D-Tools Cloud features a Procurement suite that helps you manage product ordering and purchasing from your preferred suppliers. Purchase orders (POs) can be created from different contextual views (Catalog for stockpiling and Project for ordering BoM products).

The Procurement functionality is closely coupled with the following:

Project Management suite: This automates item status tracking from when POs are created to when the products in the PO are delivered.
Inventory Management suite: This automates the updation of the inventory of products in POs that are under the purview of the Inventory Management functionality.

The combined capabilities of the Procurement, Project Management, and Inventory Management suites make ordering simple and easy on Cloud.

Continue reading this article for more details and learn how to create, configure, and send POs efficiently.

PO status

On Cloud, POs can be assigned a status to help you track them easily. POs are assigned a number for easy identification, the default format being PO-(number). For example, PO-20.

POs can be moved to different statuses by dragging them on the Kanban Board or selecting a status in the List view.

Here are the four PO statuses.

Status	Description
Draft	A PO remains in the Draft status until it is sent to the supplier via email from within Cloud or you change the status to Ordered. You can add products to a PO as long as it is in the Draft status.
Ordered	A PO is automatically moved to the Ordered status if you email it to the supplier from within Cloud. If you send it by any other means, you will need to manually move it to the Ordered status.
Partially Received	You can move a PO to the Partially Received status if you are receiving the products in a PO in multiple shipments and on different dates.
Received	You can move a PO to the Received status if you have received all the products listed in the PO.

Learn more about Purchase Order status.

Create a PO

A PO can be created in the Catalog view to order and stockpile products, and in the Project Details view to order products required in projects.

All POs can be accessed from "Procurement > Purchase Orders" in the left navigation menu. You can create POs from this page as well.

When a PO is created, it is in the Draft status, and the following details are auto-populated:

PO number
Your company's shipping address, billing address, shipping method, and payment method.
Supplier's address, account number, and contact details.

If the PO was created from the Catalog or Project view, the products and their total cost will be seen in the PO.

Learn more about creating a purchase order.

Add products to the PO

Products should be assigned a supplier before they can be added to a PO. You have the option to use the brand supplier rule to assign default suppliers to products in the catalog.

Learn more about assigning a default supplier to a brand.

A product assigned to a supplier will include the supplier's details in the project. You can change the supplier in the Project Details view if needed.

Here are the different ways in which you can add products to a PO:

Create a new PO from the "Procurement > Purchase Orders" page and add products from projects and the catalog.
Catalog view: select products in the catalog and add them to the draft or new POs.
Project view: select products in a project and add them to the draft or new POs.
Ready-To-Order products: select "Ready-To-Order" products from the "Procurement > Ready to Order" page and add them to the draft or new POs.

Configure the PO

A PO with products, their costs, shipping, and billing addresses is nearly ready to be sent. You can do the following to make POs more informative.

Add shipping costs and taxes below the total product cost.
Add supplier notes in the "Note to supplier" field.
Add the supplier quote number below the PO number.
Add internal notes in the "Notes" field.
Add notes and files at the bottom of the PO.
Update the product costs using the "Update from catalog" button in the 3-dot menu next to the PO name.
Remove products from the PO.

Learn more about configuring a purchase order.

Send the PO

Once you have configured a PO with all the required information, you can email it to the supplier or download a PDF and mail it.

Learn more about sending a purchase order.

After you send the PO to the supplier, you can do the following:

If you are given one or more shipment numbers, you can add them in the "Shipment tracking" field on the PO.
Update the status to "Partially Received" or "Received" based on the shipment's delivery status.

PO Analytics

Up at the top of the "Procurement > Purchase Orders" page, you will see a widget that shows the count of POs by their status. You will also see charts depicting the total value of the ordered products across all POs.