The purchasing module: from Purchase order to Invoice - we take you through the entire purchase flow in this article

Rackbeat has a purchase module ‘built-in’ and ready for you to use. This is a simple and effective way to keep track of your incoming inventory and to ensure correct costprices on your products.

Step 1 | Create a Purchase Order

There are multiple ways to create Purchase Orders in Rackbeat - in this article we will use the manual purchase order.

1. In the Purchasing tab under Purchases, create a new order '+ Create new' and choose a supplier. 
2. Fill out the required and relevant information. Select '+ Create new' within the Purchase Order to add the products you want to order. 
3. When all products have been added click 'Send to supplier'.
   
   You will get the option to send the Purchase Order to the supplier as an email, or to book it without actually sending it - maybe you order over the phone or via a purchasing portal, but you still need to register the PO in Rackbeat to ensure the correct inventory and cost prices - in that case the option to opt out of sending a email to your supplier could be useful.
   
   
4. The Purchase Order has now been created!

The next steps will be to receive the products and to register the Supplier Invoice in Rackbeat. This can be done when it makes sense in your workflow - there is no set way or order to do this. In this guide we will receive the purchase order first and then register the supplier invoice but it can also be done the other way around.

Step 2 | Create a Receipt.

This is the step where you register what you receive at your warehouse/stock.

1. There are two ways to create a Receipt draft. 
   
   1. In the Purchasing tab, under Purchases, hover the cursor over the three dots for the order you have made, and click 'Ready to Receive'.
   2. Open the Purchase Order (by clicking the PO number in the overview) and click 'Create new receipt'
2. When you have created a Receipt draft it will be placed in the 'Receipts' tab (if you have a warehouse user it will also be available here).
   
   
3. To register the receipt you have to open the draft and enter how many items you have received. The default will always be the full amount that has been ordered, but you have the option to change this amount if you have only received some of the purchase order. You can change the amounts on the individual product lines.
   
   
4. Click 'Receive' to register that you have received the products from your supplier.
   
   
5. If you receive less than the full amount, the status of the purchase order, visible in the Purchases tab, will be 'Partially received'. To fulfil the purchase order/receive the remaining items, you have to create a new Receipt. This can be done as many times as necessary until the order has been delivered in full. 

See how to create a receipt

Step 3 | Creating an Invoice

This is the step where you register the supplier invoice in Rackbeat. The invoices you receive from your supplier should always match the ones in Rackbeat.

1. There are two ways to create an invoice draft from an existing Purchase Order.
   1. Go to the Purchasing tab, under Purchases, hover the cursor over the three dots for the order you have made, and click 'Create Invoice'.
      
      
   2. Open the Purchase Order (by clicking the PO number in the overview) and click 'Create invoice'
2. When you have created an invoice draft it will be placed in the 'Invoices' tab.
3. You have the option to edit the invoice draft
   1. Quantities: If you have only received part of the order you can edit the quantities included in the invoice. The Purchase Order will get the status 'Partly invoiced'. When you receive the invoice for the remaining order you have to create a new Invoice draft. This draft will only include the items not yet invoiced. This can be done as many times as necessary until the order has been fully invoiced.
      
      
   2. Prices: If there has been changes in prices - it is important to update the invoice with the correct prices to ensure a correct calculation of cost price. 
      
      
4. When you are ready to register the invoice click 'Book'. 

Rackbeat has a lot of functionality for Purchase Orders. This article does not cover everything. We urge you to experiment with these functions to customise Rackbeat to your workflow and preferences.