Central purchase through SmartMy Trade
An approved site material request goes to your purchase desk as an approved indent in SmartMy Trade. The desk compares suppliers and makes the orders there. Every order still belongs to the site: project, cost codes, place, budget check and receipt at the site store.
PLANSFrom Growth
The problem it solves
- Each site buys its own cement and steel at whatever price the local dealer quotes.
- The head office purchase team cannot see what the sites need until they phone.
- When the office buys, the order loses its link to the site, so the budget and the site store do not see it.
How it works
- Site staff ask for material and a Construction Manager approves the request, as usual.
- On the approved request, the manager presses Send to Central Purchase. What is left to order goes to the purchase desk as an approved indent for the site store.
- The desk opens Trade > Purchase > Indents, presses Make RFQs and compares the suppliers' quotes.
- The confirmed purchase orders carry the project and the request, and each line the cost code and place from the site's request.
- The budget check runs on confirm. The goods are received at the site store, and the request shows its indents.
Everything it does
From the site
- Send to Central Purchase on approved or ordered requests, for Construction Managers, with a confirm step
- Only what is left to order is sent; the request moves to Ordered
- The indent starts approved, with a note naming the request, project and place, and who approved it on site
- Indents button on the request
- The site store must exist first (Make Site Store)
At the purchase desk (SmartMy Trade)
- The indent is listed with the shop and godown indents, for the site store
- Make RFQs: one RFQ per supplier (the line's, the item's usual supplier, or the one chosen)
- Compare suppliers' quotes with the RFQ alternatives and confirm the best
- The site's request gets a note with the RFQs made
Back on the site's books
- RFQs and purchase orders carry the Construction project and the material request
- Order lines carry the request's cost code and place
- The over-budget check on confirm and committed and actual cost in the building budget work as for an order made on site
- Receipt at the site store, with the material receipt inspection where quality checklists are used
What it does not do
- Indents of several sites are not merged into one order; each request is its own indent
- Rate contracts with suppliers are not built in Construction
Who uses it
Construction ManagerApproves the site's request and sends it to central purchase.
Purchase deskMakes RFQs in SmartMy Trade, compares quotes and confirms the order.
StorekeeperReceives the goods at the site store.
Where you use it
- Web: Send to Central Purchase on the material request (Construction > Site > Material > Material Requests)
- Web: Trade > Purchase > Indents and RFQs in SmartMy Trade
- Not in the phone app: sending to central purchase is done on the web
What you control
Settings
- SmartMy Trade installed for the same Entity
- One site store per project
- Suppliers per item in Trade, used when making RFQs
Approvals
- Site Material Request: approved on the Construction side; the indent arrives approved, so it is not approved again in Trade's Indent chain
Notifications
- Not built: a message to the purchase desk when an indent arrives; the desk sees it in the Indents list
Works with
SmartMy TradeIndents, RFQs with quote comparison and purchase orders made by the central purchase desk, delivered to the site store and booked to the project.
Questions
Do we need SmartMy Trade?
Yes, for the central desk with indents and quote comparison. Without it, each request is ordered from its own screen with Order from a Supplier.Does the order still count in the site's budget?
Yes. Orders from the indent carry the project, cost code and place. The budget check and committed and actual cost work as for a site order.Can the desk combine three sites' cement into one order?
Not yet. Each site request becomes its own indent and its own RFQs, delivered to that site's store.Related features
MONEYMaterial requests, orders, transfers and issuesSite staff ask for material from the site or the app, and a manager approves. The request becomes a purchase order to the site store or a transfer from another site. What arrives is issued to the work, a place or a subcontractor. Every order carries the project, cost code and place.MONEYCommitments, forecast and over-budget checksEvery budget line shows what is already ordered or contracted, what is spent, what is still to come and where the line will end. A project purchase order that goes past what is left of its line needs a Construction Manager to confirm it.MONEYBuilding budget with 80 and 100 % alertsOne budget per project, by cost code and place, approved once and changed only by approved revisions. Costs from site flow into it every hour. The project manager is told when a line passes 80 % and 100 % used.MONEYSurplus material salesSell what is left in a site store to a scrap dealer, another builder or the client. Fill the sale from the store and confirm it to make the delivery out of the store. Then make the buyer's invoice.
See your next site report on it.
Tell us what you build, how many sites you run and how your client hears about progress today. We will set up a project with you and send your first daily update.