Purchase order generator
What was ordered, at what price, with a spending cap — on one page.
Why raise one at all
A purchase order fixes what was ordered and at what price before the work happens, so the bill that turns up three weeks later can be checked against something rather than accepted because nobody remembers. That is the whole value, and it is why the cap matters more than the layout.
There is a second reason, which is that plenty of facilities cannot process a vendor invoice at all without a PO number on it. If somebody has asked you for one, that is what they mean.
The cap is compared, not enforced
If the lines add up to more than the not-to-exceed amount, this page says so and still prints. Refusing would be the tool deciding you typed the wrong thing, when the likelier reading is that the cap needs raising before the order goes out. Saying it plainly is help; blocking it is a guess.
What happens next
When the vendor’s bill arrives it becomes a separate record in the vendor bill tracker, where it sits with a due date until somebody marks it paid. What a technician spent at a counter goes in the expense & receipt log instead. If the order is for stock rather than a job, the parts inventory is where it lands on the shelf.
Questions people ask
- What should a purchase order include?
- Who is buying and who is selling, a number you can quote later, the date, what is being bought with quantities and unit prices, where it is to be delivered, when it is needed, the payment terms, and a not-to-exceed amount. The last one is the part people leave off and then wish they had.
- What does "not to exceed" mean on a purchase order?
- It is a spending cap. The vendor is authorized to supply up to that amount, and anything beyond it needs written approval first. It is the only thing standing between an approved order and a surprise invoice, which is why it prints in its own paragraph rather than as a line in a table.
- What is the difference between a purchase order and an invoice?
- A purchase order goes out before the work and says what you are authorizing. An invoice comes back afterwards and asks to be paid. They should agree, and the reason to raise the PO first is so that there is something to compare the invoice against when it arrives.
- Does issuing a purchase order pay anything?
- No. It authorizes goods or services and transfers no money. This tool moves no money at all — there is no card processing, no ACH and no bank connection anywhere in it. When the vendor's bill arrives, it goes in the vendor bill tracker as a separate record.
- Does this post to an accounting system?
- No. Nothing is posted anywhere. There is no ledger, no accounts-payable entry, no commitment accounting and no integration with any accounting package. The purchase order is filed with your own documents on this device and nowhere else.
- Do I have to use a particular numbering scheme?
- No. The number is yours to choose and this tool does not generate one, because a PO number usually has to match whatever your facility or your customer already uses. If you leave it blank the order still prints; it is just harder for anybody to quote back to you.
A purchase order authorizes goods or services. It is not a payment, it moves no money, and nothing here posts to an accounting system. Everything runs on your device.