How to Configure Purchase Order Inventory Settings

Configure Purchase Order Settings to control how inventory behaves when you raise a purchase order to restock inventory rather than to fulfil a specific sales order, including whether new sales can draw from that stock before it arrives, and how received items are applied once they come in. Once configured, DecoNetwork retains these settings and applies them automatically every time a purchase order is raised without an order attached.

In This Article

• Prerequisites
• Why use this feature?
• Step 1: Open Purchase Order Settings
• Step 2: Configure Purchase Order Numbering
• Step 3: Configure How Orders Enter the Purchase Order Process
• Step 4: Configure Inventory Allocation Behavior
• Best Practices
• Troubleshooting
• FAQs
• Additional Resources

Prerequisites

Why use this feature?

A purchase order is usually tied to a specific sales order, restocking exactly what a customer bought. But you can also raise a purchase order with no order attached, simply to replenish inventory. That raises real questions: when that stock arrives, does it go straight to your on-hand inventory? And while it's still in transit, should new sales orders be allowed to draw from it before it physically arrives? Purchase Order Settings let you answer these questions once, so DecoNetwork behaves consistently every time, rather than leaving the decision to staff on a case-by-case basis.

• Decide whether new sales can draw from inventory that's already on order
• Control how received stock is applied when there's no order to fulfil
• Keep purchase order numbering and delivery expectations consistent
• Reduce manual decisions during receiving and order processing

Step 1: Open Purchase Order Settings

1. Log in to your DecoNetwork website.
2. Browse to Admin → Settings.
3. Select Purchase Order Settings.

Step 2: Configure Purchase Order Numbering

1. Set a Prefix to appear in front of your purchase order sequence number, if wanted.
2. Set the Initial Number, the first purchase order number DecoNetwork will generate.
3. Set a Suffix to append to your purchase order numbers, if wanted.

These settings only affect how purchase order numbers are formatted and don't change how inventory is handled, but they're on the same page and worth setting correctly from the start.

Step 3: Configure How Orders Enter the Purchase Order Process

1. Toggle By default all products go to purchase ordering to set whether products require purchase ordering by default.
2. Enable Orders must complete the purchase order process before flowing through to production if you want orders held in a "not ready for production" state until the purchase order is issued and the products are received and assigned. Leave it disabled to let orders enter production immediately.
3. Set Purchase Order is requested to be delivered in to the number of days you expect delivery to take. This is combined with your Default Production Days and shipping estimate to calculate customer due dates.

Step 4: Configure Inventory Allocation Behavior

This is where you control what happens with stock from a purchase order that isn't tied to a specific sales order, and whether new orders can use inventory that's already on the way.

1. Choose the behavior for when quantities are reduced on an order that already has a linked purchase order:
   • Keep overage and allocate extra quantity to Stock moves the extra quantity into general stock.
   • Prevent overage and reduce purchase order quantity removes the extra quantity from the purchase order instead.
   • Prompt the user to decide what action to take asks the Business Hub operator to choose when they save the order.
2. Enable When creating a Purchase Order all items are selected and included by default if you want every item pre-selected when a consolidated or batched purchase order is created. Leave it off to select items manually each time.
3. Enable Use inventory on order to fulfil new orders if you want stock that's already on a purchase order, but not yet received, to be automatically allocated to new sales orders that don't have a purchase order of their own. When this is on, DecoNetwork matches SKUs between purchase orders and unfulfilled sales orders in both directions, oldest orders first, so a customer can be sold inventory that's still in transit.
4. Enable When allocating items to stock turn inventory on if needed so that receiving items into stock automatically turns on inventory tracking for any SKU that doesn't already have it enabled.
5. Click Save.

Once saved, these settings are retained and applied automatically every time a purchase order is raised for replenishment, so staff don't need to manually decide how incoming stock should be handled on each occasion.

Best Practices

• Turn on "Use inventory on order to fulfil new orders" if you regularly buy ahead of demand and want new sales to draw from stock that's already on its way.
• Turn on "When allocating items to stock turn inventory on if needed" if you often replenish products that don't yet have inventory tracking enabled.
• Choose your overage handling setting deliberately. Prompt the user gives staff visibility case by case, while the other two options automate the decision consistently.
• Keep the requested delivery days accurate, since it directly affects the due dates quoted to customers.

Troubleshooting

Problem: New sales orders aren't automatically drawing from inventory that's already on order.
Cause: "Use inventory on order to fulfil new orders" is disabled.
Solution: Enable it under Admin → Settings → Purchase Order Settings, then click Save.

Problem: Received stock isn't being tracked because inventory wasn't enabled for the SKU.
Cause: "When allocating items to stock turn inventory on if needed" is disabled, so tracking doesn't turn on automatically during allocation.
Solution: Enable this setting so inventory tracking turns on automatically when stock without tracking enabled is allocated.

Problem: Reducing the quantity on an order with a linked purchase order produces unexpected results.
Cause: The overage handling setting is configured to act automatically, either keep overage or prevent overage, without prompting staff.
Solution: Switch to the "Choose which action to take when saving an order" option to prompt the user to decide what action to take if you want staff to confirm this case by case, or review which automatic option actually matches your workflow.

FAQs

What's the difference between raising a purchase order for a specific order versus for inventory replenishment?
A purchase order tied to a sales order restocks exactly what's needed to fulfil that order. A purchase order raised with no order attached is for general replenishment, and received items are allocated to your on-hand stock instead.

If I raise a purchase order to replenish stock, can I still sell those items before they arrive?
Yes, if Use Inventory on Order to Fulfil New Orders is enabled. New sales orders are automatically matched against inventory already on order, oldest purchase orders first, so you don't have to wait for stock to physically arrive before selling it.

Does the overage setting affect orders that already have a purchase order in progress?
Yes. It specifically controls what happens if quantities are reduced on an order that already has a linked purchase order.

Can I control this behavior for an individual product instead of my whole account?
Individual products and product groups can override whether they go through the purchase order workflow at all, using their own Required or Skip setting. Purchase Order Settings sets the account-wide default that applies unless a product or group is configured otherwise.

Additional Resources

• Purchase order overview
• How to Edit a Purchase Order
• Manage Inventory in Business Hub
• Configure Inventory Settings