Selecting multiple items at one time for a purchase order.

[sylviajvincent]

When I am creating a purchase order, I may be ordering the same item, same color but in different sizes. Is it possible to select all of the same color to add to the purchase order so that I'm not having to add them individually?

[Rich-NLEOMF]

If there is, I'd love to know. 

1 tee shirt, 8 sizes, 12 colors, is a ludicrous amount of times to click "add" for what's basically the same item 😕

[sylviajvincent]

I feel your pain. I tried the import option but that takes even longer!

[TwinkleToes]

Multiple selection capability for purchase orders would be extremely beneficial.

From a process requirement standpoint, there are two levels of selection criteria needed when identifying the required order quantity; Vendor and Item/Variant. First identify the Vendor the purchase order is being created for. Then display a list of all the items and associated variants for the Vendor to allow specifying all purchasing quantity requirements in one step. Nice to have values on the list would be additional data to help confirm the purchase quantities (Current Inventory On Hand, Total Sales, Default Vendor Cost, etc.) A good starting point would be an input screen that mimics the default Purchase Order Import Template spreadsheet. In the following example for a couple shoes, the variants are identifying Color, Shoe Size and Shoe Width. We use Option Sets to help control the majority of our variant combinations (Shoe Color, Shoe Size - US, Shoe Width - NMW).

Item/Variant	SKU	Vendor Code	Unit Cost	Purchase Quantity
Specific Shoe
Blue, 7, M	101	SV-1234	$22.95
Blue, 7, W	102	SV-1235	$22.95
Red, 8, M	111	SV-2138	$22.95
Red, 8, W	112	SV-2139	$22.95
Different Shoe
Blue, 7, M	201	SD-202	$18.22
Blue, 7, W	202	SD-203	$18.22

For now, our work-around solution is to use the purchase order import processing. We use the import to simplify the creation of purchase orders that have a larger number of items/variations.

We will still just use the standard search capability when creating a purchase order for only a few items. For my store we have back-to-school orders that can consist of hundreds of line items on a single purchase order. It might take doing it a couple times to see the time savings, but we currently perform the following steps to create the item detail section for larger purchase orders.

1. Export the Item library to a spreadsheet.
2. Turn on Data Filters for all columns.
3. Use the filter on the Vendor Name column to limit the visible rows to the items/variants for the Vendor that the purchase order will be sent to. Note: use filters on any additional columns to help include/exclude the items/variants that are currently being worked on. For example,use the Category column to limit the items or use the filtering to identify items/variations that contain specific text.
4. Update the New Quantity column for all of the items/variants to order on the current purchase order.
5. Use the filter on the New Quantity column to limit the visible rows to those with a quantity.
6. Either copy the visible detail rows to the detail section of a purchase order spreadsheet or insert header rows on the item library spreadsheet for the Vendor, Ship To, Expected On and Notes. These rows can be copied from the template.
7. Import the spreadsheet using the Import button on the Purchase Order list screen.

Hope this helps!

[sylviajvincent]

Thank you Patti for your feedback. I'll give it a try.