New Purchase Order

This article will discuss purchase orders, including accompanying tools, reports, and processes. The display will default to the open tab. You will be able to view all (Open, Pending, Credit, Closed, Posted, AP Export, Sub Rental) purchase orders at a glance by selecting the appropriate tab.

Topics in this article include 

• Getting There

• Navigating the Purchase Order Dashboard

  • Customize Columns
  • Toolbar

• Writing a Purchase Order

• Reorder Inventory Selection Screen

• Creating a Transfer from Inventory Selection

• Purchase Order

Getting There

Expert: Program Menu > Purchase Orders
Elite: Left Menu > Purchase Orders

Navigating the Purchase Order Dashboard

The PO Dashboard allows you to view, manage, and modify PO at a glance.

Customizing Columns

You can reorder, hide, or insert columns into the dashboard. Follow the steps below to learn more. 

1. Above the first row on the purchase orders dashboard, you will see a blue (or green if in Elite) header bar. Right-clicking this bar lets you select the columns you want to view on the main page of purchase orders. 

   
    

2. Check the columns to make them visible. Uncheck them to hide them. You can reorder them by using the Move Up and Move Down options. 

   
    

3. Press Save to save your changes. 

Toolbar

There are four options in the toolbar: Tools, Reports, Options, and Look Up. 

Tools

(Classic View)
 

Reports

Options

Filter By 

Writing a Purchase Order

Follow the steps below.

1. From Tools in the upper right corner of the screen, select New PO.

2. You will need to select a vendor for the purchase order. You can look up a vendor by the first part of their name, the contact person’s name, the products offered, or the computer-assigned vendor number. If you use a lookup other than vendor number, you will see a screen listing all vendors that match the entered lookup.

   
      

3. Simply click on the desired vendor to select. If the vendor does not exist, then click on the Add button to create a new vendor. 

4. Add items to the Purchase Order. Once you have selected the vendor, a screen will be displayed showing all the items previously purchased from this vendor that need to be reordered. For more information on this window, see the article Items from Vendor.

   
      

5. You can select items or click Cancel.

6. If you select cancel, you can use the special order and parts lookup buttons to find items to add to your purchase order.

7. Once everything is added to your purchase order and you are satisfied, select OK. Note: Items must be set up correctly in File Maintenance. The bulk items option must be checked in the options tab of the item record, and the serialized option must be unchecked. For optimum use, the reorder minimum and maximum must also be set.

Reorder Inventory Selection Screen
 

Use Dynamic Reorder Value - This option allows the reorder point to be dynamically computed from the number of items sold for the time selected. If you select this option, you must select the beginning and ending dates to calculate the quantity sold. The computer will then go through all the sales for the items for that time period to calculate the total quantity sold. This number will then be checked against the quantity on hand. If you don’t have sufficient quantity on hand to fulfill the same demand as last year, the quantity necessary will be listed in the reorder column with a red background.
 

Show Items within 0% of reorder - With this box checked, only those items whose reorder quantity is within the percentage entered will be displayed. For example, if the percentage entered is zero, then only those items that need to be reordered will be displayed.
 

Show Items with 0 min reorder - With this box checked, all items will be displayed for this vendor. With this box unchecked, only items that have something other than 0 in their minimum reorder value will be displayed.
 

Show Rental Items - With this box checked, both resale and rental items will be displayed. With this box unchecked, only resale items will be displayed. This option is not available if Use Dynamic Reorder is selected.
 

Show All Stores - With this box checked, items from all stores will be displayed. With this box unchecked, only the items from your store will be displayed. This option is only available for multi-store systems.
 

Create PO with Reorder Quantities - This button will put all the items listed as needing to be reordered on to your purchase order. The quantity entered on the purchase order will be the reorder quantity modified for any case quantities or maximum reorder value. After the items have been put on the purchase order, you will be able to modify the order quantity or add other items.
 

Done - This button will take you to the purchase order screen.
 

Creating a Transfer From Inventory Selection
 

Rather than ordering sales or parts items, a user can view the quantities of these items at other stores and alternatively create a transfer right from this screen.
 

1. To initiate this, select the store being ordered from in the store drop down. This will reveal a secondary drop down to select what store you would like to transfer from.

The inventory list will modify itself to display the quantities and available items in the transfer from store.
 

• You will only be able to transfer items with available quantities.

• The items available for transfer will automatically be checked, but you can uncheck those you would prefer not to transfer.

• You can only transfer the available quantity, even if your reorder quantity is greater.

2. Select Create Transfer.
 

3. Select a transfer date.
 

Purchase Order
 

Read through this topic to learn about the purchase order layout. Each area is labeled.

Vendor
 

Name - This is the name of the vendor you are ordering the items from.
 

Account - This is the account number associated with the vendor.
 

Phone - This is the phone number associated with the vendor.
 

Modify - This is used to modify the vendor record.

Shipping
 

Ship Method - This indicates the method with which the ordered items are to be shipped (UPS, Ground, etc.).
 

Ship To - This is the name of the place the items are being shipped to.
 

Address - This is the address the items are being shipped to.
 

City, State - This is the city and state the items are being shipped to.
 

Zip - This is the zip code the items are being shipped to.
 

Estimated Arrival Time - This is an optional date field that holds the anticipated arrival date of the requested item.

Information
 

PO # - This is the number the system assigns to the purchase order (used for referencing, opening, closing, inquire, modify).
 

Order Date - This is the date the purchase order was created.
 

Ordered By - This is the operator who created the purchase order.
 

Invoice Number - This is the invoice from the vendor. This is not normally filled in until the PO is received and the packing slip has the invoice number.
 

Received Box - With this box checked, the invoice has been marked as received. This is also viewable from the dashboard.
 

Rejected Box - Used to denote if an invoice was rejected. This is also viewable from the dashboard. When an invoice is rejected, the user will be prompted to enter a reason and a notification will be sent to the employee that wrote it.
 

Invoice Date - This is the date the invoice was entered.
 

Reference Number - This is the number you will use to reference your purchase orders. Type in the vendor's quote number in the reference number search and the purchase order will be displayed.
 

Payment Method - This allows you to select the payment method from the drop-down menu. New payment methods can be entered through PO Payment Methods:

Expert: Program Menu > Configuration > Accounting Configurations > PO Payment Methods
Elite: Configuration Gear > App Configurations > Accounting Configurations > PO Payment Methods
 

Pending - With this box checked, the purchase items will be placed in a pending status. Normally, items in a pending status are waiting for approval from a supervisor due to a dollar amount or a higher authorization being needed.

Items
 

Key - This is the item key.
 

Number - This is the number assigned to the item by the computer. If this is a non-inventory item, the item number will be 0.
 

Name - This is the name of the item. If you double click on the name field, the inventory record will be displayed. If this is a non-inventory item, you will be given the opportunity to change the name.
 

Part Number - This is the part number of the item. If you double click on the part number field, you will be able to change the part number.
 

Note: This does not change the part number in the item record. It will only change the part number on the purchase order.
 

Qty - This is the quantity ordered. If you double click on the quantity field, you will be able to change the quantity ordered.
 

Received - This is the quantity received. If you double click on the received field, you will be able to change the received quantity.
 

Cases - This is the number of cases ordered. This number is normally the same number as the quantity ordered; however, for items that are ordered in a case, the cases would be the quantity ordered divided by the case quantity. If you double click on the case quantity field, you will be able to change the number of cases ordered.
 

Note: Each item record has a field for case quantity. If that field is filled in, then the cases number will automatically be entered, rounding up to the nearest desired quantity in full case increments. Please note that the field rental case is for entering in the quantity for the case you rent out: for instance, you buy water goblets in cases of 36 (case quantity field), but the racks you send them out on rental in hold 25 each (rental case field).
 

Date Recvd - This is the date the items were received. This date is automatically defaulted to the current date whenever the item is received.
 

Price Each - This is the price for each individual item. If you double click on the Price Each field, you will be able to change the price.
 

Ext Price - This is the extended price which is the quantity ordered times the price each. This amount is automatically computed. If you double click on the Ext Price field, you will be able to change the extended price. Once you do this, the individual price each will be recomputed by dividing the extended price by the quantity ordered.
 

Expense To - This is a user entered format field for multiple store systems, this would normally be the store number. For single store systems, you can type something or leave it blank. If you double click on the Expense To field, G/L account number field, or the comments field, you will get the following screen:
 

Bin Location - This will display the bin location from the item record.

G/L Account - When adding an item to a PO, Point of Rental will default to the category sales inventory/equipment GL. If that account has not been used before the program will add it to the list of PO GL accounts for future use. If there is a prior purchase for the item, the GL used on the previous purchase will automatically be used moving forward. If the item has never been purchased before (or if you would like to change the GL), the user can manually set the GL.
 

Line Comments - This is a free format user entered field that can include any information that you want to store about this line item. To access it, double click in the field.

 

By right clicking on any of the line items, a menu will be displayed with the following menu options:
 

View Item Record - This option displays the item record. It is not available for non-inventory items.
 

Change Sell Price - This option allows you to change the sell price for this item.
 

Note: Depending on the password level required to modify the sell price, you might be required to enter a password. You can change the password level under Security > Data File Security.
 

Line Comments - This option allows for one line of comments to be entered for the line item.
 

Print Label - This option will print a barcode label for the item. This is useful during receiving to print labels for all the items received.
 

Add Item - This option allows for non-inventory items to be added to the inventory. This option is only available for non-inventory items that have not yet been received.
 

Modify - This button is used to modify the vendor record.
 

Export to Spreadsheet - Exports your items to a spreadsheet.

 

Bottom options

Items for Vendor - This button is used to show all the items that have this vendor marked in its item record. This is the same screen that is displayed when the purchase order is first opened.
 

Inventory Item - This button is used to select an inventory item. The selection is the same method as elsewhere in the program. This selection is useful if you haven’t set the associated vendor in each item record.
 

Note: If you are searching for a non-rental asset, check the 'parts' box and leave 'sales' and 'rental' unchecked for the item to appear. Non-rental assets aren't typically ordered often. The purpose of these search requirements was to make it harder for a user to mistakenly order them.
 

Non-inventory - This button is used to add items to the purchase order that are not a stocked item (i.e., toilet paper and soap). When you select this option, you will be asked to enter the item name, part number, quantity to order, and purchase price. If you do not want to add another item, just leave the item name blank and press Enter.
 

Special Order - This button is used to order special order items. When you select this option, you will be asked to enter the item's Key, Name, Part Number, Manufacturer, Mode, Purchase Price, Sell Price, Category, and Vendor Number. You will have an option of checking a box to make the item a header record.
 

Totals

Subtotal - This is the total of the extended prices for all the line items on this purchase order.
 

Tax - This is the total amount of tax charged on this purchase order.
 

Shipping - This is the total amount of shipping charges on this purchase order.
 

Miscellaneous - This is any other amounts associated with this purchase order.
 

You can allocate the shipping charges, taxes, and miscellaneous charges over the items on the purchase order by checking the box in:

Expert: Program Menu > Configuration > System Configurations > Parameters > Accounting > Include Extra Charges in Inventory and/or Capitalize Extra Charges

Elite: Configuration Gear > App Configurations > System Configurations > Parameters > Accounting > Include Extra Charges in Inventory and/or Capitalize Extra Charges

The extra charge amount will show on the purchase line of the inventory item but will not be included in the inventory value without this setting being checked. Extra amount charge amounts will show on the purchase line regardless of this setting being checked.
 

Total - This is the grand total price of the purchase order including tax, shipping, and miscellaneous charges.
 

Note: The sales tax, shipping charges, and miscellaneous charges will be distributed to the extra charges for each line item on the purchase order. The amount of extra charges attributed to each line item will be the price each divided by the purchase order subtotal. That number is then multiplied by the tax amount plus shipping charges plus miscellaneous charges.

Print - This button will print the purchase order. This option will not be enabled until a purchase order has been created and given a purchase order number. You have three print format options: Brief, Semi-Detailed, and Detailed.
 

Note: ‘~’ placed in the first position of any line in a Purchase Order Note will prevent that line from printing on a PO. You can separate lines by pressing the Enter key.
 

OK - This button will accept the changes made to the purchase order and return you to the main purchase order menu.
 

Apply - This button will save the changes that you have made to the purchase order on your hard drive. You can use this button to assign a purchase order number before you are finished writing the purchase order. This is helpful when you are calling in an order to a vendor and you want to give them a purchase order number without writing the entire purchase order while the vendor waits.

Apply and Set Pricing -  This feature is available to Elite users on versions 2025.17 and above. When you choose "Apply and Set Pricing," the Price Change Review screen opens and defaults to showing all items on the PO, not just those with purchase price changes. This helps you update sell prices for every item in one pass.