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Purchases

Create a purchase order

How to create a purchase order for a supplier, share it as a PDF or via WhatsApp, and move it through its pending, acknowledged, fulfilled and cancelled states.

What a purchase order is for

A purchase order (PO) is the order you send a supplier before they deliver. It says exactly what you want, how many, and at what price. Later, when the supplier bills you, you record that bill as a supplier invoice. So the PO is step one, and the supplier invoice comes after.

Purchase Orders sit in the Purchases section. You get them on the Team and Complete plans.

💡If the owner switched on "Purchase orders need approval" in Business details, an order you raise saves as awaiting approval — it cannot be sent to the supplier yet. Whoever has approve rights sees it under Needs you today on the dashboard and at the top of the Purchase Orders list, opens it, and approves or rejects it — rejecting asks them for a reason. Once approved it becomes a normal pending order you can send. If yours is rejected, it stays on the list with a red rejected badge and the reason inside; tap Got it — dismiss once read, and raise a fresh one if it should still happen.

Find a purchase order

  • Search purchase orders — type any part of the supplier's name or the PO number.
  • Status pills — tap pending, acknowledged, fulfilled or cancelled to show just those (only the statuses you actually have appear).
  • A–Z / Number / Recent — sort by supplier name, by PO number, or newest first. Tap the one that is already on to flip its order — its ↑/↓ arrow shows which way.

Before you start

  • It helps to have your supplier saved under Suppliers first, so you can pick them from a list. If they are not saved yet, you can just type the supplier name.
  • If you are VAT-registered, make sure your VAT number is set in Tax & SARS under Business tax details. Once it is set, your PO works out and shows the VAT for you.

Create a purchase order

  1. Open Purchase Orders in the Purchases section.
  2. Tap the + New button at the top right. The New purchase order screen opens.
  3. Fill in the Supplier. To pick a saved supplier, tap the 👤 List button next to the box, search and choose from the list. If the supplier is not saved, just type their name in the box.
  4. Check the Issue date. It fills in with today's date, but you can change it.
  5. If you have a delivery date in mind, set Requested delivery date. You can leave this blank.
  6. Under Line items, tap + Add line item to add a blank line (or pick one from Add from your items), then type a Description and fill in the Qty and the Unit price (R). The Line total works out for you.
  7. Add a line for each item you need. Use the red ✕ on a line to remove it.
  8. Check the orange totals box. It shows the Subtotal and, if you are VAT-registered, the VAT and the PO total.
  9. Tap Save purchase order.
💡The PO number (like PO-2026-0001) is created for you automatically when you save. You do not type it in.

Send the PO to your supplier

Worklog does not email for you. To send a PO, open it and use the sharing buttons.

  1. In the Purchase Orders list, tap the PO you want. It opens showing the supplier, dates, line items and total.
  2. Tap 📄 Download PDF to save a neat PDF you can print or keep, or tap 📤 Share to send it through your phone's share sheet, for example on WhatsApp.

The four PO states

Every PO carries a status, shown as a small tag on the card in the list and at the top when you open it. It moves through these as the order progresses:

  • Pending: a brand-new PO you have just saved. You have ordered but the supplier has not confirmed yet.
  • Acknowledged: the supplier has confirmed they got the order and will supply it.
  • Fulfilled: the goods have been delivered and the order is complete.
  • Cancelled: the order was called off and will not go ahead.

Update the status as things happen

  1. Tap the PO in the list to open it.
  2. While it is Pending you will see two buttons: tap 👍 Acknowledged once the supplier confirms, or ✕ Cancel PO if the order falls away.
  3. Once it is Acknowledged, open it again and tap ✅ Mark Fulfilled when the goods arrive.
💡While a PO is still Pending you can also fix its contents: open it and tap ✏️ Edit purchase order to change the supplier, the dates or the line items, then save. That button only shows while the PO is Pending — once it is Acknowledged, Fulfilled or Cancelled it falls away. Editing keeps the same PO number.
⚠️There is no undo for status changes. Once a PO is Cancelled or Fulfilled, those buttons fall away, so only change the status once the thing has actually happened.
💡After a PO is fulfilled and the supplier bills you, record that bill under Supplier Invoices. That is what captures your input VAT and your actual costs, not the PO itself.
Related guides
Record a supplier invoice →Send a remittance advice →Add customers and suppliers →Purchases Reports →
Still stuck? Open the in-app help assistant, or email us at hello@worklogsolutions.co.za.
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