Writing off or Cancelling Documents

Requisition or purchase order documents are not regarded as completed whilst there are outstanding items waiting to be delivered because a commitment to the spend still exists in the system. Appropriate action needs to be taken to correctly remove the commitment.

The method used depends on the status of the order, what has or has not been delivered and what the supplier is able to deliver or do.

Two functions are available to deal with these scenarios:

Writing off

The write off function is used where a supplier is unable to fulfil the full quantity of an order. For example, if an order has been authorised for 100 books, but the supplier can only deliver 75, 25 of the books would need to be written off.

The write off function is used to reduce the quantity in either the requisition (if used) or purchase order document. This ensures that the remaining items in the order can be progressed through the rest of the purchasing cycle. Using the previous example, the remaining 75 books can then be progressed.

Cancelling

The cancel function is used for a variety of reasons where you want to prevent an item or document being progressed further in the purchasing cycle. Cancelling is used to cancel an item or order and can only be used where the full quantity of an item/document is no longer required, i.e. cancelling should not be used to amend the quantities within an order. The write off function should be used where quantities need to be amended.

Cancelling should be used where:

  • a supplier is unable to supply a specific item or order.

  • an order has been placed with an incorrect supplier or where a better price has been identified with another supplier.

  • incorrect items have been delivered and are to be returned.

  • items are broken or damaged and the full quantity of the items are being returned.

  • a non-order invoice has been raised directly in IRIS Financials and therefore the other IRIS Purchasing documents are no longer required.

  • the item is no longer available.

  • the item is no longer required (for example, the supplier is unable to deliver in time).

If you are unsure which process to use, please refer to When to Write off and When to Cancel.