Purchase Orders (Foodops)

Plain-English summary#

A Purchase Order (PO) is the formal record of what you ordered from which supplier, at what price. POs move through a status pipeline you can configure. By default: Draft → Pending Approval → Approved → Sent to Supplier → Partially Billed → Billed → Closed, with Cancelled as the way out. Only the moves set up in the pipeline are allowed.

Receiving goods and billing are separate documents that follow the PO. From a PO you "Receive items" (creating a Purchase Receive that adds stock to a location) and "Create Bill" (creating what you owe). A PO is never deleted — you cancel it by changing its status.

When you'd use this#

• Placing a weekly produce order with a supplier
• Keeping track of open POs to chase late deliveries (delivery date + assigned person)
• Receiving goods into stock against what you ordered
• Turning a PO into a supplier bill for payment
• Matching supplier invoices against goods received

How to access#

• Purchase Orders: in admin.foodops.io, Expenses → Purchase Orders (list, New, details, edit).
• Receives: Expenses → Purchase Receipts, or Receive items from a PO.

Walkthrough#

Creating a PO#

1. Expenses → Purchase Orders → New. Select the supplier, add line items (product variant + quantity + price) and check the totals.
2. Submit. You need permission to create purchase orders. Foodops fills in anything the form doesn't ask for: currency (the supplier's default, otherwise MVR), a default tax type, and the payment term (your organisation's default, otherwise the shortest active one).
3. The new PO starts in its pipeline's first status (default: Draft).

Approving and sending#

1. On a Draft PO, the preview tab shows an approval banner with Mark as Approved (when the pipeline needs approval).
2. The status dropdown only offers the statuses you can move to from the current one. Any other move is refused with "Transition from 'X' to 'Y' is not allowed."
3. From the PO you can email it to the supplier, print it, and switch its print template.

Receiving goods (separate document)#

1. From the PO details header menu, choose Receive items. (It's disabled when the PO is cancelled, or once every line on the order has been fully received.)
2. Pick the location (required) and enter the quantities actually received for each line (these can differ from what you ordered). Saving creates a Purchase Receive, which adds the stock to that location.
3. Each PO line keeps track of the quantity received, and the PO details list its receives with their statuses. Receiving is allowed in certain statuses (default pipeline: Sent to Supplier, Partially Billed, Billed).

Billing and closing#

1. Create Bill from the PO details opens a new bill already linked to the PO. Billing moves the PO to Partially Billed / Billed.
2. Closed is the default pipeline's final completed status. Cancelled is reached through the Cancel dialog (a status change, not a deletion).

Working together on a PO#

• Assign a person to the PO and set or change the expected delivery date.
• Add, edit and delete comments, and upload, download and remove file attachments on the PO. The activity log and history give you an audit trail.
• You can export and import POs in bulk.

Key concepts#

• Status pipeline — each PO follows a pipeline of statuses with set moves between them. The default is Draft → Pending Approval → Approved → Sent to Supplier → Partially Billed → Billed → Closed (+ Cancelled). Pipelines can be configured, so your organisation's statuses may differ.
• Statuses control what you can do — each status decides whether receiving is allowed, whether billing is allowed, whether approval is needed (the approval banner), and whether it's a final, completed or cancelled status.
• Receive ≠ close — receiving creates a Purchase Receive and adds stock, but doesn't close the PO. Receives are their own documents, with their own list page, statuses, comments and files.
• No deleting — cancel by changing the status. Comments can be edited or deleted and files removed, but the PO itself stays.
• Defaults filled in for you — currency, tax type and payment term are filled in automatically so the form stays short.
• Warehouse → stock location — the warehouse you pick on the receive form decides where the stock is added.

Common questions#

Q: What statuses can a PO be in? A: Whatever its pipeline defines. Default: Draft, Pending Approval, Approved, Sent to Supplier, Partially Billed, Billed, Closed, Cancelled. The status dropdown only offers moves allowed from the current status.

Q: Why can't I move my PO straight from Draft to Billed? A: The pipeline only allows set moves — "Transition from 'Draft' to 'Billed' is not allowed" means there's no direct step. Go through the statuses in order.

Q: How do I receive a partial delivery? A: Receive items → enter the quantities actually received. Each receive is its own document; received quantities add up on the PO lines, and you can receive the rest later.

Q: Does receiving update my stock? A: Yes — saving the receive adds the stock to the selected location. That's when inventory changes, not when the PO is created.

Q: How do I turn the PO into something I pay? A: Create Bill from the PO details — the bill is what you owe, and payment is recorded against the bill (see Suppliers & Purchase Orders for payments).