A purchase order is what you ordered from one vendor: the lines, what each cost, and how much of it has arrived. They live under Inventory, Purchase Orders, numbered PO-0001, PO-0002 and so on. Every plan has them.
From draft to received
Draft
Add, change and remove lines freely. Nothing has gone to the vendor, so a draft can be deleted outright.
Mark as ordered
You've placed the order. The lines lock, and any job line on it shows its parts as ordered. The vendor's invoice number and the note stay editable.
Receive
Receive a line as it arrives, saying how many came, or Receive all. The order reads Partly received until the last line is in, then Received.
Cancel calls off an order that was placed. What already arrived stays in stock; job lines still waiting on it are no longer marked as ordered.
Email sends it to the vendor from your shop, with the PDF attached. It goes to the vendor's email address unless you type another, and on a draft it can mark the order as ordered in the same step, since sending it is placing it. The order then shows when it was last emailed, and to whom. PDF downloads the same document.
What goes on a line
- A part from your inventory. Left unpriced, it is ordered at what the part costs today.
- A part you don't stock. Type its name and number. Receiving it moves no stock; Add to inventory on the line makes it a part under this vendor at the line's cost, and the line receives into it from then on. A tire is added under Inventory, Tires instead, then picked on the line.
- A fee, such as shipping or a core charge. It is paid, never received.
Ordering from where the need is
You rarely need to start from a blank order.
- From a job. A part or tire line's menu has Order from vendor. The line goes on that vendor's draft for this job, or starts one, and from then on the line names its purchase order.
- From the Parts & Tires board. Tick the lines, then Create purchase orders: one draft per vendor, using each part's vendor (lines whose part has none ask you to pick one).
- From Low Stock. Reorder on the Low Stock report puts every part below its minimum on its vendor's draft, enough to bring it back to its maximum (or its minimum, when there is no maximum), less what is already on order.
Lines that all come from one job land on that job's draft. Anything else, including stock for the shelf, lands on the vendor's draft with no job. A line already on a purchase order is skipped rather than ordered twice.
Receiving, and what it changes
Receiving puts the parts on the shelf, and the part's history shows the receipt against the purchase order.
The part's cost becomes what you paid. If the vendor charged more this time, the part now costs more, and a pricing matrix prices the next line you add from it. Nothing already quoted or invoiced changes. A line left at zero says nothing about cost and leaves the part's cost alone.
Märkus
In an organization where headquarters sets the prices, the receipt still records what you paid, but the part's cost stays the one headquarters set.
A line ordered for a job marks the job's parts as received once all of it is in, and holds the stock for that job, as if you had reserved it there. If the job has already been completed or invoiced, nothing is held.
Sending the bill to QuickBooks or Xero
With QuickBooks or Xero connected, a purchase order that something has arrived on can go to your books as a bill owed to the vendor. The details column has a Bill in QuickBooks (or Xero) section with Send to QuickBooks.
- What's on it: what arrived, at the cost you paid, plus the fees. What is still to come isn't owed yet, so it isn't on the bill.
- Its number is the vendor's invoice number, which the order needs before it can be sent.
- The vendor is the one already in your books if it's linked or has the same name; otherwise it's added there the first time.
- Accounts: parts go to the account chosen under Settings, Accounting, Purchase orders; shipping and fees to theirs, or the same one.
- Tax: purchase order costs are before tax. Choose a Purchase tax rate there and your books add the VAT at that rate, so the bill matches the vendor's invoice. Left empty, bills go untaxed.
Nothing is sent by itself. If more arrives, or the invoice number changes, after the bill was sent, it shows Out of date and offers Update in QuickBooks. If someone changed the bill in your books in the meantime, the update stops and asks before Replace in QuickBooks puts the purchase order over that change.
Returns to the vendor
A part that came in wrong, defective or not needed goes back on a return, under Inventory, Returns, numbered RET-0001, RET-0002 and so on. One return is one part.
- From a purchase order. A received line's menu has Return to vendor. The return goes to that order's vendor at the line's cost, and you can send back up to what arrived, less what is on its other returns. The line then shows how many were returned.
- From the shelf. A part's menu under Inventory, Parts (or Tires) has Return to vendor too, at the part's cost, to the part's vendor unless you pick another. Only what is on the shelf and not held for a job can go.
Give it a reason (defective, not needed, warranty, wrong part or other) and the vendor's RMA number, if they gave one.
Not ready, then Ready to return
It waits on the shelf. How many and at what cost can still change (and, from the shelf, to which vendor), and it can be deleted.
Mark returned
It went back to the vendor. Its stock leaves now, at its cost, and that cost comes off what you spent with the vendor. A line you don't stock moves no stock. From here it can't go back on the shelf or be deleted.
Refunded, or Not refundable
Mark refunded says how the money came back, Money back or Credit with the vendor, and how much: what it cost unless you type another amount. Not refundable closes it with nothing back.
With QuickBooks or Xero connected, a refunded return's details column has a Credit in QuickBooks (or Xero) section with Send to QuickBooks. It goes as the vendor's credit (a vendor credit in QuickBooks, a credit note in Xero): one line at the refund, on the account purchases are booked to and under the purchase tax rate, as bills are, numbered with the RMA number (or RET-0001 without one). It goes in unapplied, money back or credit alike: apply it to a bill, or record the money that came back, in your books. If the refund or the RMA number changes after, it shows Out of date, and an edit made in your books is never replaced without asking, as with bills. Once the credit is in your books, the return stays refunded here: change it there.
A vendor's price list
When a vendor sends a price list, or you export one from their portal, bring it in from the vendor's page under Lists, Vendors, with Import price list. Settings, Suppliers opens the same, asking which vendor.
- The file is a CSV, as Excel or the vendor's portal saves it, up to 20,000 rows. Commas or semicolons, and decimal commas or points, all work. Save a spreadsheet as CSV first.
- The columns. The part number and the cost are needed; the name, brand, barcode and list price are optional. GarageFlow guesses which column is which from the headers and shows the first row's value under each, so you can check and change them.
- What it matches. A row finds the part with that part number or SKU, however it's spaced or dashed: this vendor's part first, then one with no vendor, which becomes this vendor's. A part you buy from another vendor is left alone, and so is a row that matches two parts.
- What changes is the cost, and only the cost. A pricing matrix re-prices the part for the next line you add, as when a delivery arrives; nothing already quoted or invoiced changes.
- Parts you don't stock. Tick Add the parts not in inventory to add them under this vendor at the file's cost, with no stock, up to 2,000 at a time: import again for the rest. Your default pricing matrix prices them, or the file's list price when you have none.
The preview counts all of it before anything is written. In an organization, a location can't change the costs headquarters sets, and under Locked it adds no parts.
Who can do what
Placing orders spends the shop's money, so starting, editing, emailing, marking as ordered, sending the bill to your books, cancelling and deleting need Manage shop operations: owners and managers. The same goes for returns: starting, editing, refunding and deleting one, and sending its credit. Seeing purchase orders and returns, receiving deliveries and marking a return as returned need Look up parts and adjust stock, which the shop floor has, so whoever unpacks the box books it in, and whoever hands one to the courier marks it gone.
Where the figures show up
- Parts list. An On Order column beside On Hand: what is still to come for the shelf, drafts included. Parts ordered for a job count toward the job, not here. Low Stock's reorder quantity is net of the same figure.
- The vendor's page. On order is what that vendor still has to send on placed orders, at the price ordered. Received into stock adds up what came from them at the cost paid, less what went back to them. A Purchase orders tab lists theirs, and a Returns tab once anything went back.
- Reports, under Purchasing. Vendor spend totals stock received in the period at the cost paid, by the vendor it was bought from, less what went back (its Returned column). Purchases lists every line on the orders placed in the period, fees and parts you don't stock included, with what arrived, and every return that went back in the period as a line taken off at its cost. Cancelled orders, and returns on their own, sit under the status filter.
Troubleshooting
"I can't change the lines." The order has been placed. Only a draft's lines change; the vendor's invoice number and the note still do.
"Receiving says it must be between 0 and a number." That number is what is still to come on the line. You can't receive more than was ordered.
"Add to inventory isn't on this line." It is a fee, it is a tire, or the line is already a part you stock.
"The retail price changed after a delivery." The part's cost became what you paid, and its pricing matrix recalculated the price.
"The board skipped some of my lines." They were already on a purchase order.
"Reorder says there's nothing to reorder." Every low part is already on order, on a draft or with the vendor.
"Send to QuickBooks is greyed out." The section says what's missing: the vendor's invoice number, or the account purchases are booked to, which is chosen under Settings, Accounting.
"Return to vendor says between 0 and a number." That number is what arrived on the line less what is on its other returns, or, from the shelf, what is on hand and not held for a job.
"I can't delete a return." It went back to the vendor, so its stock and its cost already moved. Mark it Not refundable if nothing comes back.
"Not refunded yet is gone from the menu." Its credit is in your books. Change or delete the credit there.
"Save the price list as CSV." The file is a spreadsheet (.xlsx). Open it, save it as CSV, and import that.
"A part I stock wasn't updated." Its part number differs from the vendor's, it's bought from another vendor, or two parts share the number. The preview says how many of each.