A “Blanket Order” charge can be used to invoice an encumbered amount multiple times, paying off the charge over a period of time. Blanket orders are a type of Direct Charge and do not link to a bibliographic record.
- A PO can have multiple blanket charges. E.g. you could have a blanket order for “Adult Fiction 2016” and a second charge for “Adult Fiction 2016 Processing” to track/pay processing fees over time on a blanket charge.
- A PO can have a mix of lineitems, non-blanket charges, and blanket charges.
Creating a Blanket Order Charge on a Purchase Order:
- In a purchase order click New Charge at the bottom of the purchase order.
- In the Charge Type drop down, select Blanket Order
- Select the appropriate fund in the Fund drop down
- Enter a Title/Description (optional)
- Enter an Author (optional)
- Enter a Note (optional)
- Enter the Estimated Cost of the blanket order. This is the total amount you expect to pay. This amount will be paid down over time.
- Activate the PO.
- The estimated cost of the blanket order will be encumbered.
Processing Blanket Order Shipments:
- When a shipment comes in for a blanket order, pull up the PO and click the Create Invoice button in the PO.
- Fill out the invoice form as you normally would and fill out the Billed and Paid amounts, for the shipment, under the Blanket Order charge.
- Close the invoice.
Processing the Final Shipment for the Blanket Order:
When the final shipment arrives, staff select the Final invoice for Blanket Order option on the invoice screen to mark the PO as received and drop any remaining encumbrances to $0.
Alternatively, if the PO needs to be finalized without creating a final invoice, staff can use the Finalize Blanket Order option on the PO page to drop the remaining encumbrances and mark the PO as received.