Purchase orders
Stock → Purchase Orders. How stock is bought in.
When a purchase order is needed
A PO is called for in three situations:
| Trigger | Why |
|---|---|
| A sales order is missing stock | You have promised goods you do not hold |
| Stock drops below the warehouse minimum | Replenishment |
| Stock is required for a service job | A visit needs a part that is not there |
In some of these BMS offers to create a backorder automatically. Where it does not, the PO is raised by hand.
Raising one
A purchase order can be raised from two places: the Purchase Orders index, or from the Supplier record. Raising from the supplier saves selecting them and is the usual route when you are ordering a batch of things from one place.
Its relationship to the rest of Stock
A purchase order is the intention to buy. What arrives against it is a receipt, and stock only becomes available when that receipt is completed — see Receipts and goods inwards. The supplier's invoice is a purchase invoice, which is pushed to Xero as accounts payable.
Note
A raised PO does not increase available stock. It appears in the Incoming columns on the warehouse screen and in Projected, but not in On Hand or Available. Promising goods against a PO that has not landed is the same mistake as promising against allocated stock.