Purchase Orders

Purchase orders in Products & Services record what you order from a supplier, track the order until it arrives, and bring the stock in when you receive it. You build an order as a draft, finalize it, then receive the stock and create the bill from the same list.

Quick Start: Create a Purchase Order

1. Open Products & Services, then the Purchase Orders tab
2. Click New PO
3. Pick a connected supplier, or click Enter a vendor manually
4. Add line items from your catalog, from recent usage, or by hand
5. Click Review, then Create Draft
6. When the draft is ready, click Finalize Purchase Order, then Finalize and send
7. When the stock arrives, open the order's menu and click Receive inventory

The Purchase Order List

The Purchase Orders tab lists every order as one line. Tabs above the list split it by where each order is.

Search by PO number or supplier name. The number of orders in view and their total show at the right of the tabs.

The button at the end of each row opens its menu. The menu offers the next step for that order.

Suppliers

The Suppliers tab lists everyone you buy from, one line each.

Each row's menu has New order, plus email and call links when the supplier has them. A connected supplier also has Turn sharing on or Turn sharing off, and Browse catalog while sharing is on. New Purchase Order at the top of the page starts an order.

You cannot add a connected supplier yourself. Connected suppliers are ordering partners that DrillerDB connects to your account. A vendor you type on a purchase order shows on this tab as Entered on POs.

Supplier Catalog

The Catalog tab lets you browse the products of any connected supplier that shares its catalog with you.

1. Open the Catalog tab and pick a supplier
2. Search by name, SKU, or description, or filter by category
3. Click Add on a product to put it on a purchase order draft for that supplier

Add puts the product's minimum order quantity on the draft at the wholesale price. If that supplier has no open draft, a new one starts. Each product shows its wholesale price, MSRP, and minimum order quantity (MOQ).

Building a Purchase Order

New PO opens a three-step form.

Step 1: Select Vendor

Pick a connected supplier from the list. To order from anyone else, click Enter a vendor manually and type the Vendor name and, if you like, the Vendor email (optional). Vendors you have ordered from before show as buttons above the name, so you can reuse the same name.

Step 2: Add Line Items

You have three ways to add line items, and you can mix them.

Click Add Line Item for another line. You can also pick a Project (optional) the order is for and add Internal notes.

Step 3: Review

Check the vendor, line items, project, and notes, then click Create Draft. The draft opens in the purchase order builder.

The Purchase Order Builder

Opening a draft gives you the full editor.

Changes to the draft details save on their own a few seconds after you stop typing. Save Draft saves them at once.

Finalizing an Order

When the draft is complete, click Finalize Purchase Order. A dialog shows the vendor, the number of line items, and the total. Click Finalize and send to create the supplier order. It gets a PO number, its status becomes Ordered, and it moves to the On order tab. A finalized order cannot be edited, and finalizing cannot be undone.

You can also finalize from the list: Finalize and send in a draft's menu opens the same dialog. A draft with no lines cannot be finalized.

Receiving Stock

Step-by-Step: Receive a Purchase Order

1. Open Products & Services, then the Purchase Orders tab
2. Find the order on the On order tab
3. Open the order's menu and click Receive inventory

Receiving adds every unit still open on the order to the matching items in one step:

• Each item's quantity goes up, and the transaction log records an Added entry with the note "Receipt for PO" and the PO number
• Each item's unit cost becomes the weighted average of the stock you had and the stock you received
• The order's status changes to Delivered, and it moves to the Closed tab
• Accounting records the receipt against your inventory accounts

When the Shipment Does Not Match the Order

Receive inventory takes in everything still open on the order. When what arrived is different, receive the order first, then correct each item with Adjust stock on its page. Put the PO number in the reason so the stock history explains the change.

Creating the Bill

To record what you owe the supplier, open the order's menu and click Create bill. It makes a draft AP bill from the purchase order in Accounting. After that, the menu shows Open AP bill with the bill number, which opens payables in Accounting.

When to Use Purchase Orders

Purchase orders are optional. Use them when you want an ordering record, a committed total, and stock that comes in when you receive the order. For simple, direct buying without a purchase order, record what you bought with Adjust stock on each item.

Troubleshooting

No suppliers to choose from?

• Connected suppliers are set up by DrillerDB. Click Enter a vendor manually to order from anyone else

Can't finalize a draft?

• Add at least one line item; an empty draft cannot be finalized

Receive inventory or Create bill shows an error?

• Both write to Accounting, so your user needs accounting access
• "Inventory control accounts are missing" means the inventory accounts are not set up in Accounting yet

Stock looks too high after a delivery?

• Check the item's Stock history for both a "Receipt for PO" entry and a manual Added entry for the same shipment, and remove the extra units with Adjust stock

Related Topics

• Managing Items - View the catalog
• Transactions - The log of every stock change
• Stock Level Tracking - Reorder points and status
• Reporting & Exports - Analyze spending and usage