Processes - eSchoolMall

The ESM Easy Purchase system allows users within an organization to log into the system and make various purchase requests on the system from various catalogs. The Easy Purchase has a request life cycle that allows for users to make initial requests and submit them for approval. Users in the approval process can make updates to the initial request along the way. Likewise, the request can be canceled at any point in the approval process. Upon final approval, the request is encumbered. However, the user can cancel the request at any time before receiving on it. The last step in the Easy Purchase process is to receive on the items and, once all items are received on, close the request.

At various points in the process, Easy Purchase sends ESM Transactions to the client's ESM Service. This allows for validation of the request and inserting/updating information in the purchasing and encumbrance subsystems to reflect the ongoing request. The following ESM Transactions can be sent to the ESM Service at various points in the Easy Purchase process. Some are mandatory and will always occur in the life cycle of an Easy Purchase request. Some are optional and might never be sent for an associated request.

The various transactions are as follows.

• "PI" (Requisition Insertion) – ESM Easy Purchases sends out this transaction initially when a user on Easy Purchase submits a purchase request. This is always the first transaction received from the ESM Easy Purchase when an order is initiated. The following transactions can follow a PI request:
  • "PU" - One or more updates to the requisition can occur during the approval process up until the final approval.
  • "PD" - If the user cancels an Order before it becomes a PO, the ESM Service sends out a Purchase Request Delete Transaction.
  • "EI" - After the last approval, ESM sends a Purchase Order Transaction.
• "PU" (Requisition Update) – ESM Easy Purchase sends out this transaction whenever a change occurs to the request being made to the user or approver as the request is being approved. This is an optional request.
  • "PU" - Additional updates to the requisition can occur during the approval process up until the final approval.
  • "PD" - If the user cancels an Order before it becomes a PO, the ESM Service sends out a Purchase Request Delete Transaction.
  • "EI" - After the last approval, ESM sends a Purchase Order Transaction.
• "PD" (Requisition Delete) – ESM Easy Purchase sends out this transaction when a request is canceled in Easy Purchase.
  • At this point, the order has been canceled in the ESM Easy Purchase system. This order will not generate any additional transactions.
• "EI" (Encumbrance Insertion) – ESM Easy Purchase sends out this transaction upon the final approval of a request in Easy Purchase.
  • "ED" - Once the requisition is a Purchase Order, the user can still cancel the order in the ESM Easy Purchase system. However, the Purchase Order Delete transaction is sent at this point instead of the Requisition Delete transaction, which is only sent by ESM for a Requisition. Only the "EI" transaction is sent at this point.
• "ED" (Encumbrance Delete) – ESM Easy Purchase sends out this transaction if the request is canceled after the final approval.
  • At this point, the order has been canceled in the ESM Easy Purchase system. This order will not generate any additional transactions.
  • No additional Requisition Delete transaction is required since that transaction is for a Requisition not for Purchase Orders.
• "RI" (Receipt Insertion) – ESM Easy Purchase sends out this transaction upon the receipt of items in the request. This can be a partial or complete receipt. The request is not considered complete until the final receipt insertion transaction where the closed flag is set to true.
  • "RI" - If the complete flag is not set in the last "RI" transaction, then additional "RI" transactions can be sent until the receiving is complete.

The transaction is received by the ESM Service on the client's Online Server. The transaction is processed by the ESM service first for basic information, and second by the ESM controller in BusinessPlus Purchasing Subsystem.

There are two types of responses that can be returned to Easy Purchase. The first is a success response in which the status returned is "Success" along with any associated information required in the response. The second is an error response in which an error has occurred during processing.