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You can start a new Purchase Order from anywhere in the system by clicking the +Create New button in the upper left and then clicking Purchase Order.

 

Setting Up Your Purchase Order

First you will need to choose the Vendor you are ordering from. A Purchase Order always goes to a single Vendor only: it is not possible to order from two Vendors at once on a single order. If the Vendor you need is not yet in your list, you can click the + button to create a new one.

If you have multiple Locations, the default Location will be selected in that drop-list. You can choose which of your Locations you will want the order to be shipped to. It isn't possible to have an order be delivered to multiple locations, but it IS possible to include inventory for more than one of your Locations on the order. If you do so, you can use the Transfers tool under the Inventory menu to move inventory from the Ship To Location to the end-destination Location after you have received it. You can use the Notes area in the upper left for any details you need to remember about the order.

In the upper right of the PO, you can enter the following items:

• Purchase Order Number - If you have a specific PO number that needs to go on this order, you can enter it here.
• Ship Date / Don't Ship After Date - If you know the date the order should ship, you can enter that here, and if you have a cutoff date after-which you would no longer want the order, you can also enter that.
• Discount - If you qualify for a Discount on everything in the order, you can enter a percentage off the total amount here. You can see the pre-discount total in the Subtotal area just above. Please note, if you are getting a discount only on one or more items, you can enter Discount dollar-amounts for any line-item that qualifies.
• Freight - If you know the Freight amount you will be paying, you can enter that here.
• Total - As you add items and discounts to the order, the Total will display the final total amount you anticipate you will be charged for this order.

 

Adding Items to Your Order With the Purchase Queue

Once you have chosen your Vendor, the Purchase Queue will show you how many Low Inventory and Special Order items are waiting to potentially be added to the order. Please Note: the items that are Low Inventory are those you have set with Reorder Point and Desired Stock Level values. Such products appear on your Low Inventory report. Items that are not set with those two values will not appear in the Low Inventory report and will not be offered to be automatically added to a Purchase Order even if they are low in inventory. For more information on this functionality, click here (this link will open in a new tab for you): Setting Up Products for Inventory Management. Click the Purchase Queue button to add items that are low in inventory. You will also see any Special Order items waiting to be added to a PO for the vendor.

If you don't wish to see items that are on Backorder in other inventory orders, you can turn that toggle off in the Special Orders section.

 

Other Methods of Adding Items

You have several ways to add items to your PO in addition to any automatically added up to this point. You can click the Existing Vendor Products button (#4 above) to see the first hundred items in the system currently that are associated with the Vendor for the order. You can click to Load More at the bottom of the list, if needed. You can search by keyword for other products carried by that Vendor. To add items, check the box for the item and set the quantity you will need. Once you have everything selected you will need, click the Add button in the lower right.

Pertinent information about the products is included, including how many are currently on hand. If you check the box for a product on the left, you will see an Add button at the bottom. Click that button and you will see the item added to your order.

If you missed any low inventory items from the Vendor in the order, you can add those items by clicking on the Purchase Queue button (you will only see this if you didn't add all of the low inventory items for the vendor).

You can also add items associated with any vendor using the Product Search field on the left; a useful feature if the has not yet had a vendor assigned.

And finally, you have the ability to create new products entirely by clicking the + button next to the search. You have full access to any products in the Catalog for your industry when you create new products this way. Be sure to leave the Inventory and Cost area untouched, since the Receiving Order will add that information for you when you receive the shipment.

 

Working With Your Order Items

Once you have added items through the Purchase Queue, if you don't want to order an item that appeared this way, you can click the X button on the far right of the line item to Delete it from the order.

Purchase Order Item Functions:

1. All-Item Search - You can search by keyword for any item saved in your system as a product, which is useful if you have items that have not yet been assigned a Vendor.

2. Create New Product - You can create a new product by clicking the + button. You will have access to the system Catalog if the item is searchable there.

3. Purchase Queue - At any time, you can click the Purchase Queue button and add items that are low in inventory for this vendor either as a Primary Vendor or a Secondary Vendor, as well as Special Order items.

4. Existing Vendor Products - This will open a panel that will allow you to add products you have associated with this vendor either as the Primary Vendor or as a Secondary Vendor. See the section below on Adding Items for more detail.

5. Item Quantity - You can manually adjust the Quantity field, if needed.

6. Sortable Column Headers - The column headers that are blue you can click on to sort all of the items by that column. Clicking again will reverse the sort.

7. Retail Price - You can click on this amount if you need to change the regular Price for an item. Changes you make here will automatically save to the product listing as you make them (you don't need to click a Save button).

8. Product ID Codes - For convenience, the system will show you UPC (editable), Manufacturer ID (editable), and SKU. While you cannot edit your SKU codes from the Purchase Order, you can edit them from the Low Inventory report, if needed. Just as with the Retail Price, any changes you make will be saved to the product as you make them.

9. Vendor Part ID - If you have set up Vendor Packaging in a product and if the vendor has a Part ID that is unique for purchase orders for the vendor, that ID will display here. You can set Vendor Part ID codes by opening a product and going down to the Styles and Pricing area and clicking the Manage link next to Purchasing. Please note, you will not see any content in the panel that opens in this area if you have not set a Vendor yet for the product.

   

10. Quantity on Hand - This column will show the quantity of each item that you have in stock at present.

11. Quantity On Order - If you already have an item on a different PO, you will be able to see by hovering your mouse over a number in this column. A window will pop up and you are able to click on PO numbers to view full details about orders in question, as pictured here:

    

12. Back Ordered - If you have started receiving inventory on this PO, any inventory you haven't already received will display a number in blue in this column, indicating that it is in a Back Ordered state.

    

13. Sales Summary - You can view your sales over time for an item by hovering over a number in this column. You will see total sales for the item for recent months as pictured below.

    

14. Unit Cost - If the system knows what your Cost for each item would be, that will display here. You can adjust that number if you know what your per-unit cost will be or if you want to estimate what it will be.

15. Unit Discount - Please note that if you are getting a Discount on the total for the PO, there is an area to enter that as a percentage off the total amount in the upper right of the PO. If you have a discount on an item in the order, you can use the Discount column to enter the dollar amount off the Unit Cost you are getting.

16. Line Item Total - The system will do the math and show you the estimated Total for each line item, and above you will see the Total for the whole PO.

17. Remove Item - You can click the X button for any line item to remove it from the PO. The X at the top with the other column headers will allow you to Remove All items from the order, and will pop up a confirmation to make sure you really mean to do that.

18. Merge Product - If you have somehow created duplicate items in the system that are showing in the PO, you can click the Ellipsis button (the three-dot stack) and you can Merge the products into one.

    

 

Purchase Order Functions

At any point along the way you can click the Draft button to save the order and come back to it any time by going to Purchasing > Purchase Orders. In the window that comes up, you will see all POs that are saved as Drafts. You are also able to update orders you've already sent, and if you do so, you can Save the updated purchase order.

You can also Print your Purchase Order either to a hard-copy printer, or from your browser you can print to a PDF file. If you want to work ahead and Print Barcodes for your items, clicking that button will bring up a window that will allow you to use the full functionality of our barcode printing module. The Email button will open a panel like the one below and will reference your Vendor for a contact email address. You can compose whatever message you like and the system will automatically attach the order to the email as a PDF file. You can also Export the order as a .CSV spreadsheet file viewable in any spreadsheet program, if needed. If you find you don't need the order and it has already been saved, you can Delete it on the right. You'll be asked to confirm you really want to delete it. Be aware, we have no way of restoring Purchase Orders you delete in this way.

Once you have completed assembling your PO and printed it to be sent, click the Mark as Sent button to finish the PO. If you hear back from the Vendor about substitute items or altered quantities, you can always go back into the order and add or adjust whatever is needed. Just remember to Save once you've finished your changes.