Finding Open Purchase Order Encumbrances

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Open purchase order encumbrances can be found using either the Oracle financials system or using the

financial data warehouse (DecisionCast). Instructions for both systems are outlined below.

Using Oracle

Open encumbrances can be located in Oracle using the POREQ Buyer and Approver responsibility.

1. Log in to Oracle and navigate to Purchase Order > Purchase Order Summary to launch the Find

Purchase Orders screen.

2. In the gray tabbed region, select the Accounting tab.

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a. On this tab, select Yes in the drop-down menu for the Active Encumbrances field.

i. Note: Only entering ‘Yes’ here would bring back every purchase order in the

system with an active encumbrance. It is recommended to add additional

information/search parameters.

ii. Note: When the Active Encumbrances field is ‘Yes’, the Results will

automatically default to Distributions.

3. Enter any additional information/search parameters that will help narrow down your search

results in the main Find screen and/or in the tabbed regions

i. In the example below, the search has been narrowed to a single supplier (Tri-

State Office Furniture).

ii. Other possible search parameters may include Buyer, Period, Project and Task,

etc.

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4. Click Find.

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5. The list of PO distributions with active encumbrances that met your search criteria will display.

Note: The Oracle search results do not immediately provide information such as the Buyer

Name, Period, etc. Open the PO in Oracle to view this information in the PO header.

6. You can either open a specific PO from the list or add more information to this table.

a. To open a specific PO from the list, click on the desired PO number and click Open.

b. To add more information to this table, click into any line and select Folder > Show Field

i. Select the desired field and click OK.

ii. Note: Certain fields can be added to this screen for quicker reference. For

example, adding Closure Status will prevent having to look up each PO

individually to see its status.

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iii. The column will now be added to your results.

c. To export results to Excel, click into any of the lines of the results and select File >

Export.

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i. If a warning stating that more than 100 rows were found appears, select

“Continue to End” to export the complete list.

ii. A message asking if you want to open or save the file will likely appear. This

message will be shown on the second internet browser screen of Oracle.

iii. Click Open. You will then see the information from Oracle in an Excel format.

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7. Once a PO with an encumbrance has been located in Oracle, review the PO statistics folder to

determine the necessary action to clear the encumbrance.

a. To view the PO statistics, go the Find Purchase Order screen and enter the PO number in

the Number field.

b. In the results box, select the radio button next to Shipments.

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c. On the Purchase Order Shipments screen, click the folder icon in the top left corner. In

the Open Folder screen, select PO Statistics.

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d. This will take you to the PO Statistics, where you can view information such as the

amount of each PO line, Quantity Received and Quantity Billed.

For more detailed information on reviewing PO statistics and clearing encumbrances, please reference

the PO Encumbrance Clearing online tutorial, found on the Finance Division Training E-Learning Courses

& Online Tutorials page, https://www.cmu.edu/finance/training/e-learning/index.html.

Finding Open Purchase Order Encumbrances

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Using the Financial Data Warehouse (DecisionCast)

Open encumbrances can be located using either the PO Open Line Encumbrances or PO Open Line

Encumbrances by Org query in the financial data warehouse (DecisionCast). It is important to note,

these queries are only looking for encumbrances on purchase orders that are currently open in Oracle.

They will not return information on purchase orders that are in any other status, including closed. To

locate encumbrances on purchase orders of any status, please refer to the instructions in the “Using

Oracle” section of this document.

1. Log in to DecisionCast and navigate to the Adhoc Library > Public > College & Department >

Purchasing > PO Encumbrance folder.

2. Copy the desired query to your Private folder. This can be done using the File menu, by right-

clicking or by using keyboard shortcut CTRL+C to copy and CTRL+V to paste.

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3. From your private folder, select File > Edit to edit the query with your desired filter information.

a. Available search filters include buyer name, vendor name, organization, etc.

4. Once you have entered your filter information, run the query using the icon. The query

results will provide you with information such and the Buyer, PO number, the amount of the

encumbrance on each line of the PO, etc.

5. To save the results, export the query results to Excel using the icon.

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For more detailed instructions on editing and running queries in DecisionCast, please reference the

Financials Data Warehouse Reference Manual, found on the Business Systems and Services

Documentation – Reference Materials page.

6. Once a PO with an encumbrance has been located in DecisionCast, review the PO statistics

folder in Oracle’s purchasing module to determine the necessary action to clear the

encumbrance.

For more detailed information on reviewing PO statistics and clearing encumbrances in Oracle, please

reference the PO Encumbrance Clearing online tutorial, found on the Finance Division Training E-

Learning Courses & Online Tutorials page, https://www.cmu.edu/finance/training/e-

learning/index.html.