Purchase requisition merging
Summarize
Summary of Purchase Requisition Merging
Purchase requisition merging in ServiceNow helps avoid creating multiple purchase orders unnecessarily and enforces approval rule limits by grouping purchase requisitions (PRs) and purchase lines when specific criteria are met. This feature enables procurement teams to efficiently manage purchasing by consolidating orders from the same supplier under certain conditions.
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Key Scenarios for Merging Purchase Requisitions
- Scenario 1: When a PR is in the Pending Approval state, new products from the same supplier with matching submitted by, cost center, and business owner can be automatically grouped into the existing PR if added within 24 hours. Sourcing requests impact merging based on contract pricing and timing.
- Scenario 2 and 3: For PRs in Awaiting Task Completion or Final Review states without a PO, procurement specialists can manually merge PRs if created within 24 hours and matching key fields. UI annotations and merge actions facilitate this process. Approvals are reassessed after merging.
- Scenario 4: If a second PR remains unmerged and Pending Approval, new purchase lines matching criteria will merge automatically with that PR.
- Scenario 5: When multiple PRs exist in Awaiting Task Completion or Final Review states, users can select which PR to merge with from a list, with annotations guiding the process.
- Scenario 6: PR revisions created from PO revisions cannot be merged; however, PR revisions without POs may be merged if they meet criteria similar to other scenarios.
- Scenario 7: PRs in closed states (Canceled, Rejected, Complete) do not accept new lines for merging; new PRs are created instead.
- Scenario 8: If a PO already exists, new supplier products from the same supplier result in creating new purchase requests and requisitions rather than merging.
Purchase Line Merging
Purchase lines within a single PR can be merged if they share identical supplier product, business owner, cost center, submitted by, delivery dates, delivery location, payment method, and purchase reason, differing only in quantity. Differences in delivery dates or locations require separate lines. When payment methods differ, cost allocation adjusts accordingly. Different purchase reasons are appended with quantities for clarity. Note that merging does not apply to bundled products.
Practical Implications for ServiceNow Customers
- Enables procurement buyers and specialists to reduce redundant purchase orders by grouping requisitions and lines efficiently.
- Supports automated and manual merging workflows with clear UI guidance and annotations, improving procurement process transparency.
- Ensures purchase requisitions remain compliant with approval workflows by reassessing approvals after merges.
- Prevents merging in scenarios where it could cause conflicts, such as closed PRs or existing POs, maintaining data integrity.
- Allows for detailed and organized purchase line management within requisitions, optimizing order consolidation without losing necessary distinctions.
Purchase requisitions can be merged if certain criteria are met. This avoids multiple purchase orders from being created unnecessarily and also helps enforce approval rule limits.
Consider these various scenarios for purchase requisition grouping.
Scenarios for merging purchase requisitions
A procurement buyer can group new products by the same supplier into an existing requisition so that multiple orders are not sent to the supplier. Consider the following scenarios:
- Sourcing not required:
If the shopper adds a supplier product from the same Supplier A in ShoppingHub, and it has the same submitted by, supplier, cost center, and business owner as PR1, then the lines are automatically grouped with PR1 with the state Pending Approval. PR1 remains in Pending Approval state. Approvals are re-assessed similar to revisions. If the line was created more than 24 hours after PR1, it is not grouped automatically and is created under a new purchase requisition.
- Sourcing required:
If the shopper adds a supplier product from the same Supplier A in ShoppingHub that does not have an active contractual price, a sourcing request is created. In the sourcing request, assuming that the line was awarded to the same Supplier A, and there is an existing purchase requisition with the same submitted by, supplier, cost center, and business owner, and the newly sourced line was created not more than 24 hours after PR1, the purchase line references PR1 when the supplier is awarded, and a purchase requisition is created. The line is added into PR1 with the state Pending Approval. PR1 remains in Pending Approval state. Approvals are re-assessed similar to revisions.
- A procurement specialist has to manually merge the purchase requisitions.
- Sourcing not required:
- An annotation is displayed on the header of PR2 indicating that this purchase requisition can be merged with another existing requisition <purchase requisition number>, where <purchase requisition number> is a link to PR1 that has the same submitted by, supplier, cost center, and business owner as PR2. This annotation is cleared once an order is created against PR1.
- The user can select Merge on the PR2 header to move the lines from PR2 to PR1. If there are no other requisitions or sourcing requests belonging to the purchase request that PR2 belongs to, then the purchase request and PR2 are deleted. The merged lines are in the state Pending Approval, and the purchase requisition is also reverted to Pending Approval. However, the original lines remain in their original state. Approvals are re-assessed similar to revisions.
- If there were other requisitions or sourcing requests under purchase request 2, then the purchase request is not deleted. Only purchase requisition 2 is deleted.
- The Merge UI action is only available if PR2 and the corresponding lines were created not more than 24 hours after PR1.
- Sourcing required: Upon awarding the sourcing request, a similar annotation is displayed on the header of the sourcing request indicating that this line can be merged with another existing requisition <Purchase requisition number>. The user can select Merge with Existing Requisition or Create Requisition. If merged, PR1's state reverts to Pending Approval.
Scenario 3: PR1 for Supplier A exists, in state Final Review. PO does not exist yet. Same as Scenario 2.
Scenario 4: PR1 in state Awaiting Task Completion, PR2 not merged with PR1 and in state Pending Approval. Another purchase is created. If the procurement specialist decides not to merge PR2 with PR1, and PR2’s state is still Pending Approval, then the new purchase lines automatically merge with PR2 according to the criteria in Scenario 1.
- When the user selects Merge on the new purchase requisition, display a list of all the purchase requisitions in the state Awaiting Task Completion or Final Review, and allow the user to select which one to merge with.
- In this scenario, an annotation is displayed on the most recent purchase requisition indicating that this purchase requisition can be merged with several other requisitions.
- Purchase requisitions of type Revision, created as a result of PO revision, are not eligible for merging.
- Purchase requisition revisions, where no PO is created, can be considered for merging using similar criteria documented in the previous scenarios.
Scenario 7: PR1 for Supplier A exists, in state Closed Canceled, Closed Rejected, or Closed Complete. A line is not grouped into a PR that has the state Closed Canceled, Closed Rejected, or Closed Complete. Instead, a new PR is created.
Scenario 8: PO already created, and supplier product(s) from the same supplier is added. Create a new purchase request and purchase requisition (PR2).
Purchase line merge
- If the supplier product, business owner, cost center, submitted by, delivery date or start date/end date, delivery location, payment method, and purchase reason are identical, except the quantity, the purchase lines can be grouped into a single line instead of separate lines.
- If the delivery date, start date/end date, or delivery location is different, a new line must be created.
- If only the payment method is different, the cost allocation entries should be updated accordingly, based on the combined ratio.
- If only the purchase reason is different, append the purchasing reasons as follows:
- Purchasing reason 1 - qty 1 (example: New hire orientation - qty 10)
- Purchasing reason 2 - qty 2 (example: IT hardware refresh - qty 2)