---
title: "Purchase orders"
description: "Raise a purchase order, get it approved, email it to the supplier or submit it to a distributor, drop ship it to a client, and cancel or close it."
url: "https://support.outpostplatform.com/procurement/purchase-orders/"
product: "depot"
type: "how-to"
status: "draft"
ai_summary: "Procurement > Purchase orders: draft with supplier, ship to a location or drop ship to a client site (MSP), lines, freight, fees, tax. Optional approval threshold in Procurement > Settings. Editing an approved order returns it to draft. Send by email, or submit to a distributor with live ordering on and the total confirmed. Statuses, tracking, cancel, close."
availability:
  plans: ["home-lab", "essentials", "enterprise", "msp"]
  permission: "procurement:write"
  preview: false
source: "https://gitlab.com/outpostplatform/docs/-/edit/main/src/content/docs/procurement/purchase-orders.md"
license: "CC BY 4.0"
---

# Purchase orders

A purchase order is what your organization asks a supplier to sell you. This
page covers raising one, the optional approval step, ordering it by email or
through a distributor, drop shipping to a client, and closing it out. When the
goods arrive, see [Receive deliveries](/procurement/receiving/).

## Before you begin

- Raising and editing purchase orders needs `procurement:write`. Approving
  them, and submitting them to a distributor, needs `procurement:approve`.
- Add the supplier under **Procurement** > **Suppliers**. To email orders,
  enter the supplier's **Orders email**.
- Add at least one stock location. See
  [Inventory](/procurement/inventory/#set-up-locations).

## Set up purchasing

Select **Procurement** > **Settings**. Changing these settings needs
`procurement:approve`.

| Card | Setting | Default |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Numbering** | **Purchase order prefix**, **Receipt prefix**, and **Return prefix** | `PO-`, `RCV-`, and `RMA-` |
| **Approval** | **Purchase orders need approval before they are ordered**, and **From a total of**. Orders under that total are approved as they are finished. `0` sends every order for approval. | Off |
| **Bill matching** | **Price tolerance, percent** and **Freight tolerance**. See [Supplier bills](/procurement/supplier-bills/#how-the-match-works). | 2 percent and $25.00 |
| **Stock** | **Default receiving location**, **Draft purchase orders every hour for stock below its reorder point**, and **Hardware refresh age, months** | No default, off, and 48 |

## Add a supplier

1. Select **Procurement** > **Suppliers**, then **New supplier**.
2. Enter the **Name**, and optionally **Our account number**, **Orders
   email**, **Phone**, **Website**, and **Payment terms**.
3. If you order from this supplier through a distributor connection, choose it
   in **Distributor connection**. New purchase orders to the supplier then
   offer to submit through it. See [Distributor connections](/procurement/distributors/).
4. Select **Save supplier**.

**Currency** is for reference only. Every amount in Outpost is in your
organization's one currency, and nothing is converted.

What a supplier charges for an item is recorded on the item, on its
**Suppliers** card. See [Inventory](/procurement/inventory/#record-supplier-costs).

## Raise a purchase order

1. Select **Procurement** > **Purchase orders**, then **New purchase order**.
2. Choose the **Supplier**, and enter the **Supplier reference** if they gave
   you a quote or order number.
3. In **Ship to**, choose **One of our stock locations** and pick the
   **Location**. To have the supplier ship straight to a client, see
   [Drop ship to a client](#drop-ship-to-a-client).
4. Optionally, enter the **Expected** date, the **Tax** the supplier adds,
   and **Notes**, which are printed on the purchase order.
5. If the supplier has a distributor connection, **Order through** shows it.
   Choose **Email the supplier** to send the PDF instead.
6. Under **Lines**, select **Add a line** for each item. Pick the stock item,
   or **Not a stock item** for something you do not keep in stock, and enter
   the **Description**, **Supplier SKU**, **Unit cost**, and **Qty**.
   Picking a stock item fills in its name, part number, and last cost. When
   the line's supplier SKU or cost is empty, Outpost fills them from the
   item's recorded cost for that supplier.
7. When you have a distributor connection, the **Find at distributors** panel
   searches the synced distributor catalogs. Enter a SKU, a manufacturer part
   number, a UPC, or words from the description, select **Search**, then
   **Add** on a result to add it as a line with the distributor's SKU and
   cost. Costs and stock are as of the last catalog sync. See
   [Distributor connections](/procurement/distributors/#find-and-compare-at-distributors).
8. Select **Add freight** or **Add a fee** for charges that are not goods.
9. Select **Save draft**.

**Estimated total, with tax** shows what the order comes to. Nothing has gone
to the supplier yet.

A purchase order also starts as a draft when it is raised from a sales order
with **Buy for this order** (see [Sales orders](/msp/sales-orders/#buy-the-goods)),
drafted by the reorder run (see
[Inventory](/procurement/inventory/#reorder-automatically)), or built in a
distributor's PunchOut catalog with **Shop at** on the **Find at
distributors** panel (see
[Build an order in PunchOut](/procurement/distributors/#build-an-order-in-punchout)).

## Get it approved

On the draft, select **Request approval**. When the approval step is off, or
the total is under **From a total of**, the button reads **Approve and
finish**, and the order is approved at once.

A purchase order that needs approval shows **Waiting for approval** until
somebody with `procurement:approve` selects **Approve**, or **Send back** with
a reason in **Why**, which returns it to **Draft**.

Editing a purchase order that is waiting for approval or already approved
returns it to **Draft** and clears the approval. It must be approved again
before it is ordered.

## Order it

An approved purchase order is ordered in one of two ways.

### Send by email

Select **Send by email**. Outpost emails the purchase order as a PDF to the
supplier's **Orders email**, and the order shows **Sent**. Selecting it again
sends it again. If the supplier has no orders email, add one on the supplier
first. Select **PDF** to download the same document.

### Submit to a distributor

When the order goes through a distributor connection and live ordering is on
for that connection, select **Submit to** followed by the distributor's name.
The dialog shows the **Expected total**. Select **I confirm this order to**
followed by the distributor and the total, then **Place the order**.

The order is queued, then placed with the distributor, and its **Submission**
shows the result. A submission the distributor refuses, or that fails, returns
the order to **Approved** with the error shown, so you can fix it and submit
again. If the total changes after you open the dialog, the submission is
refused, so the amount you confirm is always the amount ordered.

When live ordering is off, the button is replaced by **Live ordering is off.
Open the connection**. See
[Turn on live ordering](/procurement/distributors/#turn-on-live-ordering).

:::caution
Submitting places a real order that costs money, and it cannot be called back
from Outpost. To change or cancel a submitted order, contact the distributor.
:::

## Drop ship to a client

On the MSP plan, a supplier can ship straight to a client's site. Nothing goes
into your stock.

1. In **Ship to**, choose **Drop ship to a client**.
2. Choose the **Client**, and in **Site** the client's site, or **The client's
   main address**.

When the delivery arrives, record it on the receive page as usual. The units
become assets in your register, then move into the client's register as
deployed when the sales order delivers them. See
[Receive deliveries](/procurement/receiving/#drop-ship-deliveries).

## Track the shipment

Shipments reported by a distributor appear under **Shipments and tracking**
on their own. To record one yourself, select **Add tracking**, and enter the
**Carrier**, **Tracking number**, **Tracking link**, **Shipped on**, and
**Expected delivery**.

## Cancel, close, or delete

| Action | When | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Delete draft** | A draft | Removes the order. |
| **Cancel order** | Before anything is received, and before a distributor accepts it | Cancels the order. Enter a **Reason**, which is kept on the record. Cancelling an emailed order does not tell the supplier, so contact them as well. |
| **Close** | Partly or fully received | Cancels whatever is still due and clears backorders. |

## Purchase order statuses

| Status | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| **Draft** | Being written. |
| **Waiting for approval** | Sent for approval. |
| **Approved** | Ready to order. |
| **Submitted** | Submitted to a distributor. |
| **Sent** | Emailed to the supplier. |
| **Partly received** | Some of it has arrived. |
| **Received** | Everything has arrived. |
| **Closed** | Finished. |
| **Canceled** | Canceled before anything arrived. |

A submitted order also shows its **Submission**: **Queued**, **Submitting**,
**Accepted by distributor**, **Rejected by distributor**, or **Submission
failed**.

## Verify

- After approval, the order shows **Approved**, with who approved it and when.
- After sending, it shows **Sent** and the time under **Emailed**. After
  submitting, **Submission** shows **Accepted by distributor** and the
  distributor's own order number.

## Next steps

- [Receive deliveries](/procurement/receiving/)
- [Supplier bills and the 3-way match](/procurement/supplier-bills/)