Purchase orders and approvals

Create POs, understand the owner-approval threshold, and follow an order to delivery.

A purchase order (PO) is the formal order you place with a vendor — the items, quantities, rates, and where to deliver. A PO starts in one of two ways: a manager approves a purchase request in Requisitions (each vendor’s lines become one PO), or you build one directly from Purchase orders → New PO.

Note: New to the terms here (PR, PO, GRN, vendor catalogue)? See the Glossary.

Create a PO directly

1. Go to Purchase orders and tap New PO.
2. Under Add items, search warehouse stock and add lines. Each line shows current stock against par, and quantities step in whole packs where packs are set up.
3. You don’t pick a vendor by hand — each item routes to its preferred vendor at the catalogue rate, and a mixed cart splits into one PO per vendor when you issue. If an item has no vendor, the summary flags it — add one to the vendor’s catalogue first or remove the line.
4. Choose Deliver to. Orders normally deliver centrally (warehouse or Central Kitchen), but you can pick an outlet marked · direct — stock then posts straight to that outlet on receipt, skipping the warehouse hop.
5. Check the order summary, then tap Issue PO (or Issue N orders for a mixed cart).

Two quiet warnings can appear while you build the order:

• The expiry flag — if stock you already hold at the delivery location is due to expire and covers the quantity you’re ordering, the line shows a note like “3.5 kg expires by Tue — this order may arrive after you’ve had to bin it.” It never blocks you; it just asks whether you really need to reorder yet.
• The vendor freshness line — each vendor card can show “FRESH 74%”, meaning deliveries from this vendor typically arrive with 74% of shelf life left. A short-dating tag appears when that falls below your organisation’s floor.

The approval threshold

Owners set a rupee limit under Settings → PO Approval Threshold (owner-only). When you issue a PO:

• Below the limit — the PO goes to the vendor straight away using the vendor’s saved contacts. The vendor cards say Issues directly to vendor.
• At or above the limit — the PO stops at Pending Approval instead of going out, and appears in the owner’s Approvals queue.

Note: if no threshold has been set, every PO waits for owner approval.

Approve as an owner

The Approvals page (owners only) lists every PO held for sign-off, with the value held, the current threshold, and a checkbox per row.

• Open a PO to review its lines, then tap Approve & Send — approval and sending to the vendor happen in one step.
• Or tap Send back — the PO returns to draft for the manager to revise and resubmit. Sent-back POs show under Pending in Purchase orders with a Sent back tag.
• To clear several at once, tick the rows and use Approve N / Reject N from the bar at the bottom. Warning: approving commits the selected value to vendors — the POs are sent the moment you approve.

Print or save the PO

Open the order and tap Download PO, then Print / download — your browser’s “Save as PDF” gives you the file. The printed PO is a proper A4 document with both parties’ details and GSTIN, and it includes the creator’s signature block (“Authorised”) for vendors who want a signed copy.

The life of a PO

You can cancel a PO with Cancel order while it is draft, pending approval, or sent. Warning: cancelling can’t be undone — you’d raise a new order to reorder. Once any delivery has been received against the PO, cancelling is blocked; lines can’t be edited after issue either, so cancel and re-raise if the order is wrong.

Related pages

• Sending and resending to the vendor is its own step — see Send a PO to a vendor.
• Receiving the goods happens on the GRN screen — see Confirm GRN.