Suppliers | Purchase Orders

Purchase orders let you raise, track, and send orders to a supplier for the products you source from them in Orbit. Each order records what you have asked for, what the supplier has acknowledged, and what has been fulfilled.

Some purchase orders are created automatically from customer orders that contain supplier-sourced products, and you can also raise them manually against a connected supplier. From here you can add line items and quantities, send an order to the supplier, follow it through its lifecycle, and review every order in one place.

The per-connection Orders tab

Each supplier you are connected to has its own Orders tab, where you can manage the purchase orders for that supplier.

To open it:

• From the left-hand menu, go to Suppliers.

• Open a connected supplier and select the Orders tab.

The Orders tab shows a row of status counters and a table of every purchase order raised with that supplier. The counters give you a quick view of how many orders are in each state:

• Draft — created but not yet sent to the supplier.

• Sent — sent to the supplier and awaiting acknowledgement.

• Acknowledged — the supplier has confirmed they have received the order.

• Partial — some, but not all, of the ordered items have been fulfilled.

• Fulfilled — every item on the order has been fulfilled.

• Cancelled — the order was cancelled before it was fulfilled.

• Declined — the supplier declined the order.

The table below the counters lists each order with its number, the date it was created, the number of lines and units, the total, and its current status. From a row you can send a draft, or cancel an order that is still in progress.

Creating a purchase order

To raise a new order for a supplier:

1. On the supplier's Orders tab, click New purchase order.

2. For each line, choose a product and enter the quantity you want to order. The line cost updates automatically as you change the quantity.

3. Click Add line to add another product, or use the bin icon to remove a line.

4. Add any notes for the supplier, such as a preferred dispatch date or carrier (optional).

5. Check the subtotal at the bottom of the order, then click Create & send.

If the supplier connection is set to send orders automatically, the order is sent as soon as you create it and the button reads Create & send. If automatic sending is turned off, new orders are saved as drafts for you to review first, and the button reads Save draft — you can then send the order from the Orders tab when you are ready.

The purchase order lifecycle

A purchase order moves through a set of statuses as it progresses:

• Draft — saved but not yet sent.

• Sent — delivered to the supplier and awaiting their response.

• Acknowledged — the supplier has confirmed the order.

• Partially fulfilled — some of the ordered items have been dispatched.

• Fulfilled — all items have been dispatched.

• Cancelled — the order was cancelled before completion.

• Declined — the supplier was unable to accept the order.

Fulfilled, cancelled, and declined orders are final and can no longer be changed.

Viewing a purchase order

Click a purchase order to open its detail page. At the top you will see the order number, its current status, and the supplier name. Below that, a timeline records each key event — Created, Sent, Acknowledged, and Fulfilled — with the date and time it happened, so you can see exactly where the order is.

The line items table shows each product, its SKU, the quantity ordered, how much has been fulfilled, the unit cost, and the line total, along with any tracking details the supplier has provided. The order subtotal is shown beneath the table, and any notes you added appear at the bottom. If the order is still a draft you can send it from here, and orders that are still in progress can be cancelled.

The cross-supplier Purchase Orders list

To review every purchase order across all of your suppliers in one place, go to Suppliers > Purchase Orders. This list shows the PO number, supplier, status, number of items, subtotal, the source order it came from (or Manual if you raised it yourself), and the date it was created.

Use the search field to find an order by its number or supplier, and the status dropdown to filter the list to a single status such as Sent or Fulfilled. As on the per-connection tab, you can send a draft or cancel an in-progress order directly from a row, and clicking a PO number opens its detail page.

Cancelling a purchase order

You can cancel any order that has not yet been fulfilled, either from the Orders tab, the cross-supplier list, or the order's detail page. Once an order has been fulfilled it can no longer be cancelled. Be careful when cancelling, as the supplier may already have started preparing the order.

Editing the purchase order template

The Edit template button on the Orders tab lets you adjust the template used when a purchase order is sent to that supplier, so the orders they receive match how you prefer to communicate.

Why purchase orders are important

Purchase orders give you a clear, trackable record of what you have ordered from each supplier and where every order stands. By raising and tracking orders in Orbit, you can keep stock flowing for supplier-sourced products, stay on top of acknowledgements and fulfilment, and keep all of your supplier ordering in one place.

If you have any questions, please contact us at support@orbitcommerce.net