Simple PO Workflow

Vendors regularly work with purchase orders (POs) initiated by buyers. Vendors typically promise POs, collaborate with buyers on POs, reject POs, and create backorders for POs. The vendor typically participates in a small portion of the entire PO lifecycle. As the order moves through its lifecycle, it enters and exits different order states. After the order enters an Open state, the shipper creates an ASN, and the order moves to the In Fulfillment state. Next, the order is shipped, received, and finally, the order is invoiced, paid, and closed.

This section describes the typical workflow of a PO between buyers, vendors, and warehouse managers. This ignores holds, cancelations, backorders, order collaboration states, partially shipped orders, and partially received orders.

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The following table describes the PO states in this workflow.

State	Description
Draft	The initial state of PO. Buyers, or vendors with vendor-managed inventory (VMI), can: Take the Save action and update PO details Take the Submit action and submit the PO
Awaiting Approval	Buyers, or vendors with VMI, create the PO, submitting the PO for internal buyer organization approval. This moves the PO to the Awaiting Approval state. Once in the Awaiting Approval state, buyers or vendors with VMI can: Take the Update action to update PO details, keeping the PO in the Awaiting Approval state Take the Approve action to approve the PO, moving the PO from the Awaiting Approval state to the New state. If the order is not valid, a blocking or non-blocking hold is placed on the PO to indicate there are validation issues.
New	The PO is approved by the buyer or vendor with VMI and ready for the vendor to take action. Once in the New state, the buyer or vendor with VMI can take the Revise action and revise PO details, keeping the PO in the New state The vendor can take the Vendor Promise action and move the PO from the New state to the Open state.
Open	If the vendor promises the PO without modification, the PO enters the Open state. When the PO is in the Open state, it is ready to start the shipping portion of its lifecycle. If the vendor promises the PO with modification, see the "Complete PO Workflow" section. The vendor can t ake the Create ASN action to create an automatic shipping notification (ASN), moving the PO from the Open state to the In Fulfillment state If the PO does not require a shipment, the warehouse manager can take the Receive action to move the PO from the Open state to the Received state.
In Fulfillment	An ASN has been created and approved for the PO. The transportation manager can take the Ship action and ship a shipment, moving the PO from the In Fulfillment state to the In Transit state. The warehouse manager can take the Receive action to move the PO from the In Fulfillment state to the Received state.
In Transit	The shipment containing the PO has been shipped by the vendor or the carrier. The warehouse manager can take the Receive action to move the PO from the In Transit state to the Received state.
Received	The PO has been received by the buyer or warehouse at the buying organization. The w arehouse manager can: Take the Consume action, keeping the PO in the Received state. If an invoice is paid and closed, then the PO will transition from the Received state to the Closed state.
Closed	The PO is closed by the buyer after being received. The Closed state is the end of the workflow.