ANTE User ManualOpen POs (Blanket Orders)
An Open PO (also called a blanket order) is a standing order with fixed prices and a total quantity per item. Instead of a new quote for every delivery, the customer agrees the terms once and you release quantities against it as they are needed. Each release draws the balance down. The same screen also holds your own Blanket POs to suppliers. You open it at Assets → Order Fulfillment → Blanket Orders.
The Blanket Orders List
Creating, editing, activating, releasing and change orders on Open POs need Orders work access; with Orders — view only the pages open read-only and those buttons are not shown.
Two tabs split the direction: Sales (Open POs) for customers' Open POs (numbers start with OPO-) and Purchase (Blanket POs) for your blanket POs to suppliers (numbers start with BPO-). Use the search box (number, party or reference) and the status filter to narrow the list. Click a row to open its detail page.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Number | The Open PO or Blanket PO number. |
| Customer / Supplier | The other party, depending on the tab. |
| Customer PO # / Supplier ref. | The reference on the other party's own paper. |
| Currency | The currency, with the total value under it. |
| Validity | The valid-from and valid-to dates, or open-ended. |
| Version | The version of the terms now in force (changes through Change Orders). |
| Consumed | A progress bar of how much of the total has been released. |
| Releases | How many releases have been drawn. |
| Status | Draft, Active, Expired, Closed or Cancelled. |
Creating an Open PO
On the Sales (Open POs) tab the button is New Open PO. It starts a new order, and the Open PO is registered by the order's Register Open PO workflow step (see below). On the Purchase (Blanket POs) tab the button is New Blanket PO, which opens the form described next.
Right-click a blanket PO to open it, copy its number or reference, activate or cancel a draft, close the balance of an active one, or start a Change Order.
The Blanket Order Form
The form (titled New Blanket Order, or Edit plus the number for a draft) creates a draft. Use Create draft or, when editing, Save draft.
The Open PO Detail Page
The header shows the number and party. The overview card shows the status, the Total value and a Consumed progress bar, followed by the reference, currency (with the exchange rate and its date for a foreign currency), validity, version, creator and remarks. Below it are the terms in force, the releases, and the version history.
Draft actions
- Edit opens the form so the draft's terms can be changed.
- Activate puts the Open PO in force. After this, terms can only change through an approved Change Order, and releases can be drawn.
- Cancel draft asks for a reason and cancels it.
Active actions
- Close balance asks for a reason. No further releases can be drawn; existing releases are not affected.
- New Change Order (see below).
- New release (customer Open POs only) opens a Start release dialog — New release from <Open PO number> — where you pick the Release workflow (required) and click Start release. The release runs under this Open PO's order, so one order number collects every release, and its release form opens with the Open PO already chosen.
Terms and balance
The Effective terms table (Draft terms on a draft) lists each line with Unit price, Ordered, Released, Remaining and Total.
| Ordered (total quantity agreed) | 1,000 | |
|---|---|---|
| Released so farTwo releases: 250 + 150 | 400 | |
| Remaining | 1,000 − 400 | 600 |
| Line total at the fixed price | 1,000 × 1,200.00 | 1,200,000.00 |
| Consumed | 400 ÷ 1,000 | 40% |
Releases
The Releases table lists every draw: the Release code, the Terms version it used, the Requested delivery, Total, Status (Active, Completed or Cancelled) and links to its Sales Order and Workflow. Cancel on an active release asks for a reason and returns its quantity to the Open PO balance. New releases are started with New release on an active customer Open PO, or by a workflow step.
Change Orders
Once active, prices, quantities, validity and lines change only through a Change Order. A Change Order is a draft copy of the effective terms that is approved through a workflow before it takes effect.
- Click New Change Order
Enter a Reason and click Create. It clones the effective terms into a draft you can edit (the Change Order panel shows its label and status). Only one Change Order can be open at a time.
- Edit the Change Order
Edit opens the Edit Change Order dialog with Valid from, Valid to, Reason and the lines (price, quantity, new lines). Save with Save Change Order. Discard drops the draft.
- Submit for approval
Submit for approval starts the Open PO Change Order Approval workflow. By default your direct supervisor decides on their task. The panel shows "Awaiting approval", the workflow code and the approver, with a View workflow link, and you can Withdraw the Change Order until it is decided.
- Approval
The approver sees a summary of the Change Order (a line-by-line list marked Added, Changed or Unchanged, with old and new quantity and unit price) on their approval task. On approval the new terms are effective at once: later releases use the new prices and quantities; existing releases keep theirs. A rejection (with a note) keeps the old terms.
A Change Order must be approved by someone other than the person who created it.
| Release | Drawn on | Price it keeps |
|---|---|---|
| First 400 pieces | Before the Change Order | 1,200.00 |
| Next release | After approval | 1,250.00 |
From an order's tracking popup you can also jump straight to its Open PO: an order linked to an active Open PO shows an Open PO link and a Change Order button there.
Register Open PO and Release from Open PO
Both are workflow form steps you add in the Process Builder (see Processes).
Ready-made workflows are in the Workflow Library: Order to Cash — Quote to Order registers the Open PO (Client Approval → Order type Open PO → Register Open PO), and Order to Cash — Release from Open PO draws it down: Release (its Sales Order at the Open PO's prices) → Purchase Order → Receive Goods → Delivery Receipt and Delivery → Pro-forma → Invoice → Collect payment. Install both, then use the release workflow for New release on the Open PO.
Register Open PO
The assignee registers the customer's Open PO as part of an order. If the order has an accepted Quotation, its items are pre-filled — set each item's total quantity for the Open PO. The Open PO stays a draft until the order completes.
When the step's Lines come from is set to the customer's quotations (Process Builder), the form has Pick from Quotations: tick lines from one or more of the customer's quotations. Each picked line brings the item, unit, customer material #, quantity (as the Total qty) and the quoted price (as the fixed price), shows From QT-…, and the Open PO is linked to that quotation. From a quotation, Start an order → Open PO opens this form already filled in when a workflow starts with Register Open PO.
The button is Register Open PO; afterwards the form shows the Open PO number and a View Open PO link.
Release from Open PO
The assignee draws a quantity against an active Open PO. Prices are fixed by the Open PO.
The form shows the Release total and the number of lines. Lock in release creates the release, reduces the balance, and the form then shows the Release code and the linked Sales Order.
A release over the remaining balance is refused: "release qty … exceeds the remaining …".
How It Connects
Set up first
- Settings → Currency — sets which currencies an Open PO can be written in.
- Client Management — the customer on an Open PO comes from your client list.
Gets its data from
- Order Fulfillment — an order's Register Open PO step creates the Open PO; its Release from Open PO step draws from it.
- Processes — the two workflow forms and the Change Order approval run as process steps.
Feeds into
- Sales Order — every release links to its Sales Order.
- Approval & Review Tasks — a submitted Change Order arrives as an approval task.