Introduction to Purchase Orders

A Purchase Order(PO) is a legal document handed over to a Vendor to purchase Products or Services. PO offers you a channel to explain your requirements and intentions explicitly. 
Purchase Orders comprise the purchase order number, vendor details, product or service details, terms and conditions, prices, etc.

When the customer agrees to the quote, they will send a Purchase Order(PO) which contains all the details related to the deal.
The seller provides this PO to the Vendor who will supply the required products or services.

Feature Availability and Limits

List View in Purchase Orders

List View sorts and lists all POs based on the last modified PO.

• Columns in List View 

The columns that are visible by default in the List View are :

1. Subject- Displays the name of the PO.

2. Vendor Name- Displays the name of the Vendor who has to provide the products or services to the customer.

3. Tracking Number- Displays the number using which the order can be tracked.

4. Total-Displays the amount mentioned in the quote.

5. Assigned To- Displays the user to whom the PO is assigned to.

• List actions

You can perform many quick actions such as Edit, Delete, Email, Follow, etc. on the PO records in the List View.
To learn more about List View actions in Vtiger CRM, click here.

Ways of viewing Purchase Orders’ records

• Summary View

Summary View is the view that appears when you click a particular record from the List View. The Summary View displays a collection of all the key information of the record.
The Summary View can be divided into four sections. Each section has a particular functionality.

• Summary View Actions

  • Follow: You can follow any PO record to get updates on all the activities performed on that record.

  • Tags: You can add tag names to the record to identify the record easily.

  • Print: You can print the PO or save it as a PDF for future references.

  • Duplicate: You can duplicate the current record and have all the details reflected in a new record.

  • Delete: You can delete a record by clicking this button.

• PO document

  The generated Purchase Order will be displayed here.

• Do button

  When you click on the Do button on the right-hand top corner of the Summary View, you will see the following:

  • Reach out now-You can get in touch with the contact via Email, Call or SMS at the moment.

  • Reach out later- You can schedule an email, event or task with the contact.

  • Add or Create- You can add or create other modules related to the PO.

  • Share- You can share the PO as a link or as an attachment.

• Widgets

• One View- All the modules related to the PO are displayed here. 

• Tasks-All the tasks related to the PO are displayed here. You can also add a new task from here by clicking the + button.

• Events- All the events related to the PO are displayed here. You can also add a new event from here by clicking the + button.

• Activity-All the activities made on the PO are displayed here. Here you can add comments related to the PO.

• Analytics-You can view all the metrics related to the PO in the form of charts, mini-lists, etc. You can also create new ones here.

• Documents- You can create a new document or add an existing document to the PO. All the related document details are displayed here.

• Sales Ops-You can create a receipt note or add an existing receipt note to the PO. All the related receipt note details are displayed here.

• Bills-You can create a new bill or add an existing bill to the PO. All the related bill details are displayed here.

• Payments-You can create a new payment or add an existing payment to the PO. All the related payment details are displayed here.

• Settings- You can change the template of the PO here.

• Deep Dive view

You can view and edit all the information about the PO record by clicking the Deep Dive button in the Summary View of the record.

Important Fields in Purchase Orders

How to Create a Purchase Order

Listed below are the ways from which you can create a PO. 

1. From Purchase Orders’ List View 

You can use the +Add Purchase Order button to create a new PO. You can find it on the top right corner in the Purchase Orders’ List View.

Follow the steps below to create a PO:

1. Click the Menu icon.

2. Go to the Inventory tab.

3. Select the Purchase Orders module.

4. Click the +Add Purchase Order button.

5. Fill in all the necessary details.

6. Click Save.

2. From Quotes

You can create a PO through a quote with the Do button.
Follow these steps to add a PO from do button in quotes:

1. Click the Menu icon.

2. Go to the Sales tab.

3. Select the Quotes module.

4. Open any particular quote.

5. In the Summary View, click the Do button on the right-hand side top corner of the screen.

6. Click the Add or Create button.

7. Click on Purchase Order.

8. Enter all the details and click Save.

This newly created PO would be linked to the Quote.

Purchase Order Configuration

You can configure Taxes, Tax regions, Shipping Charges (if any) and Terms and Conditions from the Settings > Inventory Management section. These actions are limited to the Admin role.
Refer to the Tax management article to learn how to set up Taxes and other Settings.

1. Tax regions: Taxes can be set based on a region. Regions are set up in the Tax Settings screen.

2. Currency: It is the same as the currency defined in the Deal. PO Line item currency is the same as the record level currency. 

3. Tax mode:

   1. Group Taxes: If there are multiple products/services in the inventory, group taxes help in populating tax rates according to specific tax calculations.

   2. Individual Taxes: You can enable this option while creating a PO. You can apply taxes for individual items in a PO by clicking the Configure button in the PO.

4. Price Books: Price Books allows you to define different prices for Products and Services. The prices of the items can vary anytime depending on the customers and their needs.

When a Price Book is selected or changed, the system updates the unit prices of all line items based on the selected Price Book.
To know more about Price Books, click here.

5. Discounts

   1. Group Discounts: Similar to Group Taxes, Group Discounts are applied to Products (or) Services on the PO level.

   2. Individual Discounts: Contrary to group discounts, Vtiger CRM provides an option to apply Discounts on an individual item based on its List Price. 

6. Shipping Charges: Shipping  Charges is the additional amount charged by the company’s sales team for shipping the product to the customer.

7. Adjustments: This option allows to round off the total amount to the next value or the previous value based on the decimal number.

Adding Line Item Records

You can add new Line Item records like a new product/service or a new section in the existing PO by editing the Item Details block.
Follow the steps mentioned below to add Line item records:

• How to add a new Product or Service

Follow these steps to add a product/service:

• Click the Menu icon.

• Go to the Inventory tab.

• Select the Purchase Orders module.

• Click +Add Purchase Orders and fill all the necessary details.

• Open the newly created PO and click Edit.

• Go to the Item Details block.

• Click  Add row.

• Select Products or Services.

• Select an item from the list of all items.

• Click Add Selected.

Refer to the Purchase Order configuration section in this document to understand Tax management, Price books, etc.

• How to add a new Section

Follow these steps to add a section:

1. Click the Menu icon.

2. Go to the Inventory tab.

3. Select the Purchase Orders module.

4. Select any particular PO. 

5. Click Edit.

6. Go to the Item Details block.

7. Click Add Section.

Status dependencies between PO and RN

1. The status of PO will be changed from ‘New’ to ‘Receipt Initiated’ when the RN is in ‘Open’ state, 

2. Look out for the Outstanding field! For example, if there is a PO for ten items and you create a RN for six of those items, the value of the outstanding field will be set to four both in PO and RN.

3. If the status of a RN is ‘Received’, then the status of the PO will be

   1. ‘Partially received’ - if the outstanding field value is more than zero.

   2. ‘Fully received’ - if the outstanding field value is zero.

4. The status of PO will be set to ‘New’ if the RN is ‘Cancelled’.

To know more about Receipt Notes, click here.

Actions Possible on a Purchase Order

You can perform the following actions on the PO:

• Share a Purchase Order

You can share a PO with a customer by sending a link to the PO or by sending the PO itself as an attachment.

1. As link

2. As attachment

1. Click the Menu icon.

2. Go to the Inventory tab.

3. Select the Purchase Orders module.

4. Open any Purchase Order record.

5. Click the Do button in the Summary View.

6. Select Share.

7. Click Share as attachment.

8. A mail compose window opens with the PO attachment.

9. Enter the recipient's details and click Send.

• Generate related documents

1. Add a Document

   Use Vtiger’s Documents module to solve the problems of organizing and sharing! It acts as a repository for all the documents that you create or those shared with you by your customers or sales team. 

   Follow these steps to add a document:

   1. Click the Menu icon.

   2. Go to the Inventory tab.

   3. Select the Purchase Orders module.

   4. Open any Purchase Order record.

   5. Click the Do button in the Summary View.

   6. Click Add or Create button.

   7. Select Documents.

   8. Here, you see two options on your screen:

      1. Select Documents

         1. If you want to add an existing document, select this option.

         2. Hover over a record in the list of all existing documents to display the radio buttons.

         3. Click the radio button on the left side of the record to select the record.

         4. Click Add Selected button present below of the list.

      2. Create Documents

         1. If you want to add a new document, select this option.

         2. Fill all the necessary details.

         3. Click Save.

The linked document will be seen in the Documents widget in the Summary View of the PO record.

2. Generate a Receipt Note

   Receipt Notes (RN) is an internal document produced as a proof of goods received after inspecting delivery, to process and match against your purchase orders.

   Follow these steps to generate an RN:

   1. Click the Menu icon.

   2. Go to the Inventory tab.

   3. Select the Purchase Orders module.

   4. Open any Purchase Order record.

   5. Click the Do button in the Summary View.

   6. Click Add or Create button.

   7. Select Receipt Notes.

   8. Enter all the necessary details and click Save.

The newly created RN will be available in the Sales Ops widget of the Summary view in the PO record.

3. Generate a Payment

Follow these steps to generate a payment:

1. Click the Menu icon.

2. Go to the Inventory tab.

3. Select the Purchase Orders module.

4. Open any Purchase Order record.

5. Click the Do button in the Summary View.

6. Click Add or Create button.

7. Select Payments.

8. Enter all the necessary details.

9. Click Save to create the payment record.

   • Click Save and Continue to fill in more information.

The newly created payment record will be available in the Payments widget on the Summary View of the PO record.

• Export

Follow these steps to export a PO:

1. Click the Menu icon.

2. Go to the Inventory tab.

3. Select the Purchase Orders module.

4. In the List View, hover over any PO record to display the radio button on the left side.

5. Click the radio button.

6. Click the Export button.

7. Select any one of the following options:

   1. Export Selected Records- This option will export only the selected record.

   2. Export data in current page- This option will export the records on the current page.

   3. Export all data- This option will export all the data in all the pages of the PO module.

The exported record will be saved on your local system 

• Print

Follow these steps to print a PO:

1. Click the Menu icon.

2. Go to the Inventory tab.

3. Select the Purchase Orders module.

4. Open any PO record.

5. Click the More button.

6. Click the Print button.

7. You can perform any of the below options:

   • Edit & Export- You can edit the PO and export it to your local system.

   • Email with PDF- You can email the PO record as a PDF to the contact.

   • Print- You can print the PO and keep a hard copy.

   • Save as PDF- You can save the PO as a PDF on your local system.

How to change the template of the Purchase Order 

There are two ways from which you can change the template of a PO.

• Follow these steps to change the template of a PO from the Print Purchase Order screen:

This is a temporary change only until the PO is printed.

1. Click the Menu icon.

2. Go to the Inventory tab.

3. Select the Purchase Orders module.

4. Open any PO.

5. Click the More button.

6. Click the Print button.

7. Select the template you want from the list of all templates.

8. You can perform any of the below options:

   1. Edit & Export- You can edit the PO and export it to your local system.

   2. Email with PDF- You can email the PO record as a PDF to the contact.

   3. Print- You can print the PO and keep a hard copy.

   4. Save as PDF- You can save the PO as a PDF on your local system.

• Follow these steps to change the template of the Purchase Order from the Settings widget:

This is a permanent change and will be applied to the PO immediately.

• Click the Menu icon.

• Go to the Inventory tab.

• Select the Purchase Orders module.

• Open any PO.

• Go to the Settings Widget.

• Click the Template applied drop-down.

• Select the template of your choice.

The template will be applied to the PO instantly.

Inventory Information

1. Quantity in Stock

As the name suggests, Quantity in Stock shows the number of products that are available and are in stock. The value of the Quantity in Stock directly depends upon invoice and purchase order.

The quantity in stock changes based on the conditions listed below:

• The quantity in stock increases when a purchase order is delivered.

• The quantity in stock decreases when an already delivered purchase order is canceled.

• The quantity in stock decreases with an invoice creation (this includes when a quote or sales order is converted to an invoice).

• The quantity in stock increases with an invoice cancellation.

2. Quantity Ordered

Quantity Ordered denotes the quantity of the product that has been ordered by a customer. This value is directly dependant on the PO and changes on the conditions listed below:

• The quantity ordered increases when a purchase order is created.

• The quantity ordered decreases when a purchase order is delivered or canceled.

One View in Purchase Orders

One View widget is a one-stop destination to view all the important modules related to PO.
One view widget in the PO module will show the following details:

• Related Contact details- Parent contact details

• Related Organization details- Parent company Acme details are shown in this widget

• Related Deal data- Parent Deal from which this PO is created

• Related Vendor- Related Vendor details generated from this PO

• Related Invoice- Related Invoice details generated from this PO

• Related Document details- Details of the document that is attached to the PO.

To learn more about One view in Vtiger CRM, click here.