Purchase order software
Parts get bought in a hurry. Someone phones a supplier, or sends an email, because the job is tomorrow. The purchase order, if there is one, is a document on a desk. The delivery turns up with no job number. The bill arrives a month later and someone has to guess which job it belongs to.
Stock goes the same way. A van carries what the last job left in it. A spreadsheet says you have six of a fitting. The van has two, and one of those is the wrong one.
What goes missing
- The same part is ordered twice, by two people, for one job.
- The supplier's bill cannot be matched to a job, so the cost disappears into a general pile.
- The stock figure was last true on a quiet Friday. Nobody has counted since.
- A part bought for one customer is mixed with parts you keep all the time.
- Nobody can say who approved the spend.
What a purchase order should carry
- The supplier, what you asked for, the quantity, the price, and who approved it.
- The job it is for, or the stock it is going into. An order with neither is a receipt you will not recognise later.
- What was delivered, and what is still outstanding.
- The supplier's bill, when it comes, against that order. Not against a month of card payments.
The job those parts are for is covered in job management software. What the person on site actually fitted, which is often not what was ordered, belongs on the job sheet.
What to look for
- Raise the order from the job or from stock, not from a blank email.
- See what is on order, what has arrived, and what is still out.
- Match the supplier's bill to the order without a search through inboxes.
- A stock figure one person is not secretly in charge of.
How Atlas OS® helps
Atlas OS® is a complete business operating system for any business, anywhere, in any sector. The operating system behind your business. It is in development. You cannot switch it on as a finished product today.
Buying for a job should sit on that job, with the rest of the record. Atlas OS® is in development, so this is the record to expect, not a screen you can open today.
Run it. Connect it. Control it. Prove it.
Common questions
What should a purchase order include?
The supplier, what you asked for, the quantity, the price, who approved it, and whether it is for a job or for stock. What arrived, and what is still outstanding, belong on the same order.
Why do emailed orders and card payments lose the cost?
Two people order the same part. The delivery has no job number. The supplier's bill arrives weeks later and has to be guessed onto a job, or dumped into a general pile.
How should stock and special orders be kept apart?
Parts you hold all the time need a quantity you trust. A part bought for one customer needs the job on it. Mixing the two is how the van and the spreadsheet disagree.
Can I raise purchase orders in Atlas OS today?
No. Atlas OS is in development. A purchase should sit on the job or the stock it is for, with the rest of the record. This page describes that record. It is not a screen you can open today.
How do I get early access?
Atlas OS is in development and coming soon. Join the waitlist and we will email you when it opens.
Get early access
If you want purchase orders, stock and supplier bills on the job they belong to, join the waitlist. We will email you when Atlas OS opens.