The Seacat Procurement System

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The Seacat Procurement System
Your Logo Here

• The Seacat Group Inc
• PO Box 5037
• Peoria, AZ 85385-5037
• [phone]
• www.seacat.com

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Overview

• Since 1992, when we developed the first
  electronic requisitioning front-end for Dun
  Bradstreet Software, we have strived to provide
  our customers with sophisticated, flexible,
  unique software that is easy to use and
  affordable with a level of service and support
  that multi-national vendors find impossible to
  provide.  We do this by customizing The Seacat
  Procurement System to each of our clients
  requirements to solve their unique procurement
  processing needs and then provide unparalleled
  service and support for that unique installation.

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Overview (cont.)

• For 15 years we have specialized in enhancing our
  software to provide the easiest possible
  procurement experience for our end users while
  eliminating paper processing and dramatically
  reducing procurement processing cycle time,
  thereby cutting processing costs.  This
  procurement system is designed to either
  front-end existing legacy systems or stand
  alone.  We have extensive experience front-ending
  systems such as DBS, Lawson Software, ACCPAC and
  Macola.

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Overview (cont.)

• This demo is intended to provide you with a
  feel for the processing flow of The Seacat
  Procurement System.  By no means is it all
  inclusive of the system or our companys
  capabilities.  We continue to enhance our
  software daily with enhancements such as check
  requisitions, stockroom ordering, inventory
  tracking, requisition punchout, PO XML
  transmission and electronic invoice receipt. 
  Current additional modules include Bid and
  Receiving.

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Overview (cont.)

• We feel that we have been very successful in our
  goal to provide a sophisticated, user-friendly,
  procurement processing system with unparalleled
  service and support at an affordable price.
• Just ask our customers.         

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Ease of Use

• Numerous features such as our Personal History
  File allow users to quickly create orders with
  just a few keystrokes.  Our Status Browse feature
  virtually eliminates the numerous, costly Where
  is my order? phone calls from requisitioners to
  purchasing that are pervasive in a typical
  processing environment.  The systems speed and
  platform stability ensures that end users spend a
  minimal amount of time and effort in order
  placement.
• Our user-centric development philosophy has
  resulted in a system that is user-friendly like
  few others.  Our users love our software.
• Just ask our customers.

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Unparalleled Service and Support

• We customize The Seacat Procurement System to
  each of our clients requirements to solve their
  unique processing needs.  We have no executive
  committee that meets twice a year to vote on
  customer enhancement requests so that you MAY be
  able to solve your processing issues a year from
  now after an expensive platform upgrade.
• We take your issues seriously, solve them
  expeditiously and then follow up with the best
  maintenance support in the industry.  You CAN
  have it YOUR way with a software vendor.
• Just ask our customers.   

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Affordability

• We understand that you have a budget.  Many
  vendors dont.  We do our best to offer
  affordable solutions to your processing issues.
• Just ask our customers.

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Application Demo

• All Seacat Group applications use a secure
  sign-on where we identify the user and their
  access level.

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Users must enter their user id and a valid
password.
Users must be authorized for each application.
The security front-end can be used for virtually
any application.
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Users may change their passwords at any time.
Passwords may use any combination of characters
but must be at least 5 characters long and
include at least 1 alpha and 1 numeric.
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The Seacat Procurement System incorporates
multiple document frame windows which provide
quick access to all features of the systems.
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• Creating Requests

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One of the two most used windows for a requester
is the Add/Update window. This is the first
button on the tool bar.
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This window is used to add new requisitions and
work on pending requisitions. Once a requisition
is passed to approvals it is no longer available
here for modification.
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To start a new requisition simply click on the
New button on the second tool bar .
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Most of the header data will default from the
users personnel record. Blue fields are required
fields and beige are optional.
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Any field with next to its label, has a
selection list available. Simply click the entry
area once with the right mouse button ...
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And a pop-up window will appear. Find the desired
value and single click once with the left mouse
button ...
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And your choice will be returned and pasted
into the selected field.
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Some fields have a instead of one. These
fields operate like the single except you
need to provide additional input to narrow the
search results.
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By entering a partial name in the vendor name
field you can narrow the selection to just a few.
This can be helpful if you have thousands of
suppliers.
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When you update the header for the first time a
requisition number will be automatically
generated and added to the requisition. The
format of this number is customizable.
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If you have selected a B2B supplier you will be
urged to use the Punchout feature for creating
your request. Click Yes
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and you will be placed in the suppliers website.
On the website you may browse and add items to
your shopping cart.
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when all items are in the shopping basket you may
CheckOut and return the items to your
requisition.
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Clicking on your requisition will bring up your
updated request.
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You may then review it and submit it for
approvals. Alternative to Punchout you may add
your detail lines manually. (Not all suppliers
provide Punchout)
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You may Click on the Detail Tab to add a detail.
If there are no details one will be started for
you automatically. Catalogs and user part s are
available by a right click on these fields.
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The catalog browse pop-up will allow you to find
user parts or supplier items.
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Items selected here will be pasted back into...
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The current requisition. Users can modify data
and add relevant instructions.
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Each line can have an unlimited number of
distributions. Amounts can be allocated in
different ways.
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In addition to instructions to buyers, documents
from word processors and other programs like MS
Excel may be attached to the requisition and
later printed or reviewed.
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The document maintenance window is for attaching
documents of different types and specifying the
viewer. Click the New button to attach a file...
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and a browse window appears for you to select
your document.
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When selected, the document is stored on the
database and displayed for your verification.
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It will be displayed by the default viewer for
that type of document.
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Documents attached to a Requisition may be
displayed by clicking the Display Documents
button which is disabled when there are no
documents attached.
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The document display window automatically opens
the document in the pre-specified viewer.
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• Approvals

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When done with the requisition click the
Approve button to send it into approvals.
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The user gets a last chance to change things
before the requisition is passed into approvals.
After finishing, the requisition will not be
available in this window.
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The approval chain is automatically built from
the data entered. A message is sent to the first
person in the chain to let them know something is
awaiting their review.
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The requisition is now available to the first
approver. The requester can monitor through
status browse or the reports menu.
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When an approver enters the system, they click on
the approval tab to get a list of the
requisitions awaiting their approval. They may be
approved or rejected from here or...
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they can review the requisition from a more
detailed window which allows the approver to
review the entire requisition including
documents.
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Approvers may enter new comments or modify
previous comments they have made. The comments
are then ...
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pasted back into the approval comments field
along with the approvers name.
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Most approvers cannot modify the requisition with
the exception of approval comments. Higher level
approvers have access to some fields as we will
see later.
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All approvers can route requisitions to another
user who is not in the approval chain. This might
be done to get another opinion.
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Select the user to route to and click OK.
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A message is sent notifying the user there is
something to review and...
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when the requisition is passed to another it is
removed from the current approvers list.
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The user the requisition was routed to logs in
and clicks the approval button...
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when a requisition is routed to you the approve
and reject check boxes are not visible. Right
mouse click to get the detail...
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even though the approver gave no reasons to
review it, the reviewer should reply. Notice the
other comments cannot be changed.
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The reviewers comments are added after the prior
comments and their name is attached.
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When finished the reviewer can either route it to
someone else or return route it by clicking on
the return route button.
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Once passed back, the requisition will disappear
from the reviewers list and reappear in the
approvers list.
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The approver may then log on and approve the
requisition by clicking the approve button.
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The approver may also choose to reject the
requisition. This will send it back to the
requester who can change it and resubmit it if
desired.
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Approving will send a message to the next
approver notifying them to enter the system and
take action.
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Some approvers must enter the detail window to
add critical pieces of information.
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There is information to be entered in these
detail windows which only they can provide...
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or that they know to correct. For instance,
accounting may have closed the account or pricing
may be different than the requester believed.
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If an approver is required to verify certain
information and it doesnt get done, the system
can try to remind them.
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By notifying approvers of unfulfilled data when
it is relevant to them, the system guarantees
certain information is entered when needed.
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Once data is corrected and updated, the approver
can continue as normal.
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In addition to individuals as approvers, the
system can be set up to have a department or
logical user as an approver.
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In this case, property assets has been set up as
an approver. A security key gives a user the
ability to access approvals for this level.
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When the key is set, Property approval records
automatically appear in that users list of
pending approvals along with other items awaiting
their approval.
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The Property Management approval window allows
asset tags to be assigned to property
acquisitions before they come in...
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so that receiving can put tags on equipment as
they come in.
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When the last approver has signed off on the
requisition it is copied and passed to purchasing
workload lists.
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• Browsing The Status

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Requesters can also keep track of their
requisitions by accessing the status browse
feature.
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What is Status Browse?
The Status Browse list includes all requisitions
created by the current user or that they are the
requester for. Users with higher security can
view all requisitions in a dept. A requester can
quickly find their requisitions and see where
they are in the process, eliminating unnecessary
calls to purchasing.
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By right clicking on the requisition you can
clone it, reset a rejected requisition to edit
it, open add/update, browse detail, or get a
hardcopy report, and even...
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view the approval list and the current status of
approvers. This allows users to expedite their
requisitions by prodding approvers who may be
holding them up.
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Cloning allows the user to copy an existing
requisition as a template for creating a new one.
They are then taken automatically to Add/Update
to edit their new requisition.
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The browse detail allows the user to check
current items that may be changing during
approvals such as approval comments. Data may be
reviewed but not modified.
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Rejected requisitions may be reset from the
browse status window or the detail window.
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• Reporting

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Reports are available for tracking and reporting
on requisitions. Many reports may be selected
from the list that comes with the system and
others can be added.
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All reports are viewable online and printable.
Enter the requisition number to report and hit
the Enter key. Some reports are designed to
give detailed information...
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While others are designed to be lookups of
several requisitions at the same time.
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Some let you look up PO information in the
Purchasing files...
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others let you look up the original requisition
the PO was built from.
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Requisitions can be queried by date ranges...
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or by Status within a date range.
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• Maintenance Help

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The system also has online help.
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It is a standard Microsoft help file with jump
points and key words.
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As with any system there is also a method to do
certain kinds of maintenance. Individual users
can be authorized for certain maintenance tasks.
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Selecting an item such as personnel will open the
window for that maintenance.
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Some windows have additional pop-ups available by
right clicking. For example, a users security
access is configured through their personnel
entry.
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Other maintenance items include such things as
approval signature authorities, accounting, and
...
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adding and maintaining suppliers.
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Imports from other systems can be automated or
accessed online through maintenance. This is the
accounts download/import from a G/L system.
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• Purchasing

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The Purchasing Module is a separate program from
requisitions because it is generally only used in
Purchasing.
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When a requisition is approved, a copy is made in
the PO files. It can automatically be assigned to
a buyer or be placed as Unknown in a
supervisors list.
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The supervisor may then assign it to a buyer and
it will appear. In that buyers workload list...
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Once it appears in the buyers list, they may
work on it or pass it to another buyer. Right
clicking on the PO will open the PO Entry window.
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When the PO Entry window is first opened, an
update is automatically done to show the buyer
what errors may need to be corrected or required
data input.
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Purchasing data entry is performed much like
requisitions data entry. You have header
information...
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detail line information...
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comments from the requester and approvers...
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and additional text areas for both text that you
want to print on the PO, and things you dont.
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When Buyers are done they can transmit POs
electronically through B2B for those suppliers
that support cXML
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Or they can Interface them to another financial
system such as Lawson PO for matching.
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In addition, buyers may receive requisitions they
have to split. Click the split button and...
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the current PO is taken to the splitting window
where two new headers are created based on the
old one. They are given new (derivative)
requisition numbers...
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the buyer selects detail lines and drag drops
them on one of the headers.
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Drag the other line(s) to the other header, hit
the update button, and exit.
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The requisition has now been split into two, A
B. Likewise, they could be merged by...
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opening the PO to be merged into, click the merge
button...
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which opens the merge window. Again, we drag
drop the selected POs to merge on the header,
click update, and the lines from both are merged.
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The current header (A) now has both sets of
detail lines. It is important to note that the
original requisition is not being modified, just
the PO.
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PO numbers can be auto-generated and
automatically assigned by the system. If you have
a host system, we can also interface the PO to
that system real-time.
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Some additional features

• POs can be printed and transmitted (fax) to
  suppliers automatically.
• Users can be notified automatically by e-mail of
  the status of their requisitions.
• PO numbers can be manually assigned to POs and
  Requisitions and still auto-generated.
• Audit reports are available.

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Specifications

• Our applications are Microsoft Windows based.
• They utilize most relational databases and are
  currently deployed on Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft
  SQL Server, and SQLAnywhere.

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Additional Notes

• The Seacat Procurement System is capable of many
  enhancements and additional modules such as
  Receiving Module, Fax Module, Bid Module, etc.
• The Seacat Group also provides consulting
  services for implementation (recommended) and
  customization.

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Contact Us

• We can be contacted at [phone] or on the
  web at www.seacat.com
• E-mail is carl_at_seacat.com
• Please direct all technical questions to
  dave_at_seacat.com