Hold Codes

Purchase Order Hold Codes are used to control the purchase order current amount against the following predefined amount limits:

·     A maximum vendor limit

·     A maximum buyer limit

·     A minimum vendor limit

The following Reference File categories are used in purchase order hold codes processing:

·     Purchase Order Hold Codes

·     Buyer Amount Authorization

·     Purchase Order Release Authorization

The purchase order hold codes category contains valid hold codes and their related decodes, and automatic change and exception flag update flags defined by the user.  These flags are used as described below.

Four hold codes are system-defined:

·     Over maximum vendor limit

·     Over maximum buyer limit

·     Under minimum vendor limit

·     Administrative hold code

Four other hold codes may be defined by the user for specific processing.

The buyer amount authorization category defines by buyer the maximum purchase order amount for which he is authorized.

The purchase order release authorization category defines by buyer the hold codes that he is authorized to manually change and the hold codes that he is authorized to enter manually.

Hold Code Activation

The system maintains a flag for each of the following conditions:

·     Over maximum vendor limit

·     Over maximum buyer limit

·     Under minimum vendor limit

Each of these flags is set to either Y (condition exists) or N (condition does not exist) as soon as the related condition is verified.  A warning message corresponding to the exception appears on the screen to inform the buyer who can then change his data.  Nevertheless, if at least one condition remains, only one hold code is positioned by the system after the validation of the recap screen.  This is the hold code related to the most important condition following the hold code hierarchy:

1 - Over maximum vendor limit

2 - Over maximum buyer limit

3 - Under minimum vendor limit

4 - Other hold codes

The vendor limits are defined on the Vendor Master File and maintained by the Vendor Master File Maintenance conversation.  A hold code does not prevent the purchase order from being changed or printed.

Hold Code Modification

Once the hold code has been positioned, the user may change it only if he is authorized to that hold code, and he must change it to another hold code to which he is authorized.  These authorizations are contained on the Reference File.

Manual Hold Code Changes

The hold code on a purchase order is automatically formatted the first time that a hold condition appears.  If the user is manually changing a hold code there are several issues:

1.   Once you change a hold code manually (either blanking it out or entering a different hold code), the program will no longer update the hold code; however, you will still receive the necessary warning messages.

2.   If you manually change a hold code (either in Add or Change mode) and then continue either adding or changing more releases or lines, the hold code will stay what you entered.

3.   If you go back into the purchase order to make a change and either change the quantity or the unit price, the hold code gets recalculated by the program using the hierarchy rules, regardless of the fact that you may have manually changed it in a previous transaction.  If you change the hold code during this transaction, the program processes as stated in the previous paragraph.

4.   If a hold code no longer exists due to a change in quantity or price, the hold code gets set to the next lowest code in hold code hierarchy.

Automatic Hold Code Changes

The hold code can be automatically changed by the system under three conditions:

·     The buyer has changed the exception condition.

·     The hold code automatic change is authorized.

·     The new code is higher in the hierarchy than the old code.

The automatic change is managed by a flag related to the hold code in the purchase order hold codes category:

·     Automatic Change Flag = Y, automatic change allowed.

·     Automatic Change Flag = N, no automatic change allowed.

A batch program prints all the exceptions that occurred in the Purchase Order Maintenance conversation according to the exception flags.  Once printed, the exception flag may be updated following the "exception flag update" flag related to the hold code in the purchase order hold codes category:

·     Exception Flag Update Flag = Y, exception flag changed to N.

·     Exception Flag Update Flag = N, exception flag will not be changed and an exception line will be printed for each exception flag with a Y value at each batch processing.