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Purchase orders

Records, then Purchase orders. A PO records what you have ordered from a supplier, and receiving it is what credits stock.

Purchase orders

The two ways to raise one

Suggest from low stock

Looks at every SKU at or under its reorder point and drafts POs grouped by brand, sized by each SKU's reorder quantity. One click, then review.

Always review before sending. The suggester knows your reorder settings; it does not know you are about to take on a 2,000-shirt contract or lose a customer.

Create by hand

Creating a purchase order

FieldMeaning
Supplier and Supplier emailWho it goes to
BrandWhich brand this PO covers
Expected deliveryUsed to flag late deliveries
LinesSKU, quantity, unit cost
NotesAnything the supplier needs

Unit cost is not optional in practice. It feeds the cost snapshots that make margin reporting real.

The lifecycle

StatusMeaning
DraftBeing built, not sent
SentWith the supplier
Partially receivedSome of it has landed
ReceivedAll of it has landed
ActionWhat it does
Download PDFA printable PO
Send to supplierEmails the PO to the supplier email and marks it sent
Receive deliveryRecords what actually arrived, per line, and credits stock

Receiving properly

Receive against the PO, line by line, with the quantity that actually turned up. Partial receipts are normal: take the 180 that arrived, and the PO stays open for the 20 that did not.

Two habits:

  • Receive on the day it lands. Stock that is physically in the building but not received in the system causes a job to stall for no reason.
  • Count as you receive. A short-ship caught at the door is a supplier problem; a short-ship found three weeks later during a cycle count is your problem.

Late deliveries

Expected delivery dates are what let the system tell you a PO is late. Set them honestly, from the lead time the supplier actually achieves rather than the one on their website.

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