Receive stock from a purchase order

When a vendor delivers the goods on your purchase order, receive the PO in Service Buddy to update inventory and close out the order. This is the step that brings your stock counts back up to date.

Before you start

The PO must be in Approved status. If it’s still Open or Rejected, you can’t receive against it.

Steps

From the main menu, click Purchase Orders.
Open the PO for the delivery you’re receiving.
Click More Actions in the top-right → Change Status.
Select Completed and click Change Status.

What happens next

The PO status moves to Completed with a timestamp and the name of the person who received it.
For each item received, Service Buddy adds the received quantity to the on-hand stock count.
You can see the stock increase immediately on the Settings → Products & Services list.
The PO appears in completed filters but can still be viewed for audit history.

Partial deliveries

If the vendor shipped only some of the order:

Receive the quantities that arrived.
Note the missing items in the PO note field.
Keep the PO open (don’t mark as completed) until the rest arrives.

Alternatively, close the current PO for what arrived and create a new PO for the outstanding items.

Damaged or incorrect goods

If items arrive damaged or wrong:

Don’t receive the damaged quantity into stock.
Add a note on the PO describing the issue.
Contact the vendor for a credit or replacement shipment.
Once resolved, either update the receive quantity or create a new PO for replacements.

FAQ

What happens to my inventory when I receive a PO?

On-hand quantities for each item on the PO go up by the received amount. You’ll see the change immediately on the Settings → Products & Services list. If auto-deduct is on for those items, future jobs and invoices will draw down from the new stock.

How do I handle a partial delivery?

Common with mill-direct and distributor orders — half the rolls, cartons, or boxes arrive, the other half follow a week or two later. Two ways:

Stay open — receive only what arrived (keep the PO open) and complete it when the rest lands.
Close current, create new — mark the current PO complete for what arrived and create a new PO for the missing items. Cleaner audit trail, especially if the missing items take weeks.

Pick whichever your accounting prefers. Both are valid.

What if the goods are damaged or wrong?

Don’t receive the damaged quantity into stock. Add a note on the PO describing the issue, contact the mill or vendor for a credit or replacement, and either update the receive quantity once resolved or create a new PO for replacements.

I made a receiving mistake — how do I fix it?

Once a PO is Completed, the stock change is locked in. To correct it:

Adjust the on-hand quantity manually on the affected item in Settings → Products & Services.
Add a note explaining the correction so the audit trail is clear.

For systemic mistakes (entire PO received against the wrong items), contact support — they can sometimes reverse a completed PO.

Does receiving a PO close it automatically?

Marking it Completed is the receive action itself. Both happen in one step — the status changes to Completed, the timestamp and receiver’s name are recorded, and the stock counts update.

How do I track which roll, carton, or box came from which PO?

For carpet rolls, hardwood lots, LVP cartons, and tile batches, many retailers add a roll/lot/batch number in the PO line item description (or as a custom field). When the goods arrive, the description carries through to inventory so you can trace any roll, carton, or box back to its PO and mill or distributor. This is especially important for hardwood and tile, where lot or dye-lot matching matters for color consistency.

What if I receive against the wrong PO?

Adjust the affected item quantities manually to undo the receipt, then receive against the correct PO. Add notes on both POs explaining what happened.