Skip to main content
A purchase order is one order placed with a supplier, made up of one or more lines. Each line names a part (or a free-text good or service), a quantity, a cost, and delivery details. The line, not the PO, is the unit ION tracks: a PO’s status rolls up from its lines, receiving happens line by line, and line quantities can be received in parts. Purchase orders connect to the rest of the build. A supplier owns the order. Each line’s part sets whether receiving creates inventory and how it converts units. Receiving turns ordered lines into on-hand stock, and runs consume that stock, so floor consumption feeds back into demand and reorder planning. Every purchase traces to the inventory that arrived and the run that consumed it.

​
Purchase order lines

A line carries the part, quantity, unit cost, ETA, and paid status, plus any quality clauses or term requirements the supplier must deliver against. Editability is governed by the PO’s status, not the line’s own status: see the statuses table. To place an order and build its lines, see Create a purchase order. To reuse a common order, copy a purchase template. A line with no part behaves like a physically received part that creates no inventory. Use it for one-off goods and services you don’t stock.

​
Statuses

A PO’s status is calculated from the statuses of its lines. It controls what stays editable and where the order sits in the approval and receiving workflow.
StatusMeaningEditable
DraftAny line is in Draft.Every field on every line, regardless of the line’s own status. You can increase a line’s quantity even if it’s already fully received.
In ReviewA line has been requested for approval. Reviewers approve level by level.ETA, Paid status, and custom attributes only.
ApprovedAll reviewers have approved. The buyer can move the PO to Ordered and send the PDF to the supplier.ETA, Paid status, and custom attributes only.
OrderedThe PO has been placed. Stays Ordered even after some lines are received.ETA, Paid status, and custom attributes only.
ReceivedAll lines are received or canceled.ETA, Paid status, and custom attributes only.
CanceledAll lines are canceled.ETA, Paid status, and custom attributes only.
To edit a line on a PO that has moved past Draft, return the PO to Draft. You can’t manually set a line to any status other than Canceled, and a canceled line can be uncanceled only while its PO is in Draft.

​
Approvals

When your org has an approval policy, a PO routes to reviewers level by level: each level is notified in sequence, and the PO reaches Approved once every level approves. A change past your org’s reset threshold triggers reapproval. See Approve purchase orders.
Approval levels and the reset threshold are configured in Settings, not on the PO. See Configure PO approval workflow.

​
Purchase types

A part’s Purchase Type decides whether buying it has a physical receiving step and whether receiving creates inventory. You set it on the part record when you create or edit the part.
Purchase typeReceipt?Creates inventory?Use it for
Creates inventoryYesYes, in On Order status until receivedParts you track, move, install, and raise issues against.
Does Not Create Inventory, Physically ReceivedYesNoRepeated purchases of goods or services you don’t stock, such as anodizing or heat treatment.
Does Not Create Inventory, Digitally ReceivedNoNoPurchases where nothing physical arrives, such as software.
A PO line with no part behaves like Does Not Create Inventory, Physically Received; use it for a one-off good or service instead of creating a part. Changing a part’s purchase type applies to future PO lines only and doesn’t alter lines already created.
If a PO shows received but the part has no inventory, confirm the purchase type is Creates inventory, the line has a part, the receipt is fully rather than partially received, and the inventory isn’t hidden by a status filter (it may be On Order or Unavailable). See Statuses.

​
Unit of measure conversions

A part can be bought in the supplier’s pack unit while stocked and consumed in your floor’s unit: buy wire by the roll, stock and consume feet. The conversion lives on the supplier part number, the link between an ION part and a specific supplier’s SKU, so the same part can carry different conversions from different suppliers. Receiving applies the conversion, so the PO line reads in the purchase unit while the inventory it creates reads in the stock unit. See Unit of measure conversions.

​
Consigned parts

You can provide parts to a supplier or assembler that you own until they’re consumed in production. ION ties the purchase, a run, and a kit together so the supplier receives the consigned parts and they install onto the assembly’s aBOM once received. See Purchase consigned parts.

​
External reference

The External Reference field links a PO to an identifier from another system, such as an ERP PO number. The reference shows in place of the ION PO number wherever the purchase appears and is searchable on the Purchases page.