Naming Purchase Orders

[sylviajvincent]

A great feature for the retail side would the option of naming your PO's. It makes it a lot easier to receive stock when you can search by the name of the item vs. the number. You could still have the auto generated PO # but one additional line to name the PO would be great! 

[greenlotusdream]

I completely agree!! I hate that the purchase orders are auto numbered. I don't need to "name" my purchase orders, but I would prefer them to have the correct "order number" rather than just the next number in line. We issue PO numbers for the orders that we place, and it just doesn't make sense to not be able to replace the order number.

Our current workaround is to put our PO numbers in the notes section, but what a pain. We have to open each purchase order to find the correct one. It works okay for right now, but I can only imagine the waste of time in the future when we have multiple purchase orders.

It would also make sense if the search field could search the item SKUs as well. This would make finding the correct purchase order more efficient. It's very limited that you can only search by vendor or order #. Maybe it would make sense if we were using Square for the first time and making our very first purchase order. We could then sync up the auto numbering with our actual purchase orders, but I'm pretty sure this is not the case for many square users.

An example of why and how we would use the purchase orders feature...

If a business does not normally have many purchase orders from one vendor, I can see it not being a major issue. However, for us, we have many purchase orders with many vendors. I was hoping I could use Square to simplify some things, but it proves to be more of a hassle until these basic features are implemented.

For example, it is possible for me to place 5 or 6 purchase orders with the same vendor in one day depending on new items offered or restocks needed. In just a month's time, I could have over 50 purchase orders from one vendor. Not all items are in stock, some are preorders. We typically order inventory 6-7 months out in advance. So, our personal purchase order numbers are one element that helps us keep track. (I would love to be able to replace the current auto issued order number with our personal PO#) When items come in, our invoices from our vendors also reflect our personal purchase order numbers. Items are not typically shipped one purchase order at a time. We could have one shipment that contains items from multiple purchase orders. So, having the ability to "name or number" the purchase orders would help find them easier. Also, being able to search purchase orders by SKU would be even easier. We could then receive items on the correct purchase orders quickly. Scan the barcode in the search field, pulls up the matching purchase orders, receive stock, done!

Hope this gives the development team some insight 🙂 and that they can update with these changes soon.

[MayaP]

Hey there @sylviajvincent  Thank you so much for submitting this Feature Request! I've updated it to the "Open" status. This step in the Feature Request process will be a time in which other sellers can add their use cases to your idea to make it stronger and demonstrate further how much it is needed. I appreciate you @greenlotusdream also adding your thoughts and feedback on this as well, that is exactly what we need! We have made some changes to our feature request process so I would submit your second request "If the search field could search the item SKUs as well" as its own submission. That way we can track and provides updates on each request a lot better. As more information becomes available, a Community moderator will come in and change the status letting all of the subscribed sellers know. Thanks again for your input 🙂 

[MobilityPlusTus]

I too would like to customize the Order # (PO Number).

Having a sequential number generated by Square is of ZERO value to my business.  My Purchase Order numbers are a sequence of several values that let my entire team know what store ordered the product, from what vendor, and when.

While all that information is available in other fields of the PO, I'm dealing with many vendors and my franchisor that have a specific way the PO MUST be numbered.

Putting the PO number in the notes is not a great workaround since that is often missed by my vendors and it is not searchable by my team.

[Ryan71]

Hi - we need to use our sequence of numbers for the PO number.  Or at least pick a different starting point besides 1.  Agreed that naming a PO is helpful as well.  Our customers do that and we should be able to as well.

[jthorvaldson]

We would love the ability to input our own custom purchase order numbers into the system! We like to add a name to the PO for our special orders to make it easier to identify who the order is for. Also, we've been in business for over 79 years. If I send a PO to a long standing vendor with a PO number of 5, they are going to question the validity of that!

[willkidger]

This seems like a pretty simple improvement that could make a big difference - at the moment there is no notes, name or reference field in which we can put an order reference, meaning it's a real pain to match up POs to order invoices from suppliers.