Purchase Orders

Overview

Note: Help content (except videos) has been updated to reflect the UI/UX changes in BQE CORE.

Purchase Orders (POs) are used to make initial offers and requests to sellers or suppliers indicating the type, quantity and agreed price for the products and services you want to buy. Generally, a purchase order is used for buying stock items and tracking inventory purchases. You can create POs from scratch here in the Purchase Orders screen or from budget line items in the Budget Templates screen.

BQE CORE allows you to convert your POs into vendor bills and invoices when you want. Generally, a PO becomes a vendor bill; however, a PO is not required to create a vendor bill. When a PO is converted to a vendor bill, it allows the items to be charged to a client and also to be paid back to the vendor. The Purchase Orders screen is where you can create and manage purchase orders for your company. Click to watch this video on managing purchase orders in CORE.

POs are used to perform three core tasks:

• Request a vendor to send items or deliver services to a specified address. Items can consist of services or expense items.

• Receive and enter those requested items or services into the system after their delivery is confirmed.

• Convert the received items or services into vendor bills so that they are managed in the time or expense entry screens. At this point, the final costs are defined - they can be reimbursed to the vendor and invoiced to the client to be recuperated or marked up for profit.

If you follow a submit- approve workflow in your company for A/P, you must familiarize yourself with the icons used to indicate different workflow status in CORE.

Icon	Status
	Forwarded
	Submitted
	Approved
	Rejected

Field Descriptions

How To

Create Purchase Orders

Submit Purchase Orders

Add Documents

Add Custom Fields

Send Purchase Orders

Receive Items

Clone Purchase Orders

Email Purchase Orders

Download Purchase Orders

Send Purchase Orders for eSign

Approve Purchase Orders

Show/Hide Columns in Grid

Export Purchase Orders

View Reports

Apply Filters

Mark Screen as Favorite

Field Descriptions

Field Name	Field Description
Purchase Orders >
Info Bars: Not Received	Total value of products (items) and services requested in the purchase orders, but not yet received.
Open Purchase Orders	Total number of purchase orders that have items pending receipt.
Fiscal Year to Date	Total value of products (items) and services requested in the purchase orders in the current fiscal year.
Purchase Orders > Add Purchase Order > General >
Payment Terms	Determine when a payment on the PO is due. PO payment terms get inherited from the Vendors screen and pass on to the vendor bills.
PO Number	Each purchase order must have a unique number. This PO number is auto-generated by CORE whenever a new purchase order is created. You can specify the format of the PO number in Settings > Accounting. CORE does not allow duplicate PO numbers.
Due Date	Date when the purchase order is due to be received. It is not the same as the payment term.
Project	You can select a project of type main or standard while entering line items for the PO.
Line Number	A number assigned to each PO line item automatically as they are created. Purchase orders do not have dates for line items. So, the item number helps in sequencing or sorting them.
Item	This is the service or expense item to be ordered from the vendor.
Units	These are the expense units or service hours ordered from the vendor.
Amount	The PO amount is calculated as Units x Rate. This is the pre-tax amount. When a PO is converted into a vendor bill, tax needs to be included there.
Purchase Orders > Workflow > Submit Purchase Order
Submit To	You can submit POs to your manager or a specific person from the list.
Resource	This can be an employee or a vendor (contract employee or outside consultant). This option is available only if you choose Submit To: Specific.
Purchase Orders > Email > Compose Email >
To	You can send an email to multiple recipients and also copy them using the CC and BCC options. You can click on the Choose Contact icon to open the Address Book and select multiple individuals or groups to email. This limit is 50 recipients at a time.
Subject	Subject line of the email. You can also insert smart fields into it using the Add Smart Field option on the right.
Message	It can be entered and edited using the formatting toolbar.

 

Create Purchase Orders

You can create POs from scratch here or from budget line items in the Budget Templates screen.

To create a PO from scratch, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Purchase Orders screen from the side menu > Accounting > Payables.
   
   
2. Click Create Purchase Order on the top-right.
3. On the Create Purchase Order dialog, enter the required information:
   

   • Vendor

   • Ship To: Client, Client Contact, Project, Vendor or Custom Address

   • ID (depending on your selection above)

4. Click Create.

5. • Payment Terms: when a payment on the PO is due

   • Due Date: when the purchase order is due to be received

   • PO Number

     On the Add Purchase Order > General screen, enter the PO details. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
     
     
     

6. To add items, click Add and enter the required information in the top row of the grid. Check Field Descriptions above for details.

   • Project

   • Item: service or expense item 

   • Units: expense units or service hours 

   • Rate

7. Click Done. Amount is calculated by CORE. Check Field Descriptions above for details.

8. When you have added all the line items, click Save & Done or Save & Add Another. The unsaved line items are in bold.

Submit Purchase Orders

As a part of the workflow, CORE allows you to submit the selected purchase orders for approval using various options. When purchase orders are submitted, the supervisor or manager gets notified about these submissions. You cannot submit entries or items that are already approved. In case of email notifications, CORE allows managers to quickly approve or reject the workflow entries or items submitted by employees directly from the emails.

Note: In case of purchase orders, submission to a project manager is not possible because its line items can hit multiple projects and we cannot split a single PO to submit to multiple managers.  

To submit a PO for approval:

1. Open the Purchase Orders screen from the side menu > Accounting > Payables.
   
   
   
   
2. Select the POs on the grid that you want to submit and click Actions > Workflow > Submit.
3. On the Submit Purchase Order dialog, enter the required information. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
   • Submit To
   • Resource: employee or vendor 
   • Memo
4. Click Done.

After submitting the POs, you have an option to un-submit them by clicking Actions > Workflow > Un-submit. You can view the entire workflow history in the edit mode.

Add Documents

CORE allows you to attach files to the purchase order. For example, you might want to attach the vendor contract or any other document to the record.

To add a document to a PO:

1. Open the Purchase Orders screen from the side menu > Accounting > Payables.
   
   
   
   

2. In the list view, select a PO on the grid and click  to select View Details.

3. On the Edit Purchase Order > Documents screen, click Add.
   
   
   
   

4. On the Add Documents dialog, select the relevant tab, depending on the type of attachment.

   • Computer: To attach files stored on your computer, enter its Description and drag your file or click to browse to that location.

   • Hyperlink: To attach an external link, enter its Description and then insert the hyperlink.

   • Dropbox: To link files stored in your Dropbox account, enter its Description and then browse for it.

   • Google Drive: To link files stored in your Google Drive account, enter its Description and then browse for it.

   • OneDrive: To link files stored in your Microsoft OneDrive account, enter its Description and then browse for it.

   • Box: To link files stored in your Box account, enter its Description and then browse for it.

   • Resource Library: To link company resources, select the resource from the library. This option is available only with CORE CRM.

5. Click Add.

CORE pre-fills some of the information about the attached documents in the grid. You can send the documents to your clients, employees or other contacts for getting their digital or electronic signatures (eSignature via DocuSign) using the eSign option from the row-action menu. CORE automatically adds the signed documents to the Documents folder of the entity (record) as separate attachments. It displays the status of the document, whether it has been delivered via DocuSign, viewed by the recipients, declined or completed by the recipients, etc. This column does not show up if you are not connected via the DocuSign integration. You can also check the detailed video on managing documents in CORE.

Add Custom Fields

Using the custom fields, you can track extra characteristics and attributes of your purchase orders. For example, you might track vendor specialization and experience to match your company's needs. You can customize these fields in the Custom Labels screen.

To add a custom field, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Purchase Orders screen from the side menu > Accounting > Payables.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, select a PO on the grid and click to select View Details.
3. On the Edit Purchase Order screen, go to the Custom Fields tab.
   
   
   
   
4. Click Add Custom Field and select the type of field you want depending on the purpose, say Text Box.
5. On the Add Text Box dialog, enter the required information:
   • Name
   • Type
   • # of Characters
   • Check Show in List View if you want this field to appear under the Show/Hide Columns list and show up on the grid.
6. Click Save.

Note: You can display a maximum of three custom fields on the list view per screen.

You can also check the detailed video on managing custom fields in CORE.

Send Purchase Orders

In CORE, you can send POs to your accounting program, such as Xero and MYOB AccountRight.

To send a PO to your accounting program, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Purchase Orders screen from the side menu > Accounting > Payables.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, select a PO on the grid and click to select View Details.
3. On the Edit Purchase Order screen, click Actions > Send To on the top-right.
   
   
4. Select the relevant option from the drop-down, say AccountRight. Your data is sent.

Receive Items

A purchase order is considered open until all items or services requested are received. You can, however, receive more in quantity than you initially ordered. On receiving the PO items, you can directly create vendor bills from them.

To receive items against a PO, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Purchase Orders screen from the side menu > Accounting > Payables.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, select a PO on the grid and click to select Receive.
3. On the Items Receivable screen, enter the units/hours to receive on the grid. Check Items Receivable for details.
4. Click Save.

Clone Purchase Orders

You can create a purchase order and then clone it to create another similar one. This saves time in creating new POs if they have many common attributes.

To clone a PO:

1. Open the Purchase Orders screen from the side menu > Accounting > Payables.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, select a PO on the grid and click  to select Clone.
3. On the Clone purchase Order dialog, enter the required information:
   • Clone From
   • Clone To
   • Vendor ID
4. While cloning information, you can choose to skip copying the memos associated with the line items. Only the main memo associated with the purchase order gets copied. Also, you can clone active POs, by default, but if required, you can clone inactive ones too by un-checking the Active option.
5. Click Done.

You can also check the detailed video on cloning records in CORE.

Email Purchase Orders

You can email purchase orders to vendors individually or in a batch mode. Each selected purchase order is attached as a separate file in the email.

To email a PO to a vendor, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Purchase Orders screen from the side menu > Accounting > Payables.           
   
   
        
2. Select a PO on the grid that you want to email and click to select Email. To email POs in a batch mode, select multiple POs on the grid and click Actions > Batch Email.
3. On the Compose Email dialog, enter the required information. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
   • To
   • Subject
   • Message
     
     
     
4. Click Add Attachments at the bottom if you want to attach any files to the PO. You can also drag-and-drop any file into the Compose Email window from your desktop or email program.
5. Click Send Message.

If the email is sent to an address that is no longer working, there is a bounce-back email sent to let you know about this. You can also check the detailed video on emailing in CORE.

Note: You cannot remove the default or system attachments. Only user-defined attachments can be added or removed. CORE restricts the file size of the attachments to 10 MB and sends the attachments as a single zipped file.

Download Purchase Orders

You can download the details of the purchase orders as a PDF file directly from the list view.

To download a purchase order:

1. Open the Purchase Orders screen from the side menu > Accounting > Payables. 
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, select the purchase order on the grid whose details you want to download and click to select Download PDF.
3. It prompts you to save the PDF at the relevant location, say your Desktop. Click Save.

Send Purchase Orders for eSign

You can send purchase orders and their attached documents to your external clients, vendors, employees or other contacts to be reviewed and signed electronically via DocuSign. For that, you must have first connected CORE to your company's DocuSign account via the Integrations screen. CORE automatically adds the signed documents to the Documents tab of the entity (record) as separate attachments.

To send a PO for eSignature, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Purchase Orders screen from the side menu > Accounting > Payables.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, select the purchase order on the grid that you want to send and click  to select eSign. (This option is not available if your CORE account is not connected to a DocuSign account.) You can also send the PO to DocuSign from the detail view using the Actions menu.
3. On the eSign - Email Details dialog, choose the To recipients or contacts to whom you want to send the PO via DocuSign.
   
   
   
   
4. You can review and customize the email message, if needed. It is pre-filled with the email details from the Integrations > DocuSign Settings screen.
5. At the bottom, select your Save Options. You can specify where you want to save the signed copy of the document, say Company (as a company document), Associated Record (as a document of the record from which the eSign action was called) or Specific Record (as a document of an individual record of a specific entity). CORE remembers this selected location for the next time a document of that type is sent out for eSignatures.
6. Click the relevant option:
   • Send: Clicking the ‘Send’ button sends the document to all recipients. If multiple recipients are selected, each recipient receives a copy or version of the document to sign.
   • Send with Preview: If you choose to preview the document before sending, you are redirected to the DocuSign editor embedded in a new CORE tab. From there you can make adjustments to the DocuSign document like adding, removing, and rearranging tags throughout the document.
7. CORE displays the progress bar and opens the invoice in the Send for eSignature screen.
   
   
   
   
8. Here you can insert Standard Fields like Signature, Initials, Date Signed, Name, etc. into your document where needed.
9. You can take more actions on the document by selecting the relevant option from the Actions menu on the right.
10. Before sending, you can also preview the document by clicking Recipient Preview on the top-right. Else, click Continue to skip the preview.
11. Click Send to send the purchase order to the recipients.

The document is then received as an email by the recipients (your contacts), who can then review and sign it electronically. The recipients also receive an email when the action is completed by them. DocuSign informs us via email if the document was reviewed, accepted or declined by the recipients and you can also view the eSign Status in the Documents list view, whether it has been delivered via DocuSign, viewed by the recipients, declined or completed by the recipients, etc. This column does not show up if you are not connected via the DocuSign integration. The signed documents are saved in the specified location. You can also check the detailed video on sending data for eSign in CORE.

Approve Purchase Orders

As a part of the workflow, CORE allows you to approve the purchase orders submitted to you. Approving purchase orders prevents modification by any user with limited security permissions. You can also reject the submitted purchase orders for any reason. However, only submitted or forwarded POs can be rejected, not the approved ones. In case of email notifications, CORE allows managers to quickly approve or reject the workflow entries or items submitted by employees directly from the emails.

To approve a PO:

1. Open the Purchase Orders screen from the side menu > Accounting > Payables.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, select the submitted POs on the grid. (You might want to show the Submit Status column using More > Show/Hide Columns.)
3. Click Actions > Workflow > Approve.
4. On the Approve Purchase Order dialog, enter a memo, if needed.
5. Click Approve.

After approving the POs, you have an option to un-approve them by clicking Actions > Workflow > Un-approve. You can view the entire workflow history in the edit mode.

Show/Hide Columns in Grid

You can configure the fields or columns that appear on the grid in the list view. You can hide or show columns, and sort the order of columns according to your requirements.

To do so, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Purchase Orders screen from the side menu > Accounting > Payables.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click More > Show/Hide Columns on the action bar.
3. Select or un-select the column names in the drop-down list, say Status.
4. Next, click the column name you want to sort the data by, say Amount.
5. Click once for ascending order (A-Z) and twice for descending order (Z-A).

You can also check the detailed video on navigation and customizing grids in CORE.

Export Purchase Orders

In CORE, you can export POs to the Comma Separated Values file format. CORE exports data from all available columns and not just the columns visible in the grid.

To export PO records to a .CSV file, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Purchase Orders screen from the side menu > Accounting > Payables.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click More > Export as CSV.
3. A .csv export file is created and saved on your system at the default download location, say your desktop. Click to open the spreadsheet.

You can also check the detailed video on exporting data in CORE.

View Reports

To view a report:

1. Open the Purchase Orders screen from the side menu > Accounting > Payables.
   
   
   
   

2. In the list view, click More > View Reports.

3. Select a report from the Report List dialog. It opens in the viewer.

4. Preview the report and then choose to export or print it.

You can also check the detailed video on running and managing reports in CORE.

Apply Filters

To view selective data on the grid, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Purchase Orders screen from the side menu > Accounting > Payables.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click  on the right.
3. On the Filters panel, select a filter from the drop-down and specify individual records or range.
4. Click Add Filters to specify more filters.
5. When you have finished, click Apply Filter. You can see selective data now.
6. Next, to save the applied filters as your favorite, click Save Filters.
   
   
   
   
7. It opens the Save Filter dialog, where you can select a name for your filter combination and then click Save. You can also update your existing saved filters by clicking the Update Saved Filters link.
8. In the list view, you can remove the individual filters by clicking  on each. To use your favorite filter or disable applied filters temporarily or remove all filters, click next to the Filters icon and select Disable Filters or Clear All, respectively.  

You can also check the detailed video on applying filters in CORE.

Mark Screen as Favorite

You can mark or flag the most-often used and important screens in CORE as your favorites up to a maximum of ten. These favorite screens then display separately on the side menu under the Favorites list. You can manage all your favorite screens in CORE from User Settings.

To mark this screen as your favorite, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Purchase Orders screen from the side menu > Accounting > Payables.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click on the top-right.
3. You can access this screen from the side menu under Favorites.

You can also check the detailed video on marking screens as favorite in CORE.