The quick answer
Go to Transactions > Purchases > Order Requisitions. It lists every approved requisition line that still has quantity to order. Pick a Vendor on any line that doesn't have one, change Order Rate if the vendor agreed a different price, check the lines you want, and click Submit. NetSuite creates the purchase orders in the background and shows Processed Purchase Orders. Click Refresh until every row is Complete. Lines for the same vendor are usually combined on one purchase order, one line per requisition line. Each requisition you order in full turns Fully Ordered, with a Linked Order pointing at its purchase order.
The example is a lab, Larkspur Biologics, where staff ask for supplies with purchase requisitions. The buyer, Nadia Ferrante, has four approved ones waiting: gloves, pipette tips and centrifuge tubes that Northgate Labs supplies, and copy paper from Bayline Paper. She wants as few purchase orders as possible, so she orders all four together instead of one at a time. The screenshots use sample data, and the person, company, vendor and item names are fictional.
Before you start
Turn on Purchase Orders and Requisitions on the Transactions subtab of Setup > Company > Enable Features. You need a role that can order requisitions. The example uses the Administrator role, and menu labels can differ for other roles. In OneWorld, Subsidiary is required on Order Requisitions.
Only approved requisitions that still have quantity to order show up, so their status is Pending Order or Partially Ordered. Approval routing happens before this and isn't covered here. The example uses one subsidiary, one location and US dollars, and it stops once the purchase orders exist. Receiving and billing them are separate steps.
01. Check what was requested
Open requisition REQ43, for example from Recent Records. Tessa Okafor is the requestor, the status is Pending Order, and Approval Status is Approved.
On the Items subtab, the line asks for 4 Centrifuge Tubes 50 mL at an Estimated Rate of 65.00, an Estimated Amount of 260.00. Tessa left Vendor empty, and Linked Order is empty because nothing has been ordered.
02. Open Order Requisitions
Go to Transactions > Purchases > Order Requisitions.
Subsidiary is Larkspur US, and Estimated Total and Total at the top show 0.00 because no line is checked. Each row is one requisition line. There are four:
- REQ41, Nitrile Gloves M, 20 at 14.20, Northgate Labs
- REQ42, Pipette Tips 200 uL, 30 at 9.80, Northgate Labs
- REQ43, Centrifuge Tubes 50 mL, 4 at 65.00, no vendor yet
- REQ44, Copy Paper Letter, 6 at 41.50, Bayline Paper
The filters at the top narrow the list by Requisition #, Subsidiary, Vendor, Item, Location, Class and Department.
03. Add the vendor and the agreed rate
A line needs a vendor and a rate before it can be ordered. On the REQ43 row, select Vendor Northgate Labs. Then change Order Rate from 65.00 to 62.00, the price Northgate agreed for the tubes. Order Amount becomes 248.00. Estimated Rate and Estimated Amount stay at 65.00 and 260.00, because they're what Tessa estimated and they don't change. The new rate goes on the purchase order and, once it's ordered, onto the requisition's own Rate and Amount. You can change Quantity on the row too.
If a purchase contract applies to the item, the Purchase Contract column can fill in and set Order Rate from the contract. No contract applies in this example.
04. Check the lines to order
Check REQ41, REQ42, REQ43 and REQ44. Mark All checks every listed row, and Unmark All clears them. The totals at the top add up only the checked rows. Estimated Total is 1,087.00, what the requesters estimated. Total is 1,075.00, what will actually be ordered. The 12.00 difference is the lower rate on the tubes.
05. Submit and refresh
Click Submit. In this walkthrough NetSuite creates the purchase orders in the background and opens Processed Purchase Orders, with one row per vendor: Northgate Labs and Bayline Paper, both Not Started.
Click Refresh. Both rows are Complete: PO5212 for Northgate Labs, 826.00, and PO5213 for Bayline Paper, 249.00. Total is 1,075.00. If a row fails, its Error Message column tells you why.
In this account both orders came out Approved and weren't emailed. Whether a new purchase order needs approval, and whether it goes to the vendor, depends on your purchase order approval setup and the vendor's settings. Check To Be Emailed before you assume the vendor has the order.
06. Check the combined purchase order
Click PO5212. The vendor is Northgate Labs and the total is 826.00. In this account it shows Pending Receipt. With purchase order approval turned on, a new order can sit at Pending Supervisor Approval instead.
The Items subtab has three lines, one for each Northgate requisition: Nitrile Gloves M, 20 at 14.20, 284.00; Pipette Tips 200 uL, 30 at 9.80, 294.00; and Centrifuge Tubes 50 mL, 4 at 62.00, 248.00. The tubes went on at the rate from step 3.
Same-vendor lines don't always land on one order. Differences in subsidiary, currency, purchasing subsidiary or purchase contract can split them, and so can the Maximum Purchase Lines to Consolidate accounting preference. Check the rows on Processed Purchase Orders to see how they were grouped. Each line keeps its own location, department and class.
07. Confirm the requisition was ordered
Open REQ43 again from Recent Records. The status is Fully Ordered. Total in the Summary is now 248.00, next to the 260.00 Estimated Total.
On the Items subtab, Rate is 62.00 and Amount is 248.00, next to the 65.00 Estimated Rate. Vendor is Northgate Labs, Linked Order is PO5212, and Linked Order Status is Pending Receipt.
On Related Records, the Purchase Orders subtab lists PO5212.
Check the result
- Processed Purchase Orders shows every row Complete, with no Error Message.
- In this example each vendor got one purchase order, with one line per requisition line. Your grouping can differ, so read the Processed Purchase Orders rows.
- Each requisition you ordered in full is Fully Ordered, and its line shows Linked Order and Linked Order Status. One with quantity left stays Partially Ordered.
- Requisitions you ordered at a new rate show that Rate and Amount next to the original estimate.
- Fully ordered requisitions no longer appear on Order Requisitions. Partially ordered ones stay with the quantity that's left.
Common questions
What's the difference between Estimated Rate and Order Rate?
Estimated Rate is what the requester expected to pay, and it doesn't change. Order Rate is what goes on the purchase order, and the buyer can change it before submitting. REQ43 was estimated at 65.00 and ordered at 62.00, so its Estimated Amount stays 260.00 and its Amount becomes 248.00.
Why are Estimated Total and Total different?
Both add up only the checked rows. Estimated Total uses the requesters' estimates and Total uses the order rates. Here that's 1,087.00 against 1,075.00, and the 12.00 gap is the tubes going on at 62.00 instead of 65.00.
Why does a requisition have no vendor?
The requester doesn't always know who supplies the item, so Vendor can be left empty. The buyer picks one on the Order Requisitions row before ordering it. Tessa left it blank on REQ43, and Nadia chose Northgate Labs.
Why did my requisitions create more than one purchase order for the same vendor?
NetSuite combines checked lines for the same vendor when it can, which is how the three Northgate lines ended up on PO5212. A different subsidiary, currency, purchasing subsidiary or purchase contract can split them, and so can the Maximum Purchase Lines to Consolidate accounting preference. The rows on Processed Purchase Orders show how they were grouped.
What do Pending Order, Partially Ordered and Fully Ordered mean?
Pending Order means the requisition is approved and nothing has been ordered yet. Partially Ordered means some of the quantity is on a purchase order and some is still waiting. Fully Ordered means everything has been ordered.
Why does a requisition no longer appear on Order Requisitions?
The page only lists approved lines that still have quantity to order. Once a requisition is fully ordered, it drops off. A partially ordered one stays with the quantity that's left, and one that isn't approved yet won't show up at all.
How can a requester see which purchase order filled their requisition?
Open the requisition. Its line shows Linked Order and Linked Order Status, and Related Records > Purchase Orders lists the order. For REQ43 that's PO5212, Pending Receipt. The link lives on the requisition. The purchase order line has no field that points back to it.