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Feature Guide - Job Tickets (3.63MB)

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Purchase Order FAQs

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Purchase, insertion, and broadcast orders account for purchases you make from vendors on a client’s behalf.  

They are not required by Clients & Profits, but give you control over your purchases. That’s because purchase orders provide written verification for the goods and services you order.

Anyone can add their own purchase orders, up to a user-defined dollar limit. POs have at least one job and task, but can contain several for better cost accounting. Amounts from the purchase order update job tickets automatically. Up to five copies of a purchase order can then be printed on plain paper, so special forms aren’t needed. When the vendor’s invoice is posted and the PO is referenced, the PO is reconciled automatically.

Tracking purchase orders can be essentially paperless, since you can add, change, and see everything about a PO directly from your computer. The cost of your orders will appear on job reports. Purchase orders aren’t true job costs; instead, they are commitments you’ve made for a job cost. They are essential for accurate cost accounting, since they track the purchases you’ve made throughout the month, but still haven’t received the vendor’s invoice. Purchase orders can be billed individually or by task in Accounts Receivable.

A job ticket can have hundreds of purchase orders; there’s no real limit. Job commitment reports can be quickly printed (or reviewed directly from your computer) showing just what you’ve ordered -- and whether or not it has been invoiced by the vendor. Many parts of the purchase order are customizable to save time. Templates, which contain basic details about a kind of purchase, can be applied to a new purchase order, for faster data entry. Cloning duplicates an existing purchase order when you’re ordering the same or similar thing again.



When the cost is eventually invoiced by the vendor, the purchase order’s balance decreases. The purchase order keeps a running balance of open commitments, showing you how much you’ve purchased from vendors that hasn’t been invoiced. Once the invoice is posted in Accounts Payable, a purchase order can’t be changed.

Many users can add purchase orders at the same time. Sometimes your cursor becomes a padlock, indicating that someone else is using a record that you need. In these cases, the padlock will disappear -- and your purchase order can be entered -- when the other user saves his or her work.

Whether you’re ordering printing for clients, print or broadcast media, or supplies for the office, everything is added into the Purchase Orders’ data file. This file contains purchase orders, broadcast orders, and insertion orders. All of the purchase order functions (i.e., finding, editing, printing, closing, etc.) apply to purchase orders, broadcast orders, and print insertion orders.

Broadcast and print insertion orders are explained in the Media section of the user guide.

To add a purchase order

Anything purchased from a vendor should be tracked with purchase orders. They are essential for job costing, since they allow a cost to be committed to a job ticket before the vendor's invoice is posted. Click here for step-by-step instructions.

To clone a purchase order

Purchase orders can be created based on existing POs.

1 Find a purchase order you wish to clone, then click the clone button.

The Clone Purchase Order opens, including all of the details from the PO you've just cloned.

2 Make any necessary changes.

3 Click Save.

To edit a purchase order

Every purchase order has a status that describes it. Unlike the job status, the purchase order status is not necessarily a number. Instead, status can be a word or short phrase that's completely customizable -- and user-defined. Click here for step-by-step instructions.

To add amounts to a purchase order

Purchase and insertion orders contain one or more line items. These line items include the actual dollar amounts of the items you're buying, in addition to specifications about the item itself. Each item you order on a PO can be added as a separate line item. These line items appear on the printed purchase order. Click here for step-by-step instructions.

To remove amounts from a purchase order

1 Find a purchase order, then click once on a task to select it.

2 Click the remove amount button (or choose Edit > Remove Order Amount)

To pre-bill a purchase order

Any purchase, insertion, or broadcast order can be pre-billed. Pre-billing automatically creates an invoice for the purchase order's gross (i.e., billable) amounts. The "pre-billing" invoice shows the purchase order's job and task, just as if you'd added it yourself in Accounts Receivable. Click here for step-by-step instructions.

To edit a purchase order's description/status

Every purchase order has a status that describes it. Unlike the job status, the purchase order status is not necessarily a number. Instead, status can be a word or short phrase that's completely customizable -- and user-defined. Click here for step-by-step instructions.

To edit vendor information

The vendor's name and address on a purchase order can be customized. This ability lets you write a purchase order to a vendor in your database, but send the PO to a different address. Click here for step-by-step instructions.

To edit an order's delivery details

Every purchase order includes special delivery information. These details are intended to help the vendors deliver their work accurately -- and deliver it to the right place. Click here for step-by-step instructions.

To close a purchase order

There are two ways to close an order.  Click the Closed checkbox to close one at a time, or select Edit > Update Order Status to close many at one time.  Closing an order will set any remaining balance to zero, which is good to do after the A/P invoice has been applied against it.  Closing an order will also remove it from the Open Orders lookup list and remove it from various reports such as the Open Orders or Over & Under Orders reports.

Blanket PO

A blanket PO is a Purchase Order that is valid for a specified period of time and authorizes multiple orders during that time period, as long as the total dollars on the PO are not exceeded. Blanket POs limit the types of goods or services that can be ordered, and may also limit the order amounts. Most Blanket orders are issued by one department for their own use, but some Blanket orders cover the entire company.

Because blanket POs generate multiple invoices for various dollar amounts over their life, it is more effective to receive IN DOLLARS with blanket orders. Specific quantities of goods are not specified on the order, so it is impossible to receive a "quantity" of goods or services. You should enter a receipt for the total dollar amount of the invoice you are approving, unless you wish to pay a lesser amount.

Purchase order approvals

Various records in C&P can require an approval before C&P allows the next step in the workflow process.  In the case of orders, this would be to allow it to be printed.  Please reference the online user guide about the Approval Manager and Approval Preferences for more information.

To view a vendor's diary

The vendor diary does not keep an automatic log of every vendor activity. That would create an immense number of entries. Instead, the vendor diary is used like a daily log. Anyone who works with one vendor account can make notes about phone calls, meetings, etc. Click here for step-by-step instructions.

To print PO reports

Purchase order reports review, summarize, and analyze what you're ordering from vendors. Reports can be printed showing one type (such as insertion orders only) or all types. Purchase, insertion, and broadcast orders are selected for a range of dates (using date added or due date) and either vendor, client, status, or by the buyer (i.e., ordered by initials). Click here for step-by-step instructions.

	Learn more about Purchase Orders in this Clients & Profits classroom video training session, with C&P Trainer Mindy Williams. Requires Apple Quicktime 7.0 or greater. Running time: 5:27