The stock rule
A minimum and an order quantity on the stock line, per location. When the available count drops under the minimum, the request is drafted with the supplier of record and the lead time already on it.
Purchase · Inventory & Manufacturing
Buy what the business needs. Pay for what arrived.
From the need to the posted bill, in five steps.
The need is read, not typed
A reorder rule, an accepted quote, a manufacturing order or an intervention says what is short and by when. The request is drafted from it, with the article, the quantity, the supplier of record and the date it is needed.
From the need to the posted bill, in five steps.
A reorder rule, an accepted quote, a manufacturing order or an intervention says what is short and by when. The request is drafted from it, with the article, the quantity, the supplier of record and the date it is needed.
The bill read, matched, and the difference flagged.
The bill arrives as a PDF on an email from Delaunay Group. The supplier, the date, the lines and the VAT are read off it, each with the place on the document it came from. It is matched to PO-2026-0084 and to the receipt of 24 Sep, and the match does not agree: 60 panels billed, 58 counted at the dock. The difference is on the bill as a number, with what to do about it, and Thomas decides in one click instead of finding out from the bank statement in October.
Suppliers, prices, lead times, and what they add up to.
What triggers an order, who approves it above what amount, and what the supplier receives are yours to set.
Suppliers with prices and lead times
Each article carries the suppliers who sell it, their price, their minimum, their lead time and the last order, so the request already knows who to ask and when to ask.
Framework orders
An agreed amount or quantity with a supplier for the year, and each order a call-off against it, so the remaining balance is read, not remembered.
The order as a document
The purchase order leaves as a PDF in your layout, on an email drafted from the order, held for one look before it goes.
Billed on what was received
Bill on the ordered quantity, on the received quantity, or one bill across several deliveries. The rule is per supplier, and the match follows it.
The same purchase order, for a contractor buying per job and a brewery buying per recipe.
What adapts: where the need comes from (a job, a recipe, a stock rule), what the order line carries (a site, a batch, a location), where it is delivered, who approves it above what amount, and where its cost lands. Two businesses can run Purchase and disagree on every one of those.
An electrical contractor buying per job
The need comes from the accepted quote: the panels and the profiles the showroom refit needs, delivered to the site rather than the warehouse, approved by the site lead above the amount set, and the cost lands on the job's margin the day the receipt is validated.
A microbrewery buying by recipe and lead time
The need comes from the manufacturing order: the recipe says twelve sacks of malt, the stock says four, the supplier's lead time says order by the 19th for a brew on the 29th. No approval under the amount set, and the cost lands on the batch.
Where the need comes from.
A purchase request is never the first record. Behind it is the stock line, the quote, the manufacturing order, the intervention or the colleague that needed something, and Purchase reads all five.
The accepted quote
The accepted quoteThe quote lists what the job needs; what is not on stock becomes a request the day it is accepted.
The manufacturing order
The manufacturing orderThe recipe knows the components, the stock knows what is there, and the lead time knows when to order.
The intervention
The interventionThe parts used on site come off the van, and the van's minimum writes the request for next week's visits.
The colleague
A message that says what is needed and by when is read into a request, not retyped from it.
The stock rule
A minimum and an order quantity on the stock line, per location. When the available count drops under the minimum, the request is drafted with the supplier of record and the lead time already on it.
This is the room.
What is to order, what is ordered and not yet received, what is received and not yet billed, and the two bills waiting for a decision.
The rules that run it.
Three rules carry most of the work, and each one is a sentence you can read on the record it fires on. The reorder rule: under this minimum, at this location, order this quantity from the supplier of record. The approval rule: an order above this amount waits for this person, and one below it is confirmed as it is. The reminder: an order whose expected date has passed with no receipt sends the supplier one message, once, drafted from the order, and the next check is a week later. Change the amount, the person or the wording, and the rule is changed for the next order, not the last one.
The procurement tool you would otherwise buy needs the need typed in.
The request written by the stock rule
- A spreadsheet
- No
- A procurement tool
- No
- A suite module
- Yes, with their stock module
- Enobase
- Yes, from the stock line's minimum
The need read from the quote, the manufacturing order or the intervention
- A spreadsheet
- No
- A procurement tool
- No
- A suite module
- Sometimes
- Enobase
- Yes, the request names its source
A request for quotation to several suppliers
- A spreadsheet
- By email
- A procurement tool
- Yes
- A suite module
- Yes
- Enobase
- Yes, the answers side by side
The receipt moves the stock
- A spreadsheet
- No
- A procurement tool
- Rarely
- A suite module
- Yes
- Enobase
- Yes, the same stock line
The bill matched to the order and the receipt
- A spreadsheet
- No
- A procurement tool
- Yes, then exported
- A suite module
- Yes, in their accounting
- Enobase
- Yes, read by the assistant, posted in the same ledger
The cost on the job or the batch
- A spreadsheet
- Copied
- A procurement tool
- No
- A suite module
- Sometimes
- Enobase
- Yes, the day the receipt is validated
Time to live
- A spreadsheet
- A day
- A procurement tool
- Weeks
- A suite module
- Months
- Enobase
- One week
| What you need | A spreadsheet | A procurement tool | A suite module | Enobase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The request written by the stock rule | No | No | Yes, with their stock module | Yes, from the stock line's minimum |
| The need read from the quote, the manufacturing order or the intervention | No | No | Sometimes | Yes, the request names its source |
| A request for quotation to several suppliers | By email | Yes | Yes | Yes, the answers side by side |
| The receipt moves the stock | No | Rarely | Yes | Yes, the same stock line |
| The bill matched to the order and the receipt | No | Yes, then exported | Yes, in their accounting | Yes, read by the assistant, posted in the same ledger |
| The cost on the job or the batch | Copied | No | Sometimes | Yes, the day the receipt is validated |
| Time to live | A day | Weeks | Months | One week |
Questions about Purchase
Yes. On its own it is a request, a quotation, an order, a receipt and a bill to match. Turn Inventory on and the receipt moves the stock and the stock rule writes the request; turn Accounting on and the matched bill is posted to your ledger with its VAT.