Print – Purchase Order

Print – Purchase Order is a TIPP PRO pop-up that opens from the Print button on the purchase order screen. The title shows the order number, for example “Print – Purchase Order 50000021”. It processes and prints one purchase order of an Exact Globe division, either as a plain process step, as an email with a PDF, or as a print on the server’s default printer. Buyers use it after authorizing an order, to produce the order document for the supplier.

Before you start

• A TIPP PRO licence is required. Without it the pop-up shows a TIPP PRO licence warning and every field is disabled except Cancel.
• The purchase order must be authorized. An order that is not authorized cannot be printed. Authorize it first on the purchase order screen.
• The purchase order must not be completed. A completed order is read-only and Start is disabled.
• The TIPP Transactions Windows service must be running on the web server, and its Service Base URL must be correct on the TIPP Engine Settings page [Modules, TIPP, Setup, Connections, Engine Settings]. That page has a Check Running Service button to test the connection.
• The pop-up needs the division and the order number from the purchase order screen. Open it from the Print button there, not directly.
• For the output “Print to the server’s default printer”, the default printer of the service account must be a silent or auto-save printer.

How to process a purchase order without printing

1. Open the purchase order and click Print. The pop-up opens.
2. Check that Layout shows the layout you want.
3. Leave Output on “Process only (no print)”. This is the default.
4. Click Start. A wait screen with “One moment please…” appears, and a line of live progress shows what the service is doing.
5. When it succeeds, the message “Purchase order processed.” is shown, followed by the reference, and the pop-up closes by itself after a moment. Nothing else on the page reacts during that moment, so no second print can be started.

How to email a purchase order to the supplier

1. Open the pop-up from the purchase order and choose Output “Email the purchase order (PDF)”.
2. Check E-mail. It is prefilled with the supplier’s email address from Exact Globe when one exists. Change it if needed. It cannot be empty.
3. Change Subject if you want. It is prefilled with “Purchase order” and the order number.
4. Optionally fill Long description.
5. Click Start. On success the message “Purchase order emailed.” is shown, followed by the reference, and the pop-up closes.

When you later receive the order on the purchase order receipt page, that page accepts any output as having printed or processed the order: process only, printer or e-mail. If it still says “This purchase order has not been printed/processed yet”, run Print on the order first.

How to print to the server’s default printer

1. Choose Output “Print to the server’s default printer”.
2. Tick the box “I confirm the service account’s default printer is a silent / auto-save printer.” Without it, printing is refused.
3. Click Start. On success the message “Print request submitted.” is shown, followed by the reference, and the pop-up closes.

How to change what appears on the document

1. Choose Output “Email the purchase order (PDF)” or “Print to the server’s default printer”. The Print formatting section only appears for these two outputs.
2. Tick or clear Free text lines, Compress and Include XML.
3. Click “More print options” to open Collective layout, Cover letter and Free text line 1 to 6, and fill what you need.
4. Click Start.

How to try again after an unclear answer

1. Read the red message. A Try again button next to it means that repeating is safe.
2. If the message says “Could not confirm whether this was saved” or “Still being processed”, look at the order in Exact Globe first to see whether it was already processed, emailed or printed.
3. Click Try again. Start is sent again with the same data and the same click key. An order that already went through returns its first answer and is not processed, emailed or printed a second time.

Screen guide

Purchase order section

• Order: the purchase order number. Read-only.
• Creditor: the supplier code followed by the supplier name. Read-only.

Options section

• Layout: the purchase order form layout to use. The list shows the purchase order form layouts of Exact Globe as code and description. The first one is preselected. If none is found, the list offers XXEXACT. A layout must be chosen.

Output section

• Output: “Process only (no print)” (default), “Email the purchase order (PDF)”, or “Print to the server’s default printer”.
• E-mail: shown for email output. The supplier’s address by default. Required for email.
• Subject: shown for email output. Default “Purchase order” plus the order number.
• Long description: shown for email output. Optional text.
• Confirmation box for the silent printer: shown for printer output. Must be ticked.

Print formatting section (email and printer output only)

• Free text lines: ticked by default. Controls whether free text lines of the order are printed.
• Compress: cleared by default. Compresses the order lines.
• Include XML: cleared by default. Includes an XML file.
• Collective layout, Cover letter, Free text line 1 to 6: optional text, only sent when filled.

Buttons

• Start: runs the process with the chosen options. Disabled when the order is completed, not authorized, or not found. Without a TIPP PRO licence everything is disabled.
• Cancel: closes the pop-up without doing anything. It always works.
• Try again: appears next to a message when repeating is safe.
• The “?” next to the title explains what is only possible in Exact Globe: choosing a printer, and printing to a printer that opens a dialog, such as Print to PDF.

What you see while Print – Purchase Order runs, and how answers read

On Print – Purchase Order, the click on Start (process, email or print) is sent to the TIPP Transactions service, and the page tells you clearly what happened.

• Live progress: while it runs, a small box in the middle of the page shows one line that refreshes every second. It reads “Waiting: you are number N in line for Globe+” (or “Waiting in line for Globe+” when no position is known), then “Connecting to Globe+”, then “Saving in Globe+” (or “Saving in Synergy” or “Saving through Exact’s Entity Service” when the change goes through those), and finally “Checking that Globe+ stored it”. When one click needs several calls, the line starts with “Step 2: ” and so on. The box disappears when the answer arrives.
• Locked page: while it runs, buttons, links and tick boxes on the page do not react, except Close. A second click on the same action is ignored, so nothing is started twice.
• Warning icon: when Globe+ is open on the server under the service account, a small warning icon appears behind the page title. Hold the mouse over it to read the warning. The action still goes ahead, but saving can fail while Globe+ is open there.
• Success: one of “Purchase order processed.”, “Purchase order emailed.” or “Print request submitted.” followed by the reference. The pop-up then closes by itself.
• Failed: “Failed: ” followed by the reason and a reference, for example “Failed: reason (ref: 1a2b…)”. Quote the reference when you contact support.
• Busy: “Busy: another change is being saved in Globe+ right now, so this one was not sent. Nothing was saved. Try again in a moment.” followed by the reference. The words “another change is being saved in Globe+” can also read “Synergy is handling other changes” or “Exact’s Entity Service is handling other changes”.
• Not saved: a message starting “Not saved:”. It means the request did not go through. For example “Not saved: the service did not answer within 5 minutes, and the service has no record of this request, so it never reached Globe+. Try again.”
• Partly saved: a message starting “Partly saved:”. Part of the request went through and part did not. Read the message and check the result in Exact Globe.
• Still being processed: a message starting “Still being processed:”. Globe+ has not finished yet. Wait a moment, then use Try again to get the result. It is not done twice.
• Unclear: “Could not confirm whether this was saved:” followed by what happened, for example that the service did not answer within 5 minutes or that the connection to the service was lost, and “Check it in Globe+ before you go on.” Look in Exact Globe first.
• Lost answer: “The answer from the server was lost (…). It may have been saved. Try again: what already went through is not done twice.”
• Service not reachable: “Could not reach the TIPP Transactions service at” followed by the address, telling you to check that the ‘TIPP Transactions’ Windows service is running on the web server and that the Service Base URL on the TIPP Engine Settings page [Modules, TIPP, Setup, Connections, Engine Settings] is correct, and to use the Check Running Service button there. It ends with “Nothing was posted; try again once the test succeeds.”
• Not accepted: “TIPP Transactions request failed (HTTP 401).” (or 403) followed by “The TIPP Transactions service did not accept the request from Synergy (not authorised), so nothing was posted.” Nothing has to be entered in Synergy. Ask your TIPP administrator or TICE-IT (tipp@tice-it.com) to repair the TIPP Transactions installation.
• Try again: a Try again button appears next to the message only for Busy, Not saved, Still being processed, Unclear and Lost answers, the cases where repeating is safe. Try again sends Start again with the same click key and data, so an order that already went through is not processed, emailed or printed twice. It never appears for Failed or Partly saved answers.

If the service gave no clear answer (no answer within 5 minutes, a dropped connection, a reply that is not the service’s own, or an HTTP 5xx error), TIPP asks the service’s request log what happened. The log can show that the request went through (the page then shows its normal success message), give the service’s own reason, show that it is still being processed, or show that it never arrived. An HTTP error is never reported as success. If the log cannot be asked, the answer starts with “Could not confirm whether this was saved” and tells you to check Globe+.

Messages and what to do

• “This purchase order is completed and is read-only. Printing is no longer possible.” The order is completed. Nothing can be printed.
• “This purchase order has not been authorized yet, so it cannot be printed. Authorize the order first on the purchase order page, then print.” Authorize the order, then open Print again.
• “Purchase order … not found.” The order number does not exist as a purchase order in this division.
• “Missing Division or Order parameter.” The pop-up was opened without an order. Open it from the Print button on the purchase order screen.
• “Failed: No TIPP PRO licence available; please reach out to TICE-IT. TIPP Transactions requires a TIPP PRO licence to process transactions (the current licence is ‘…’).” Install a TIPP PRO licence on the License page [Modules, TIPP, Setup, General, License].
• “Could not connect to the Exact Globe division. Check that the division is set up correctly and that the database server is reachable, then try again.” Ask an administrator to check the division and the database server.
• “Please choose a layout.” Select a Layout.
• “Email output requires an email address.” Fill E-mail.
• “Printing needs a silent / auto-save printer set as the service account’s default printer. Tick the confirmation box, or choose “Process only (no print)”.” Tick the confirmation box or change Output.
• “Could not reach the TIPP Transactions service at …” Check that the TIPP Transactions Windows service is running and that the Service Base URL on the TIPP Engine Settings page is correct. Use Check Running Service there. Nothing was posted. Use Try again once the test succeeds.
• “Not saved:”, “Partly saved:”, “Still being processed:”, “Could not confirm whether this was saved”, “Busy:” and “The answer from the server was lost”: see the section on how answers read. Check the order in Exact Globe before you repeat anything unclear.
• “The print request could not be processed because of a server error: … Nothing was printed or invoiced. Try again; if it keeps happening, contact your administrator.”
• A message about an Exact Globe+ add-on initialisation problem: in Exact Globe+, open System, General, Settings, Add-ons, click Initialise under Actions, click Start in the pop-up, then retry.
• A message about the back-office returning an HTML page: your session probably expired. Refresh, sign in again if asked, and retry.

What you cannot do here

• You cannot choose a printer. The default printer of the service account is always used.
• You cannot print to a printer that opens a dialog, such as Print to PDF. Printing is silent only.
• You cannot print an order that is not authorized or is completed.
• You cannot edit the order here. Do that on the purchase order screen.
• Choosing a printer or other printer dialogs is only possible in Exact Globe.

Related pages

• Purchase order screen: opens this pop-up from its Print button, and is where you authorize the order and use Receive.
• Purchase order receipt page: where you receive the goods after the order was printed or processed. Any output counts.
• Purchase Orders list: lists all orders with status Open, Authorized, Printed and Completed.
• TIPP Engine Settings [Modules, TIPP, Setup, Connections, Engine Settings]: the service connection used for printing.

Common questions

What is this pop-up for?

It processes and prints one authorized purchase order, by marking it processed, emailing a PDF, or printing on the server printer.

Why is the Start button greyed out?

The order is completed, not authorized or not found, or there is no TIPP PRO licence. The message at the top tells which.

How do I mark an order as printed or processed?

Run Print with Output “Process only (no print)” and click Start.

Do I have to run Process only after emailing the order?

Not according to the purchase order receipt page: it accepts any output, process only, printer or e-mail, as having printed or processed the order. If the receipt page still says the order has not been printed or processed yet, run Print on the order first.

Can I choose which printer is used?

No. The default printer of the service account is used, and it must be silent.

Can I save to PDF?

Use “Email the purchase order (PDF)”. Printing to a printer that opens a dialog, such as Print to PDF, is not possible.

Which email address is used?

The supplier’s address from Exact Globe is prefilled in E-mail. You can change it.

Why do I not see Print formatting?

It only appears when Output is email or printer.

Printing timed out. Can I just try again?

Check the order in Exact Globe first. The service may still have processed it. If the page offers Try again, it is safe: an order that already went through is not processed or printed a second time.

What does “Try again” do and is it safe?

It repeats the same click with the same click key and data. A request that already went through returns its first answer instead of running twice. The button only appears for Busy, Not saved, Still being processed, unclear and lost answers.

What is the reference at the end of a message?

It is the request ID of the call to the TIPP Transactions service, shown as “(ref: …)”. Give it to support so they can find the call in the service’s request log.

Why do the buttons not react for a moment?

While the print runs, and for a moment after it succeeds while the pop-up closes, the page locks its buttons and links except Close, so nothing can be started twice.