Purchasing & procurement
Purchasing - from the requirement to the goods receipt
A requirement arises on the order, gets approved, ordered and delivered - with catalogue search at the distributor and an invoice check that holds three documents against each other.
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What it does
Requirements carry their purpose - at goods receipt it is clear which order the goods were meant for
A purchase proposal across all open requirements, including shipping costs and minimum order values
Approval above a threshold you choose, before anything is ordered
Ordering channels per supplier, including offline for everything that runs by phone or form
Purchase orders as a PDF and email from IDA - or electronically to the distributor, with no portal basket and no mail attachment
Returning documents match themselves up: order confirmation, dispatch advice and invoice hang on the purchase order, not in an email thread
The order list shows the state at the distributor and the delivery date they reported - no need to chase the supplier
Freight forwarder and bulky-goods shipping as a separate freight rate per supplier, kept apart from parcel shipping
Goods receipt with serial numbers, partial deliveries and backorders
Drop shipping: goods go straight to the customer and still run cleanly through stock and documents
External catalogue through EGIS (SYNAXON) or ITscope: item search across vendors, a price check in the background and a warning when the margin tips
Product images and descriptions from the catalogue land on the item and on the document - the quote shows what the customer gets
A research basket: collect findings before there is even an order, and turn them into a quote or a requirement later
The free-freight threshold per supplier in the basket - you see how much is missing for free delivery
Three-way invoice matching: purchase order, goods receipt and supplier invoice have to agree
A picking list for fulfilment - a person decides what is bought in and what comes from stock
In practice
In practice
An order needs hardware that is not in stock. The requirement arises on the order, the distributor catalogue search returns prices from several vendors, and above 2,500 euro the purchase goes to approval first. Serial numbers are captured at goods receipt; the supplier invoice is matched against the purchase order and the receipt before it is released for payment.
Frequently asked questions
How do we avoid buying too expensively?
Through the price check running in the background: if the purchase price moves far enough for the margin to tip, IDA warns before the order goes out. On top of that you can force approval above a value threshold.
Can we search several distributors at once?
Yes. The catalogue search through EGIS shows the offers of the connected vendors side by side; taking one over creates the supplier record if needed.
What is three-way invoice matching?
The comparison of purchase order, goods receipt and supplier invoice. Only if quantity and price agree in all three does the invoice go to payment without a query - which catches back-charges and wrong deliveries.
Does this work with suppliers that have no interface?
Yes. For them there is the offline channel: the purchase order is created in IDA and sent as a PDF or placed by phone, and the process stays the same.
Can IDA order electronically?
Yes, in the widely used openTRANS format. The order goes straight into the distributor system, and the response - order confirmation, dispatch advice, invoice - matches itself to the purchase order. The format lives in a layer of its own rather than in one supplier: the next one that speaks it builds on the same foundation.
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