Purchase Order field guide

The Purchase Order (PO) is an approved commitment to buy goods or services. It is not a receipt, supplier invoice, or payment. OSERP uses the PO to control budget, quantity, price, delivery, tax, quality, landed cost, and three-way matching.

Header fields

Open Purchasing → Workspace → New Order.

Field	Example	Purpose and impact
PO number	PO-2026-004281	Immutable commitment key
Company	Demo Retail Group LLC	Legal purchasing scope
Branch	DXB-MAIN	Responsibility and tax location
Supplier	NovaBio GmbH	Payable and supplier statement
Supplier reference	NB-Q-88210	External traceability
Order date	2026-09-17	Commitment and audit date
Required date	2026-10-02	Planning and SLA
Currency	USD	Supplier price and FX
Exchange rate	3.6725	Functional value
Buyer	Aisha Khan	Ownership and approval
Warehouse	DXB-COLD	Receiving destination
Incoterm	CIP Dubai	Freight, risk, and customs
Payment term	Net 30	Due date and cash forecast
Tax treatment	Import / standard	Tax and landed-cost rules
Status	Draft / approved	Commitment gate

Header also stores quotation, contract, project/WBS, budget, freight method, carrier, quality requirement, supplier contact, notes, attachments, and approval route. Supplier, company, currency, and external reference must be validated before lines are added.

Detail fields

Field	Example	Purpose and impact
Line number	10	Stable detail reference
Item/service	MED-INS-100	Product or service identity
Description	Insulin Pen 5-pack	Printed line text
Ordered quantity	500	Supplier commitment
Purchase UoM	CARTON	Quantity interpretation
Base quantity	2,500 PACK	Inventory conversion
Unit price	USD 42.00	Commercial value
Discount	2%	Cost and approval
Tax code	IMPORT	Tax calculation
Promised date	2026-10-02	Delivery planning
Warehouse/bin	DXB-COLD / A-03	Put-away proposal
Batch expected	Yes	Receipt traceability
Quality status	Quarantine	Release control
Cost centre	Procurement	Spend reporting
Project/WBS	HOSP-2026	Budget and margin

Line totals should show gross, discount, net, tax, freight allocation, landed cost estimate, received, invoiced, and open quantities. A partial receipt leaves the open quantity visible.

Supplier and budget controls

Before approval, OSERP validates supplier active status, tax and bank records, blocked status, duplicate PO, price validity, budget availability, required date, item status, and permission. If the PO is AED 600,000 against a restricted grant, fund and programme dimensions are mandatory.

Commitment reporting shows approved budget, prior commitments, current PO, receipts, invoices, actual cost, and remaining forecast. Cancelling a PO releases its unreceived commitment with reason and approval. Editing price or quantity after approval creates an amendment version.

Currency, tax, and landed cost

Store supplier currency, transaction rate, rate date/source, functional value, tax code, freight, insurance, duty, brokerage, and other charges. A 500-carton PO at USD 42 is USD 21,000; at 3.6725, functional value is AED 77,122.50 before other charges.

Landed-cost allocation records component, amount, basis (quantity, weight, value), item/batch, and approval. The final cost flows to inventory or expense according to item policy. Do not change the original PO rate to compensate for payment-date FX.

Approval and amendments

Approval may depend on amount, category, fund, project, supplier risk, discount, or currency. The event records reviewer, decision, timestamp, comment, and PO version. A rejected PO returns to draft with reason.

An amendment records old/new value, reason, initiator, impact on budget and supplier commitment, and approval. A material change may require re-quotation. Posted receipts and invoices remain linked to the prior version.

Receipt and quality linkage

The goods receipt references PO, supplier, warehouse, delivery note, date, receiver, carrier, and status. Lines record ordered, received, accepted, rejected, damaged, batch/serial, expiry, certificate, bin, and discrepancy. Receiving 480 against 500 creates shortage/open quantity; 20 damaged cartons create claim evidence.

Receipt posting debits inventory, expense, or GRNI and credits receipt accrual. Quality release is a separate event. A quarantined batch cannot be allocated to a sale. Supplier claims reference receipt, photos, quantity, and resolution.

Three-way match and payment

Invoice matching compares PO quantity/price, receipt quantity/quality, and supplier invoice amount/tax. A price or quantity variance shows tolerance, value, owner, reason, and approval. It cannot be hidden by changing the receipt.

Once approved, the invoice credits payable and clears GRNI or accrual. Payment proposal uses due date, bank verification, currency, discount, withholding, and cash availability. Failed payments retain bank reason and retry state.

API mapping and practice

Use immutable PO ID, company, supplier, warehouse, currency, external reference, lines, and idempotency key. Include source quotation or contract and explicit tax/dimension objects. A timeout retry uses the same key; duplicate creation is not acceptable.

{"companyId":"company_uae","supplierId":"supplier_novabio","warehouseId":"warehouse_dxb",
 "currency":"USD","exchangeRate":"3.6725","externalReference":"NB-Q-88210",
 "lines":[{"itemId":"item_med_ins_100","quantity":"500","uom":"CARTON","unitPrice":"42.00","taxCode":"IMPORT"}]}

Practice: create a budget-controlled USD PO, approve a discount exception, receive a shortage and damaged batch, allocate landed cost, match an invoice with a variance, amend the delivery date, pay the supplier, and reconcile commitment to GL. Explain every header/detail field, format, owner, status, permission, tax, FX, stock, journal, API ID, and audit event.

Related: Procure to pay, Inventory field guide, Journal Entry field guide, Advanced GL Mapping, and API cookbook.

Purchase-to-pay implementation worksheet

During configuration, have procurement, warehouse, finance, tax, and the budget owner sign the same example. For Demo Retail Group LLC, use a USD import PO for 500 cartons of a batch-managed item and capture the result at each boundary.

Boundary	Fields that must be evidenced	Expected result
Supplier master	Legal name, tax, bank, currency, risk, blocked state	Supplier is active and payable-safe
Requisition	Requester, need date, item/service, quantity, budget, project	Demand is approved before commitment
PO header	Company, branch, supplier, currency, Incoterm, warehouse, terms	Correct legal and logistics defaults
PO lines	UoM, conversion, price, tax, batch, promised date	Quantity and value are reproducible
Approval	Threshold, reviewer, decision, version, comment	Segregation and exception evidence
Receipt	Delivery note, actual quantity, batch, quality, bin	Stock/GRNI reflects physical receipt
Landed cost	Freight, duty, insurance, basis, batch allocation	Inventory cost is explainable
Invoice	Supplier reference, tax, rate, three-way result	AP liability is valid
Payment	Bank, due date, withholding, reference, allocation	Supplier statement clears
Close	Open quantity, commitment, GRNI, AP, FX, GL	No unowned balance remains

Three-way-match decision matrix

The match engine should display the comparison, not only a pass/fail badge. A quantity shortage with an accepted partial receipt may pass within policy; a price variance may require buyer approval; an invoice for a rejected batch must block regardless of tolerance.

Condition	Example	Default decision	Required action
PO = receipt = invoice	500 / 500 / 500	Pass	Post AP and clear GRNI
Receipt below PO	480 received / 500 ordered	Pass partial	Keep 20 open or cancel with reason
Invoice above receipt	500 invoiced / 480 accepted	Block	Correct invoice or approve exception
Price within tolerance	USD 42.00 vs USD 42.20	Warn/pass by policy	Record tolerance and owner
Price above tolerance	USD 42.00 vs USD 46.00	Block	Amend PO or approve variance
Quality rejected	480 received, 100 rejected	Block rejected quantity	Claim, replace, or disposition
Tax mismatch	PO import, invoice domestic VAT	Block	Correct tax evidence and code
Duplicate invoice	Same supplier number and date	Block	Resolve duplicate before posting
Closed period	Invoice posting date locked	Block	Use permitted date or reopen authority

Landed-cost walkthrough

For 500 cartons at USD 42, goods value is USD 21,000. Add freight USD 1,200, insurance USD 180, duty AED 7,900, and brokerage AED 1,100. At USD/AED 3.6725, freight plus insurance is AED 5,066.70 and goods value is AED 77,122.50. Total landed cost before brokerage is AED 90,089.20; including brokerage it is AED 91,189.20. The allocation record must state whether each component is allocated by value, weight, quantity, or a mixed policy, and which lots receive it.

Do not put duty into the supplier unit price merely to make the item cost look complete. The PO price remains the commercial price; landed-cost documents explain additional cost and their posting accounts. If tax is recoverable, keep it separate from inventory cost. If freight is expensed by policy, do not capitalise it. The same numerical total can be wrong if the component policy is wrong.

Amendments, cancellations, and closure

An approved PO is a commitment. An amendment to price, quantity, currency, supplier, warehouse, or required date must show old value, new value, reason, initiator, budget effect, receipt effect, and approval route. If receipts exist, the amendment must not retroactively change received history. Cancelling an unreceived line releases commitment and records the supplier communication. Closing a line with open quantity requires a cancellation reason; otherwise the commitment remains misleading.

Refusal and replay tests

Test a duplicate supplier reference, inactive supplier, missing tax code, missing project on a restricted fund, over-capacity warehouse, expired batch, receipt above open quantity, invoice above accepted quantity, changed payload with an existing idempotency key, and payment to an unverified bank account. Each refusal must be atomic: no partial stock, commitment, or journal should remain. Save request ID, response, user, timestamp, and audit event for the handover pack.