Purchase Order Approval Workflow and email

I'll ensure you can manage your POs in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT), mightyMacaque.

With the Approval Workflow, QuickBooks would still save and send a draft PO if your users select the No, save a draft option. You'll need to instruct them to choose Yes, send for approval so the system identifies which ones require approval. 

You can also modify users' roles (for example, giving Partial access to Vendors & Payables activities) so they have limited access to your POs. For more details about this, please see this article: Create and manage users and roles in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise.

Moreover, after recording a purchase order, you can receive inventory with or without a corresponding bill. Doing so updates the quantity on hand for each item, as well as the payable to the vendor.

Keep in touch whenever you have additional questions about your bills and PO Approval Workflow in QBDT. I'll be happy to answer them for you. Stay safe and have a nice day ahead.

Thanks for the reply!  Just so that I understand correctly, a Purchase Order can be saved as draft and emailed to a vendor regardless of whether it is approved or not?  Seems like a big flaw in the workflow and it would be safer for me to disable to approval workflow so we don't have discrepancies in rejected POs and vendor processed orders.

Thanks for the reply!  Just to make sure I understand correctly, a Purchase Order can be emailed to a vendor even though it is saved as a draft and not approved?  Seems like a big flaw in the workflow since it could lead to downstream issues if the PO is rejected and still processed by the vendor.  The most critical portion of the approval of a PO is that it should only be able to be emailed if it is in an "Approved" status.

If this is the case, it would be much safer to turn off the approval workflow since as it is currently implemented it could lead to downstream issues where the PO is emailed and processed by the vendor, but internally it is rejected.

Hello, @mightyMacaque. A purchase order can be emailed to a vendor even if it's saved as a draft and hasn't been approved.

We'd like to let you know that we recognize the benefit of only being able to have the purchase order emailed when it's under the Approved status. However, this functionality is currently unavailable in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT).

To help improve your experience with QBDT, you can share your valuable feedback. This goes directly to our product development team for careful review.

Here's how to send it:

1. Open QBDT.
2. Navigate to the Help menu and select Send Feedback Online.
3. Choose the Product Suggestion option. A pop-up window will appear.
4. Input your recommendation.
5. Finally, click the Send Feedback button.

As the purchase order is part of the Accounts Payable (A/P) workflow in QBDT, you may want to learn more about this through this article: Accounts Payable workflows in QuickBooks Desktop.

You can always add a reply to this thread if you've got additional concerns regarding purchase orders. We're here to assist you in any way we can. Have a good one!

Thanks, I have submitted the feature feedback.

I submitted this feedback in QBO Advanced several months ago. Can you advise on when we might see an improvement in the process or a work around to use in the interim? I have a purchasing agent who sends PO's to vendors using the 'Save and Send' function. I need to set limits on the dollar amount he is authorized to send. Is there a way to set limits in the user profile? Any other suggestions?

Hey, @SunnyC. 

Thanks for chiming in on this thread. 

I can see how beneficial this could be for you and your business. However, we're unable to give you a specific ETA for this feature. 

Our Product Developers review every request and consider it in the next available update for users. With that being said, sometimes the features come around at a later time. 

If you have any other questions or concerns, don't hesitate to ask. I'm only a post away if you need me. Have a great day!