What does Purchase Order process mean?

A purchase order process (PO), which is an official document created by the buyer, authorises a purchase transaction to purchase goods or services from a provider.

The Purchase Order plays an important role when controlling business purchases. Professional Purchase Order processes build strong supplier relationships and provide an audit trail for all transactions. Automation is often used to speed up the PO process and reduce financial risk.

Why do companies prefer Purchase Order?

Let's face facts. All businesses can benefit from greater financial control. One way to control costs is with purchase order process. These are five key benefits of purchasing orders for businesses: 

1. These specifications define the exact requirements and expectations of the supplier.
2. They help us track the progress and formalise our purchase process. 
3. They are helpful in budgeting and cash flow.
4. These agreements are legally binding when they are accepted by the supplier.
5. These are an important part of auditing transactions.Purchase Orders usually include the name and contact information of the company that purchased the goods or the service. 

5 steps of the Purchase Order Process:

The Purchase Order process is part of a larger procurement process. It involves confirming and specifying what goods or services are actually needed before purchasing them. It also involves processing payments and auditing the results.

1. Create the Purchase Request (PR):

To obtain approval for the purchase, a requisitioner creates an authorization document. You can amend it, add to it before approval is granted, or cancel it.

2. Issue the Purchase Order (PO):

After the approval of the PR, the PO can then be created once quantity, prices, expected delivery date, etc, have been agreed upon. 

3. The Purchase Order (PO) is approved by the supplier:

The supplier can request amendments if any details are not correct or unacceptable. If necessary, the supplier approves the amended PO via email.

4. The Purchase Order (PO) is filled by the purchaser and kept safe until delivery:

The organisation will inspect the purchase after the product or service has been provided. The Goods Received Notice is used to sign in goods. When services are rendered satisfactorily, they are typically signed in the same way.

5. Approval and payment:

The invoice is matched to the Purchase Order upon receipt. All information being correct, the invoice will be paid according to the agreed payment terms.

Best practices for Optimising your Purchase Order Process

There are best practices for transactional or day-to-day purchasing. 

1. All employees involved in the po process should be aware of the policies, procedures, approval methods, and other requirements.
2. You can establish a reliable and up-to-date list of suppliers who can supply quality products at reasonable prices, as well as reliable services. Purchase order software allows you to quickly compare supply terms and prices.
3. A master agreement can be used to engage key suppliers for the same product or service. It defines pricing, escalations, and other terms. Make sure that product information is up-to-date and that catalogues are maintained. This will reduce interactions and eliminate unnecessary paperwork.
4.  Keep good working relationships with your suppliers to ensure that you can quickly resolve any problems. Relationships that are adversarial can be counterproductive and cause unnecessary stress and expense.
5. All purchasing information should be centralised and accessible to everyone, whenever possible. To streamline the Purchase Order process, use the best technology available.

Key components of a Purchase order:

1.  Contents of the Purchase Order

2. The number for Purchase Order

3. Date of purchase order.

4. Name and address of the supplier

5. Code number of the Required Items

6. Quantity of each item

7. Description of the Items

8. Rates of items

9. Date, Time, and Place of Delivery

10. Freight and Packing charges, as well as Terms of Payment

11. Shipping Method 

12. Signature of the Purchase Manager

How TYASuite can help Automate Purchase order Process?

Purchase orders are essential to your company's operations. You may be unaware of how time-consuming the purchase ordering process is, but there are numerous processes involved. Any effort you make to expedite the procedure will free up time that might be better used to ensure the success of your operations and the expansion of your firm.

Here’s how TYASuite helps in automating purchase order process:

Escape the Paper based process

Using purchase order system has significantly benefitted businesses who switched from paper-based to digital processes. Going digital makes it easier to find and update purchase orders, decreases the possibility of paperwork repetition or deletion, removes many human error-related possibilities and allows time-saving automation of repetitive processes.

Aid Centralized Access

Everyone involved in the purchase order process requires to have access to the most up-to-date documents, ideally in real-time, in case there are concerns or modifications. Digitised PO management is the simplest way to accomplish this.

Create a chain of approvals

Uncertainty, fraud, delays, as well as other supply issues can be avoided subsequently by obtaining the necessary approvals from the right persons before issuing a purchase order. You should have a process in place for asking specific team members for their approval of various PO kinds and spending levels.

Maximise efficiency within budget

It may be profitable to link your purchase orders to the appropriate task budgets with the support of a purchase order solution. Going over budget can affect your business's profitability and cash flow. By connecting this data, you can rapidly identify when projects are in risk of running over budget and be in a position to take preventive steps to fix the issue and balance expenses.

TYASuite purchase order software offers the automation that could streamline your end to end purchasing processes guaranteeing operational efficiency.

Get in touch with our team to start your free demo today!