The quick answer
Mark the components you buy with Item Source Purchase Order on the assembly's bill of materials, and give each item a purchasing vendor and price. Enter a work order for the assembly and save it as Released. NetSuite opens a Processed Orders page that lists the purchase orders it created, one for each vendor. Each purchase order shows the work order in Created From.
The screenshots show sample data. Person and company names are fictional. Use your own assembly, vendors and amounts when following the steps.
Before you start
In this example, Alex Morgan at Example Supply Co. builds PX-400 Pressure Sensor Modules. The bill of materials has three components:
- PX-401 Sensor Housing comes from stock. 140 are on hand.
- PX-402 Pressure Transducer has Item Source Purchase Order. Its vendor is Halden Sensors, at 6.50.
- PX-403 Wiring Harness has Item Source Purchase Order. Its vendor is Corbel Cable Supply, at 2.25.
Each purchase-sourced item needs a purchasing vendor and a purchase price, or NetSuite has nothing to put on the order. Whether purchase orders are created automatically from a work order depends on your account's manufacturing setup, which this walkthrough doesn't cover. In this example a Released work order creates them, and a Planned one doesn't. If saving gives you nothing, check the setup and the items first. You can also turn the same purchase demand into purchase orders in bulk with Order Items.
01. Enter the work order
Go to Transactions > Manufacturing > Enter Work Orders. Select Tidewater US as the Subsidiary, Main Plant as the Location and PX-400 Pressure Sensor Module as the Assembly. Set Quantity to 10. Status is Released and Firmed is checked.
On the Items subtab the bill of materials fills in: 10 of each component. The Item Source column reads Stock for the housing and Purchase Order for the transducer and the wiring harness.
Click Save.
02. Check Processed Orders
NetSuite doesn't go straight back to the work order. A Processed Orders page lists Work Order WO3418 as the original transaction and two purchase orders as the processed transactions: PO8620 and PO8621. Both have the status Succeeded and no error message. There are two because the two components have different vendors. Lines for the same vendor would share one order.
Click PO8620.
03. Open a purchase order
PO8620 is to Halden Sensors, Pending Receipt, with a total of 65.00. Its Created From field is Work Order WO3418, so the order stays linked to the work order. In your account an approval routing can start it at a different status.
The one line is PX-402 Pressure Transducer, Quantity 10, Rate 6.50, Amount 65.00. The quantity is the work order's component quantity in this setup, and the rate comes from the item.
Go back to Processed Orders and click PO8621. It is to the second vendor, Corbel Cable Supply, for 10 PX-403 Wiring Harness at 2.25, a total of 22.50.
04. Return to the work order
Click the work order in Created From. On the Items subtab, the PX-402 and PX-403 lines show PO8620 and PO8621 in the Transaction column. Their Committed is 0 and Back Ordered is 10, because the purchased parts are not on hand yet. PX-401 Sensor Housing, from stock, shows Committed 10.
Check the result
- The work order was saved Released, with Item Source Purchase Order on two components.
- Processed Orders listed PO8620 and PO8621 as Succeeded.
- PO8620 is to Halden Sensors, Created From WO3418, for 10 PX-402 at 6.50, total 65.00.
- PO8621 is to Corbel Cable Supply, for 10 PX-403 at 2.25, total 22.50.
- On the work order, the two purchased lines show their purchase orders in the Transaction column.
Common questions
How do I make NetSuite create purchase orders from a work order?
Set Item Source to Purchase Order on the bill of materials components you buy, and give each item a purchasing vendor and price. Then save a Released work order for the assembly. NetSuite creates the purchase orders and lists them on Processed Orders.
Does NetSuite create one purchase order per component or per vendor?
Per vendor. Lines for the same vendor are combined on one purchase order. In the example the two components have different vendors, so there are two purchase orders.
Why was no purchase order created when I saved my work order?
In the example, a work order saved as Released created them. A Planned work order creates none. If a Released work order still creates nothing, check that each purchase-sourced item has a vendor and a purchase price, and that your account is set up to create purchase orders from work orders.
How can I see which purchase order belongs to a work order line?
Open the work order and look at the Transaction column on the Items subtab. It shows the purchase order for each purchase-sourced line. Each purchase order also shows the work order in Created From.
Are purchase-sourced components committed from stock?
No. A purchase-sourced line isn't supplied from stock, so Committed is 0 and Back Ordered shows the unmet requirement, 10 in the example. The stock lines are committed subject to availability and the commit settings.
What quantity does the purchase order use?
In the example it equals the work order's component quantity, 10. It comes from the open requirement, so it can differ in your account, for example with component yield, units or existing commitments. Check the generated order.
What if I need to buy the parts for several work orders together?
Use Order Items from the Transactions menu. It turns purchase demand across work orders into purchase orders grouped by vendor.