Blanket Purchase Orders

You can set up purchase orders for a certain monetary amount, then order items from them until you use up all available funds.

When to use blanket purchase orders. You might use blanket purchase orders when you want to make a number of purchases over time, but want to avoid having to post a new requisition and purchase order for each purchase. For example, you might use a blanket purchase order to periodically replenish office supplies.

Blanket purchase orders are not normally used to buy inventory items. If you plan to buy a lot of inventory over time, you should process it through a large active purchase order, with all the details, rather than by using a blanket purchase order.

Setting up and using blanket purchase orders. When you set up a blanket purchase order, you specify the total amount (cost) of items that can be purchased. With each new purchase, you add detail lines to the blanket purchase order.

You can change the total amount allowed for a blanket purchase order at any time. If you wish, you can assign security to the Original Amount field on the Order tab, so that only authorized persons can change the amount.

When you post new details, the amount still available is calculated and displayed.

When the available amount reaches zero, the blanket purchase order is completed and you cannot use it to make any further purchases.

Posting additional costs for blanket purchase orders. Because you do not enter additional costs on purchase orders, and you can change costs on receipts without updating the purchase order, you may post a receipt total that exceeds the available amount on the blanket purchase order. Although Purchase Orders lets you post this type of receipt, your procedures may not permit you to exceed the amount specified on the blanket purchase order.