A purchase order workflow has three main steps:

1. Create a purchase order.
2. Send the purchase order to the vendor.
3. Receive the purchased items.

You can batch import items into a purchase order.

Purchase orders are also designed to include key fields, such as Subtotal, Total, Ordered Total and Received Total, making them helpful and intuitive to use during your purchasing process.

Key fields in the Check In Summary and Costs sections 

It's important for our retailers to see the subtotal of their purchase orders and the quantity and cost of all ordered items in comparison checked-in items. With this need in mind, along with having shipping, discounts and credits fields, purchase orders are designed to include the following key fields in their Check In Summary and Costs sections:

• Ordered Total: The a sum of the cost of all ordered items before the discount, shipping charges and/or credits are applied. Also, when you click Print Order, this field is included in the document.
• Received Total: The sum of the cost of checked-in items before the discount, shipping charges and/or credits are applied. As you check-in items and save the PO, this field is updated. Also, when you click Print Order, this field, along with the Received Quantity of each item, is included in the document.
• Subtotal: The sum of the cost of all ordered items before the discount, shipping charges and/or credits are applied.
• Total: The sum of the cost of all ordered items after the discount, shipping charges and/or credits are applied.

1. Creating a purchase order

1. From the main menu, click Inventory > New Order.
2. For multi-store accounts, under Status, select the shop you're creating the purchase order for. The shipping address for the shop you select appears on the purchase order.
3. Under Details, select the vendor. If the vendor isn't listed, you can create them by entering the name of the vendor and clicking + Add.
4. Click Save Changes.
5. Add the items you need, including special order items, to the purchase order, using one of these methods.

   Batch import of new or existing items	Importing items into a purchase order
   Manual item search	Search the items across all shops, and then select single or multiple items for addition to your purchase order. To add items manually, under Add Items, enter the item description and then click + Add Item. If only one item matches your search, the item is automatically added. Otherwise, a list appears from which you must select the items to add. Disable Search All Catalogs to search items associated with the selected vendor only. NOTE: Clicking + Add Item with a blank search field displays all items across all shops.
   By reorder points	If you’ve set item reorder points and reorder levels for the currently selected shop (see Adding items), you can add the items that have reached their reorder points for the selected vendor by clicking Generate PO (formerly known as Auto-add all) under Reorder Points. You can limit the items that are added by selecting the corresponding Category. Criteria used to determine items added to the order using this method: Only items that have reached their reorder points in the currently selected shop are added. Item must have a Vendor ID from the purchase order vendor OR the item must have its default vendor set to the purchase order vendor. Quantity of the item in stock and on backorder must be less than or equal to the reorder point for the item.
   Special Order items	If a special order item exists for the currently selected shop, on the left menu, click Special Orders and click + Add To PO. The status for the special order item automatically changes to Ordered.

6. Adjust the quantities of any articles you need to, and edit any of the other fields as required.

   NOTE:
   • See the QTY ON ORDER column to know how much of an item is already ordered or back ordered on existing purchase orders for the same shop location. To be included in this column, the existing purchase orders' statuses need to be set to Ordered or Check-In.
   • To help you quickly track purchase orders, any text in the General Notes field also appears in the PURCHASE ORDERS list by clicking, from the main menu, Inventory > Purchase Orders.
   • Under Costs, the Shipping and Other amounts are exported to QuickBooks, if you use it. The Discount % amount is applied to the item unit cost, and is factored into the total cost of the purchase order.
7. Adjust the cost of the items on the purchase order as needed.
   Note: The default cost that populates this field is taken from the vendor cost associated with this item and vendor. Open an item in your inventory and navigate to the vendor ID page to adjust the item's default cost for this vendor.
8. If you are in the United Kingdom, the default VAT Rate will be displayed and can be changed by deleting the existing rate, entering a new rate, and clicking Save Changes. When you do, the VAT Amount will automatically be recalculated with the new rate. You can click Reset under the Tax Rate column to restore the default VAT rate and recalculate the VAT amount according to that rate.

9. Save your changes.

2. Sending a purchase order to the vendor

1. From the main menu, click Inventory > Purchase Orders.
2. Find the purchase order in the list and click it.

   NOTE: You can filter the list by vendor or shop.

3. Submit the purchase order.
4. After you submit the order, click the Ordered button at the top of the screen, or select Ordered from the Status list.

3. Receiving purchased items

1. From the main menu, click Inventory > Purchase Orders.
2. Find the purchase order in the list and click it.

   NOTE: You can filter the list by vendor or shop.

3. At the top of the order, click Check In, or select Check In from the Status list.
4. Check in your items by using one of the methods below:

   Scanning	With the cursor in the Item Search field, scan the item's barcode. Before scanning, you can enter the total units you wish to check in using the Quantity field. NOTE: The barcode must be stored in the item's details to use this method.
   Vendor ID	With the cursor in the Item Search field, enter the Vendor ID.
   Item description	Enter the item description in the Item Search field, enter the total units you wish to check in using the Quantity field, and then click Item Received.
   Manual check-in	In the item list, enter the quantity you have received in the # Received field for the item.
   All received	To mark all item quantities as received, click the Mark All Items Received button.

5. Click Add Received Items to Inventory to add the quantities to your inventory.
6. Click Save Changes.

   If there are outstanding items or quantities remaining on the purchase order, repeat the receiving process when the additional shipments arrive. For more information on partial purchase order shipments, refer to our Managing partial purchase order shipments article.

7. At the top of the order click Finished, or select Finished from the Status list.

   If you use QuickBooks for accounting, depending on your QuickBooks Export Setup settings (located in the Lightspeed Retail REPORTS screen under Accounting), a purchase order may need to be marked as Finished in order for it to export to QuickBooks.

If you choose to print your received items and create their labels, you are able to do so by clicking on Print. From there, the dropdown allows you to pick between printing all received labels, your last received labels, or the order. Make sure to set up your label printer.

From there, your printer will connect to Lightspeed Hub to facilitate the print. To know more about Lightspeed Hub, click here. Need additional help? Take a look at our article about Printing labels and Printing label from a purchase order.