The Purchase Order (PO) function helps in simplifying communications and ongoing processes related to the issuers. The management of POs spans from the creation of the order to the issuance of COC (Certificate of Completion).
Managing orders is done through the PO page in the Warehouse module. Here, all the POs in different completion statuses, can be accessed. These orders are linked to different issuers. All the POs' assemblies, approval processes and the orders themselves are assisted by automatisms implemented into CO3.
The Purchase orders addon is accessible in the Warehouse module as a paid feature.
Creating POs can be done in two ways:
Technical POs can be accessed from the Purchase orders list page. A technical PO gets automatically created, if a given product was placed under automated stock watch, and the product gets below the set stock limit. These products gets placed onto a Technical PO. A Technical PO cannot be sent to the issuer, or neither can it be deleted. A Technical PO has a special PO number. However, its contents can be broken up, placed onto a new PO, the item rows can be modified or deleted. Thus the ordering of the items on a Technical PO is constantly guaranteed.
POs have distinct and unique serial numbers starting with the letters "PO". Through approval and ordering workflows, the POs are given different statuses, which can be tracked and viewed in the Purchase orders list. The list can be filtered and sorted by different conditions, and it can even be exported. The statuses of the POs are marked by different color codes, which help in distinguishing the different POs.
The task connected to a PO's current status can be done in the appropiate workflow phase. The PO then can be forwarded to the next workflow phase. Before forwarding the PO, comments can be added to the workflow, and the colleauges, who will receive the forwarded PO, can be selected. The phases, the added comments, and the person forwarding and the person receiving the PO can be tracked from minute to minute in the workflow history, linked to the PO.
The steps and phases of a given PO are recorded in the PO's workflow history section. Every user, every comment, every step, and everything that helped to advance the PO to another phase are recorded and stored in the workflow history. The workflow history section is hidden by default, but it can be expanded by clicking the "+" button.
After creating it, the PO undergoes different steps or phases of approval in the process of approval. In some steps, the process can be cancelled and be sent back for maintenance. If the PO somehow gets cancelled by the issuer, then it can be closed by giving the PO the "closed" status.
The process of approval makes the recording of the issuer's possible. It also enables the user to check the stock given by the issuer and to automatically take in. The last status of a PO is CoC (Certificate of Completion), which then can be forwarded to the supplier.
Documents can be attached at the end of every PO. The attached documents are accessible through the PO's screen, and they are also visible in the PO's folder, in the Documents module. The attachment section of the PO is hidden by default, but can be expanded by the click of a button.
If a PO is sent as an email, a PDF made of the PO and every attached document will also be sent to the address.
In case of the ordered products arrival, the inspection of the products listed on the PO will can be done. After a successful inspection, a take in can be initiated with the full or only a selected amount of products. After the take in, the take in form will be automatically filled in.
In the Documents module, after every recorded PO, a folder with the PO's serial number will be created. The folder contains every document attached to the PO which will then be digitally registered and stored. With the help of this process, the management of a PO's attached documents has been simplified and the viewing and further managing has been made easier.
When adding an expense item to a PO, the PO's serial number can be added through the the expense item's screen. If the PO's serial number was set in the above mentioned way, the PO will then appear as a link on the expense item's screen. Clicking the link will transfer the user to the realted PO's screen. In the top right row of the PO, the expense item's serial number will also appear as a link. When clicked, the expense item's screen will pop up. In case of the absence of an expense item in the PO, the text "No attached invoice" will appear.
A connection similiar to the one above will be made between the related take-ins an POs.
POs can have multiple expense items linked. However, a PO can only have on take-in. When linking an expense item the system will automatically recount the related take-in's expenses. Thus, for example, a shipment order's expense can be split up and placed onto different taken-in items.