EDI Purchase Order Number

EDI Purchase Order Number (Reference Number for Union Pacific)

EDI Purchase Order Number is the key reference number for Union Pacific. It ties together all EDI communications about a purchase, including payment. It is the Supply Department’s responsibility to furnish the supplier with a purchase order number for EDI all purchases. It is the Supplier’s responsibility to use that number in all EDI communications with Union Pacific.

Consequently, Union Pacific requests that the purchase order number be clearly shown on all:

• Invoices
• Order acknowledgments
• Shipping notices
• Delivery documents
• Packing lists
• Credit memos
• Correspondence
• Any other purchase order-related documents

The number on a Union Pacific purchase order has been designed specifically to provide information about the order. There are several different types of supply purchase orders, each with its own particular number configuration, depending on the item(s) being ordered.

Materials Purchase Orders

There are three types of purchase orders for materials, each with its own type of purchase order number:

1. Purchase Order Numbers for Stock Items
   • Example: Purchase order number OM123456ES.
   • OM (first two alpha characters) designates the “ship to” location. In this case OM=Omaha. Other “ship to” locations – PO=Pocatello, ID; NL=North Little Rock, Ark., etc.
   • ES (last two alpha characters) designates the buyer’s code for the authorized purchasing representative.
2. Purchase Order Numbers for Non-stock Items         
   • Example: Purchase order number 12345678ES.
   • ES (alpha characters at the end of the number) designates the buyer’s code for the authorized purchasing representative.
3. Purchase Order Numbers for SAP Engineering Items
   • Example: Purchase order number 4500001111
   • The POs beginning with numbers 45 are for the Union Pacific Engineering Department. Whether your company is sent Faxed POs or EDI POs, they are sent automatically at real time to your company.

Fuel Purchase Orders

EDI Purchase order numbers for fuel consist of eight characters, four numeric and four alphabetical.
Example: Purchase order number 1234-UPXC.

• 4-digit number before the hyphen is specific for this supplier and location.
• UP (first two alpha characters after the hyphen) designates the company the purchase order is tied to for accounting purposes (UP = Union Pacific Railroad).
• X (third alpha character) designates the type of fuel grade being ordered. (In the case of a purchase order for fuel transportation, T is used as the third character.)

• C (last alpha character) designates the type of purchase order.