A BANF, the abbreviation for "purchase requisition", is a request sent to Purchasing from a department within a company. This request contains a list of materials or services that are required in a certain quantity at a certain time.
The purchase requisition is part of a procurement process in the company that is carried out according to defined rules.
As part of the requirements determination process, employees communicate a requirements report to the purchasing department. They enter the requirement into the system. A workflow is set in motion in which the order is processed - from approval to supplier selection. This is different in every company. For example, there are certain amount limits that require a release or approval procedure.
The following factors, among others, are checked in the sourcing step:
- If a fixed deadline exists
- If there is a quota
If so, the system determines the supplier and their source of supply
If not, the system checks the "order book" to see whether suppliers exist
- Are scheduling agreements and (framework) contracts available and if so, are they pre-filtered by the system?
- Checking the delivery region
- Is the regular supplier available for the specific product
The check by the system achieves a pre-selection according to defined criteria and rules of the company against the background of the order requirements and then proposes the ideal supplier or a selection of several suppliers. This type of "check" runs in the background. If several suppliers are selected, it may mean that the final selection has to be made manually by the purchasing employee if all suppliers are "equal" and all fulfill the criteria equally. It may also be necessary to find a new supplier.
The contents of a BANF depend on the material or services required, the desired quantities and the delivery dates. The BANF form can therefore contain the following fields:
- Customer (department, employee)
- Cost center
- Project number
- Article name and number
- Quantity
- Price
- Supplier
- Delivery date
Basically, you have the option of creating the BANF manually or "directly" and determining what is ordered in what quantity and on what date. The purchase is made directly from the manufacturer.
In the case of an indirect BANF, which is the subject of this article, no manual entries are necessary. There is an automatic procurement process that also controls the internal document flow of BANFs with an electronic approval procedure. The approval process can be customized in your company through workflows, e.g. through a supplier evaluation. The entire procurement process can be virtually automated, efficient and, above all, transparent. All technical and commercial processes can be handled with Microsoft Dynamics NAV or Dynamics 365 Business Central.
With our function @NAV-eBANFwhich extends the NAV/Business Central standard, you gain the advantage of accelerating the procurement process through verified data entry. Approved BANFs can be easily and conveniently processed by the purchasing department by transferring them to a purchase order after approval. Authorized persons can approve in sequence or in parallel. This depends on the approval rules and levels you have defined in the company. This makes the approval process more transparent and ensures that workflows are completed on time.
Are you already using Dynamics 365 Business Central or Microsoft Dynamics NAV in your company?
Would you like to find out more about the automated procurement process or optimize it in your company?
Get in touch with us!
Our consultants will be happy to support you or answer any initial questions you may have.
Phone: +49 (89) 21 111 848
E-Mail: vertrieb@br-ag.com
