All Collections
Inventory
Using Inventory
Inventory: Purchase Orders

Inventory: Purchase Orders

Use purchase orders to keep track of your orders across multiple vendors.
Matt Ventimiglia avatar
Written by Matt Ventimiglia. Updated over a week ago

Creating Purchase Orders

Purchase orders let you track your pending orders from within Shepherd.

Our inventory expert Nicole recommends creating purchase orders the same day you’re placing the orders. That way, you won’t need to recreate it when you receive the order—plus, if your order comes in incorrectly, you’ll have a source of truth to show vendors.

To create a purchase order:

  1. Select "Admin" in the left side menu

  2. Select "Inventory"

  3. Navigate to the "Purchase Orders" tab at the top

  4. Select the "Add New" button on the right hand side of the screen

    1. You can edit purchase orders from here if you select the purchase order and not 'Add New'

There are two types of purchase orders you can create (we go into how these work in more detail below):

  • Vendor-specific: adding a vendor automatically populates all items past their reorder point associated with the vendor

  • Blank: toggling "Blank purchase order" to "on" gives you the ability to add any item to a purchase order

    • These are useful for smaller orders

And if you need them, there are additional fields for:

  • Notes

  • Taxes

  • Additional costs

Once the purchase order is created, you’ll be taken to the purchase order’s details page.

Tip: We recommend keeping packing slips, receipts, and/or vendor order confirmations together with your purchase orders.

Vendor-Specific Purchase Orders

If you want to place an order for all items below their reorder point for a specific vendor, select a vendor from the dropdown in the new purchase order modal.

You can also add new additional items to the order by selecting the "Add New Item" button

Blank Purchase Orders

If you're only looking to add a few things to a purchase order, you may want to stick with a blank one. To create a blank purchase order, make sure the Blank Purchase Order toggle is switched to the "On" position when you create your purchase order.

When you create a blank purchase order, you'll have to manually select all items you want to order from the vendor. To do that:

  • Select the "Add New Item" button

  • Select the item from the dropdown

    • Shepherd will automatically add in the order quantity, which can also be adjusted

Repeat this for all items you need to add to the order.

Edit Purchase Orders

If you need to edit a purchase order that's already been made, navigate to purchase orders (Inventory > Purchase Orders).

This screen will have a list of all purchase orders for your practice.

If you need to modify a purchase order in any way, select one of the icons under 'Actions' (orange, above). These will allow you to:

  • View

  • Edit

  • Change status to:

    • Partially received

    • Pending

    • Ordered

    • Ready to order

    • Closed

  • Delete

Here's what you can edit in an existing purchase order:

Note: Open and/or Pending Purchase Orders can be seen from the Inventory Dashboard.

Tip: Using the search bar in the Purchase Order tab, you can now search for an item to quickly see which purchase orders include that item.

Did this answer your question?