Procurement Desktop on the Web
Topic 2 – Ordering from the Electronic Catalog
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Procurement Desktop on the Web
Purpose
Objectives
The purpose of this topic is to familiarize you with the steps and processes involved in searching and ordering from the Electronic Catalog through the creation of a Market Basket.
Upon completion of this topic, you will be able to:
- Search the Electronic Catalog, and
- Complete a Market Basket.
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Procurement Desktop on the Web
Procurement Process through the Electronic Catalog
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Electronic Catalog
The Electronic Catalog provides a one-stop shopping center for Commonwealth buyers. It is very similar in concept to a simple paper catalog, but has two significant differences designed to make your life easier. First, all available vendor catalogs are integrated into one single catalog. Second, the items may be searched for electronically, increasing efficiency and ease of use. Items which you wish to order are added to a Market Basket. The Market Basket concept is similar to a shopping basket; you select the items you want to purchase and put them in your Market Basket. The Market Basket has a MAIN tab and a LINES tab. Items are added to the LINES tab of the Market Basket using the Catalog Search.
You can look at the Market Basket at any time to view what you have added to it. When you have finished selecting all of your items, you may complete, route and approve the Market Basket. Once the Market Basket is approved and released, Procurement Desktop generates either a Catalog Delivery Order or a Purchase Request, depending on the item(s) you selected.
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Electronic Catalog
If the item is on a Catalog Master Agreement, a Catalog Delivery Order will be created. The Catalog Delivery Order references a Catalog Master Agreement. Catalog Master Agreements are discussed in the Contracting course. If, on the other hand, the item is not on a Catalog Master Agreement, but is listed in the Catalog, a Purchase Request will be generated upon approval of the Market Basket.
For items that you cannot find in the Catalog, you can enter free-form line entries with an extensive description of the item you are requesting. Once the Market Basket is approved and released, the free-form line entry will also generate a Purchase Request.
More than one Purchase Request or Catalog Delivery Order may be created. This is determined by various rules governing Purchase Requests and Catalog Delivery Orders. For example, the system determines the appropriate buyer based on the established rules and then groups the respective line items on their own Purchase Request. Any line items for which it was unable to determine the buyer are placed on a single Purchase Request.
Let’s look at the Market Basket form.
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Market Basket Document
MAIN Tab
LINES Tab
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Market Basket Document
The Market Basket document consists of the following two tabs:
- MAIN tab - Contains general information about the Market Basket.
- LINES tab - Contains the line item data.
Line Item information is added to the LINES tab using the Electronic Catalog. Some of the fields are required which means you must complete these fields. Other fields are optional and may or may not be completed depending on the purpose of the document. Completion of optional fields varies from person to person and agency to agency and may depend on specific policies and procedures. Other fields will automatically default and you may leave the defaulted information or provide different information. Finally, other fields are protected or read-only and contain data that you cannot change. We will review all of the fields on Market Basket starting with the MAIN tab.
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Market Baskets
In this topic we will walk through how to create a Market Basket using the Electronic Catalog. To illustrate this, let’s use the following scenario:
You are a buyer for the Finance and Administration Cabinet. You need a box of pens and a desk for your Cabinet. You are going to search the Electronic Catalog to create a Market Basket for these items.
Remember that after the Market Basket has been approved, either Catalog Delivery Orders or Purchase Requests are created. Both of these will be covered in later topics.
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Procurement Desktop on the Web
PD Web Main Page
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Procurement Desktop on the Web
To Create a Market Basket:
Step 1Click on the “Order from Catalog” link on the PD Web Main page.
The Market Basket opens and the Catalog Search screen opens in front of it.
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Procurement Desktop on the Web
Catalog Search Screen
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Procurement Desktop on the Web
Catalog Search Screen
The Catalog Search screen allows you to locate items in the Electronic Catalog for your Market Basket, including the Catalog Master Agreement items. The Catalog Delivery Order that is generated after approval of the Market Basket will reference the Catalog Master Agreement from which the items were selected.
The Catalog Search window allows you to search by description. In addition to the SEARCH FOR field, there are radio buttons for TABLE DISPLAY and VISUAL DISPLAY, as well as buttons to <SEARCH> for items, for <HINTS> on searching, and to <RETURN> to the Market Basket. When searching for items with visual display selected, the search results appear in picture form, with descriptions and supplier information above and below the picture. Search results in table form do not include the picture, but include more detail information, such as Category, Unit of Measure, and Price.
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Hints Summary Window
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To View Hints on the Catalog Search:
Step 1Click the <HINTS> button.
The Hints Summary window opens with a summary of actions taken and suggestions to narrow the search.
As you can clearly see, no words have been entered and no search has been performed. Thus the suggestions contained in the Hints Summary window are very basic.
Let’s close out of the Hints Summary window and search for the items we are looking for.
To Close the Hints Summary Window:
Step 1Click on the <CLOSE> button.
The Hints Summary window closes and you are returned to the Catalog Search screen.
Note: You may return to the Hints Summary window as we continue searching to notice how the suggestions change.
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Catalog Search Screen
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Catalog Search Screen
Now that we’ve closed out of the Hints Summary window, we can search for the items we want to purchase. We would like to see the results visually first, so we’ll select the VISUAL DISPLAY radio button.
Search for Items in the Electronic Catalog
Step 1Click the VISUAL DISPLAY radio button.
Step 2Enter “Ball Point Pens” in the SEARCH FOR field.
Step 2Click on the <SEARCH> button.
The Catalog Search Results are displayed in picture form at the bottom of the screen.
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Catalog Search Screen
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Catalog Search Screen
The Catalog Search screen displays the items found in the Catalog that match your Search Criteria. By selecting the VISUAL DISPLAY radio button, you can quickly scan pictures of items to find your desired item. There are nine items per screen arranged three by three. A line above the table of results displays the number of results found, and the results currently displayed on the screen. You can scroll through the results using the <PREVIOUS> and <NEXT> buttons. If you cannot see these buttons, you’ll have to scroll down to the bottom of the screen.
Once you find an item and would like to see more detailed information on it, you may simply click once on the item’s picture. This will launch a detailed information window.
To View Detail Information:
Step 1Click on a picture for one of the pens you for which you would like to see detailed information.
The Detail Information window opens.
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Detail Information Window
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Detail Information Window
The Detail Information window provides information such as Manufacturer Name, Manufacturer Part Number, and Price, which cannot be seen on the Visual Display Results.
Once you have read through the detail information, you can return to the Catalog Search screen.
To Return to the Catalog Search Window:
Step 1Click the <CLOSE> button.
The Catalog Search screen appears.
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Table Display
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Table Display
While the Visual Display allows you to view the items graphically, the Table Display gives you much more functionality. It allows you to compare line discounts and detail information between items, and the ability to add items to your Market Basket. Let’s view the table display.
To Return to the Table Display:
Step 1Click the TABLE DISPLAY radio button.
The Catalog Search Results are reorganized into table form and organized by column.
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Table Display
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Table Display
The Search Results appear in table form, organized by the following columns: SELECT, CATEGORY, DESCRIPTION, UOM, DETAILS, SUP NAME, SUP P/N, PRICE, and ALIASES. The SELECT column provides checkboxes that are used to compare lines and to add lines to your market basket. The CATEGORY and DESCRIPTION describe the type of item. UOM is the unit of measure by which it is priced. The SUP NAME and SUP P/N are the supplier name and supplier part number, respectively. And the PRICE is the cost for each unit of the Item.
Clicking the “magnifying glass” button under the DETAILS column allows you to view detail information for each item just like we saw using the visual display. In addition, you can refine and sort your results according to the different columns. Finally, you can select line items. Once selected, you can compare line discounts and detail information, and place them in your Market Basket.
To Compare Detail Information between Lines:
Step 1Check the SELECT checkbox for the first three items in the table.
Step 2Click on the <COMPARE> button.
The Item Compare Window appears.
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Item Compare Window
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Item Compare Window
The Item Compare window allows you to compare Detail Information between different lines. You can compare them according to each of the columns in the table, including supplier name and price.
To Close the Item Compare Window:
Step 1Click on the <CLOSE> button.
The Catalog Search screen appears.
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Catalog Search Screen
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Catalog Search Screen
In addition to Detail Information, you can also compare Line Item Discount Information from the Catalog Search screen.
To Compare Line Item Discount Information between Lines:
Step 1Check the SELECT checkbox for the first three items in the table.
Step 2Click on the <LINE DISCOUNTS> button.
The Line Item Discounts Window appears.
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Line Item Discounts Window
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Line Item Discounts Window
The Line Item Discounts window allows you to compare the discounts available on items by their suppliers. In our example, you can see that the supplier for Supplier Part Number 39314 (Pen/Pencil Set, Prelude, 23K) offers a 10% discount if you order between 10 and 20 pen/pencil sets from them. Let’s return to the Catalog Search screen and refine our search results.
To Close the Line Item Discounts Window:
Step 1Click on the <CLOSE> button.
The Catalog Search screen appears.
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Catalog Search Screen
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Catalog Search Screen
When you search in the Electronic Catalog, buttons may appear in the area above the search results that list other category options. For example, if you searched only on Pens, buttons may appear to give you other choices that will help refine your search.
To use these options, you would select the button you would want. For example, if you selected the Markers button, the search results would only display those items relating to Markers. Instead of having to look through 100 items, you may have to look through only 20 items.
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Catalog Search Screen
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Catalog Search Screen
As you can see, we have a list of Pens to select from.
To Select the Line Item:
Step 1Click the SELECT checkbox for the Pens item you want to order.
Step 2Click on the <ADD TO BASKET> button.
The Pens are added to your Market Basket behind the scenes. The Catalog Search screen that you have open will refresh, so that the SELECT checkbox is no longer checked.
Now that we’ve selected the pens, we’ll continue by searching for the desk.
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Catalog Search Screen
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To Search for an Additional Item in the Electronic Catalog:
Step 1Type “Desk” in the SEARCH FOR field.
Step 2Click on the <SEARCH> button.
The Catalog Search Results are displayed in the window at the bottom of the screen. As before, you can scroll through the results using the <PREVIOUS> and <NEXT> buttons. To narrow down your search, you may refine the search results.
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Catalog Search Screen
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Catalog Search Screen
The catalog information for desks is now displayed. Let’s select an item and add it to the Market Basket.
To Select the Line Item:
Step 1Click in the SELECT check box for the Desk you wish to purchase.
Step 2Click on the <ADD TO BASKET> button.
The Desk you selected is added to your Market Basket. The Catalog Search screen that you have open will refresh, so that the SELECT checkbox is no longer checked. Now that the final items have been added, it is time to return to and complete the Market Basket.
To Return to the Market Basket:
Step 1Click on the <RETURN TO BASKET> button.
The Catalog Search screen closes and the Market Basket opens with the MAIN tab open. Catalog Search can be entered at any time from the LINES tab by clicking the <CATALOG SEARCH> button.
Let’s complete the information on the Market Basket.
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