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Purchase orders

Where to find​

The main forms for working with purchase orders are usually located at “Purchase” → “Operations” → “Purchase orders”.

Purpose​

A purchase order records an agreement with a vendor and is used for:

  • planning purchases and delivery lead times;
  • agreeing price and quantity;
  • controlling fulfillment (how much has already been received/registered/paid — depending on enabled flows);
  • creating related documents (bills, receipts, etc. — if the corresponding modules are enabled).

Creating and filling in​

When creating a purchase order, you typically fill in:

  • vendor;
  • company;
  • location (if Inventory is used);
  • currency (if multi-currency is used);
  • payment terms (if used);
  • scheduled date (expected delivery);
  • note and vendor references (for example, vendor link/reference number).

Order lines​

In lines, you specify:

  • item;
  • quantity and unit of measure;
  • price;
  • amount (usually calculated automatically);
  • taxes (if used).

Statuses and actions​

Purchase orders typically use the following lifecycle:

  1. Draft — the order can be edited freely.
  2. Sent — the order has been sent to the vendor (if sending is used).
  3. Confirmed — the order is confirmed for fulfillment.
  4. Cancelled — the order is excluded from further processing.

Status behavior may differ depending on settings. Usually, after confirmation there are more restrictions on changes.

Sending a purchase order to a vendor​

If sending is configured in your system, the purchase order card provides the “Send” action:

  • a print form is generated using the selected template;
  • an email is sent to the vendor;
  • the purchase order is switched to “Sent”.

Confirming a purchase order​

The “Confirm” action records that the purchase order is ready for further operations.

After confirmation, related documents (for example, a receipt or a bill) and line-level fulfillment control can become available.

Canceling a purchase order​

The “Cancel” action marks the purchase order as cancelled.

Usually, cancelled purchase orders are excluded from further automatic operations and process selections.

The set of related documents depends on enabled modules.

Receipts (if Inventory is used)​

For a confirmed purchase order, the system may:

  • show how much has already been received per line;
  • maintain a list of related receipts in the purchase order card;
  • create a “draft” / ready-to-work receipt so that the warehouse can start receiving goods.

For details, see: Receipts for purchase orders.

Bills and payment (if “Invoicing” is used)​

The purchase order card may show a list of related bills.

A bill can be created from a purchase order (if this is enabled in your configuration). For details, see: Bills for purchase orders.

The chain is usually as follows:

  1. Bill — records the amount payable to the vendor.
  2. Outgoing payment — records payment and reduces debt (after allocation).

See also: Bills, Outgoing payments, Payment allocation.

Additional capabilities​

Attachments​

You can attach files to a purchase order (for example, bills of materials, correspondence, quotations) and view them in the document card.

Copying a purchase order​

To speed up work, you can create a new purchase order by copying an existing one and then adjusting the header fields and lines.