Creating Purchase Orders
The Multi-PO Creator ("Create Purchase Orders") turns a batch of shortages into purchase orders efficiently. Instead of raising POs one at a time, you add several shortage items, group them by vendor, review the result, and create every PO in a single action.
Where to Access
- Create Purchase Orders —
/sdi/multi-po. - Reached by selecting shortages on the SDI Dashboard or Shortage List and clicking Create N POs (the selected items are pre-loaded with their short quantity, due date, and preferred vendor).
Building the order list
- Shortages panel (left) — every open shortage; click + to add one. Items already added show a check.
- PO Items — each line has the Item, an editable Qty, Unit Price, Due Date, and Vendor. Use the checkboxes to include/exclude lines, and the trash icon to remove one. Select All / Deselect All toggle everything.
When you arrive from selected shortages, lines are auto-filled with the item, short quantity, shortage date, and the item's preferred vendor.
Grouping options
- One PO per vendor (consolidate items) — lines are grouped so each vendor receives a single PO covering all their items. Each line carries its own vendor (auto-assigned from the item's preferred vendor, editable per line).
- Single PO for all items — everything goes onto one PO to one vendor you choose at the top.
Purchase Orders Preview
Before creating anything, the Purchase Orders Preview shows exactly what will be generated — grouped by vendor, with each line's item, quantity, unit price, and due date, plus the per-vendor total. This is your last check that the right items are going to the right suppliers at the right prices.
Summary & create
The summary bar shows how many POs, how many items, and the total value. Click Create N PO(s) to issue them. On completion:
- Each created PO is listed with its document number, vendor, line count, and amount, with a View PO link.
- Shortages that fed a line are linked back to the new PO and moved to Resolving.
- Sales-order-driven lines keep their link to the originating sales order line.
- Blanket PO lines are matched automatically — if a shortage references a blanket agreement, the new PO becomes a release against that blanket with the agreed pricing.
- If some POs fail (for example, a line with no vendor assigned), you get a partial-success report listing what succeeded and what didn't.
Use Create More POs to start another batch, or Clear All to empty the list.
Validation notes
- In single-PO mode you must choose a vendor for all items.
- In per-vendor mode every selected line needs a vendor; lines without one are flagged before creation so nothing fails silently.
- Unit price falls back to the item's purchase cost (or the matched blanket price) when you don't enter one explicitly.
Tips
- Prefer one PO per vendor to consolidate freight and simplify receiving.
- Adjust Qty upward to meet MOQ or round to a pack size before creating.
- Set item preferred vendors so the creator can auto-assign suppliers and you only fix the exceptions.