Illa Hardware is almost out of cement. Bio Gounou, the storekeeper, counts what is left in the warehouse and tells Madame Illa that 400 bags will be needed before the end of the month. Ciments du Littoral sells to Illa on credit, but Illa has agreed a ceiling with them and does not want a purchase to go out unchecked when it takes her above it. The same steps apply to any business that buys from a supplier and wants a manager to check the big purchases.

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Draft the purchase

Bio starts the purchase with Create a purchase. He picks the supplier, adds the lines (the product, its unit and the quantity) and enters the prices. There are two ways to price a purchase:
  • Price per line: each line carries its own unit cost, and Exowpee adds them up.
  • One total: the supplier gave a single amount for the whole purchase. Exowpee spreads it over the units bought.
He also says whether the purchase is on credit. Nothing is owed yet and no stock moves. While the purchase is a draft, Bio adds a missing line with Add purchase lines, fixes a quantity with Edit a purchase line, removes one with Remove a purchase line, and changes the date, the notes or the due date with Edit a purchase. He looks purchases up with List purchases and View a purchase, and lines with List purchase lines and View a purchase line. A draft that is not needed any more goes away with Delete a purchase.

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Submit it

When the purchase is ready, Bio submits it with Submit a purchase. If the purchase is within what Illa agreed with the supplier, it becomes active at once and the supplier invoice is recorded. If it goes over the supplier’s debt limit or purchase limit, Bio has to say that it needs approval, and the purchase then waits for Illa.

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Approve or reject

Illa sees the purchase and decides. Approve a purchase makes it active and records the supplier invoice. Reject a purchase sends it back: Bio can change the lines and submit it again. Goods can be received once the purchase is active: see Receive purchased goods. Before phoning the supplier, Illa wants a paper to send. She generates the form with Generate a purchase order form, and opens it again later with View a purchase order form. The form uses the company’s active template, see Document templates.

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The rules

  • The supplier must belong to the company.
  • Statuses include draft, awaiting approval, rejected, pending (active) and completed. Only a draft or a rejected purchase can be edited, lines included. In other statuses the change is refused.
  • The way of pricing follows the lines when the purchase is created, and cannot change later. If any line sends a unit cost, every line must, and the purchase totals are refused. Otherwise the purchase needs a total cost greater than 0, whether it includes VAT, and the VAT amount, and lines may not carry a unit cost or VAT rate.
  • When the VAT of the purchase is above zero, you must say whether it is recoverable.
  • A line’s unit must be distinct within the purchase, active and not archived. The last line of a purchase cannot be removed.
  • The reference, when given, must be unique among the company’s purchases.
  • A credit purchase needs a supplier that allows credit. A supplier with overdue debts blocks a new credit purchase unless the member has vendors.bypass_due_date_checks.
  • When a credit purchase is created without a due date, it is the purchase date (or today, when no date is given) plus the supplier’s payment terms, if those are above 0. When a purchase is edited, a due date is applied only to credit purchases. At creation, a due date sent for a purchase that is not on credit is stored as sent.
  • At submission, a credit purchase over the supplier’s debt limit or purchase limit is refused unless it is marked as needing approval. Members with vendors.bypass_debt_limits skip this check. A purchase marked as needing approval but within the limits becomes active directly.
  • Only a purchase awaiting approval can be approved or rejected.
  • The supplier invoice amount is recorded when the purchase becomes active, the first time. No stock moves and no accounting entry is created by any action on this page.
  • Only a draft can be deleted, and it is then removed for good, with its lines. A credit purchase with an amount left to pay, or one that has debt adjustments or returns, cannot be deleted.
  • The purchase order form can be generated for a pending, completed or closed purchase. The form is a fixed copy: generating it again returns the existing one. Viewing it before it exists is refused as not found.
  • Line actions need purchases.update plus their own permission.

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All the actions of this topic

  • List purchases: Browse purchases, filtered by supplier, reference, date, credit or payment status.
  • Create a purchase: Starts a new purchase to a supplier as a draft, with its lines and costs. It can be on credit if the supplier allows it.
  • View a purchase: Shows a purchase in detail with its supplier, lines, pickups, deliveries and returns.
  • Edit a purchase: Changes supplier, reference, date, notes, totals or due date of a purchase that is still editable.
  • Delete a purchase: Deletes a draft purchase and its lines.
  • Approve a purchase: A manager approves a purchase that was waiting for approval, making it active and recording the supplier invoice amount.
  • Reject a purchase: A manager refuses a purchase that was waiting for approval.
  • Submit a purchase: Moves a draft or rejected purchase forward to become active, or sends it for approval when a credit purchase exceeds the supplier debt limits.
  • List purchase lines: Shows the product lines of a purchase.
  • Add purchase lines: Adds product lines to a purchase that can still be edited.
  • View a purchase line: Shows one line of a purchase.
  • Edit a purchase line: Changes the product, unit, quantity or cost of a line on an editable purchase.
  • Remove a purchase line: Removes a line from an editable purchase.
  • Generate a purchase order form: Creates the purchase order form document for a purchase using the active template, and keeps a fixed copy. If one already exists it is returned instead.
  • View a purchase order form: Retrieves the saved purchase order form document of a purchase.