Once you have clicked “+ Purchase order” on the Purchase screen, you will be taken to edit the new purchase order (PO). Here, you can modify and create the new PO, or click cancel to discard it.
To access an existing purchase order, navigate to POs on the top menu and click an order number. This will open the order in view mode. Click the Edit button to switch to edit mode. Learn more about viewing purchase orders here.
Managing individual purchase orders
Individual purchase orders are comprised of the following sections:
A header, containing the order status, vendor and expected date, as well as action buttons
A settings panel, containing additional details relating to the order
The order line items
Learn more about each section below.
Purchase order header
Status
Every purchase order is assigned a status that indicates its stage within the purchasing lifecycle.
Status | Description |
Draft | An order which needs to be approved before it’s considered active. |
Open | The default status for new orders. “Open” orders haven’t yet had any inventory received against them. |
Partially received | An order which has had some, but not all, of its inventory received against it. |
Complete | An order which has had all inventory received against it or has been closed. |
Canceled | An order which has been voided. Canceled orders can’t be edited without reopening the original order. Learn more about reopening orders here. |
Note: Incoming inventory, displayed in the “on order” column in the Purchase screen, is calculated using orders in the “Open” and “Partially received” status. Learn more about the Purchase screen here.
Purchase order statuses are controlled by the following actions, available when viewing a PO.
Action | Status change |
Approve | Draft > Open |
Move to draft | Open > Draft |
Receive (partially) | Draft, Open > Partially received |
Receive (fully) | Draft, Open, Partially received > Complete |
Close | Partially received > Complete |
Cancel | Draft, Open > Canceled |
Reopen | Complete > Open, Partially received |
Vendor
The vendor assigned to the purchase order. Vendors are set at the point of creating the purchase order, but can be changed when editing a PO. Learn more about choosing a vendor when creating a purchase order here.
Expected date
The expected date is automatically set to the lead time of the first variant on the purchase order. It can be updated when editing the purchase order.
Settings panel
The Settings panel can be accessed by clicking “Settings” on the header and can be updated when in edit mode. It contains further information about the purchase order, as well as information relating to its shipping. The fields available are:
Field | Description |
Extra reference # | Another reference number, separate from the reference Inventory Planner automatically generates. Typically the reference provided by the vendor, once received. |
Created date | The date the purchase order was created. |
Shipping method | The shipping method the goods are expected to arrive by. |
Shipping date | The date the goods were shipped by the vendor. |
Notes to vendor | Any notes to the vendor you wish to include in the purchase order document sent to them. Learn more about purchase order document templates here. |
Internal notes | Any other information relating to the purchase order you wish to keep note of. This field is not exposed to your vendor. |
Line items
The items on the order are presented in a table with the following columns displayed in edit mode:
Column | Description | Editable? |
Title | The item name. | N |
SKU | The item’s SKU. | N |
Vendor reference | The vendor’s reference for the item. If modified, you can save the changes as a new vendor attribute. | Y |
MOQ | The minimum order quantity of the variant for this vendor. If modified, you can save the changes as a new vendor attribute. | Y |
Requirement | The original requirement (number of units needed to meet replenishment recommendations) when the purchase order was created. | N |
Ordered | The number of units ordered from the vendor (requirement adjusted for MOQ). | Y |
Unit price | The vendor cost price for the variant in the vendor’s currency. | Y |
Discount % | Any discount applied to the row, automatically set to the vendor’s default discount percent. | Y |
Total | The total price for all ordered units of the item. | N |
Line items can be rearranged on the purchase order by clicking on a row and dragging it into position. Alternatively, you can click on a column header to sort by that column.
Click the trash can icon to delete a row.
Actions
While in edit mode, clicking the “Actions” button in the header will allow you to:
Reload variant attributes
Refresh the variants on the purchase order, reloading their vendor attributes, titles, SKUs, and/or images
Add shipping and handling
Add a shipping and handling line item to the purchase order. Once added you can enter the shipping cost.
Adding variants to purchase orders
You can add a variant to a purchase order by clicking “Add variants” on the top right-hand side of the header.
A modal window will open, where you can select the variants you wish to add. In the window, you can:
Search: Search by item name, SKU or vendor reference.
Filter: By default, results are filtered by the relevant vendor; you can change the filter, and/or additionally filter by category, collection or brand.
Once you have selected the variants you wish to add to the purchase order, click “Add variants” at the bottom of the window. Alternatively, you can click “Cancel” to go back to the purchase order without making any changes.
The modal window displays each variant's inventory level, on order quantity, calculated requirement, purchase date, vendor cost price, MOQ, and the to order quantity.
Views and warnings
When in edit mode, if there are lines on your purchase order which need attention, Inventory Planner will issue an alert. Clicking on the alert will take you to a view allowing you to address the line items causing the error.
Less than MOQ
This view displays order lines where the ordered quantity is below the MOQ. Learn more about MOQs here.
Click the Increase to MOQ button to update the ordered quantity for these items to meet the MOQ.
Ordered qty is zero
This view displays order lines where the ordered quantity is zero. Click the Remove items button to remove these items from the order.
Search
Additionally, you can use the search bar to search for individual variants on the purchase order. You can search by name, SKU, or vendor reference.
Saving and canceling edits
While you’re in edit mode, you’ll see "Save" and "Discard" buttons at the bottom of the screen.
If you have updated MOQs or any other vendor attributes, you will also see a checkbox allowing you to push those updates to the variant catalog on saving the order.
