Purchase order: what it is and why you need it
Any supply process begins not with posting, but with planning—it is at this stage that the purchase order is created. It helps organize purchases and keep them under control. This reduces the risk of errors during posting, makes the supply process transparent, and simplifies inventory planning.
Check out the video below on how to use Purchase order:
A purchase order is the preliminary stage before posting. This feature allows you to:
record planned deliveries and track their execution;
plan inventory replenishment to the required stock level;
see which products have already been ordered and from which supplier;
automatically transfer data about products and batches (quantities, prices, etc.) to the posting document;
store the history of orders and communications with suppliers.
The purchase order function is most useful for companies with a large range of products, regular deliveries, and high accounting requirements. Planning and transparency of settlements with suppliers will also be important.
This primarily applies to retail and wholesale trade, distribution, service companies, manufacturing, construction, and logistics, where it is necessary to plan inventories and avoid supply disruptions.
This feature will also be useful in medical and veterinary centers, beauty salons, and laboratories, where it is important to control inventory and ensure a wide range of products are available on time.
Examples of using purchase order
An electrical store monitors inventory
The manager sees that there is critically low cable stock (150 m). On the inventory page, he clicks “+ Purchase order”, and the system automatically pulls up the last supplier and the recommended quantity. The manager then creates a document, exports it to PDF, and sends it to the supplier.
Pharmacy automatically replenishes inventory
At the end of each day, the system identifies medications with critically low inventory levels. The purchaser reviews the offers, creates an order for approval, and after confirmation, sends it to the supplier.
The engineer quickly adjusts order fulfillment
During repairs, the engineer sees that the supplier has moved the delivery date by 3 days. He postpones the fulfillment of this order and immediately takes on another task, maintaining the rhythm of work.
The buyer monitors deliveries and plans incoming shipments
The buyer sees in the orders not only a list of products but also the actual status of the delivery: what is already in inventory and what is still expected. Even with partial shipments, the system shows progress for each item. This allows you to:
coordinate the delivery schedule with the supplier in a timely manner;
avoid reordering products if they are already in transit.
The accountant monitors payments and avoids duplication
Payments may already be recorded in the orders, so the system prevents duplicates during posting. This allows the accountant to pay in stages for each batch and view a transparent history: one order — several deliveries — several payments, without errors or unnecessary expenses.
How to create a purchase order
Please note: to create a purchase order, you must have the “Can create purchase orders” permission enabled.
1. On the Inventory > Purchase orders page, select the location you need and click “+ Purchase Order”.
2. On the General tab, fill in the required fields:
Date and time of document creation — leave the current value or select the desired date in the past.
Select or create a supplier. This field is required.
Please note: to view and specify suppliers, you must have the “Can view the suppliers” permission enabled.
Specify the invoice number and date.
Enter the expected delivery date for the products in these purchase orders.
Specify the warehouse to which the delivery is expected. Only warehouses with posting permission enabled are displayed for the selected location.
3. Go to the Products tab:
Add existing products or create new ones.
Specify the quantity and price for the added products. By default, the price is 0. To display the total cost of the purchase order to the supplier in the system and make it possible to pay based on it, enter the current data for each item.
4. Click Create to save the order and return to the list of purchase orders, or Create and open to continue working with it immediately.
The serial number of the created document is generated based on the document number template for this location. Currently, all documents created here have the status “Draft”. In the future, you will be able to configure the statuses of supplier purchase orders in the same way as the statuses of other documents.
The order total — that is, the total cost of the ordered products—is displayed at the bottom right of the document.
The product table on the “Products” tab contains the product name, price, total, and ordered quantity, along with the quantity that has already been posted.
Below the table, the following is displayed:
Ordered quantity
Posted quantity
Total purchase order amount (including taxes)
If different units of measure are used in the document, they are shown in separate rows so that it is clear how much of each item has been posted.
All purchase orders are displayed in the purchase orders table.
In addition, they can be viewed:
in the product profile on the Purchase Orders tab — all documents in which this product is added are displayed here;
in the product editing dialog in the order/estimate — all purchase orders in which this product is included are displayed here (except for those with the statuses “Closed” and “Closed unsuccessfully”).
This helps you easily check how many units of the product have been ordered and what stage the delivery is at.
Creating a purchase order for from the "Client backorders" list/”Products to reorder" list
You can also create a new purchase order from the “Client backorders” and “Products to reorder” pages.
To do this, select the desired products and click Actions > Create purchase order to supplier at the bottom of the table. The selected products will be automatically added to the document. Fill in the rest of the fields and save the purchase order.
purchase order, PO management, supply chain automation, inventory control, procurement planning, stock replenishment, inventory accounting, warehouse logistics, how to order from supplier, stockout prevention, procurement optimization, automated purchasing, delivery tracking, vendor management, purchase planning, inventory management software, goods receiving, stock management, PO templates, shipment status