About types of purchase orders

You can create normal purchase orders to order goods and services for retail, wholesale, production, stock replenishment, and other demands.

Products purchased on normal orders are generally received to the company's warehouses.

The quantities of items on such orders update the item's availability data.

With the item look-up dialog box, you can check the item availability at a particular warehouse.
With quantities on hand, available quantities, and quantities already on purchase orders in view, you can specify the appropriate quantity for the item.

You generally create normal purchase orders by using the Purchase orders (PO301000) window.
You select the type of the order as Normal and add the items to be purchased to the list; you can also add lines from an existing purchase order (or add the whole purchase order).
Also, to adjust the quantity of the item on the order, you can view the demand for the item (that is, the item's quantity specified on back orders or orders with Mark for purchase order check box selected).

By using the Create purchase orders (PO505000) window, you can create multiple normal purchase orders for available back orders or sales orders with lines that list items not currently available in the company's stock and that have the Mark for purchase order check box selected.

For more information on processing normal orders, see: About purchase order processing options

Orders of this type are available only if the Blanket and standard purchase orders functionality is enabled in the Enable/disable functionalities (CS100000) window.

Standard purchase orders are used as templates for normal orders.
If your company regularly purchases from a supplier the same list of products in the same quantities, you can create a standard purchase order with those items listed in the required quantities by using the Purchase orders (PO301000) window.

You can create multiple normal purchase orders that reference the standard purchase order.

To do this, you add the entire standard sales order to a new normal purchase order, or add several lines from the standard sales order to a normal purchase order and edit the resulting item quantities.

Unlike blanket purchase orders, standard orders have no expiration date, and their status does not change to Closed when all goods in the related normal orders are received.
The quantities of items on standard orders do not update the items' availability data.

Drop-ship purchase orders are used for goods that will be delivered directly from the supplier to the customer that ordered the goods from your company.
These goods are not received in the inventory at your company.
Orders of this type are available only if the Drop shipments functionality is enabled in the Enable/disable functionalities (CS100000) window.

To create a drop-ship purchase order, you create a new purchase order on the purchase orders window and select the Drop ship type.
If there are sales orders for the items your company plans to purchase from the supplier, you can create a drop-ship order by using the Create purchase orders (PO505000) window.
Once you select an item and a supplier for a new drop-ship order, sales orders (if they request the selected stock item and have the Mark for purchase order check box selected) are available for selection and can be added as document lines in the Create purchase orders (PO505000) window.
For details, see: Create a drop-ship order flow.

Blanket purchase orders are created for a longer time interval or a larger quantity of goods than your company currently needs.
You may choose to order goods in larger volumes for reserved stock if considerable volume discounts are offered or the specified goods are not always available from the supplier.
A blanket order has expiration date after which the order cannot be used for generating normal orders.
Orders of this type are available only if the Blanket and standard purchase orders functionality is enabled in the Enable/disable functionalities (CS100000) window.

A blanket order can be fulfilled through multiple normal orders.
To do this, you create purchase orders with the Normal type that reference the blanket order.
In this case, the open quantity on the blanket order is reduced by the quantity specified in the purchase orders with the Normal type, and the price is transferred to normal orders from the blanket order.
When the entire quantity of goods included in the blanket order is purchased and received through normal orders, the blanket order's status changes to Closed.