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Purchase orders

This module is about what you are waiting for. A purchase order moves no stock and creates no debt — it only says: we ordered these items, this many, from this supplier, and we are waiting. The order has no expected delivery date — only the date of the order itself.

The value of an order is precisely the expectation. While the goods are on their way, item statuses show them as "on order" — so a salesperson can see that the item may be promised to a customer even though the shelf is empty.

Video walkthrough: Purchasing in ERPJS step by step — purchase order, goods receipt, vendor invoice, payment.

The route: from order to a closed line

Purchase order → "on order" in item statuses
        ↓                          ↓
 Goods receipt (goods)   Vendor invoice (debt)
        ↓                          ↓
     the line closes by receipt and by invoice
  1. Purchase order — the intention to buy. Lines hold the item, quantity and price.
  2. Goods receipt — the goods arrived. It references the order lines, and the system keeps count of how much of each line has been received.
  3. Vendor invoice — the paperwork arrived. It also links to the order and also counts quantities: how much of each line has already been invoiced (the "Inv" column). The invoice price does not change that figure.
  4. A line closes when it is received and invoiced in full. Until then the order is open — and that is your "what are we waiting for" list.

Partial deliveries are normal: one order can be closed by several receipts and several invoices, each covering its own share.

Orders do not have to be typed by hand: for planned production the Purchase Orders from Deficit service creates draft orders for the shortage — one per "supplier — location" pair, taking the supplier from the item's last approved goods receipt. A person approves them.

What is worth understanding

"On order" is not a balance. That quantity cannot be shipped; it is only promised by the supplier. Hence the separate column in availability reports: goods in the warehouse are one thing, goods in transit another.

Receipt and invoice close the line independently. Goods arrived but no invoice — the line is closed by receipt and open by invoice (the uninvoiced delivery you can see in the purchase ledger). The reverse happens too: the invoice arrives before the goods. Both figures are quantities, not money.

Additional costs are planned here — and they reach the cost price on their own. Freight and the five additional cost columns (their names are kept in the Additional Costs setting) carry over into a goods receipt created from the order and become part of the cost when that receipt is approved. Imports take another route: the receipt is created from the customs clearance document, which works out duty, excise and the service-order costs itself; the order's cost columns do not carry over into that receipt.

Statuses sometimes need rebuilding. If documents were edited around the usual path (imports, manual changes), the received/invoiced quantities can drift from reality — the Purchase orders statuses recalculation service fixes that by recounting them from the source documents.

Where to start in a new database

  1. Contacts — suppliers.
  2. Items — what you are going to order.
  3. Additional Costs — the captions of the five cost columns in the order and the receipt; Payment Methods — the money accounts for a prepayment created straight from the order with "Create vendor payment".
  4. The first order — and stock starts showing what is expected.

Common tasks

You need Where to go
see what is ordered and not yet here Purchase Orders status (the "Not received" box)
look through orders for a period Purchase Orders Journal · Purchase Order Items Report
find out what is short for sales Stock Shortages Report
order what production is short of Purchase Orders from Deficit
book in what has arrived Goods receipt
register the debt for a delivery Vendor invoice
repair statuses after manual edits Purchase orders statuses recalculation
load many lines at once Xlsx Import

Everything in the module

Registers — documents: Purchase Orders · Agreements (a file of agreements, no automation)

Registers — references: Contacts · Items

Settings: Payment Methods · Additional Costs

Reports: Purchase Order Items Report · Purchase Orders status · Purchase Orders Journal

Maintenances: Purchase orders statuses recalculation · Purchase Orders from Deficit · Xlsx Import · Xlsx Export

Where to look next

  • Stock — where the ordered goods arrive.
  • Purchase ledger — where the debt for a delivery appears.
  • Sales orders — usually the reason for ordering in the first place.