Working with trade documents

Requisitions, purchase orders, goods receipts, purchase returns, quotations, sales orders, deliveries and sales returns all work the same way. This page explains what they share; the Buying and Selling pages cover what is special about each.

You see a list if your administrator has given you access to that kind of document.

The list

Each list has the same parts:

• Summary cards: Draft, Pending, Active, Closed / rejected and All, each with a count and a value in your base currency. Select a card to show only those documents. If the list is long you see “Counts cover the first 200 rows only; narrow the list for exact figures.”
• Project, if you have access to the ledger: pick a project to see only its documents, or All projects.
• The table: Number, Supplier or Customer, Date, a due date, Total and Status. The due date column is named for the document: Needed by on a requisition, Delivery date on an order, Valid until on a quotation. A Project column can be shown from the column menu.
• Search, sort and filters: filter by Status, the supplier or customer, the date, the due date and the total.
• Export downloads the list you are looking at. Choose the Columns, rename a Heading if you like, pick a Format and select Export. You can Save as preset to reuse a column choice.

Select a row to open the document in a side panel.

The document panel

From top to bottom, the panel shows:

1. The document number and its status.
2. The supplier or customer, the date and the due date.
3. A note if the document is finished: “Fulfilled: nothing is left open.” when every line has been drawn in full, or “Closed: …” with the reason when someone closed it. A quotation past its date says “This quotation’s validity has passed. Issue a new one.”
4. The total, and the lines with Description, Quantity, Open (what is left for the next step) and Amount.
5. The action buttons for the current status, such as Submit, Approve or Reject. Only the buttons you may use are active; hover over a greyed-out one to see why.
6. PDF, on purchase orders and quotations once they are past draft.
7. The button for the next document in the chain, such as New goods receipt.
8. Close, on approved purchase orders and confirmed sales orders.
9. Document chain, once the document has a source, a follow-on document or an invoice.
10. Attachments: supporting documents such as a quote or a delivery note. You can add more later but not remove them.
11. Progress: every decision so far, by whom and when, with any reason given.

If you prepared a draft requisition, order, quotation or sales order, Edit draft at the bottom reopens the form. Only the person who prepared a draft can edit it.

Statuses

Status	Documents	What it means
Draft	All	Saved but not sent on. Only its preparer sees Edit draft.
Pending approval	Requisitions, purchase orders, sales orders	Waiting for the approver
Approved	Requisitions, purchase orders	Approved; the next document can be started from it
Confirmed	Sales orders	Approved by the Owner; deliveries can be started from it
Issued	Quotations	Sent to the customer; a sales order can be started from it
Rejected	Requisitions, purchase orders, sales orders	Sent back with a reason. Its preparer selects Revise to make it a draft again.
Withdrawn	Requisitions, orders, quotations	The preparer withdrew the draft
Cancelled	All	Cancelled after approval or posting, with a reason
Received	Goods receipts	Posted: the goods are in stock
Returned	Purchase returns	Posted: the goods have gone back to the supplier
Delivered	Deliveries	Posted: the goods have left stock
Received back	Sales returns	Posted: the goods are back in stock

Actions that need a reason

Reject, Withdraw, Cancel and Discard (which throws away a draft receipt, delivery or return) each ask for a Reason. The reason is kept on the record and shown to the people involved.

Note

If you are your organization’s only member, you may approve your own document. You must give a reason, and the decision is recorded as a sole-owner exception.

Closing an order

An approved purchase order or a confirmed sales order stays open until every line has been received or delivered. If the rest will never come, for example the supplier has stopped making an item, close it:

1. Open the order and select Close.
2. Under Why close it?, give the reason.
3. Select Close the document.

The order shows “Closed: …” with your reason, and nothing more can be drawn from it.

Problems

Message	What to do
“That is more than is left open on the source line.”	Lower the quantity to what the Open column shows.
“The source document is not approved.”	Wait for the source to be approved, then try again.
“The source document is closed.”	The source was closed or fulfilled. Start a new one if more is needed.
“Other documents draw from this one. Cancel them first.”	Cancel the receipts or deliveries made from this document before cancelling it.
“An invoice is posted against this document. Void the invoice first.”	Ask finance to void the invoice before you cancel.