Purchase orders and incoming-supply evidence

Use the Purchase orders workflow to keep an auditable record of what you requested and what the supplier later confirmed, shipped, and delivered. The planner records evidence; it does not transmit or pay the supplier order.

Lifecycle

Plan reviewed → request actually sent → supplier confirmed → shipped → received evidence

1. Calculate a plan and review each approved quantity.
2. Check existing open requests for the same supplier and SKU.
3. Enter the requested arrival date and acknowledge the duplicate-request check.
4. Select Record sent purchase order only after the request was actually sent outside the plugin.
5. Open Purchase orders. When the supplier responds, record the confirmed quantity and applicable arrival date.
6. Record cumulative shipped and received quantities as those events occur.
7. Receive physical stock through your normal WooCommerce, ERP, WMS, or inventory workflow.

What counts as incoming supply

A requested-only quantity is not incoming. Eligible incoming supply is the unreceived portion of a supplier-confirmed quantity with an applicable date inside the planning horizon. A later plan uses this evidence to avoid proposing the same requirement again.

Avoid duplicate open requests

Before recording a new request, review open purchase records for the same supplier and products. If a supplier has not yet confirmed an earlier request, update or resolve that request operationally rather than creating a second record for the same need.

Verify

Calculate a later plan for one affected SKU. Confirm requested-only quantity is not in the incoming column, eligible confirmed unreceived quantity is included once, and received quantity is not counted again. Compare WooCommerce stock before and after recording receipt evidence; it must be unchanged.

Related: Create and review a plan and Stock safety boundary.