Pearl requires you to create a Purchase Order for any stock you wish to buy, so that the quantities can be tracked into the system and their cost value can be allocated against an invoice later. The best time to create the Purchase Order is when you place the order with the supplier. You can use Pearl to email the Purchase Order automatically to the supplier if they have an email address.

The purchasing flow is as follows

1. Create Purchase Order
2. Send Purchase Order to supplier
3. Receive stock into warehouse
4. Receive Purchase Invoice and allocate to Purchase Order
5. Pay supplier to clear invoice

All items you wish to add to a Purchase Order need to have already been created as products in Pearl. You can exit a Purchase Order at any time to create a new product and then return to the order to add it. You can also create lists of products in Pearl from a spreadsheet using the Products->Import/Export tool (see the Products information help section).

Manual purchase orders

A manual purchase order allows you to add products to the order one by one regardless of whether the product has been assigned to the supplier or not, and regardless of the product stock quantity remaining.

1. Click Purchases->Create Order->Choose supplier name from the main menu, OR search for the supplier with the contact quick search box, hover over the menu link and click New Order
2. Add items to the Purchase Order by clicking the Add items link
3. Once on the add items screen, search for products by category or by typing their name in the search box
4. Click a product name to add it to the list shown on the right hand side of the screen. Edit the quantity shown if more items are required, do not add extra rows for the same item unless you want to change the description for one of the lines.
5. Once you have added what you need, click add to order. You can return to the add items screen as many times as you like for large Purchase Orders.
6. When the order is ready to send, click Place Order.
7. If the order has a billing email address entered, then a copy can be sent directly to the supplier by email. It’s a good idea to email a copy to yourself for the record since the order may be changed on the system later.

Automated purchase order

An automated Purchase Order will create an order by calculating current stock levels and comparing them to the minimum level you would like to keep in stock (the alert level).

1. Click Purchases->Auto Purchase Order from the main menu.
2. Choose the supplier and click show products. You can limit the products shown to those that are only on back order (back order is where a customer has ordered an item and there are none in stock), limit the list shown to those that are below the alert level, or list all products from that supplier.
3. Once the list is shown you can edit the quantities in the right hand column
4. Set the department, campaign or project if relevant then click create order
5. The order will be created and you will be taken to the Purchase Order screen from where you can pick up from step 7 above.

Alert and re-order levels Pearl 

The alert level is effectively the minimum stock level that you wish to keep of that item. Whenever stock falls below this level, you can automate the re-order process using the APM (Advanced Product Manager).

The reorder level is the minimum quantity that you wish to re-order at any one time. For example you may want to have least 10 of an item in stock (the alert level) but when it runs out you want to order in batches of 15 (the reorder level).

Delivery date

When in a Purchase Order, you will see that under the Forecast info tab you can enter the date that the delivery will be due in store. This will show on the company calendar and can help shop staff match a delivery to a Purchase Order, and will help you see what deliveries are due at any time.

Receiving deliveries

When the delivery from the supplier arrives in store it will need to be received using Pearl so that the stock quantities shown on your system are updated. The sooner that this is done after the delivery the better. If you start putting items on shelves or selling products from the delivery before it has been received your system will rapidly become inaccurate.

1. Search for the supplier name in the orders quick search box, or go to Purchases->View Purchase Orders from the main menu. If the delivery date has been set you can also find the delivery due on the calendar (Home->Calendar). Once you have found the order that matches the delivery, click the pencil icon to open the Purchase Order.
2. If the quantity of items received is greater than that shown on the Purchase Order, increase the quantity now on the Purchase Order and click save.
3. If the quantity of items received is less than that shown on the Purchase Order, there are two options:
   
   1. If the items are due to arrive in a future delivery, then these outstanding items can be split into a separate Purchase Order. Enter the quantity received (if any) using the receive stock link. Any deficit will cause that row to be shown in red on the product info tab. These red items can be taken off the original order and placed on a new one by clicking split to back order.
   2. If the items are not going to arrive later, then the quantity on the Purchase Order must be decreased to match the quantity actually received. To completely remove an item from a purchase order, set the quantity to zero then click save.
4. Once you are happy with the quantities shown on the Purchase Order, click save and then receive stock.
5. Enter the quantities actually received then submit. You’ll be taken back to the Purchase Order and the stock quantities will have been added to the system. You can see the received quantity to date in the product info tab on the Purchase Order.

Purchase Orders can be received in more than one delivery.

Matching invoices to the purchase order

Each purchase order will be allocated against an invoice later, so try to make sure that one Purchase Order contains items that will appear on one invoice. For example, if you place a Purchase Order and then ring the supplier back a few hours later to add more items, ask if they will be invoiced on the same invoice. If not, then create a new Purchase Order rather than adding to the existing Purchase Order. 

When the invoice is received, the cost of the stock should be compared to the Purchase Order. You may find that prices may have changed from those stored on Pearl. You can then update the prices in the Purchase Order to reflect the actual price paid for the product. You also have the option to update the list price on Pearl to the price you have just entered. This will mean you will always be aware of the product margins as Pearl will know to sell any old stock first (at the old cost price) and once that is all sold, any further stock will be sold at the new cost price.

Combining Purchase Orders to match an invoice

If for any reason you have two orders  that match one supplier invoice, you can combine the orders before you receive the invoice. Perhaps you have split items to a back order as they were delivered separately, yet you still receive one invoice for the total of the two deliveries. To recombine the split Purchase orders back into a single order, go to Purchases->View Purchase Orders, select the appropriate orders using the tick boxes to the right of the screen, then click combine selected orders.  This will transfer all data from all selected orders into a new order, and will delete the old orders. Notes and attached files are transferred to the new order.

Purchasing from multiple supplier locations

If your supplier has multiple sites, create a secondary contact for each of the sites from which you purchase. Each of these secondary contacts will have the same primary contact, and when the invoice is received against the Purchase Order it will be allocated to the primary contact's financial account.