Purchase Order Number Theory

Purchase Order numbering is by School Year.  The count starts over when Purchase Orders are enabled for a new school/fiscal year.   Purchase Order entry for School/fiscal years can overlap:  Requisitions for "the next school year" can be enabled while Requisitions "for the current school year" are still being entered.

Purchase Order Numbering vs Requisition Numbering

Purchase Orders do not copy the number of their triggering Requisition - the numbering schemes are wholly separate.  The patterns can be very different.  A Requisition and the Purchase Order generated from it are linked behind the scenes - but their respective numbers do not need to relate to each other.

Purchase Order Numbering

On the Budget > Expenditures > Requisitions > Setup > Number Setup screen choose the proper year from the School Years bar.  You can use one of the two buttons to set your numbering sequence:

• Create New Settings - allows you to change the number of digits in your requisition number (the Cx setting) and/or change the starting number of your requisitions from 1 to something else if you desire.
• Rollover Settings from 20XX-XX - use this button to copy the settings from last year to this year.

There are two parameters:

• The number pattern itself.  E.g. SY2-A-C7
• The next available number.  At the start of the year you can begin numbering wherever you wish.  E.g. 1, 1000 ...   This is the starting number for the school year.

Specifying the Purchase Order Number Pattern

The number pattern can take the following:

• Literal characters - that is, characters that are exactly as they appear.  For example, the "A" and the "-" (dashes) in the above example.
• Macros - There are three built in macros which, if found in the text, will be replaced with the intended content. 
  • SY4 - If "SY4" is found in the text, exactly that way, it is substituted with the full School Year.  E.g. 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, ...
  • SY2 - If "SY2" is found in the pattern text, exactly that way, it is substituted with the two digit year.  E.g. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, ....
  • Cx - If a C (capital C) is found in the text followed by a number, C7, a 'count' is substituted with the specified number of digits.  All leading digits are replaced by zeros.   So if the 'next available number' is 4, and the pattern contains C8, the resulting count is 00000004 (8 digits with the 'next available number' substituted in.   E.g C5, C6, C7
  • Restricted characters:  Spaces should not be used.

To update the pattern, enter your new pattern into the Pattern field, update (if desired) the Next Available Number, and click Save.

What does the Pattern Generate

The pattern is used to generate the Purchase Order numbers, so that each Purchase Order has a unique number.

For example, if the pattern is (as in the example above) SY4-A-C7, and the next available number is 4, and this 2018, the resulting "Purchase Order number" is  '2018-A-0000004'

• Pattern:   POSY4C6, School Year=2018-19, Next available number=82  Purchase Order Number:  PO2018-19000082
• Pattern:   SY4C5, School Year=2018-19, Next available number=94  Purchase Order Number: 2018-1900082

You can see sample Purchase Order Numbers using your pattern by clicking the Generate and Display 20 sample numbers button: