Purchase Orders vs Purchases
Purchase Orders only reflect anticipated purchases but do not impact accounting, whereas Purchase records log actual purchases and do impact accounting. Once a Purchase Order is filled and a related Purchase record is logged, the expense is realized in the accounting modules.
The discussions below review the screens and tools available for working with Purchase Orders. For information about managing Purchases, click here.
aACE has a number of management tools available for managing POs. List View allows you to manage multiple POs at the same time. Detail View allows you to interact with related records such as Shipments, Purchases and Payments.
List View Management
List View allows you to work with multiple purchase orders at the same time. In our example below, we've searched for all purchase orders to Widgets & More.
The color-coded status indicators alert users to items that need attention, such as overdue items that have not yet arrived. The status colors indicate the following:
gray = voided
white = closed
yellow = pending
red = open / overdue
green = open
The screen allows you to change the tracking status for individual POs without having to enter edit mode. Click the Tracking Status field to get an editable drop-down list.
There is also an Actions menu at the end of every record row. Here you can view record logs, duplicate the record, omit the record from the found set, or change the record's state (open, close, void).
Detail View
Detail View provides multiple screens for managing individual purchase orders.
General Info
This screen provides all the details of the PO, for example, the date ordered, the vendor information, shipping information and the items ordered. There is also a section for managing RFQs.
Management Screen
The Management screen gives you all the information you need to view, track and interact with information related to your purchase order. There are three interactive tabs; Management, Purchases, and Shipments.
Management Tab
This tab gives you the details of each item ordered, such as quantities ordered, received vs purchased; values of each item and the amounts purchase vs amounts remaining. Each column totals at the bottom right of the screen.
The Management Tasks section in the lower left of the screen provides quick links to viewing and creating related records such as purchases and shipments.
Payments can be applied right from this screen as well. Click the 
button next to the Payment Due total in the bottom right of the screen.
Purchases Tab
The purchases tab shows all related purchase records. In the example below, there is only one, but there can be many. Status indicators at the end of each record alerts you to those purchases needing immediate attention. In our example, the purchase payment is overdue. Status indicators can be:
white = closed
yellow = pending payment coming up
red = payment overdue
Shipments Tab
The shipments tab displays all of the shipments related to this purchase order, including those that are returned to the vendor. The shipment's tracking status is viewable here for your convenience along with any notes (indicated by the yellow, clickable note icon). The status indicators are also color coded and can be:
white = received (or delivered when it is a return)
orange = pending
gray = void
