Purchase orders

A purchase order (PO) is what you order from a supplier for your inventory: spare parts, consumables, goods. You make one by hand, or let the App make draft...

Purchase orders

A purchase order (PO) is what you order from a supplier for your inventory: spare parts, consumables, goods. You make one by hand, or let the App make draft orders for everything below its minimum. When the goods arrive you receive them line by line into stock at the price on the order. Partial deliveries are normal: the order stays open as Partly received until the rest comes. Once goods are received, the order can be recorded as an expense in the core Expenses module with one click. This covers the procure-to-pay chain for inventory from requisition to cost, without leaving the Warehouse App.

Where to find it: Workspace → Logistics → Inventory → Purchase orders. It only appears when the Inventory module is switched on in Warehouse settings. Suppliers come from the Providers App.

Who can use it

What you want to doPermission needed
See purchase orders and open themAny Warehouse permission
Create, order, cancel and receive purchase orders; Order what is low; batch actionsPurchase orders (part of Gate in and out, move units, fill and empty tanks)
Record as an expenseTurn purchase orders into expenses (part of Set rates and make draft invoices), or an administrator

Receiving goods and booking cost are deliberately separate rights: a storekeeper can receive into stock without being able to create expenses.

Where it sits in the operation

The item master holds the reorder data: Minimum, Reorder quantity, Usual supplier and Value of one (see Items). Order what is low turns low stock into draft POs. The PO is sent to the supplier your usual way, marked as ordered, and received when the goods arrive. Each receipt is a Received line in the inventory ledger at the PO price, with the PO as reference. Recording the expense creates one expense in the core Expenses module for what was received.

Procure-to-pay for inventory in the Warehouse App Low stock or a manual order creates a draft PO; it is marked as ordered and sent outside the App; receipts post Received ledger lines at the PO price and raise stock; recording the expense creates one core expense for the received value. Items below minimum Order what is low By hand New purchase order Draft PO PO-5 · supplier Ordered Mark as ordered Send to the supplier your usual way, outside the App Receive into stock Receive now per line (again for each delivery) goods arrive Ledger Received +qty at PO price, ref PO-5 Item stock up low-stock alert re-armed when back at minimum Record as an expense once per PO Core Expenses amount = received qty × PO price, dated today category from Warehouse settings, supplier Stock goes up at the receipt, not at the order. Cost is booked when you record the expense, for what was received up to that moment.
Figure 1 Ordering changes nothing in stock. Each receipt raises stock through a Received ledger line at the PO price; the expense is booked separately, once, for the value received.

What you see

At the top right: Order what is low and New purchase order, if your role may handle purchase orders.

Filter tabs: Open (Draft, Ordered and Partly received together; the default), Draft, Ordered, Partly received, Received and All. Cancelled orders have no tab of their own; they appear under All.

ColumnWhat it shows
#The order number (PO-5). Click it to open the order.
SupplierWho you order from.
LinesHow many items are on it.
TotalOrdered quantity × unit price, all lines.
ExpectedWhen the delivery is expected.
StatusDraft, Ordered, Partly received, Received or Cancelled.

Several orders at once. Select rows to get the selection menu: Mark them as ordered (drafts only) or Cancel them (drafts and ordered ones). Each order is checked on its own; one that cannot change stays as it is and the message says why.

The order window shows the number, supplier, expected date and status, and per line the item with its unit price, the ordered quantity, how many were already Received and, while the order can be received, a Receive now field. Below: the total and the note. The buttons depend on the status and your rights: Mark as ordered, Cancel, Record as an expense (or Expense recorded) and Receive into stock.

Create a purchase order by hand

  1. Click New purchase order.
  2. Choose the Supplier. Optional: the Expected delivery date.
  3. Add the lines: Item, quantity and Unit price. Leave the price empty to use the item's own value of one ("from the item"). Use Add a line for more; the bin icon removes a line.
  4. Optional: a Note (your reference, the supplier's quote number, delivery instructions).
  5. Click Create the purchase order. You see for example "PO-5 created." It starts as a Draft.

Order what is low

  1. Click Order what is low.
  2. The App takes every item below its minimum that is not already on an open order (Draft, Ordered or Partly received with something still to come). It orders the item's Reorder quantity, or, when no reorder quantity is set, enough to bring it back to the minimum. The unit price is the item's value of one.
  3. It makes one draft purchase order per usual supplier, for example "3 draft purchase orders created." Each is marked "Made from the low-stock list". Items without a usual supplier go together on one draft without a supplier.
  4. If nothing needs ordering: "Nothing to order: everything is above its minimum or already on order."
  5. Open each draft, check quantities and prices against the supplier's price list, and send it.

Send and track the order

  1. Open the order and send it to your supplier the way you usually do (e-mail, portal, phone). The App does not send or print purchase orders itself.
  2. Click Mark as ordered. The status becomes Ordered and the date is recorded.
  3. To drop an order, click Cancel. Only drafts and ordered POs can be cancelled; once something is received the order can no longer be cancelled.

Receive a purchase order

  1. When the goods arrive, open the order and check the delivery against the delivery note.
  2. Each line shows the quantity ordered, how many were already Received, and a field Receive now filled with what is still missing.
  3. Change the numbers to what really arrived. Put 0 or clear a line that did not come.
  4. Click Receive into stock. You see for example "2 lines received into stock." Each line is added to stock as a Received ledger line at the order's unit price, with the PO as reference.
  5. If something is still missing, the order becomes Partly received; receive the rest when it comes. When every line is in full, it becomes Received.

A Draft can also be received directly, for example when goods were ordered by phone and arrive before the order was marked as ordered.

Purchase order status machine Draft goes to Ordered with Mark as ordered; Draft or Ordered go to Cancelled with Cancel; Draft, Ordered or Partly received go to Partly received or Received with Receive into stock, depending on whether every line is complete. Draft Ordered Partly received Received Cancelled Mark as ordered Cancel Cancel Receive into stock (something still missing) Receive into stock (all lines complete) rest received another part received Receive into stock (also allowed from Draft) Partly received / Received: Record as an expense (once)
Figure 2 The five statuses and the buttons that move between them. Cancel is only possible before anything is received; the expense is a one-time action on a Partly received or Received order, not a status.

Record it as an expense

  1. Open a Partly received or Received order.
  2. Click Record as an expense.
  3. An expense is created in the core Expenses module for what was received so far (received quantity × unit price, per line), dated today, titled with the PO number and the supplier (for example "PO-5 · Acme Seals"), with the supplier linked and one description line per item (for example "60 × Gloves size 9 @ 1.20"). Its category is the one chosen in Warehouse settings under Expense category for purchase orders, or else your first expense category. You see for example "Expense of € 640.00 recorded."
  4. The button then reads Expense recorded and opens Expenses. There you add the tax, attach the supplier's invoice and adjust anything the accountant needs.
Partial receipts and the timing of the expense A PO for 100 pieces at 1.20 is received 60 then 40; an expense recorded after the first receipt covers only 72.00 and is not updated by the second receipt, so record it after the last delivery. PO-5: 100 pcs at 1.20 = 120.00 Ordered stock unchanged Receive 60 Partly received · +60 Record as an expense 60 × 1.20 = 72.00 Receive 40 Received · +40 Recorded too early The expense stays at 72.00. The 40 pcs received later (48.00) are not added, and the button now says Expense recorded. Fix it by editing the amount in Expenses. Recorded after the last delivery 100 × 1.20 = 120.00 in one expense, matching the supplier's invoice when it covers the whole order. Or when the supplier invoices this delivery.
Figure 3 One PO gives one expense, for what was received when you click. Record it when the supplier's invoice arrives, usually after the last delivery.

Controls and exceptions

  • No empty orders. "Add at least one item to order." Lines without an item or with a quantity of zero are dropped.
  • Status rules. "This purchase order cannot do that now." For example cancelling a received or partly received order, marking a non-draft as ordered, receiving a cancelled or fully received order, or recording an expense before anything was received.
  • Receiving nothing. Receiving with all lines at 0: "Type a quantity above zero."
  • Over-delivery is accepted. Receive now is not capped at the outstanding quantity. If you type more than was ordered, the extra goes into stock and counts in the expense. Check the delivery note before you click.
  • One expense per order. "This purchase order already has an expense." Receipts after the expense was recorded are not added to it (see Figure 3).
  • Prices. Receipts are valued at the PO price on the ledger line. The item's own value of one is not changed by a receipt, so stock value on the Items screen keeps using the item's value; update it there when the purchase price changes. There is no landed-cost allocation (freight, duties) on receipts.
  • Matching. The expense amount comes from the PO price and the received quantity, not from the supplier's invoice. Compare it with the invoice (a manual three-way match: order, receipt, invoice) before it is approved, and correct the amount and tax in Expenses.
  • Duplicate orders. Order what is low skips any item that already has an open order with something still to come, even if that order is smaller than what is needed now. Check the drafts if demand rose.
  • Audit trail. Every receipt is a Received ledger line under the user's name, with the PO as reference and "po" as reason; it shows on the item's History and in Reports → Transactions.

For the manager

  • Daily: the Open tab. Orders past their Expected date are late deliveries to chase; the App does not flag them, so sort on Expected.
  • Weekly: run Order what is low, review and send the drafts. Drafts that sit for days mean items stay below minimum.
  • Supplier performance: orders that stay Partly received show suppliers that deliver short; the Received column per line shows by how much.
  • Month end: received orders without an expense (the button still reads Record as an expense) are goods received not yet booked as cost. Record them when the invoices are in.
  • Reorder data: the quality of Order what is low depends on minimums, reorder quantities, usual suppliers and values of one on the items. Review them when lead times or prices change.
  • AI Reports and assistant: receipts appear in "Inventory movements (Warehouse)" as kind receive, with quantities and values in per month; the recorded expenses appear with the rest of your expenses. Through the Warehouse MCP tools an AI assistant can list purchase orders, create, mark as ordered, cancel, receive and record expenses for users with the matching rights.

Glossary

Purchase order (PO)
An order to a supplier for items and quantities at agreed unit prices, numbered PO-1, PO-2…
Procure-to-pay
The chain from need to cost: requisition, order, receipt, invoice, payment.
Reorder point
The item's Minimum: below it, the item is on the low-stock list.
Reorder quantity
The fixed quantity ordered when an item is low.
Goods receipt (GRN)
Recording what physically arrived. Here: Receive into stock, which writes Received ledger lines.
Partial receipt
A delivery that covers only part of the order; the PO becomes Partly received.
Over-delivery
Receiving more than ordered. Accepted by the App; check it on the delivery note.
Three-way match
Checking order, receipt and supplier invoice against each other before paying. Done by hand here.
Landed cost
Purchase price plus freight, duties and handling. Not calculated on receipts.
Expense
The cost record in the core Expenses module that a PO creates once.
Usual supplier
The supplier set on an item, used to group Order what is low into one draft per supplier.

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Saturday, 17 October 2026, 12:48 PM
Created by: Konstantin Stojanovski

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