Purchasing & Vendors

Goal

This guide explains how to manage vendors, create purchase orders, and receive goods in ICONK OS. It covers the procurement flow from vendor selection through to stock receipt.

Target Audience

Purchasing managers, procurement staff, and warehouse personnel who handle supplier orders and goods receipt.

What You Can Do

Create and manage vendor records
Create purchase orders with items, quantities, and expected delivery dates
Create goods receipts when shipments arrive
Confirm receipts to update warehouse stock levels
Return received goods to vendors from confirmed receipts
Track purchase order status from draft to received

What You Should Not Expect Yet

Automated vendor price comparison or bidding workflows
Advanced landed cost calculations (shipping, customs, handling fees)
Vendor portal for submitting invoices or checking order status
Automated purchase order generation based on stock levels
Full landed cost allocation across freight, customs, and handling fees

Step-by-Step Workflows

Creating a Vendor

Navigate to Vendors from the sidebar or Purchasing module.
Click Create Vendor.
Enter vendor details: name, email, phone, and address.
Save the vendor record.
View and edit vendor details from the vendor list.

Managing Vendors

View vendors: The vendor list shows all registered suppliers.
Edit a vendor: Open a vendor record to update contact details or address.
Vendor ledger: View the financial history with a vendor, including purchase orders and related expenses.

Creating a Purchase Order

Navigate to Purchase Orders from the sidebar.
Click Create Purchase Order.
Select a vendor from your vendor list.
Add items by selecting products and specifying quantities.
Set an expected delivery date.
Add any notes or terms for the vendor.
Save the purchase order. It will be created in Draft status.

Managing Purchase Orders

View orders: The purchase orders list shows status, vendor, total, and expected date.
Edit an order: Draft orders can be modified before sending/receiving, including vendor, branch, currency, expected date, notes, products, quantities, tax rates, and accounting dimensions.
Update status: Sent and received orders move through controlled receiving actions instead of full line editing.
Order status: Orders progress through Draft, Confirmed, Partially Received, Received, and Cancelled.
Delete an order: Only draft orders can be deleted.

Creating a Goods Receipt

Navigate to Goods Receipts from the sidebar.
Click Create Receipt.
Select the purchase order you are receiving against.
Enter the quantities actually received for each item.
- Note: Received quantities may differ from ordered quantities.
Set the received date.
Add any notes about the shipment condition or discrepancies.
Save the receipt. It will be created in Draft status.

Confirming a Goods Receipt

Open the draft goods receipt from the receipts list.
Review the received items and quantities.
Confirm the receipt. This action:
- Adds received stock to the warehouse
- Updates the purchase order received quantities
- Records inventory transactions for tracking
- May create a draft expense bill from the received lines

Handling Partial Receipts

You can create multiple goods receipts against a single purchase order.
Each receipt records only the quantities received in that shipment.
The purchase order tracks cumulative received quantities.
An order is marked as fully received when all ordered quantities have been received.

Returning Goods to a Vendor

Use a purchase return when received goods need to go back to the supplier after the receipt has already been confirmed and the vendor bill has been approved or paid.

Open the confirmed goods receipt.
Make sure the linked vendor bill is Approved or Paid.
Click Return to Vendor.
Enter the returned quantity for one or more receipt lines.
Add a reason, such as damaged goods, wrong item, or vendor return.
Click Post Return.

The system will:

Reduce warehouse stock for returned tracked products.
Update the purchase order received quantities/status.
Create inventory return transactions for audit history.
Reverse the vendor bill accounting by debiting Accounts Payable and crediting the original expense/input-tax accounts.
Use the vendor bill currency, base currency, and exchange rate so multi-currency returns post correctly in base currency.

Returned quantities cannot exceed the original received quantity minus prior non-voided purchase returns.

If a purchase return was posted by mistake, use Void from the Purchase Returns table on the goods receipt. Voiding reverses the accounting entry, restores the returned stock, and restores the purchase order received quantity.

Permissions and Access

Access to purchasing features depends on your role:

Viewing purchase orders and vendors requires purchasing access permission.
Creating purchase orders and receipts requires create permission.
Editing and confirming requires update permission.

If you cannot see the Purchasing module or certain actions are unavailable, contact your company administrator to review your role permissions.

Known Limitations

Advanced inventory costing and accounting workflows may need later review.
Credit-note/customer-refund voiding is reviewed separately from purchase return voiding.
Some purchase-related calculations use standard decimal precision; full financial precision guarantees are still being improved.
Broader report and display consistency may still need review.

MISSING Items

Vendor price history tracking.
Automated reorder point alerts.
Vendor performance scoring.
Purchase order approval workflows.

UNCERTAIN Items

Exact behavior when a goods receipt creates a draft expense bill with tax-inclusive supplier documents.
Whether purchase order status changes trigger notifications to vendors.
How unit of measure conversions are handled when receiving items in different units than ordered.

Troubleshooting

| Problem | Possible Cause | What to Try | |---------|---------------|-------------| | Cannot create a purchase order | Missing create permission | Contact your administrator to check your role | | Purchase order total looks wrong | Product pricing or tax issue | Verify product prices and tax settings | | Cannot edit an order | Order is not in Draft status or receiving has started | Edit only before sending/receiving | | Cannot delete an order | Order is not in Draft status | Only draft orders can be deleted | | Stock not updating after receipt | Receipt not confirmed | Draft receipts must be confirmed to update stock | | Vendor not appearing in list | Vendor may be under a different name | Search using partial name | | Received quantity exceeds ordered | Possible data entry error | Review the receipt and adjust if needed |