Glossary

Users and user roles

• Users
  Users are all persons who can access a Viking account in possibly different roles. Users can take on the role of managers, approvers or customers. Users can also combine several of these roles, e.g. act as manager and customer at the same time. You will find an overview of all users assigned to a Viking account in the menu item "Users" under "My Account" on your Viking start page. We have also created a detailed description on how to create users in our tutorial section.
• Manager
  The manager manages your Viking accounts and thus plays an important role in organising your shopping experience. Managers can create users, manage them and assign the roles of other administrators, approvers and customers. Managers can set permissions for specific users, limiting their ability to shop. Managers can manage units (but not create new units) to replicate your company organisation as closely as desired on your Viking account. Administrators can assign cost centres to the units to best accommodate and manage budgets for specific parts of your organisation. Managers can also take on the roles of customers and/or approvers at the same time. They can be subject to possible restrictions in these roles, such as budgets or permissions. We have also created a detailed description on how to create users in our tutorial section.
• Customer
  A customer is a user who has the right to purchase from your Viking account. Beyond that, a customer has no other rights on your Viking account. Permissions can be assigned to customers to limit their purchases. Similarly, customers can be assigned to units to allocate their purchases to the part of their organisation to which the customer belongs. Customers usually form the largest user group within an organisation and thus within a Viking account. Managers and approvers often also take on the role of a customer, so these different roles can be combined. We have also created a detailed description on how to create users in our tutorial section.
• Approver
  You can have approvers review and approve orders placed by customers. Typically, approvers take on the role of a supervisor or central buyer within an organisation. Approvers are asked to review and release specific purchase orders when customers are outside the scope of their defined permissions or when defined budgets for specific cost centres are exceeded. An approver can manage the purchase orders waiting for their approval in the approver dashboard. Approvers usually also have the role of customer. We have also created a detailed description on how to create users in our tutorial section.

Units

• Units
  The Units function allows you to map your organisation's hierarchical structure to your Viking purchases. Your Viking account is usually created for the top level of your organisational structure. You can create units for other hierarchical levels that you want to include in your purchasing process, such as divisions, departments, branches or subsidiaries. Users can be assigned to these units in various roles. You can also assign cost centres to the units. Using the Units function allows you to clearly allocate purchases from different areas of your organisation and thus keep a good overview of the needs and procurement of different parts of the organisation. We have also created a detailed description on how to set up units in our tutorial section.

Budgets

• Budgets
  Budgets represent the funds that should be available to a particular cost centre over a certain period of time for purchases from Viking. Budgeting is an effective method of controlling your expenditure within your Viking account. Budgets can only be assigned to cost centres. If a particular cost centre has purchase orders that exceed the value of the budget, they should be submitted to an approver for review. This person can reject the orders in question or release them despite the budget being exceeded. Moreover, budgets must always be set for a defined period of time. We have also created a detailed description on how to set up budgets in our tutorial section.

Permissions

• Permissions
  All users who access a Viking account to place orders (i.e. act as customers) can be given differentiated permissions that limit or extend their ability to buy from Viking. Permissions can be used, for example, to control how much a customer may purchase via the Viking account within a certain period of time or whether a certain user should be given the possibility to exceed set budgets if necessary. Permissions can be used to fine tune control of purchases within units and cost centres for which overall budgets can be set. Permissions can serve to limit individual users in their purchasing possibilities or to give them greater flexibility. We have also created a detailed description on how to set up permissions in our tutorial section.

Cost centres

• Cost centres
  By setting up cost centres within your Viking account, you can allocate the cost of your purchases from Viking in detail to where the cost is incurred. Each unit in your organisation can be assigned one or more cost centres. In your Viking account, budgets are assigned to cost centres (not units). So if you want to give a cost centre only a limited financial scope to purchase from Viking, please assign a budget to that cost centre. Orders that exceed the budget allocated to a particular cost centre must be approved by an approver in order to be fulfilled. Furthermore, it is possible to grant certain purchasers the possibility to exceed the budget assigned to a cost centre for their orders permanently or for a limited period of time by means of a corresponding permission. We have also created a detailed description on how to set up cost centres in our tutorial section.