Documentation/ Purchase orders and projects/ Purchase orders
Purchase orders: what they are for
A purchase order is what you ask a supplier for, before anything arrives. You prepare it in the application, send it by email or by WhatsApp, and it stays on record so that what was ordered can later be compared with what came.
Management › Purchase Orders
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Why they are useful
Three reasons, in order of how much they matter in practice:
- Putting on record what was ordered. When the delivery note does not match what was asked for, you need a document of your own saying what was actually ordered.
- Saving the work of writing it. The lines are picked from what you have bought from that supplier before: no descriptions and no codes to type.
- Sending it without leaving the application, by email or by WhatsApp, using the contact details already on the supplier's record.
An order generates no accounting document and reserves nothing. It is a document for communicating: what has an effect is the delivery note or the invoice that follows.
An order's life cycle
- It is created by choosing a supplier and lines. It sits as a draft.
- It is sent to the supplier. It becomes sent.
- The goods arrive and it is marked as received, in whole or in part.
- It is closed once nothing is outstanding.
An order can be cancelled at any point before it is closed.
The list
| Column | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Number | The order's reference. |
| Status | Draft, sent, partly received, received, closed or cancelled. |
| Supplier | Who it is addressed to. |
| Created | When it was prepared. |
| Sent | When it went out to the supplier. Empty while it is a draft. |
| Created by | Which user made it. |
| Lines | How many products it carries. |
The sent date column is the most useful one for chasing: an order sent three weeks ago and still not received is a phone call waiting to be made.
Filtering
Two filters over the list, which combine:
- By status, to see only the drafts not yet sent, or only the sent ones still to arrive.
- By supplier, to go over everything ordered from one of them.
The usual combination for chasing is no supplier and the sent status: that gives you the list of what is on order and has not turned up.
What can be done with an order
| Action | When it is available |
|---|---|
| View | Always. |
| Edit | While the order still takes changes. |
| Send or Send again | With a supplier, contact details and at least one line. |
| Mark part received | Once the order is sent. |
| Mark as received | From sent or from partly received. |
| Close order | From received or partly received. |
| Cancel order | In any status other than closed or cancelled. |
| Delete | Removes the order. It cannot be undone. |
The difference between cancel and delete matters: cancelling leaves the order in the list as cancelled and keeps the trace that it existed; deleting removes it.
What has to be in place first
- Suppliers with contact details. Without a main email address it cannot go by email; without a WhatsApp number, not by that route either.
- A buying history. An order's lines are picked from the products already bought from that supplier. A new supplier, with no documents, offers no products.
- The reply address, optionally, so that the supplier's answers reach the purchasing mailbox rather than the sender's own.
Things that come up
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No product appears when you create the order | That supplier has no products in their history. | Normal with new suppliers. At least one of their documents has to have been processed. |
| The send button says contact details are missing | The supplier's record has neither an email address nor a WhatsApp number. | Fill them in. It can be done from the order itself. |
| An order will not change status | Its current status does not allow that move. | Check the sequence of statuses allowed. |
| You want to cancel an order already closed | Closed is a final status. | There is no going back. Create a new order if that is what is needed. |
| An order you sent is not in the list | There is a status or supplier filter on. | Clear the filters. |