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How to Create a Purchase Order

Learn how to create a Purchase order (PO) in Precoro, route it through approval, and send to your supplier, so you have a clear, trackable record of what's ordered and its delivery status.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

This article walks through the standard purchase order (PO) flow. If you're not sure which PO type fits your situation, see Purchase Order Definition and Types in Precoro first.

If you prefer video format, follow this link to watch a tutorial on creating a PO from scratch.

How to Create a Purchase Order in Precoro

📋 Before you start, make sure you have the Create role on the Purchase Orders module.

Step 1: Create a New Document

  1. Open the Purchase Orders module from the left menu.
  2. Click Create on the right side and select the form (if custom forms are configured in your account).
  3. Enter the required details, including location, supplier, currency, delivery date, and any custom fields your company uses.
  4. Click Next Step. 

Please note:

  • When adding a supplier, you can either select an existing supplier from the drop-down list or create a new one by clicking Add new Supplier.
  • Optionally, you can add a budget to your PO.
  • You can enable Split costs to split your PO into multiple cost allocations and assign different budgets, locations, or custom document fields to these allocations.
  • If Contracts are enabled in account configurations, you can link your PO to a certain contract.
  • If you activate Taxes in your configuration, you’ll be able to add them at the document and item levels.


Step 2: Add Items to the Document

Add items to your PO using any of these methods:

  • Click Add Catalog Item to select items from the existing catalog.
  • Press Add New Item to enter item details manually.
  • Click Import Items to import items from an Excel document.
  • Click Add Shipping to include shipping without triggering approval or matching processes.
  • Press Add Tax to add the tax items.
  • Click Add Discount to add a fixed-amount discount.

Learn more about adding items to documents in this article.

Tips:

  • You can add items from your purchase order directly to the catalog to save time on future data entry. See how to set it up here.
  • Need to update a shared field across several items at once? Use Mass Edit, or save multiple manually edited items in one request with Bulk Save. See this guide for details.
  • If only some of the items you add need to be tracked on delivery, see the section below to control which items require a receipt.
  • Monitor actual spending by setting a baseline price for each PO item and comparing it with the price you are paying on the order. Learn more here.
po-step-2

Step 3: Add Notes, Comments, and Attachments

Add extra context or important information to your PO:

  • Add Notes: Include delivery times and other critical details that will appear on the printed document and be visible to the supplier.

  • Add Comments: Communicate with your team by tagging users with “@” to notify them and keep all discussions within the document.

    See this article for more on notes and comments.

  • Add Attachments: Upload images or documents. Internal attachments are visible to users and approvers only; external attachments are also sent to vendors with the PO PDF.

    See this guide for more on managing attachments.

Please note: When creating a PO from a purchase requisition or a request for proposal, you can view related attachments by clicking the Show Requests button located above the items line.

Step 4: Confirm the Document

  1. Review the document to make sure all required information is filled in.
  2. Click Confirm on the action panel.
  3. What happens next depends on your company's setup:
    1. If your company uses the Approval Workflow feature, the PO status changes to Pending until it's approved.
    2. If there is no approval workflow, the PO will immediately change its status to Approved.
  4. Click Send to supplier on the right panel to send the PO or enable automatic sending. Learn how to set it up here.

po-step-4

Step 5: Download the Created PO

Download the document as a PDF or XLSX file using the available options.

You can download a PO while it's still pending approval.

Please note: To enable this functionality, you need the Admin role.

  1. Go to Basic Settings → Document Setup → Purchase Orders → Order Printing Configurations.
  2. Check Download while Purchase Order Pending.
  3. Click Save.

Set Precise Rules for Receiving Items

1. Item-Level Receiving Rules in Orders

Define which items must be received for a given purchase order, so you can track deliveries accurately and skip receipt steps for items that don't need them. Item-level rules are enabled by default.

To manage this setting:

  1. Go to Configuration → Basic Settings → Document Setup → Purchase Orders.
  2. Toggle Item-Level Receiving Rules in Orders.

Once enabled, a Can Be Received field appears for each item:

  • Yes—the item must be included in receipts.
  • No (or disabled)—the item isn't required for the order to reach Received status.

Can be received

    2. Service Items Require Receipt by default

    To ensure your orders are completed correctly, Precoro can also automatically detect services when you add new items as empty rows. To use this feature, please make sure that the option in Configuration → Basic Settings → Document Setup → Service Items Require Receipt by Default is disabled.

    Items recognized as services are automatically assigned the Service type, and the Requires Receipt field for them is set to No, so you don't have to add these items to receipts.

    However, if Precoro can match the added item to the catalog, and the catalog item has a different type, the information from the catalog will take priority.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    How do I repeat a purchase order?

    Click More actions on the right action panel, then select Repeat. This is available for purchase orders in Pending or Approved status only. Note that you can't repeat purchase orders that have related documents.

    How to delegate a purchase order to another user?

    To assign a purchase order to another user:

    1. Open the purchase order, click More actions on the right action panel, then click Edit Document.
    2. Select the new Purchaser from the drop-down list.

    Only users with Configuration roles can edit the purchaser field. The new purchaser must have the purchase order role and access to the Location and Department/Project specified. Purchasers cannot be changed for purchase orders with Matching status.

    How do I reject items in a purchase order?

    If the supplier cannot deliver the full order and you do not expect the remaining items to arrive later, you can mark those items as Rejected.

    To mark items as rejected:

    1. Open the purchase order.
    2. Click the edit action for the item.
    3. Enter the quantity of rejected items.

    You can only reject items if the purchase order is in the Draft, Approved (if in Revision), or Pending status.

    Can I split expenses in a PO into multiple time periods?

    Yes, you can use the Budget Breakdown feature that allows users to separate a single budget into different time periods. It is particularly useful when your company has consistent monthly deductions from the budget, or when recurring expenses are represented as a singular item in purchase orders and invoices.

    To use the Budget Breakdown function:

    1. Add a budget to your purchase order.
    2. Press the Budget Breakdown button below the item lines. This button appears in documents with Draft, Approved, and In Revision statuses.

    To learn more about the Budget Breakdown feature, please check this article

    Can I pay for purchase order items using a credit note balance?

    Yes, you can pay using a credit note balance directly on the purchase order page:

    1. Open the PO and click Add Prepayment in the More actions (...) menu.
    2. Set Payment Type to Credit Note—the available Supplier credit balance appears below the field.
    3. Enter the amount in To Pay and click Pay. The PO moves to Prepaid status, the same as it would with a cash prepayment.

    The payment is recorded on the purchase order and shown in the Previous Payments section of the related invoice. See How to Pay Suppliers from Precoro for the full payment walkthrough.

    How to track revision history in a purchase order?

    To see the Revision history:

    1. Open the purchase order document.
    2. Click the Revision History button on the right action panel.
    3. Mark two revisions you want to compare.
    4. Press the Compare Revisions button at the bottom.

    Is the number of items I can add limited?

    While you can add as many items as necessary, we recommend keeping the number below 500. Creating POs with more items can slow down document processing and cause unexpected errors.



    Can't find a feature you need? You can submit an idea and see what's planned on our     Open Product Roadmap—to learn how, see How to Request a New Feature or Share Feedback.