Purchase Orders
A purchase order (PO) is the document you raise to a vendor to order goods or services. It lists what you want, in what quantity, at what price, with taxes and a discount, and an expected delivery date. Once the vendor accepts and delivers, you convert the PO into a Bill.
Purchase Orders are completely separate from the Orders module. Purchase Orders go to vendors (buying); Orders go to contacts (selling).
This item appears if the Purchase module is enabled and your role has the View Purchase Order permission.
How to create a purchase order
- Go to Purchase → Purchase Order.
- Click Add Purchase Order.
- Choose the Vendor — the currency and exchange rate fill in from the vendor.
- Set the Order Date and Expected Delivery Date.
- Add your line items (see Line items).
- Set a Discount and tax handling, add a Note, and review the totals.
- Save with one of the buttons:
- Save — saves only.
- Save & Send — saves and emails the PO to the vendor.
- Save & Mark as Sent — saves and flags it as sent without emailing.
- Save Draft — saves it as a draft.
Purchase order fields
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Order Number | Auto | Pre-filled with the next number using your purchase prefix (e.g. PO#0019). |
| Vendor | Yes | Who you are ordering from. |
| Currency | No | Defaults to the vendor's currency. |
| Exchange Rate | Yes | Read-only, set from the currency. |
| Order Date | Yes | Defaults to today. |
| Expected Delivery Date | Yes | Defaults to today. |
| Delivery Address | No | One of your company addresses. |
| Calculate Tax | No | After Discount (default) or Before Discount — controls whether tax is worked out before or after the discount is applied. |
| Delivery Status | No | Not Started, In Transaction, Delivery Failed, Delivered. |
| Discount | No | A value plus a type — % (percent) or Amount (fixed). |
| Note | No | Free text shown on the PO. |
| Add File | No | Attach up to 10 files. |
Line items
Click Add Item (or pick a product) to add a row. Each row has:
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Description | Item name plus an optional summary. You can attach a per-item image. |
| HSN/SAC | Tax code (shown only if enabled in your invoice settings). |
| Qty | Quantity, with a unit selector. |
| Unit Price | Cost per unit (auto-filled from the product). |
| Tax | One or more taxes for the line. |
| Amount | Quantity × unit price (calculated). |
How totals are worked out
- Sub Total = the sum of all line amounts.
- Discount is applied at the order level — either a percentage of the sub total or a fixed amount.
- Tax is calculated per line. With After Discount, each line's taxable amount is first reduced by its share of the discount; with Before Discount, tax is calculated on the full line amount.
- Total = sub total − discount + tax.
You cannot set a discount larger than the sub total.
Statuses
A purchase order tracks several states:
- Order status: Draft, Open, Issued, Accepted, Rejected, Canceled, Closed.
- Delivery status: Not Started, In Transaction, Delivery Failed, Delivered. You change this from the PO. Once a PO is Delivered, its Edit and Delete actions are hidden — and for tracked goods, stock on hand increases by the ordered quantities.
- Billed status: Unbilled or Billed. Once a bill exists for the PO it becomes Billed and the "Convert to Bill" button disappears.
The purchase order detail page
The PO opens with three tabs — Overview, Files and History.
From the Overview you can:
- Edit (hidden once delivered).
- Delete (hidden once delivered).
- Download the PO as a PDF.
- Send — email the PO to the vendor (hidden if the PO is canceled).
- Mark as Sent — flag it as sent without emailing.
- Convert to Bill — shown at the top while the PO is still unbilled.
Converting a purchase order to a bill
When the goods or services arrive, click Convert to Bill on the PO's overview. This opens the Bill create form pre-filled with the PO's vendor, line items, discount and tax. Only un-billed POs can be converted, and each PO can back only one bill.
Permissions
| Action | Permission |
|---|---|
| View purchase orders | View Purchase Order |
| Add | Add Purchase Order |
| Edit | Edit Purchase Order |
| Delete | Delete Purchase Order |
How it connects
Purchase Order → Bill → Vendor Payment. Raise a PO to a vendor, mark it Delivered (which tops up stock for tracked goods), convert it to a Bill, then record a Vendor Payment against that bill.