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Document Release Methods
Document Release Methods
Users can specify when purchase orders, receipt notices, identification tags, and variance reports will be released. Default release values can be entered separately for each type of document on the Purchasing System Defaults Reference File category. This default value can be overridden during the maintenance conversation. The documents may also be reprinted by changing the print flag to Yes (Y) in the maintenance conversation.
Three options are available:
· Release immediately ‑ Release immediately means that the document printing request will be sent to the asynchronous monitor at the end of the current transaction. The document will then be printed on the next available printer.
· Release at end of day ‑ Release at end of day means that the document printing request is pending. It must be submitted for off-line execution using the Purchasing Processing Menu.
· Hold indefinitely ‑ Hold indefinitely means that printing the document is not desired for the moment. Later, the buyer can change the option to release immediately or release at end of day when printing is desired.
These three system-defined release methods allow the buyer to print the purchasing documents when he or she wants. If the user wishes to define additional release codes, the document release codes category on the Reference File allows users to do so. However, the system must then be modified to recognize and process these custom codes.
Generally, excessive use of the "release immediately" option may slow down system processing. Therefore, it may by advisable to set the default release code to "release at end of day." Then, the buyer may change this default for any document requiring special processing. Similarly, if excessive paperwork is of concern to the company, the default can be set to "hold indefinitely" and then individually changed to one of the releases for specific documents. Note: if you are processing purchasing transactions in conjunction with EDI (and you want to process the transactions asynchronously), you should set the appropriate release codes to "release immediately".