Purchase orders help you track committed costs before bills are approved. In Adaptive, you can create POs, track open balances, send POs for signature when enabled, and link PO lines to bills so committed costs are applied correctly.
1. Open the Purchase Orders page
Go to Purchase Orders from the left navigation.
The Purchase Orders page includes three tabs:
Opened: active POs with remaining work or balances to track
Closed: POs that have been closed
Settings: default PO settings, such as terms and conditions
Use the Search field, filters, and table settings to find the POs you need. Depending on your workspace settings, you may see columns such as PO #, PO type, Vendor name, Amount, Open balance, Created date, Cost codes / Accounts, Jobs, and Signature.
2. Create a new purchase order
You can create a PO from a few places in Adaptive:
From the Purchase Orders page, click New purchase order.
If the Purchase Orders page is empty, click Create new purchase order.
From a job budget, click Add to budget and select Purchase order.
From a bill, open the Purchase orders section and click Add purchase order.
In the PO drawer, complete the Details section:
Vendor
Shipping address
Purchase order number
Purchase order date
Terms and conditions
Scope of work
Hold retainage, if retainage is enabled for your workspace
Then add PO line items. Each line can include:
Amount
Job
Cost code / Account
Description
Class or custom category fields, if enabled for your workspace
Click Save when you're done.
Note: If you leave Purchase order number blank, Adaptive can auto-set the number when a job is assigned to a line item.
3. Create a PO from a bill or receipt
You can also create a PO while recategorizing a bill or receipt.
For receipts, use the action Re-categorize as a purchase order. Adaptive will convert the receipt into a PO when the transaction is eligible.
Learn more about that workflow here: Recategorizing Bills and Receipts.
4. Find and review purchase orders
On the Purchase Orders page, use Search to look up POs quickly.
You can also filter the list by fields such as vendor, job, account, cost code, signature status, PO type, class, or custom category, depending on your workspace settings.
PO types may include Adaptive, QuickBooks, External, or Procore, depending on your workspace and integrations.
Click a PO row to open the PO drawer. From there, you can review or update PO details, line items, Total, Linked bills, Open balance, comments, and activity.
Use the PO status switch to mark an editable PO as Opened or Closed.
5. Manage a PO from the PO drawer
Open a PO to view its full details.
From the PO drawer, you can:
Edit PO details and line items, if the PO is editable
Add or review comments
Review linked bills on each PO line
Send the PO for signature, if PO signatures are enabled
Mark the PO as signed, if PO signatures are enabled
Download the PO as a PDF
Duplicate the PO
Delete the PO, if you have permission and the PO type allows deletion
Some PO types have limited editing in Adaptive. For example, QuickBooks, External, and Procore POs may need to be converted before they can be fully edited in Adaptive.
Learn more about Adaptive POs here: Adaptive Purchase Orders: Your Guide to Cost Control.
6. Use bulk actions
From the main Purchase Orders page:
Select one or more POs using the checkboxes.
Click Actions.
Choose the action you want to apply.
Available bulk actions may include Send for signature, Mark as signed, Convert to Adaptive PO, Duplicate, Open, Close, Ignore sync errors, and Edit properties.
Learn more about sending POs for signature here: Sending Purchase Orders for Signature.
7. Link a PO to a bill
To check whether a bill has matching or linked POs:
Open the bill.
Scroll to the Purchase orders section.
Expand the card that shows POs applied to this bill or POs matching this bill.
Inside the expanded card, use the PO# search field and filters to find a PO.
To link a PO to the bill:
Turn on the Apply to bill switch for the PO.
In the Link bill to PO window, choose which PO line should link to each bill line.
Adjust bill line amounts if needed.
Use Distribute bill lines amount proportionally if you want Adaptive to allocate the bill amount across PO lines.
Click Link.
If the PO is closed, Adaptive will show that linking the bill will reopen the PO. In that case, click Reopen & link to continue.
8. Edit or unlink PO lines from a bill
After a PO is linked to a bill, the bill line will show PO information such as the linked PO, PO line amount, and current PO line usage.
To adjust the link:
Open the bill.
Go to the Purchase orders section.
Click the edit icon next to the applied PO.
In the Link bill to PO window, update the selected PO lines, adjust amounts, remove bill lines, or use the unlink icon to unlink a PO line.
Click Link to save the changes.
You can also click the PO # from the bill's Purchase orders section to open the PO drawer.
Note: Some linked PO fields on a bill are not editable while they are linked to a PO. If you need to change job, cost code, account, class, or description values on the bill, unlink or edit the PO link first.
9. Understand open balance and linked bills
Adaptive tracks PO usage as bills are linked and approved.
In the PO drawer:
Total shows the full PO amount.
Linked bills shows the total amount of approved bills linked to the PO.
Open balance shows the remaining PO balance.
The progress bar shows how much of the PO has been linked to bills.
Linked bill totals are based on approved bills. If a bill is still in draft or review, it may not be reflected in the linked bills total yet.
If you have any questions or want to share feedback, feel free to reach out at [email protected].