this restriction.
By: If applicable, select a value to indicate by whom or by what it is that is subject to this restriction.

Create exceptions to a purchase restriction

Work with purchase restrictions

Once you have created a purchase restriction you are able to create an exception to these rules, allowing the purchase to be permitted based on certain circumstances. An example could be that the purchase of an item will be permitted from a specific supplier on the condition that a particular purchasing handler makes the purchase.

The system checks the exceptions in the following order:

Exceptions without severity code are checked first. If such an exception is found, then the purchase is permitted, but the details for the exception will be excluded from the purchase restriction.
If an exception without severity code is not found, then exceptions with severity code 2 are checked. If such an exception is found, then the purchase is permitted.

On the initial panel, highlight the restriction that you wish to create an exception for and click Exceptions. Then click Add to create a new exception. On the Work with purchase restrictions, Exceptions panel you configure the basic details that allow the exception. Complete the following fields:

Exception: Enter a name for the new exception.
Description: Enter a description for the new exception.
By: Assuming you want to set up an exception allowing the purchase of a product from a supplier if a particular purchasing handler does the purchasing, select HANDLER from the Purchase restriction key table.
Severity: This field is an optional entry. If you leave this field blank, the details for the exception will be excluded from the purchase restriction. If, however, you want the details for the exception to apply to the purchase restriction, enter the degree of severity for the exception. The exception must hold a lower degree of severity than the purchase restriction itself.

Click OK.

On the Work with purchase restrictions, Details panel, click Add to create new exception details.
On the Work with purchase restrictions panel, complete the following fields:

By: Enter the handler for whom this purchase restriction does not apply.

Click OK.

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