How to enter and track customer-received purchase orders

"Have my inventory for those item numbers update as I cut invoices."

"I provide metal polishing services to my customers. "

If you polish THEIR products sent to you, this is not your inventory.

Hello there, jgambi.

You can use the progress invoicing feature. This way, you'll know the status or progress of a specific job. 

First, you'll have to turn on the feature. Here's how:

1. Click the Edit menu, then choose Preferences.
2. Go to Jobs & Estimates, then choose Company Preferences.
3. Under DO YOU DO PROGRESS INVOICING?, choose Yes, then click OK.

Next, create an estimate. Here's how:

1. Click the Customers menu, then choose Create Estimates.
2. Fill in the necessary fields, then click Save & Close.

Then, create the invoice from the estimate. Here's how:

1. Open the estimate, then click Create invoice.
2. The Create Progress Invoice Based on Estimate window will appear. Choose what to include on the invoice:

• Create invoice for the entire estimate (100%).
• Create invoice for a percentage of the entire estimate.
• Create invoice for selected items or for different percentages of each item.

               3. Click OK, then click Save & Close.

To check the progress of the invoice, you can click the Progress button on the Invoice page. You can also click the same button to make changes or add more items. Please check the screenshot below. 

Feel free to let me know if you have further questions. I'll be around. Have a good one! 

You don't need to Invoice from the Estimate, to use an Estimate as a comparison reporting tool for PO completion. If you need to charge the customer from actual Billable time, go ahead. The point of Estimate is to lay the baseline for that project or budget. Do not Progress Invoice from it, if you mark time as billable and use that with the Add Time & Costs Function. You still have what you need for Est vs Actuals reporting. And the Timesheet reporting exists, such as Time by Job by Name by  Item, or By Job by Item by Name. Add the Columns for Billable, Not Billable, Billed, and Estimated. This lets you compare quantity across that row and these columns.

I have the same problem

I'd like to know the issue that you've encountered with purchase order, bettyevansant. 

If the solutions provided by our AllStars @SkinnyRaven and @qbteachmt didn't work for you, it would be a great help if you could provide more details about your issue so we can find the appropriate solution.

I'll be waiting for your response. Thanks in advance!

Is there a way to do this using the web based service? Or would it be the same practice. I have the exact same need.

Thank you for joining this conversation, @tbard.

I'm here to convert the same functionality for web based (QBO) subscriber.

You can utilize the Progress Invoicing feature to record the transactions in QBO. This allows you to split an estimate into as many invoices as you need.

Let's first turn on this feature:

1. Click the Gear icon at the top menu.
2. Choose Account and Settings.
   
3. Select the Sales tab.
4. Go to the Progress Invoicing section and select the Create multiple partial invoices from a single estimate checkbox.
5. Select Save.
6. Click Done and then close your settings.
   

After that, you can create a customize invoice template and name it as your "progress invoicing template".

Next, create an estimate that has the total amount of the product:

1. Click the Plus (+).
2. Choose Estimate.
3. Select your customer.
4. Enter the information.
5. Select Save and New or Save and Close.
   

Lastly, you're all set to create a progress invoice from the estimate!

You can decide how much you want to invoice according to the estimate. You can charge for a percentage or a specific amount. If you choose Custom amount for each line, then you'll have to enter a specific amount for each item on the invoice.

For the detailed instruction and additional recommendations, you can refer to the set up and send progress invoices article and New Progress Invoicing for QBO blog.

That should get you going today. Let me know how it goes or if you have any follow-up question about progress invoicing. I'll be here if you need further assistance. Wishing you all the best!

I'm having a hard time parsing this response. Brevity at the expense of clarity isn't super helpful. Is there useful information somewhere in this word salad?

Hi there, @zjh.

May I know what specific concern do you need help with? I'd appreciate if you can provide more details about your post so I can be able to help get it taken care of.

Just leave a  comment below by clicking the Reply button to add more details as to what you were experiencing.

Looking forward to your response and providing further help. Have a great day ahead.

As a newbie, I found this response confusing:

"Look at estimates, you can edit a template and rename it  customer PO if you like, progress invoice from the estimate."

With the benefit of a little more experience with QBO, it now makes sense. I think I would have punctuated it differently:

"Look at Estimates. You can edit a template and rename it 'Customer PO' if you like. You can then create a progress invoice from an estimate based on the new template."

Ok,

So I follow you up until the part where I have to pick how I will bill. For me, we use project numbers in order to bill against a customer PO and so if I created an estimate, I would constantly be changing the products and service lines to incorporate all the various charge numbers (sometimes in the 40s). So is there a way to just attach the invoice to the estimate instead of creating or changing an estimate every week?

Thanks for becoming part of the Community, jschools.
 

I can certainly understand how an ability to attach an invoice to an estimate could be useful and have submitted a suggestion about it as of today.
 

You can also submit your own feature requests while using QuickBooks.
 

Here's how:

1. In the top menu bar, go to Help, Send Feedback Online, then Product Suggestion....
   
2. Choose a Type of Feedback and Product Area (optional) from your available drop-down menus.
   
3. Enter any suggestions/feedback in the Here is my suggestion: field.
   
4. If you'd like, include your name/email in the My name is: (optional) and My e-mail address is: (optional) fields.
   
5. Select Send Feedback.
   

Your feedback's definitely valuable to Intuit. It will be reviewed by our Product Development team and considered in future updates. You can stay up-to-date with the latest news about your product by reviewing Intuit's Product Updates webpage.

If there's any additional questions, I'm just a post away. Have an awesome weekend!