Send a purchase order and receive the items

Move a supplier purchase order from draft to approved, send it to the supplier, record the items as they arrive, and match the supplier's bill.

In the sidebar, open Sales & Billing, then Purchasing, then Purchase Orders. The page address is /purchase-orders.

Every order moves through the same steps: draft, submitted, approved, sent, received. The Next step box on the order shows only the step that is available now. Move an order forward only when that has really happened in the world.

Before you start

• Submitting, approving, sending and receiving are separate permissions. If a button in Next step is missing, your role does not have that one. Ask your admin.

Steps

1. On a Draft order, press Submit for approval. If the button is greyed out, hover it: the order still needs a supplier, a destination or a complete line.
2. Someone with approval rights opens the Submitted order and presses Approve.
3. On the Approved order, press Send to supplier. A dialog asks How was the order sent?
   • Email through Nova: type the Supplier email and press Email purchase order. Nova sends the PDF and records the delivery.
   • Send it myself / download PDF: use this when you phone the order in or hand over the PDF. Type a note and press Mark sent manually.
   • Ordered in another system: use this for a supplier portal. Type the confirmation and press Mark ordered externally.
4. When the delivery arrives, press Receive items. In Record received items, type only the quantity that arrived on each line, then press Record receipt. Nova keeps the order open as Partially received while quantities remain, and marks it Received when everything is in.
5. When the supplier's invoice arrives, press Create vendor bill under Vendor bill matching and copy the figures from the supplier's paperwork. (On a cancelled order the button reads Create bill for received items.)

What you see

• Ordered and received lists every line with the quantity ordered, the quantity received and the expected cost.
• Vendor bill matching compares what was ordered, received and billed so the office can spot a mismatch before paying.
• PDF opens the supplier-facing copy at any stage.
• Cancel PO appears on any order that is not yet fully received. Use it only when the supplier will not fulfil the order. Its history is kept.
• A cancelled order offers Create replacement, which makes a fresh draft linked to the old one. Receipts, approvals and bills are not copied.

If something looks different

• Send to supplier is greyed out on an order linked to a work order: the customer's payment for that work is not ready yet. The message beside the button explains.
• Receive items shows on an Approved order that was never sent: use it to record an order placed outside Nova.
• Discard draft is only offered on a draft. Once submitted, an order is cancelled instead.

Open Supplier Purchase Orders