Creating Purchase Orders from an Invoice

When you create an invoice that includes items not currently in stock, AccuArk can automatically generate purchase orders for the shortfall quantities. This feature eliminates the need to manually switch to the purchasing module, look up which items are short, figure out which vendors supply them, and create individual purchase orders. Instead, a single click on the invoice toolbar handles the entire process, grouping items by their preferred vendor and creating one purchase order per vendor.

What This Feature Does

The Create PO feature scans all line items on the current invoice, identifies items where the ordered quantity exceeds the available stock (resulting in a "Need to Order" quantity greater than zero), groups those items by their preferred vendor, and creates one purchase order per vendor containing the shortfall quantities. This ensures you order exactly what you need from the correct suppliers without any manual data entry.

Permission Required

To use this feature, the logged-in user must have the INV_CREATE_PO_FROM_INVOICE permission assigned to their role. Without this permission, the Create PO button will not appear on the invoice toolbar. Additionally, the INV_VIEW_AVAILABILITY permission is needed to see the stock availability columns on the invoice grid, which show the current stock levels and the "Need to Order" quantities that drive the PO creation process.

How to Use the Create PO Feature

Follow these steps to generate purchase orders from an invoice:

1. Open the invoice that contains the items you need to order.
2. Review the availability columns in the line items grid. The "Available" column shows current stock, and the "Need to Order" column shows the shortfall for each item.
3. Click the Create PO button on the invoice toolbar.
4. A confirmation dialog appears: "Create purchase order(s) for items that need ordering? Items will be grouped by vendor."
5. Click Yes to proceed.
6. The system processes all line items, identifies shortfalls, groups by vendor, and creates the purchase orders.
7. A result message is displayed showing the outcome, for example: "Created 2 purchase order(s): #1045, #1046. Total items ordered: 7."

If no items on the invoice need ordering (all items are fully in stock), the system will notify you that there are no items requiring purchase orders.

How It Works Behind the Scenes

When you click Create PO, the system performs the following steps:

Step 1: Scan Line Items

Every line item on the invoice is examined. The system calculates the difference between the quantity ordered on the invoice and the quantity currently available in stock at the invoice's location. If the ordered quantity exceeds available stock, the difference is the "Need to Order" quantity.

Step 2: Identify Shortfalls

Only items with a "Need to Order" quantity greater than zero are included. Items that are fully in stock are skipped. Service items, non-inventory items, and items without stock tracking are also excluded since they do not require purchasing.

Step 3: Group by Vendor

The shortfall items are grouped by their preferred vendor. Each inventory item in AccuArk can have a preferred vendor assigned in its item settings. Items with the same preferred vendor are grouped together into a single purchase order. This grouping ensures you send one consolidated order to each vendor rather than multiple separate orders.

Step 4: Create Purchase Orders

For each vendor group, a new purchase order is created containing all the shortfall items for that vendor. Each purchase order includes:

• The vendor name and contact information.
• The shortfall quantity for each item (not the full invoice quantity — only the amount that needs to be ordered).
• The item's cost price from the vendor record.
• The purchase order is linked to the current location.

Step 5: Display Results

After all purchase orders are created, the system displays a summary showing how many purchase orders were created, their PO numbers, and the total number of items ordered across all POs.

Prerequisites

For the Create PO feature to work effectively, the following must be in place:

• Preferred vendors must be assigned — Each inventory item that may need ordering should have a preferred vendor configured in its item settings. Items without a preferred vendor cannot be included in automatically generated purchase orders because the system does not know which vendor to order from.
• Stock availability must show a shortfall — The "Need to Order" column must show a value greater than zero for at least one line item. If all items are in stock, there is nothing to order.
• INV_VIEW_AVAILABILITY permission — This permission controls whether the availability columns are visible on the invoice grid. While not strictly required for the Create PO function itself, having visibility into stock levels helps you understand which items will be included in the generated purchase orders.

Working with Created Purchase Orders

The purchase orders created by this feature are standard AccuArk purchase orders. After creation, you can:

• Review and edit — Open each PO to review the items and quantities. You can adjust quantities, add notes, or remove items before sending the order to the vendor.
• Send to vendor — Email or print the purchase order for the vendor using AccuArk's PO management features.
• Receive stock — When the ordered items arrive, use the PO receiving process to add the stock to your inventory. Once received, the stock levels at your location increase accordingly.
• Track status — Monitor the PO status (draft, sent, partially received, fully received) through the purchasing module.

Connection to Inventory

The Create PO feature integrates directly with AccuArk's inventory system. Once the generated purchase orders are received and the stock is added to inventory, the availability columns on the original invoice update automatically. The "Available" column increases to reflect the newly received stock, and the "Need to Order" column decreases or reaches zero. This closed-loop workflow ensures that the invoice's stock requirements are fully satisfied through the purchasing process.

If only part of a purchase order is received (a partial shipment), the availability columns update to reflect the partial receipt. You can click Create PO again on the same invoice to generate additional purchase orders for any remaining shortfall, though typically you would wait for the full shipment or manage partial receipts through the PO module.

Benefits

• Eliminates manual PO creation — No need to switch between the invoice and purchasing modules or manually look up shortfall quantities.
• Ensures correct quantities — The system calculates the exact shortfall for each item, preventing over-ordering or under-ordering.
• Groups by vendor — One PO per vendor reduces the number of orders you need to manage and makes vendor communication cleaner.
• Saves time — What would take several minutes of manual work across multiple screens is accomplished in a single click.
• Reduces errors — Automated calculation eliminates the risk of transcription errors when manually transferring quantities from the invoice to purchase orders.

What to Read Next

• Invoice Permissions and Best Practices — Review the full list of invoice-related permissions including INV_CREATE_PO_FROM_INVOICE and INV_VIEW_AVAILABILITY.
• Emailing Invoices and Packing Slips — Learn how to send invoice and packing slip PDFs to customers directly from the invoice form.