Create a purchase order template
Your company wants to optimize its procurement process. To do so, you can use purchasing management software. Such software includes the creation of a dematerialized purchase order. While you’re waiting for My Intranet HRIS to be installed in your company, here’s how to create a purchase order template.
Essential fields to include in your order form
To be legally valid, your purchase requisition sent to the supplier must include a certain number of mandatory fields :
- the customer’s address : the company issuing the order
- the supplier’s address : the company receiving the order
- a registration number clearly identifying the company issuing the order form (registration number in the commercial register)
- a list of products ordered, their prices and the total amount of the order (including VAT where applicable). You can refer to a supplier’s quotation to fill in each order line.
We strongly advise you to include some additional data :
- a unique purchase order number that will appear on the supplier’s invoice
- the payment deadline
- target delivery date
- the customer’s general terms and conditions of purchase (or the supplier’s general terms and conditions of sale).
The purchase order is then signed, or even stamped with the company stamp, and sent to the supplier. From this point onwards, the order is formal and commits the customer to paying for the product or service purchased. The purchase order acts fully as a contract. It has the distinctive feature of being a synallagmatic contract, binding the customer and supplier reciprocally.
Download our order form template
You can download a free order form below :
Why dematerialize your purchase orders ?
The dematerialization of purchase orders is one of the improvements you can easily implement with a solution like My Intranet HRIS. The advantages are as follows :
- Order form entry is very quick : pre-filling of supplier data from the supplier database, automatic calculation of amounts, recall of previous purchase orders.
- Each purchase order is validated electronically by one or more people in the company.
- The purchase order is sent by e-mail in PDF format to the supplier.
- The buyer registers the delivery once the products have been received.
- A payment request is generated on receipt of the supplier’s invoice.
- You have full centralized reporting on your company’s purchases.
At a time when teleworking is becoming increasingly widespread, the use of such a solution is essential to ensure that all players in the supply chain can continue to collaborate effectively.
Is the order form compulsory ?
No, you don’t have to issue a purchase order. Simply signing an estimate is sufficient. It is even possible to work without a purchase order or quotation, but this increases the risk of disputes between customer and supplier, since the customer is under no obligation to pay for the products received, and the supplier is under no obligation to deliver to the customer in the absence of a clearly formalized commitment.
The purchase order is essential to contractualize the commitment and define a precise framework, especially in terms of price, quantity of products or services ordered and lead times. Over and above the contractual aspect, this document is also useful for the company’s sound management, as it enables us to control expenditure commitments.
