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You can start a new Purchase Order by clicking the +Create New button at the top of the page, then click Purchase Order in the drop-list. 

After you click to begin creating a Purchase Order, if you have multiple locations, the location your are currently logged into will be the default Location the order will be going to. It isn't possible to have an order delivered to multiple locations.

In the upper left, you will be prompted 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.

On the right, find the button for the Purchase Queue. It will have a number for the low-inventory and special order products that are waiting to be added to the PO. Click the button to see items for which the Vendor is the primary or secondary vendor that are at or below their Reorder Points, and also any Special Orders that are associated with the vendor, as pictured below.

Check the boxes for whatever you want to add to the order (you can remove them afterward if it turns out you don't need them). Then click the Add Items button at the bottom. You'll see line items appear for all items in your Purchase Queue. Please note that your Special Order items will populate at the bottom of the list, as pictured below, and are indicated as special order items. At every step of the ordering process, the Special Order inventory will be kept separate from your standard inventory and will never appear as available for sale either in the website or in the Register.

Purchase Order elements:

1. PO Number - If your vendor has a certain numbering system you need to use, you can enter custom PO numbers in this field. If you leave it blank, the system will create a number, and will never repeat used numbers (they count up as they go).

2. Ship Date - If you know the date your order will or should be shipping, you can enter it here.

3. Don't Ship After - If your order is time-sensitive, you can enter a cutoff date after which the order would not be acceptable to you.

4. Discount - If your entire order will be discounted, you can enter the percentage here and it will be applied to all eligible items. Please note that Special Order items will not receive any discounts. As described in #12 below, you can discount individual line items, and this can be done for Special Order items, if needed.

5. Existing Vendor Product Search - If there are items you have created in Rain POS that are associated with the Vendor listed in the PO, you can click this button to search them and add them to the order. You can search for products for which the vendor is the Primary Vendor and/or the Secondary Vendor.

6. All Products Search - You can search for any product you have save in Rain POS here.

7. Create New Product - If the vendor has new products you need to add to the PO, you can create them using this button.

8. Quantity - This field will be populated with the quantity necessary to get the product to your Desired Stock Level quantity, and can also utilize any vendor packaging you may have set up for the items.

9. Editable Fields - The Retail, UPC, and MFR ID fields can be clicked on and edited here, and any changes made will be saved to the product right away.

10. On Order - If you already have inventory on order for any of the items you have added, you will see the quantity on order here. If you hover your mouse over the number, you will see PO numbers and quantities for inventory that is on order for the item.

    

11. Sales Summary - If you hover your mouse over a number in this column, you will see sales quantities by month going back over the past six months, as pictured here.

    

12. Discount - If an item in your PO is eligible for a discount from the vendor, you can put in the dollar amount per unit for the discount in this field.

13. Remove Item - If an item is not something you want to order at this time, click the X to remove it from this PO.

14. Merge Product - If you somehow have duplicate line items of the same product in your PO, you can use this function to merge them into a single product listing.

    

15. Save Draft - If you have not finished adding all items to the order, you can click this button to save it as a draft. Use this if it is possible some unexpected items might be added to or removed from your order by the vendor before they ship it.

16. Print - You can print the order, either to a physical printer, or to a PDF file using this button.

17. Email - You can click this button to open a panel that will allow you to compose an email for the order and send it to the vendor. In addition to the normal Subject line and Body area, the system will automatically attach a PDF file of the order data to the email.

18. Export - If you want to save a .csv spreadsheet file of the order, you can click this button.

19. Mark as Sent - When you are sure you wish to finalize your PO, you can click this button to save it. Once this step is taken, you will no longer be able to add items to the PO. You can add items or remove items from Receiving Orders generated from the PO, if needed.

 

Adding Items

You have several ways to add items to your PO in addition to any automatically added up to this point. Clicking the Existing Vendor Products button to see the first hundred items in the system currently that are associated with the Vendor for the order. You can search for other products carried by that Vendor.

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 Add Low Inventory 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 vendor you're ordering from is offering a promotion on such items, or some other benefit.

And finally, you have the ability to create new products entirely by clicking the blue + 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.

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 not yet completed.

You can also Print your Purchase Order if you need a printed copy of your own, or from any browser you can print to a PDF file, if needed. To email your PO, click the Email button, and if you have an email address saved for the vendor, it will already be in place. The order data will be attached to the email as a PDF file. Lastly, you can Export your PO as a spreadsheet file in the universal .CSV data format, which you can open in your favorite spreadsheet application.

Once you have completed assembling your PO and printed it to be sent, click the Mark as Sent button to finish the PO. PLEASE NOTE THAT AFTER YOU MARK AS SENT, YOU WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO ADD ITEMS TO THE ORDER. You can add items to any Receiving Order, if needed. Click here to learn more about receiving inventory in Rain POS: Receiving Orders

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