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📦 Purchase Orders & Sales Orders
Buying from vendors and shipping to customers, with stock updated as you go
Overview
Purchase Orders (POs) record what you buy from your vendors. Sales Orders (SOs) record what you sell to your customers. Both are found in the SavantPLM sidebar, and both work the same way: you build the order as a Draft, issue it, then receive (PO) or ship (SO) against its lines. Receiving adds stock to an inventory location and shipping takes it away, and each one is posted to Inventory History.
Order numbers are issued automatically and shown as PO-000001 and SO-000001. In search boxes you can type PO-1, PO-000001, 1 or 000001 — they all find the same order.
Purchase Orders: Lifecycle
| Status | Meaning |
|---|
| Draft | Being prepared. Nothing has been sent to the vendor and nothing can be received yet. |
| Open | Issued to the vendor. Nothing has been received. |
| Partially Received | At least one line has some quantity received, but not every line is complete. |
| Received | Every line has been received in full. The order is closed out. |
| Cancelled | Stopped before anything was received. |
Open, Partially Received and Received are set for you from the quantities received on the lines. You never set them by hand.
Creating and Issuing a Purchase Order
- On the Purchase Orders page, click Create PO. A new Draft is created with the next PO number.
- An order opens locked. Click the LOCKED button at the top to unlock editing; its buttons and forms then appear.
- Fill in the header: Vendor, Order Date, Expected Delivery, Ship To, Payment Terms, Ship Via, Vendor Reference and Notes. Click Save Changes to keep them.
- Add lines (see below).
- Click Issue PO. The status changes from Draft to Open and the header values are saved with it.
A Draft PO cannot be received against. Issue it first.
Purchase Order Lines
Use Add Line on the order. A line needs either an Internal PN or a Description (use a description for items that aren’t parts in your system), a Qty Ordered greater than zero, and a Unit Cost of zero or more. You can also record the Vendor PN and the UOM. The order’s Total Value is the sum of the line totals.
- Editing a line: allowed until the PO is fully received or cancelled.
- Once something has been received against a line, its part number is locked, and its Qty Ordered cannot be lowered below the quantity already received.
- Deleting a line: only if nothing has been received on it, and not on a cancelled PO. Deleting the last open line of a partly received PO recalculates the status, so it can move to Received.
- You can add lines to a Draft or Open PO. You cannot add lines to a Received or Cancelled one.
To stop a line receiving any more (for example, the vendor can only deliver part of it), lower its Qty Ordered to the quantity already received. The line then counts as complete.
Receiving Against a Purchase Order
- Open an Open or Partially Received PO. Under each line that still has quantity remaining, a Receive row appears.
- Enter the Receive Qty (the quantity remaining is shown next to it), pick the To Location (bin) it is going into, add optional Notes, and click Receive. The quantity is added to that location’s stock, a purchase receipt is posted to Inventory History, and the line’s Qty Received and the order’s status update.
- You can receive in several partial shipments. The Progress column shows how far along each line is.
- You cannot receive more than the quantity still remaining on the line. To receive an over-shipment, raise the line’s Qty Ordered first.
- A bin can only hold one part. If the bin you choose already holds a different part, the receipt is refused.
- Only lines with an Internal PN can be received into inventory. Description-only lines have no Receive row.
- Parts are received in whole units. Raw materials can be received in fractions.
- You cannot receive against a Draft or a Cancelled PO.
Cancelling a Purchase Order
Cancel PO is offered on Draft and Open orders. A PO that has any received quantity cannot be cancelled, because stock has already come in against it. Instead, reduce the Qty Ordered on the open lines to match what was received. Once every line is complete the PO becomes Received.
Sales Orders: Lifecycle
| Status | Meaning |
|---|
| Draft | Being prepared. Nothing can be shipped yet. |
| Open | Issued. Nothing has shipped. |
| Partially Shipped | At least one line has some quantity shipped, but not every line is complete. |
| Shipped | Every line has shipped in full. The order is closed out. |
| Cancelled | Stopped before anything shipped. |
As with purchase orders, the shipping statuses follow the quantities shipped on the lines.
Creating and Issuing a Sales Order
- On the Sales Orders page, click Create SO. A new Draft is created with the next SO number.
- An order opens locked. Click the LOCKED button at the top to unlock editing; its buttons and forms then appear.
- Fill in the header: Customer, Customer PO #, Order Date, Requested Ship Date and Notes, then save.
- Add lines (see below).
- Click Issue SO. The status changes from Draft to Open.
A Draft SO cannot be shipped against. Issue it first.
Sales Order Lines
Use Add Line. A sales order line needs a part number, a quantity greater than zero and a unit price of zero or more.
- Editing a line: use Edit on the line. Quantity, price and notes can be changed until the order is fully shipped or cancelled.
- Once something has shipped on a line, its part number is locked, and its quantity cannot be lowered below the quantity already shipped. Lowering it to exactly what has shipped closes that line short and recalculates the order status.
- Deleting a line: only if nothing has shipped on it, and not on a cancelled order.
- You cannot add lines to a Shipped or Cancelled order.
Shipping Against a Sales Order
- Open an Open or Partially Shipped order, unlock it, and click Ship on a line.
- Enter the Qty to Ship and choose the inventory location the parts are coming from.
- Click Confirm Ship. The quantity is taken out of that location’s stock, a shipment is posted to Inventory History, and the line and order status update.
- You cannot ship more than the quantity still remaining on the line.
- The chosen location must hold that part, with enough on hand to cover the shipment.
- You cannot ship against a Draft or a Cancelled order.
Cancelling a Sales Order
Cancel SO is available until anything has shipped. An order that has shipped items cannot be cancelled. To stop a partly shipped order, lower the quantity on its open lines to what has already shipped.
Finding and Printing Orders
Each list has a Search box for the order number and a Status filter. The default view is Open / In Progress, which shows Draft, Open and Partially Received/Shipped orders. Choose Received (or Shipped), Cancelled or All to see the rest. Each order has a print view for a printable copy.
Who Can Do What
- Viewers can browse and search orders and open them, but cannot change anything.
- Editors and Company Admins can create orders, edit headers and lines, issue, receive, ship and cancel — as long as their user permissions include managing purchase orders (for POs) or sales orders (for SOs). A Company Admin sets these in Workspace Details.
- Purchase Orders and Sales Orders are available on plans that include them. If you don’t see them in the sidebar, check your plan.
Need More Help?
If you have questions or need assistance, please visit our Contact page to get in touch with our support team.
For other SavantPLM topics, see the SavantPLM Help index. Receipts and shipments appear in Inventory History.