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(Legacy) Create a Purchase Order

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 Legacy Content

This tutorial details Procore's legacy experience for creating a purchase order. The information on this page will be replaced with updated content when the redesigned commitments beta experience is generally available. To learn about this release and its timeline, see Project Financials: Modernised Experience for Commitments.

Important! If you are using the commitments beta experience, please see the Create Purchase Orders tutorial instead of the information below. 

Objective

To create a purchase order in the project's Commitments tool.

Background

In Procore, a Purchase Order (PO) is a documented financial commitment that details the types, quantities and agreed-upon prices for products or services. As part of the procurement process, purchase orders are created by a 'buyer' (for example, a main contractor) and issued to a 'seller' (for example, a subcontractor) to cover the cost of a contract. Once accepted by the 'seller,' a purchase order represents an agreement between the two parties

Things to Consider

  • Required User Permissions:
    • To create a purchase order and see/enter data on the Bill of Quantities:
      • 'Admin' level permissions on the project's Commitments tool. 
        OR
      • 'Standard' level permissions on the project's Commitments tool and the 'Allow Users to See BOQ Items' setting must be enabled and your name must be selected in the 'Select a Person' drop-down list
    • To create a purchase order only, 'Read Only' or 'Standard' level permissions on the project's Commitments tool with the 'Create Purchase Order' granular permission enabled on your permissions template.
  • Additional Information:
    • Purchase orders can be transitioned into a Variation Request (for 1-tier Variations) or into a Potential Variation (for 3-tier Variations).
    • You can only create a Potential Variation from a Purchase Order that's in the 'Approved' status.
    • To learn how to set the accounting method, see How do I set the accounting method for a contract or funding?

Steps

Step 1: Create a Purchase Order

  1. Navigate to the project's Commitments tool.
  2. Choose an option to begin creating a purchase order:
    • If this is the first commitment for the project, click + Create and select Purchase Order from the drop-down menu in the centre of the page.
    • If you have already created the first commitment, click + Create and select Purchase Order from the drop-down menu in the top right corner of the page.
       Note
      • The Create button is available when you are viewing the Contracts and Recycle Bin tabs. New purchase orders are always added to the Contracts tab. 
      • The Export button is only available on the Contracts tab. To learn more, see Export a Commitments List.
  3. In the 'New Purchase Order' page under General Information, do the following:
    • Sign with DocuSign
      If your project is using the Procore + DocuSign® integration (see Enable or Disable the DocuSign® Integration on a Procore Project), a tick appears in this box by default. If you do NOT want to sign the purchase order with DocuSign®, remove the tick. 
    • Number #
      Enter or confirm the unique identifier for the purchase order. If you are creating the first purchase order for your project, Procore automatically numbers your purchase orders in sequential order. For example, PO-01-001, PO-01-002 and so on.
       Notes
    • Title
      Provide a descriptive name for the purchase order. 
       Notes
    • Bill To
      Enter the business contact information for the bill-to party. This information will appear as the 'Bill To' address on any payment applications created for this purchase order. This typically includes the business name, business address and other important contact information. 
    • Ship To
      Enter the business contact information for the ship-to party. This information will appear as the 'Ship To' address on any payment applications created for this purchase order. Keep in mind this may be different from the Bill To address, such as the job site address or another off-site staging location where you want materials to be delivered.  
      Contract Company
      Select the vendor/company who will provide the purchased materials (for example, American Construction Co.). This vendor/company must exist in Procore's Project Directory. See Add a Company to the Project Directory.
    • Payment Application Contacts
      Select one (1) or more employees of the 'Contract Company' to designate as the payment application contact(s). After saving the purchase order, any users added here will be added to the 'Private' list. You must select a 'Contract Company' before you can select payment application contacts. 
       Note
      It is important to always add at least one  'Invoice Contact' on a purchase order or subcontract. This ensures that important email invitations and automatic email notifications are sent to the appropriate contact. To learn more about the importance of including payment application contacts on your commitments, see Add Payment application Contacts to a Purchase Order or Subcontract and What is a payment application contact? 
    • Status. Assign a status to the purchase order. To learn about the available statuses and which commitment statuses reflect contract amounts in your project's budget, see What are the default commitment statuses in Procore? 
    • Executed
      Place a mark in this tickbox to indicate whether or not the purchase order has been executed.
       Notes
      • Many Procore users choose to place a tick in the 'Executed' box when placing the purchase order into the  'Approved' or 'Complete' status.
      • The time at which your project team places a tick in the 'Executed' box should always be aligned with your project's unique business process 
    • Private
      Mark the tickboxes and choose any project users or collaborators from the 'Select a Person' list. To learn more about the privacy options, see Change the Privacy Settings for a Commitment.
      • Make this visible to only administrators and the following users
        Mark this tickbox to limit the visibility of the purchase order to users with 'Admin' on the project's Commitments tool and users specified in the 'Select a Person' drop-down list. 
      • Allow these users to see BOQ items
        Mark this tickbox in this box to limit the visibility of the Bill of Quantities (BOQ) items on the purchase order to users with 'Admin' on the project's Commitments tool and users specified in the 'Select a Person' drop-down list. 
    • Assigned To
      Select the person from the vendor/company who is responsible for the fulfillment of the purchase order.
    • Default Retention
      Specify the percentage amount of retention to withhold on the first subcontractor payment application. For example, it is a common practice to enter 5 or 10% in this field.
       Notes
      The 'Default Retention' amount set on the subcontract will only affect the amount on the first subcontractor payment application. Editing this value after creating the first subcontractor payment application will NOT affect the retention amount on subsequent payment applications. In order to set or release the retention amount on a subsequent payment application, complete the steps in Enable Retention on a Purchase Order or Subcontract. Next, use one of these Procore tools to set or release retention on the payment application: If you would like to set up retention rules that automatically adjust withheld amounts on your subcontractor payment applications, see Enable Sliding Scale Retention Rules on on a Commitment's Payment applications. 
    • Description
      Provide additional information, as necessary.
    • Attachments
      Attach any related materials such as pricing quotes, receipts, signed purchase orders and so on. You may attach files that have been uploaded to your project or drag and drop files from your local computer.
  4. Under Contract Dates, do the following:
    • Delivery Date. Specify the date when the purchased goods are to be delivered to the location specified in the 'Ship To' field.
  5. Under Additional Information, do the following:
    • Payment Terms. Specify relevant payment conditions, if applicable.
    • Ship Via. Enter the shipping/transport method for materials (for example, freight, FedEx and so on.).
  6. Choose from these options:
    • Click the Create button. This action creates your new purchase order.
      OR
    • Optional. Click Create & Enter BOQ. This action creates your new purchase order and allows you to begin entering data on the BOQ. 

Step 2: Enter the Bill of Quantities (BOQ)

There are two ways to enter the Bill of Quantities (BOQ) on a purchase order:

Import BOQ Line Items from a CSV File

If you want to import multiple line items to an BOQ, the Commitments tool provides users with a CSV template that you can download, complete and then upload to Procore. For instructions, see Import Commitment BOQ Line Items from a CSV File.

Add Line Items to the BOQ

 Notes
  • If your company is using the Procore + Integration by Ryvit integration and your Integration by Ryvit system is configured to use the Calculated Method, Integration by Ryvit will NOT allow the use of Lump Sum (LS) as a unit of measurement.
  • If you are using the 'Override Subtotal', you must ONLY input the Subtotal Amount. The Integration by Ryvit integration will then create an 'LS' item in Integration by Ryvit.
  1. Navigate to the project's Commitments tool.
  2. Under the Contracts tab, locate the purchase order or subcontract. Then click Edit.
  3. Click Bill of Quantities.
  4. Click Add Line.
     Note
     If the 'Enable Always Editable Bill of Quantities' configuration setting is turned ON in the Commitments tool, users with the required user permission to Edit a Commitment can edit the Bill of Quantities when a commitment is in any status. To learn more, see What is the 'Enable Always Editable Bill of Quantities' setting?
  5. Follow the appropriate steps depending on whether your accounting method is Amount Based or Unit/Quantity Based:
     Note
    To edit your accounting method before adding BOQ line items, see Edit the Advanced Settings Tab on a Commitment. To learn more, see How do I set the accounting method for a contract or funding?
    1. For contracts using the Amount Based accounting method:
      1. #
        Automatically enters a line item number in sequential order. 
      2. Change Event Line Item
        If you have change events enabled, you can select a change event line item if the commitment needs to be linked to a change event. 
      3. Budget Code
        Select a budget code from the list or click Create Budget Code to create a new one. See What is a budget code in Procore's WBS? 
      4. Description
        Enter a description for the line item. For example, type: Monthly Service Fee
      5. Amount
        Enter the amount of the cost.
      6. Billed to Date
        The system automatically calculates the amount billed on the commitment up to the current date.  
      7. Amount Remaining
        Enter the amount that has NOT been billed to the current date. 
      8. Tax Code
        Enter a tax code to use for this line item. This field only appears if you have enabled the tax codes feature. See How can I use tax codes on a project?
    2. For contracts using the Unit/Quantity Based accounting method:
      1. #
        Automatically enters a line item number in sequential order. 
      2. Change Event Line Item
        If you have change events enabled, you can select a change event line item if the commitment needs to be linked to a change event. 
      3. Budget Code
        Select a budget code from the list or click Create Budget Code to create a new one. See What is a budget code in Procore's WBS? 
      4. Description
        Enter a description for the line item. For example, type: Monthly Service Fee
      5. Qty
        Enter the number of units.
      6. UoM
        Enter the Unit of Measure (UoM).
         Notes
      7. Unit Cost
        Enter the Unit Cost in the box provided.
      8. Amount
        The system automatically calculates the subtotal for you, based on the Qty, UOM, and Unit Cost entries. 
      9. Billed to Date
        The system automatically calculates the amount billed on the commitment up to the current date. 
      10. Amount Remaining
        Enter the amount that has NOT been billed to the current date. 
      11. Tax Code
        Enter a tax code to use for this line item. This field only appears if you have enabled the tax codes feature. See How can I use tax codes on a project?
  6. Choose one of these options:
    • Save. Click this button to save the changes to the BOQ. 
    • Save & Email. Click this button to save the change to the BOQ and email the updates to the payment application contact.

 

If you would like to learn more about Procore's commitments software and how it can help your business, please visit our construction financials tool product page icon-external-link.png.