Creating a Purchase Order or Requisition

This guide explains how to create internal purchase requisitions and external purchase orders within the FMX Purchasing module.

💡 Note: Before creating a purchase, we recommend reviewing the Purchasing Settings article to ensure your module is configured correctly with the proper settings, user permissions, and any necessary custom fields.

Understanding the creation workflow

In FMX, you can create an internal Requisition for approval or an external Purchase Order directly.

• Creating a Requisition: This workflow is for items that require internal approval before an official order is placed. A Requisition does not have a Purchase Order number and must be converted into a Purchase Order after it's approved.
• Creating a Purchase Order: This workflow is for placing a formal order directly with a vendor. A Purchase Order is assigned a PO number by the system. If your organization uses custom PO numbers, a field will appear allowing you to enter one.

You can start a new purchase from the main Purchasing grid or directly from a work request.

Creating a purchase order or requisition

This process outlines the unified workflow for creating either a Requisition or a Purchase Order.

1. Navigate to Purchasing in the left sidebar.
2. Click the New order (Purchase Order tab) or New requisition (Requisitions tab) button in the top right corner.
3. Fill out the required fields for the order.
4. Add the individual items for the purchase (see below).
5. (Optional) Attach any relevant documents, such as quotes or invoices.
6. Click Submit to enter the order into the approval process, or click Save to save it as a draft.

Understanding key fields

• PO #: This field only applies to Purchase Orders, not Requisitions. A PO number is assigned by the system. If your organization's settings are configured to use custom PO numbers, this field will be visible and editable.
• Title: A brief, descriptive title for the purchase.
• Supplier: The vendor from whom the purchase will be made.
• On behalf of: Allows you to create a Requisition for another user.
• Associated work requests: Links the purchase to one or more work requests, which allows costs to be tracked against a specific job automatically.

Adding line items

Line items are the individual goods or services you are purchasing.

1. In the Line Items section, click + Add a line item.
2. For each item, you must first specify if it is a new, one-off purchase or an existing inventory item.
   • If the item is a one-time purchase or is not currently in your organization’s inventory, check the “One off” box and enter the name of the item in the “Item” field.
   • Otherwise, select the inventory item your organization or department will be ordering from the dropdown menu.
3. Fill in the following details for each item:
   • Description: A clear description of the item being purchased.
   • Quantity: The number of units you are purchasing.
   • Price: The price per individual unit.
   • Subtotal: The system will automatically calculate the subtotal based on the quantity and price.
4. To add more items, click the + button at the end of the line item row. 

💡 Note: Custom fields can be used to capture additional information on line items. Add them during the initial site configuraiton.

Converting a requisition to a purchase order

Once a Requisition is ready to become a formal order, it must be converted into a Purchase Order.

💡 Note: Only Submitted Requisitions can be converted to a Purchase Order. Your ability to perform this action depends on your user permissions.

1. Navigate to the Submitted Requisition you wish to convert.
2. Click the Convert button in the top right corner of the page.
3. On the "Convert to PO" screen, a PO # will be assigned by the system. If your organization uses custom PO numbers, you will be prompted to enter one.
4. All other information, such as the title, supplier, and line items, will be carried over automatically from the Requisition.
5. Click Create to finalize the new Purchase Order.

Managing requisitions and purchase orders

After creating a Requisition or Purchase Order, you can manage it through its lifecycle. The actions available will depend on the record's type and its current status (e.g., Draft, Submitted, Approved, Declined).

Common actions

• Drafts: Both Requisitions and Purchase Orders can be saved as a Draft. Drafts have not been formally submitted and can be edited at any time.
• Submitting: Clicking Submit formally enters the record into your organization's approval workflow.
• Editing: Both can be edited while in a Draft status. If a submitted record is Declined, you may be able to edit it to make corrections before resubmitting.
• Approving & Declining: Once submitted, both Requisitions and Purchase Orders move through an approval process where they can be approved or declined by authorized users.

Requisition-specific actions

• Deleting: You can delete a Draft Requisition if it is no longer needed.

Purchase order-specific actions

• Voiding & Canceling: A Purchase Order can be voided or canceled if the purchase is no longer proceeding.