Purchase Orders

A purchase order (PO) records what you have ordered from a supplier, for which warehouse, at what cost and tax, and when you expect it. A purchase order never moves stock by itself: stock only increases when you post a Goods Receipt against it. The order then tracks what has been received, what remains and what is on backorder.

Use purchase orders so that warehouse staff can receive deliveries at agreed costs without being able to change valuation, and so you can follow backorders and supplier performance. Supplier bills and payments are entered in SolaCount, not here.

Typical users: purchasing staff and inventory managers draft orders; owners, administrators or managers approve them; warehouse staff receive against them.

Where to find it

• The menu item is shown to anyone who can view stock balances.
• Creating and editing drafts needs Create and edit purchase orders in assigned warehouses; approving and cancelling needs Approve and cancel purchase orders in assigned warehouses; Create GRN needs Receive approved purchase orders. See Permissions.
• Purchase orders are a plan feature. Without it, saving shows "This SolaStock feature is not available for the current plan or entitlement state."

The purchasing flow

1. Add the supplier once (Suppliers).
2. Create the purchase order as a Draft.
3. Approve it. It becomes read-only and ready to receive.
4. When goods arrive, click Create GRN on the order, check quantities and post the goods receipt.
5. The order moves to Partially received or Received; open quantities stay on Backorders.

Screen tour: the purchase order list

The page is titled Purchase Orders, with the note "Purchase orders do not move stock. Receive against them through Goods Receipts."

• Header (top-right): New PO.
• Filters, search, paging, export: none. The list shows the 50 most recent orders for your warehouses, newest first. For receipts history use the Receiving Report in Reports.
• Row action: click the PO number. No row menu or bulk actions.

Empty state: No purchase orders — "Create one to order from a supplier."

Statuses and lifecycle

Draft → Approved → Partially received → Received, or → Cancelled from any status except Received. Reversing a goods receipt rolls the order back (for example from Received to Partially received or Approved). Purchase orders cannot be deleted.

Create a purchase order

1. Go to Purchasing → Purchase Orders and click New PO (top-right). The page is titled New purchase order.

2. Fill in the header:

   Field	Required	Rules / defaults	Notes
   Transaction currency	Yes	A list of your enabled currencies, defaulting to the base currency (for example AED).	The currency of the order's prices.
   PO number	—	Placeholder Auto-generated if left blank.	SolaStock always assigns the next number (PO-000001, …); a typed value is ignored, on create and on edit.
   Supplier	No (recommended)	Supplier… — all suppliers as CODE · Name.	Needed for supplier performance and SolaCount matching. Inactive suppliers are listed too.
   Warehouse	Yes	Your assigned warehouses only. On a new order your organization's default warehouse is pre-selected when you may use it.	The warehouse that will receive the goods.
   Order date	No	Defaults to today in your own calendar day (not shifted by the time zone).	Starts the lead-time calculation.
   Expected date	No	A date.	Shown as Expected; used for the on-time rate and backorder dates.
   Notes	No	Free text.	For example the supplier's quote number.

3. Add lines under Lines (+ Add line; × removes a line):

   Column	Required	Rules / defaults	Notes
   Item	Yes	Active items (SKU · Name).	Order inventory items only: service and non-inventory items cannot be received into stock. Items whose Available for purchase box is unticked are not offered, and saving a line with one is refused: "This item is not available for purchase."
   Quantity	Yes	Greater than zero.	In the chosen unit.
   Unit	No	Blank = the item's Base unit.	Pick a purchase unit (for example a carton of 24); it is converted to the base unit using the item's unit conversion.
   Unit cost	No	0 or more, up to 4 decimals.	Price per chosen unit, excluding tax.
   Tax	No	Defaults to your Default purchase tax (Settings). Options: No tax and active purchase tax codes, shown as CODE · 5% or CODE · Exempt / Zero-rated / Out of scope.
   Line total	—	Calculated: quantity × unit cost + tax.

4. Check the totals under the lines: Net, Tax, Total.

5. Click Create PO (bottom-right), or Cancel.

You see "Purchase order created." and land on the order with status Draft. If no line has an item and quantity you see "Add at least one line." Other errors show as "Save failed." or the field message (for example "You are not assigned to this warehouse.").

Screen tour: the purchase order page

• Header buttons (top-right, left to right): Edit (drafts), Approve (drafts, approvers only), Create GRN (approved or partially received orders with quantity remaining; greyed out without receiving permission), Cancel (red; any status except Received/Cancelled, approvers only).

• Summary panel: Supplier, Warehouse, Order date, Expected, Open backorder, Net, Tax, Total.

• Tabs:

  Tab	Contents
  Lines	Item (name · SKU), Ordered (base units, with the entered quantity and unit in brackets, for example 48 (2 CTN)), Received, Remaining, Backorder, Unit cost (per base unit), Tax (code · amount), Line total.
  Backorders	Open quantity per item: Item, Open quantity, Expected, Status (Open / Closed). Empty: No open backorders — "All approved quantities have been received, or the purchase order is not yet approved."
  Linked GRNs (n)	Goods receipts created from this order: GRN (link), Date, Status. Empty: No goods receipts yet — "Create a goods receipt to receive stock."
  Audit	"Purchase-order creation, approval, and cancellation events are recorded in the audit log."

Edit a draft purchase order

1. Open the draft and click Edit. The page is titled Edit purchase order.
2. Change currency, supplier, warehouse, dates, notes or lines.
3. Click Save changes. You see "Purchase order updated."

The PO number never changes. Only drafts can be edited: opening the edit link of any other order returns you to it with "Only draft purchase orders can be edited."

Approve a purchase order

1. Open the draft and click Approve (top-right). Users without approval permission don't see the button.
2. Confirm Approve purchase order? — "Approval allows receiving against this purchase order. The order then becomes read-only except for its receiving status." Click Approve.

You see "Purchase order approved." Status Approved; every line opens a backorder for its full quantity. If your organization is connected to SolaCount, approval is refused until the order's items, units, warehouse, supplier and tax codes are mapped, and a Purchase order approved event is sent once it succeeds. Finish mappings under Admin → SolaCount.

Cancel a purchase order

1. Open the order (Draft, Approved or Partially received) and click Cancel (red, top-right).
2. Confirm Cancel purchase order? — "This marks the purchase order as cancelled. Posted goods receipts are unaffected." Click Cancel PO.

You see "Purchase order cancelled." Open backorders are closed as cancelled. Stock already received stays in stock. Draft goods receipts for the order can no longer be posted by warehouse staff. Cancelled orders cannot be reopened; create a new order if needed.

Receive against the order

Click Create GRN (top-right). The goods receipt form opens prefilled with the remaining quantities and costs. See Goods Receipts for the steps. After posting, the order's Received, Remaining and Backorder figures update and the status moves to Partially received or Received. Accepting more than the remaining quantity is blocked.

If something fails

The order forms have no "Check current status" notice: if saving fails, an error notice appears and you stay on the form. If you are unsure whether an order was created (for example after a connection drop), open Purchase Orders and look for it before clicking Create PO again, to avoid a duplicate order. Approve and cancel ask for confirmation and are safe to retry: approving an order that is no longer a draft is refused with "Only a draft PO can be approved."

Permissions

Everyone except owners and SolaStock Administrators only sees and acts on orders for warehouses they are assigned to; other warehouses are refused with "You are not assigned to this warehouse." "Guarded" receiving means the receiver cannot change costs, items or warehouse (see Goods Receipts).

Worked example 1: a simple order

Al Noor Trading LLC orders 200 cartons of Water 500ml x24 (WAT-24) for Dubai Main.

1. Omar Haddad opens Purchasing → Purchase Orders → New PO.
2. Transaction currency AED, Supplier SUP-GULFAQUA · Gulf Aqua Supplies LLC, Warehouse Dubai Main, Order date 2026-10-01, Expected date 2026-10-07.
3. Line: WAT-24, Quantity 200, Unit cost 18.00, Tax VAT5 · 5%. Totals: Net 3,600.00, Tax 180.00, Total 3,780.00.
4. Create PO → PO-000042, Draft. He clicks Approve → Approve. Status Approved; Backorder 200.

Worked example 2: purchase unit, approval by another person, partial delivery

1. Sara Khan (Inventory Manager, assigned to Jebel Ali) drafts PO-000043 for Jebel Ali from Spice Route Trading FZE: Cardamom 250g (CAR-250, base unit PCS, carton CTN = 24 PCS), Quantity 10, Unit CTN, Unit cost 360.00 per carton, Tax VAT 5%. Net 3,600.00, Tax 180.00, Total 3,780.00. She has no Approve button.

2. Omar Haddad (owner) opens it, sees Ordered 240 (10 CTN) and Unit cost 15.0000 per piece, and clicks Approve.

3. On 9 October Sara clicks Create GRN; 6 cartons arrived. She posts a receipt for 6 CTN.

4. The order now shows:

   Ordered	Received	Remaining	Backorder	Status
   240 (10 CTN)	144	96	96	Partially received

   Linked GRNs (1) lists the receipt; Backorders shows 96 open with expected date 2026-10-12.

5. The supplier says the rest is discontinued. Omar clicks Cancel → Cancel PO. Status Cancelled; the backorder closes; the 144 pieces stay in stock.

How it connects

• Suppliers: order counts, open orders, lead time and on-time rate. See Suppliers.
• Goods Receipts: receiving updates received quantities, backorders and status; reversing a receipt rolls them back. See Goods Receipts.
• Items and Settings: units and conversions come from items; tax codes and the default purchase tax from Settings. See Items, Settings.
• Reports: the Receiving Report lists goods receipts by date range. See Reports.
• SolaCount: approval needs mappings when connected and sends a Purchase order approved event; the supplier bill is entered in SolaCount and matched to the receipt. See SolaCount integration.

Tips and common problems

Related

• Suppliers
• Goods Receipts
• Items
• Warehouses
• Current Stock
• Reports
• Settings
• Team access
• SolaCount integration
• Receiving Requests · Supplier Returns · Landed Costs