Introduction to Purchase Orders

This is an introductory article about the basics of Purchase Orders in PurchasePlus.

Jump to:

• Introduction - What is a Purchase Order?
• Viewing your Purchase Orders
  • Viewing a Single Purchase Order
  • Purchase Order Statuses
• Creating Purchase Orders
• Consolidating Purchase Orders
• Sending Purchase Orders
• Receiving Notes
• Matching Purchase Orders to Invoices
• Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Purchase Order?

A Purchase Order is a document that a Purchasing Organization sends to a Supplier Organization. It specifies the products or services to be purchased, in a desired quantity, and at an expected price. 

A Purchase Order can also include important information like Delivery Address, Expected Delivery Date, and other useful information that helps the Purchaser and Supplier communicate about the Purchase Order.

Viewing Your Purchase Orders

To find your Purchase Orders select [Purchase Orders] → [View All] from the side navigation bar:

You can filter Purchase Orders by status: [Not Sent], [Sent], [Closed], [Cancelled], or Search for a specific Purchase Order.

Viewing a Single Purchase Order

or click on the Purchase Order Number to review the document in greater detail.

The following actions are available on each Purchase Order:

a. Quick actions are available in the header of the Purchase Order. [Mark Purchase Order as Sent], [Receive Goods], [Match Invoice], [Show or hide details], [View Related Documents], and a [More Menu] → [View Audit Log] → [Print] → [Close Purchase Order] → [Cancel Purchase Order] → [Get Help]. See our Send a Purchase Order article and our Match a Purchase Order to an Invoice article to learn more.

b. View helpful information: Status, Goods Received Indicator and the Goods Invoiced Indicator. 

c. Purchase Order Tabs: [Product Summary], [Settings], [Comments], [Invoices], [Receiving Notes], [Send Events].

d. [Advanced View]. Click to view consolidated Purchase Order Sub-Lines. 

e. [Receive Goods]. Click to create a Goods Receiving Note.

f. [Search Products]. Enter product names, to search Purchase Order for item.

g. [Manage Columns]. Click to show and hide table columns.

h. Purchase Order lines. Click [Info] to browse detailed information relating to the Purchase Order line. This can be useful to understand the Invoiced and Received status of each particular Purchase Order line.

j. View Price and Tax information about each Purchase Order line.

k. View Purchase Order Total Values.

Purchase Order Statuses

A Purchase Order can be in a number of different states:

• Not Sent: A Not Sent Purchase Order has been created from an Approved Requisition, but it is yet to be Sent to the Supplier. Prior to being Sent, items on a Purchase Order cannot be Received or Invoiced. 
• Sent: A Sent Purchase Order has been marked as Sent and the items on the Purchase Order can now be Received and Invoiced. Once all items on the Purchase Order are Received and Invoiced, the Purchase Order can be Closed.
• Closed: A Purchase Order can be closed once it has been Sent, and all items on the Purchase Order have been fully Received and fully Invoiced. Closed is the final state of a Purchase Order and it indicates that the Purchase Order items have been successfully received and invoiced.
• Cancelled: A Purchase Order can be cancelled before it has been fully processed. This action terminates the order and voids any transactions associated with it. Cancelled is the status indicating that the Purchase Order will not proceed to completion.

Creating Purchase Orders

Purchase Orders (PO’s) in PurchasePlus are generated automatically when a Requisition is approved. It is not possible to raise a PO without first raising and approving a Requisition. Products cannot be added to a Purchase Order once it has been generated - rather, a new Requisition must be created (and approved, if configured).

Purchase Orders inherit their settings (e.g. the assigned Account Code, the Delivery Address etc) from the Approved Requisition from which it was born, and shouldn’t need to be edited very much (if at all) before being sent to the Supplier(s).

Consolidating Purchase Orders

Consolidating two or more Purchase Orders from the same Supplier will create a singular (new) Purchase Order, and any Sub-Line detail will be available in the newly created Purchase Order. The original Purchase Orders will be hidden and appear to no longer exist in PurchasePlus. This can be a powerful efficiency tool for Purchasers and their Suppliers but does require care when using. Learn more about Consolidating Purchase Orders.

Sending Purchase Orders

A Purchase Order in a Not Sent State can be manually sent to a Supplier electronically, or the Requisition may have had the setting applied to send Purchase Orders automatically upon the Requisition’s Approval.

Sending Purchase Orders to Suppliers electronically requires:

1. The 'Send Purchase Orders' permission enabled for the user, and
2. The Supplier to have an Electronic Destination (for example, an email inbox, or another software system) configured for their Organization in Purchase Plus. 

The act of Sending A Purchase Order and the act of Marking the Purchase Order As Sent are not the same thing; for example, a user may choose to Mark the Purchase Order as Sent, but opt against sending the Purchase Order Electronically (for example, if they phoned the order through to the Supplier).

Finally, Purchase Orders that have already been Marked as Sent are able to be re-sent to the same or different Electronic Destination (if the Supplier has multiple Destinations configured on their Organization).

Receiving Notes

When the Supplier’s delivery arrives at the Purchaser’s Delivery Address, the goods can be marked as Received (or any variances can be accounted for) by creating a Receiving Note. 

If the goods have arrived in multiple separate deliveries, then multiple Receiving Notes can be created and the Purchase Order will remain in a Sent State until all the ordered products have been Received (and Invoiced). 

Please read our article about Receiving Goods to learn more about Receiving Notes.

Matching Purchase Orders to Invoices

When the Supplier sends the Purchaser an Invoice, it is good practice to make sure that the Invoice is Reconciled before approving it to be paid. 

PurchasePlus helps our Purchasers to reconcile the Invoices in two ways, depending on how their Finance department likes to work:

• By matching a Purchase Order to an Invoice, to make sure that what the Supplier has Invoiced the Purchaser for actually matches what the Purchaser Ordered. This is sometimes referred to as ‘2-Way AP Matching’.
• By matching and comparing a Purchase Order and its Receiving Notes to an Invoice, to make sure that what the Supplier has Invoiced the Purchaser for actually matches what the Purchaser Ordered and Received. This is sometimes referred to as ‘3-Way AP Matching’. 

Discrepancies between the Purchase Order, Receiving Notes and an Invoice are picked up automatically by PurchasePlus and highlighted in the form of Invoice Flags, which must be addressed by the appropriate Purchaser Users before they can be Approved for payment. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Can I edit a purchase order after it has been approved?

1. Click the 'More Information' icon (three dots) in the top-right corner of the PO.
2. Select 'Cancel Purchase Order'.

Question: Can I reopen a cancelled purchase order (PO)

Answer: No, once a purchase order (PO) has been cancelled, it cannot be reopened.

However, you can create a new purchase requisition (PR) from the invoice. Once the PR generates a new PO, you can match the invoice to the newly created PO.