i-Clarity Purchase Order Processing consists of 5 stages:

1. Creating an initial purchase order
2. Sending it to the supplier
3. Recording the goods and services that have been received
4. Reconciling the goods received with the supplier invoice
5. Exporting the confirmed invoice to an accounts package, e.g. Xero, for analysis and payment.

Purchase Orders are created in 5 different ways:

1. When you create a spectacle order by confirming a dispense
2. When you create an order from the CL Management form
3. From the Stock Form – e.g. for frame stock
4. From the Stock Form – automated ‘Impress’ ordering
5. From the Stock form – using automated reorder quantities

This article looks at method 2, creating a purchase order through the contact lens management module.

Creating a CL Order

Contact lens orders are created from the CL Management form. They can either be created for individual patients, or you can create a single order per supplier for all lenses that are due to be ordered at a selected date.

Before you can create a CL order the patient must have a CL prescription.

Pay As You Go/One Off CL Orders

If the patient is on ‘Pay as you go’, or just wants additional lenses to their normal DD/SO supply, then you create the order by clicking the ‘Supply+Order’ button. This creates an entry in the CL Management form which can then be ordered:

Please note the following:

1. The ‘Order Date’ is set to today’s date; the supply date AND the Expiry date are set to a date in the future, so a ‘one off’ order can always be ordered. It is the responsibility of the practice to check that the CL prescription has NOT expired before clicking the ‘Supply and Order’ button.
2. There is a column in the CL Order grid, ‘One Off’, which is automatically checked when you create an order using the ‘Supply+Order’ button. This means that once this batch of lenses have been ordered these lines will disappear.

Regular Supply

If you supply CLs on a regular basis then you need to enter the supply details from the CL Management form. You do this by clicking the ‘Add New Contact Lens’ button on the CL Form, which then displays this dialog:

Each of these fields is described below:

1. Prescription: This is the date and brand name of the lenses that you wish to order (note that a patient may have more than one current prescription, if this is the case make sure you select the correct one).
2. Eye: Most contact lens wearers wear the same brand in each eye, even if the powers are different, so this will normally be set to ‘Both’. However, if a patient wears different brands in each eye then you can select different brands for R and L.
3. Product: For a given brand, lenses may be supplied in different pack sizes, and the same pack sizes may be supplied at different prices (and VAT rates). Select the correct pack size and type – this will then put the details in the Description and VAT fields.
4. Quantity: The number of packs to be supplied.
5. To be supplied every: How frequently the lenses are to be ordered and supplied.
6. Supply Type: How the lenses are to be shipped to the patient.
7. To Be Ordered: For contact lenses this will usually be ticked.
8. Supplied Automatically: See section on CL Management for further details of this.
9. Paid For by DD or SO: If this is ticked then the system will calculate the monthly cost of this lens supply and use that figure on the SO/DD Mandate.
10. Automated Shipment: See section on CL Management for further details of this.
11. Next Order Date: By default, the next order date will automatically be set to the supply interval (3 months in the example above), less 4 days (to allow time for the CLs to be ordered and arrive from the supplier). You can amend the Next Order Date manually if you wish, e.g. you can bring it forward if a patient wishes to receive their lenses early because they are going on holiday.
12. Next Supply Date: This is the date that the patient is due to receive their next batch of lenses and by default is set to the supply interval. This can be modified manually if a patient wants to receive their lenses on a different date.
13. Expiry Date: This is the date that the selected prescription expires. Note: The system will not allow you to order lenses after the expiry date. The expiry date can only be reset by amending the patient’s CL prescription, then updating the Contact Lens details from the CL Management form.
14. Date Cancelled: If a product or service has been cancelled then it can no longer be ordered.

Ordering Contact Lenses

From the CL Management form, you can order lenses using various selection criteria:

1. For the current patient, by pressing the ‘Create Contact Lens Orders For This Patient’ button.
2. For all patients who have lenses that are not expired and are due to be ordered between the ‘From’ and ‘To’ dates. By default, these are set to 1/1/1900 and the current date respectively, so by default the system will create an order for all CLs due to be ordered up to the current date.
3. For all patients receiving lenses from a specific supplier, e.g. Coopervision, by selecting the appropriate supplier from the drop-down which appears when you tick the check box ‘For:’

Whichever option you choose, a Purchase Order will be created for lenses for one or more patients. A typical order looks like this:

You can now go online to the selected supplier and enter the details from this order. Note that when are entering the order details you should quote the order reference on the supplier’s website, this is highlighted in red above. You will need this order number when the lenses are received to compare what you originally ordered with what you have actually received.