AWS Marketplace buyers can enter a purchase-order number while subscribing to a software-as-a-service contract, AWS explained on November 1, 2021. The change connects a specific software purchase to the order number finance staff need on its invoice. It moves that entry into the buying process; the company’s own purchasing approval still comes first in AWS’s illustrated workflow. [S1]
AWS’s earlier billing guide shows the work involved in assigning a special order to a large Marketplace software purchase. It describes suspending other purchase orders that might match the invoice, adding or updating the intended one-time order, making the purchase, then reactivating the suspended orders. That guide was published in July 2020 and updated in April 2021. The November explanation instead lets a SaaS contract buyer enter the number during the transaction. The buyer can identify the intended order at checkout instead of relying on that billing-console workaround. [S1][S3]
AWS’s November walkthrough assumes the organization has already enabled purchase-order functionality through the AWS Management Console. Its sample buyer first negotiates a private offer with help from procurement, raises a requisition in the company’s purchasing system and obtains approval under its spending policy. Only after a purchase order is issued does the buyer enter that number when subscribing. This is an illustrative process, not a report of a customer’s results. [S1]
The buyer reviews the contract details and purchase-order number before confirming the subscription. The number then travels to AWS Billing, where procurement staff can find it in Purchase Order Management. The transaction details identify the subscription date, product, seller and subscribed AWS account. Procurement staff can use those details when accounts payable asks which purchase an invoice covers. [S1]
AWS documents the change in recordkeeping, but neither explanation measures time saved, faster payment or fewer accounting errors. In the November workflow, the purchase-order number appears on the specific transaction’s invoice, and the associated invoices are visible from the purchase-order view. Accounts payable still matches the quantities and prices on the approved order against the invoice before authorizing payment. [S1][S3]
Source documents
- Using Purchase Order Management for AWS Marketplace SaaS contracts to simplify software procurementhttps://aws.amazon.com/blogs/awsmarketplace/using-purchase-order-management-for-aws-marketplace-saas-contracts-to-simplify-software-procurement/
- Getting Started with AWS Purchase Order Managementhttps://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws-cloud-financial-management/preview-aws-purchase-order-management/