Continuing on the last post, the invoices can emanate from various types of purchase orders:

Types of purchase orders / Regulatory Instructions

Purchase Order may also have multiple variations.

  • Standard One time PO on a single vendor
  • Standard One time PO on multiple vendors
  • Standard One time on many vendors, based on proximity to client location (for multiple locations)
  • PO’s Valid for a certain period.
  • Blanket PO’s on one vendor
  • Blanket PO’s on many vendors
  • Blanket PO’s with approved rates
  • AMC Contract
  • Service contracts
  • Facility Contracts
  • Reimbursement Instructions
  • Travel Expenses Instructions
  • Petty Cash Definitions
  • Freight Definitions
  • Standing instructions

Now you can also classify invoices & POs based on the input types:

  • Physical
  • Electronic
  • Combination

And then based on the modes of receipt:

  • Physical Invoices
  • Invoice Images (tiff, PDF, png, gif, jpg etc.)
  • Fax (direct or Image)
  • E-Fax
  • ASCII Feed (CSV, txt, fixed width, delimited)
  • HTML form
  • XML feed
  • EDI feed
  • Emails and email attachments

Though you do not need to learn all of this, but an awareness is always helpful. Some of these distinctions will help you define the to-be process for the AP function you are outsourcing. Your client may have one or more of these types available, or may have defined some other different types, fundamantally, they will be based on his business and the needs of the business.