Purchase orders
A purchase order (PO) is your formal commitment to buy from a vendor. Confirming a PO triggers expectations: the vendor ships, you receive, then you pay against their bill.
Lifecycle
Draft RFQ ──send──▶ Sent ──confirm──▶ PO ──receive──▶ Done ──bill──▶ Paid
│
└─cancel──▶ CancelledCreating a PO
Purchase → Purchase Orders → Create.
| Field | What |
|---|---|
| Vendor | Pick or create |
| Order date | Today |
| Expected receipt date | When goods should arrive (auto-from vendor lead time) |
| Currency | Vendor's currency |
| Order lines | Products + quantities + prices |
| Incoterms | Optional — for international shipping clarity |
For each line:
| Column | What |
|---|---|
| Product | Auto-fills price from product / vendor list |
| Description | Free text or product name |
| Quantity | What you're ordering |
| Unit price | From the product's vendor list, override allowed |
| Taxes | Auto-applied based on product + vendor fiscal position |
| Analytic | Optional cost-centre allocation |
Send to vendor
Two phases:
| Stage | What |
|---|---|
| Draft RFQ | Internal — request for quotation. Send by email to get the vendor's quote |
| Confirm | After the vendor responds with prices, confirm the PO. The PO commits you to the order |
Most simple flows skip the RFQ stage and go straight to PO.
Receiving goods
When the goods arrive:
- Inventory auto-creates a stock picking linked to the PO
- The warehouse validates the picking (confirming quantities received)
- Stock arrives in the destination warehouse
- The PO line is marked received
For partial deliveries, validate the partial — PLANA creates a back-order for the remainder.
Three-way match
When the vendor sends a bill, you reconcile against the PO:
- PO says: you'll buy X at price Y
- Receipt says: you received Z of X at warehouse W
- Bill says: vendor charged you P for Z
If P ≠ Y or Z ≠ what the bill claims, it's flagged. See Three-way match for the details.
Auto-generated POs
For reorder rules (see Inventory → Reordering rules), PLANA can auto-generate draft POs when stock drops below the threshold. You review and confirm — the human stays in the loop for the final commit.
Cancelling a PO
Action menu → Cancel → confirm.
- Reservations are released
- The stock picking is cancelled
- If a bill was started, it's marked draft (you have to handle that separately)
Cancelled POs stay in the record for audit; they're filtered out of default views.