Thanks Chris.  I'll start off by stating the basics of what I know of the process and the problems that I know that exist.  None of these details have yet been confirmed with our purchasing staff.  I will do that when I have a chance.  This is just a basic overview of the process.  The problem that we need to solve are the discrepancies that come in when we are invoiced for the material we puchase and the delays that exist when a vendor tells us they never received our purchase order.  Both of which we are attempting to resolve though confirming our PO's which has had some success but has not completely solved the problem. 

As far as the process itself goes here is a rough overview:

First one of our purchasing clerks will get price quotes from a number of different vendors.  This is a process in and of itself that can be detailed out at another time.  Once we have our pricing information from all the different vendors a purchasing manager will then decide which vendor to purchase from based on the price, availability and freight that was quoted to us.  The purchase order is then entered into our accounting software by the purchasing clerk and the system will generate a puchase order number.  This PO is printed out and then is either faxed or called into the vendor by the purchasing clerk.  Regardless of whether it is faxed or called in we always ask that the vendor confirm the reciept and pricing on the PO.  The purchasing clerk then logs the PO into their purchase order log book.  At the end of the day that log is given to one of our two administrative assistants who will go through the list of POs and call each vendor the following day to confirm that the PO was received.  If the PO was not recieved by the vendor we will resend it, if the PO was recieved by the vendor the administrative assistant will make a note of this in the system.  Very often a vendor will then either fax over an acknowledgement of the PO or will give us a verbal acknowledgement.  During this time the purchasing clerk will confirm the pricing, delivery and freight on the order to make sure it matches what we were originally quoted.  If everything matches a note is made in the system.  If there is a discrepancy in the information the purchasing clerk will address it with the vendor at this time. 

That is a basic overview of the process.  Additionally, its important that I mention that it is also policy here that any purchase order exceeding $500 must be confirmed in writing by the vendor.  We follow this process as closely as possible and yet we still have a number of pricing, quantity and freight errors when the shipments and invoices actually come in from the vendors.  This is what we are looking to cut down on. 

I must also say that all of this process information is strictly an overview which all comes right off the top of my head.  I may have missed a step or two.  I will get a more detailed overview of the process as I interview those involved.  Please let me know what you think.  Thanks again!