The Purchasing & Payables module manages the full procurement lifecycle — from identifying what each project needs, through issuing purchase orders, receiving goods, matching vendor invoices, and posting payments. Every financial step automatically generates the double-entry General Ledger entries behind the scenes, so your books stay current without manual journal work.
Where to find it
Choose Purchasing & Payables from the left sidebar. The module has three tabs across the top:
- Resource Requirements — what each project needs, before a PO exists.
- Purchase Orders — the main workflow hub where POs are created and moved through their lifecycle.
- Inventory — on-hand stock for items you've received.
The purchase-order lifecycle
A purchase order moves through a series of statuses. Each transition is a deliberate action — nothing advances on its own.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | PO created, not yet approved. |
| Approved | Approved internally, ready to send to the vendor. |
| Sent | Transmitted to the vendor, awaiting delivery. |
| Partially Received / Received | Some or all line items received. |
| Partially Invoiced / Invoiced | Some or all line items matched to a vendor invoice. |
| Payment Approved | Payment approved, ready to post. |
| Paid | Payment posted; the General Ledger entries are created. |
| Voided | PO cancelled; any posted GL entries are reversed. |
You drive a PO through these steps with the right-click menu on the Purchase Orders tab.
The menu offers Edit, Approve / Un-Approve, Send to Vendor, Receive, Match Invoice, Approve Payment, Pay, plus Archive, Void, and Duplicate — the whole lifecycle in one place. Only the actions valid for a PO's current status are enabled.
Step 1 — Review Resource Requirements
Before creating a purchase order, project managers flag what they need on the Resource Requirements tab. Each row is a request from a specific project for a material or labor item.
Each row shows the Resource, its Size and UOM, and the Project, Task, and Team it's for. Use Group (by Resource, Project, Task, or Team) and the search box to find what you need.
Shortcut: select one or more requirements and create a purchase order straight from them — the items pre-fill onto a new PO, so you don't re-key what's already been requested.
Step 2 — Create and fill out a Purchase Order
On the Purchase Orders tab, click Add Purchase Order (or use the shortcut above). Each PO lists its ID, PO #, Invoice #, Type, and Vendor.
Click a PO's number to open it and fill in the details.
- Line Items — each item with its quantity, unit price, expense account, and a computed total.
- Order Summary — running Subtotal, Tax, Shipping, and the Total (Landed Cost).
- Notes — separate Vendor and Internal notes, plus per-line-item notes.
- Attachments / Files — supporting documents on the PO and its lines.
Click Save Changes. The PO starts as a Draft.
Step 3 — Approve the PO
Right-click the PO and choose Approve. It moves from Draft to Approved, ready to send. (Use Un-Approve to send it back for changes.)
Step 4 — Send the PO to the vendor
Choose Send to Vendor to transmit the PO. It moves to Sent, and you're now waiting on delivery.
Step 5 — Receive the goods
As materials arrive, choose Receive and record what came in. The PO moves to Partially Received or Received, and received items flow into Inventory.
Step 6 — Match the vendor invoice
When the vendor's invoice arrives, choose Match Invoice to reconcile it against the PO's line items (a three-way match of order, receipt, and invoice). The PO moves to Partially Invoiced or Invoiced.
Step 7 — Approve the payment
Choose Approve Payment to sign off on paying the matched invoice. The PO moves to Payment Approved.
Step 8 — Pay (post the payment)
Choose Pay to post the payment. The PO becomes Paid, and the General Ledger entries are created automatically — the payable is cleared and cash (or the payment account) is reduced, with no manual journal entry needed.
Inventory
The Inventory tab shows on-hand stock for items you've received through purchase orders — quantities, units, and where they sit. Receiving goods on a PO increases inventory; using them on work draws it down.
How it keeps your books current
The financial steps post to the General Ledger for you: receiving goods records the inventory and the payable, matching the invoice firms it up, and paying clears the payable and reduces cash. Because each step generates its own double-entry journal, your books stay in sync with the procurement activity without anyone writing a manual journal entry. Voiding a PO reverses the entries it created.
Permissions
The lifecycle actions are permission-controlled — creating and editing POs, approving, receiving, matching invoices, and posting payments are each gated, so the right people handle each step. If an action is unavailable to you, ask an administrator.
Common questions
Do I have to do the steps in order? Yes — a PO advances only through deliberate actions, and each action is available only at the right status (you can't pay before matching the invoice, for example).
Where do received items go? Into the Inventory tab. Receiving on a PO increases on-hand stock.
Do I need to make journal entries? No — the General Ledger postings happen automatically as you receive, match, and pay.
How do I undo a posted PO? Void it — that reverses the GL entries it created.
Related topics
- Resources — the catalog the requested items come from.
- Projects — where resource requirements originate.
- GL Entries & Transactions — the journal entries procurement posts.