ANTE User Manual

Purchase Orders

Purchase Orders record what your company has committed to buy from a supplier — the items, quantities, costs, supplier, and terms. In ANTE, Purchase Orders are created and tracked through the Purchasing screen inside the Assets module.

Overview

A Purchase Order (PO) captures a supplier, line items with quantities and costs, tax and payment terms, and an optional delivery date. Once created, the PO tracks how much has been paid against it, so its status reflects payment progress (Open → Partially Paid → Paid) rather than shipping steps.

Purchase Orders are workflow-driven. Creating one starts a Purchase Order process and opens a form (the Purchase Order step) where you enter the supplier, items, and terms. A PO can be started on its own, or it can flow out of an approved Purchase Request after canvassing and supplier selection.

Finding Purchase Orders

  1. Open the Assets menu in the sidebar.
  2. Click Purchasing.
  3. On the Purchasing page, click the Purchase Orders tab.

The Purchasing page header also shows summary counter cards — Active Requests, Completed, Active Templates, and Pipeline Value — and a Procurement Pipeline strip (Supplier Outsourcing, Materials Approval, Canvassing, Supplier Selection, Purchase Order).

Purchasing Page Tabs

TabContents
Purchase RequestsPurchase requests and their procurement workflows
Purchase OrdersThe list of purchase orders
DocumentsItem receipts tied to purchase orders and requests
TemplatesProcess templates for Purchase Request and Purchase Order workflows

Purchase Orders Table

ColumnDescription
PO CodeThe purchase order reference code
SupplierThe supplier the order is placed with
Total AmountThe order total
PaidAmount paid so far
BalanceRemaining amount due
StatusPayment status (see below)
CreatedDate the order was created

You can search the list by PO Code or Supplier, and filter by Status.

Purchase Order Status

Status reflects payment progress:

  • Open (Unpaid) — no payment recorded yet
  • Partially Paid — some, but not all, of the balance has been paid
  • Closed (Paid) — the order is fully paid

Linked Request for Payment

Every purchase order automatically gets its own Request for Payment in Treasury — the payee is the order's supplier, the amount is the order total, and the PO number is recorded on the request. Nothing extra needs to be created here.

Once a request is linked, the order's detail page shows a View Payment Request button that jumps straight to it. Releasing that request pays the order (moving its status toward Partially Paid or Paid) and prevents the order from being paid twice. See Treasury → Payables → Request for Payment for how requests are approved and released.

Common Tasks

Creating a Purchase Order

  1. On the Purchasing page, open the Purchase Orders tab.

  2. Click + New Order.

  3. In the New Purchase Order dialog, select a Workflow template (a default Direct PO Creation template is preselected).

  4. Click Start Order.

  5. The Purchase Order form opens. Fill in the fields:

    • Supplier (required) — choose the supplier from the list
    • Delivery date — the expected delivery date
    • Delivery terms (required) — Delivery or Pickup
    • Tax type (required) — Value Added Tax (VAT 12%) or Non Taxable
    • Payment terms (required) — Cash on Delivery, Payment Upon Invoice, Post Dated Check, Dated Delivery Upon Payment, or No Terms of Payment

  6. Add line items in the items table. For each item set:

    • Item — search for an existing item or create a new one
    • Qty — quantity ordered
    • Description — optional line description
    • Cost — unit cost
    • Total — calculated automatically (Qty × Cost)

    Use Add item to add more lines.

  7. Add Notes for any special instructions to the supplier (optional).

  8. Review the Subtotal, VAT (12%) (shown when Tax type is VAT), and total.

  9. Click Submit Purchase Order.

Creating a Purchase Order from a Purchase Request

A Purchase Order can be pre-filled from an upstream Purchase Request in two ways, depending on the workflow template:

  • Via Supplier Selection — when the workflow includes a Canvassing and Supplier Selection step, the awarded items and the winning supplier are carried into the PO automatically. The costs from the Supplier Selection step are used as the starting PO cost.
  • Direct PO flow — when the workflow goes directly from Purchase Request to Purchase Order (no canvassing), the items and their estimated unit costs from the approved Purchase Request are pre-filled into the PO form. You can still adjust the cost before submitting.

In both cases a banner at the top of the form confirms how many items were pre-filled. Review the costs before submitting.

Viewing a Purchase Order

  1. On the Purchase Orders tab, click the order's row.
  2. The Purchase Order Details page opens, showing:
    • Overview — PO code, supplier, created date, status, and the Total, Paid, and Balance amounts
    • A View Payment Request button (top right), shown only when the order has a linked Request for Payment
    • Order Information — PO Code, Supplier, Tax Type, Payment Terms, Delivery Terms, Delivery Date, Notes, and Status
    • Order Items — item name, description, quantity, unit price, and line total, with the order total
    • Payment History — recorded payments showing date, fund account, amount, and fee

Tips

  • Select a supplier before submitting — a supplier is required. If you try to submit without one, the form will show an error and block submission until a supplier is selected.
  • Set the right terms — Delivery terms, Tax type, and Payment terms are all required and appear on the order details.
  • Check the totals — confirm the Subtotal and VAT before submitting; the line totals update as you change quantity and cost.
  • Track payment — the Paid and Balance figures and the status update as payments are recorded against the order.
  • View the order from a fulfillment task — once a Purchase Order is issued, ANTE tracks it through acknowledgement, delivery, and receiving/QC as tasks. Opening one of these tasks shows a View Purchase Order button with a read-only snapshot (supplier, items, totals, and payment status), so you don't have to leave the task to check what you're acting on.
  • Receiving pulls the order's items automatically — the receiving/QC step is pre-filled with the Purchase Order's items and quantities, so whoever receives the goods only needs to enter what was actually received and its inspection result.
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My Purchase Requests
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Canvassing