D-Tools Cloud features a Procurement suite that helps you manage product ordering and purchasing from your preferred suppliers. You can create purchase orders (POs) from different contextual views (Catalog for stockpiling and Project for ordering BoM products).
The Procurement functionality is closely coupled with the following:
Project Management suite: This automates item status tracking from PO creation through product delivery.
Inventory Management suite: This automates updating the inventory of products in POs that are under the purview of the Inventory Management functionality.
The combined capabilities of the Procurement, Project Management, and Inventory Management suites make ordering simple and easy on Cloud.
Continue reading this article for more details and learn how to create, configure, and send POs efficiently.
PO status
On Cloud, you can assign PO statuses to track them easily. POs are assigned a number for easy identification; the default format is PO-(number). For example, PO-20.
You can move POs to different statuses by dragging them on the Kanban Board or selecting a status in the List view.
Here are the five PO statuses.
Status | Description |
Draft | A PO remains in Draft until you send it to the supplier via email from within Cloud or change the status to Ordered.
You can add products to a PO as long as it is in the Draft status. |
Draft Completed | You can move a PO to Draft Completed once you've added all products and are ready to send it to the supplier.
You cannot add products to a Draft Completed PO, but you can update other sections of the PO. |
Ordered | A PO automatically moves to Ordered status if you email it to the supplier from within Cloud. If you send it by another channel, you need to move it to the Ordered status manually. |
Partially Received | You can move a PO to the Partially Received status if the products in the PO are being received in multiple shipments on different dates. |
Received | You can move a PO to the Received status once you have received all products listed on the PO. |
Learn more about Purchase Order status.
Manage POs
You can do the following to manage POs.
Create a PO
You can create a PO in the Catalog view to order and stockpile products, and in the Project Details view to order products required for projects.
You can access all POs from "Procurement > Purchase Orders" in the left navigation menu. You can also create POs from this page.
When a PO is created, it is in the Draft status, and the following details are auto-populated:
PO number
Your company's shipping address, billing address, shipping method, and payment method.
Supplier's address, account number, and contact details.
If you created the PO from the Catalog or Project view, the PO shows the products and their total cost.
Learn more about creating a purchase order.
Add products to the PO
You need to assign a supplier to products before you add them to a PO. You can use the brand supplier rule to assign default suppliers to products in the catalog.
Learn more about assigning a default supplier to a brand.
Here are the different ways in which you can add products to a PO:
Create a new PO from the "Procurement > Purchase Orders" page and add products from projects and the catalog.
Catalog view: select products in the catalog and add them to the draft or new POs.
Project view: select products in a project and add them to the draft or new POs.
Ready-To-Order products: select "Ready-To-Order" products from the "Procurement > Ready to Order" page and add them to the draft or new POs.
Configure the PO
A PO with products, costs, shipping, and billing addresses is almost ready to send.
You can do the following to make POs more detailed before you send them to the supplier.
Add shipping costs and taxes
Add the supplier quote number
Update the shipping method and add notes for the supplier
Add internal notes and attach files related to the order or products
Update the product costs using the "Update from catalog" button in the 3-dot menu next to the PO name. This is similar to updating product details from the catalog to the quote.
Remove products from the PO
You can do the following after you send the PO to the supplier.
Add shipment tracking number
Add ETA date and tracking number for products
Track product delivery and update the PO status
Learn more about configuring a purchase order.
Send the PO
Once you have configured a PO with all the required information, you can email it to the supplier or download a PDF and mail it.
Learn more about sending a purchase order.
After you send the PO to the supplier, you can do the following:
If you receive one or more shipment numbers, add them in the "Shipment tracking" field on the PO.
Update the status to "Partially Received" or "Received" based on the shipment's delivery status.
Assess POs
POs created from any page on Cloud appear on the "Procurement > Purchase Orders" page. You can switch between Kanban and List view to see the POs
Eventually, when you have added a lot of POs and are trying to find a specific PO, you can do the following to find it:
Search by PO number or supplier.
Sort by supplier, account name, total order value, and other parameters.
Filter by status, supplier, or project.
Filter by created on, ordered on, and received on dates. These filters can filter POs by month, quarter, year, or a custom date range.
Filter by whether the POs have been pushed to QuickBooks Online or Xero.
Filter for POs with inventory-tracked items that need to be checked in to inventory locations.
Check in inventory-tracked items
When you mark a PO containing inventory-tracked items as "Received" or "Partially Received," Cloud prompts you to check in the items to inventory locations.
However, if you haven't, Cloud displays a list of POs with inventory-tracked items that haven't been checked in.
In the List view, click "View POs" on the Orange banner to see a filtered list of POs with inventory-tracked items for check-in. Click a PO and check in the items.
PO Analytics
At the top of the "Procurement > Purchase Orders" page, you will see a widget showing the count of POs by status. You will also see charts depicting the total value of the ordered products across all POs.
