Purchase Orders

Goal

Convert material demand into controlled vendor orders with clear status transitions.

Before You Start

• At least one vendor exists.
• At least one purchasable item exists.
• You know expected quantities, dates, and unit prices.

Steps

1. Navigate to Purchasing > Orders.

2. Click Create Purchase Order.

3. Select a vendor and expected date.

4. Add one or more item lines with quantity and unit price.

   

5. Save as draft.

6. Open the draft and click Submit Order to move to OPEN (confirmation title: Submit Purchase Order).

   

7. Use available order actions according to status:

   • DRAFT: edit, submit, cancel, delete.
   • OPEN: receive, edit, cancel, close.
   • PARTIALLY_RECEIVED: receive remaining lines or close.

Expected Result in Formul

• Order number is created and visible in the order list.
• Status reflects lifecycle progression (DRAFT -> OPEN -> PARTIALLY_RECEIVED -> CLOSED).
• Receiving remains blocked until order is in a receivable status.

PO Lifecycle and Operational Guardrails

Primary path:

DRAFT -> OPEN -> PARTIALLY_RECEIVED -> CLOSED

Cancellation path:

DRAFT or OPEN -> CANCELLED

Status behavior in Formul:

Status	What you can do	What downstream teams should assume	Inventory / ledger impact
DRAFT	Edit, submit, cancel, delete	Order is not committed yet	No inventory movement
OPEN	Receive, edit, cancel, close	Receiving can start against this PO	No movement until a receipt is posted
PARTIALLY_RECEIVED	Receive remaining lines, close	Some lines are in stock, some still outstanding	Each receipt posts RECEIPT ledger entries
CLOSED	View only	No more receipts expected	No new PO receipts should be posted
CANCELLED	View only	Order is intentionally stopped	No further receiving allowed

Why PO Statuses Matter

• DRAFT protects you from committing incomplete pricing or quantities.
• OPEN means demand is committed and should be expected by receiving teams.
• PARTIALLY_RECEIVED tells planners that some demand is still outstanding.
• CLOSED confirms no further receipts are expected for that order.
• CANCELLED prevents accidental receiving against an order you no longer intend to fulfill.

If you skip status discipline, purchasing, receiving, and planning lose a shared source of truth.

If Something Looks Wrong

• If submit fails, confirm required header and line fields are complete.
• If receive is unavailable, confirm status is OPEN or PARTIALLY_RECEIVED.
• If values look wrong, verify line item unit prices before receiving.
• If a PO was closed too early, no additional receipts can be posted through normal PO receiving flow.
• If a user tries to receive while still in DRAFT, Formul blocks the action by status.

Next Step

Receive stock and post inventory in Receiving Inventory.

Tip

The UI may show PARTIAL as a label while the underlying status is PARTIALLY_RECEIVED.