Purchase: RFQs, Vendor Bills and Control Policies
What to know
The purchasing flow is request for quotation → purchase order → receipt → vendor bill. Confirming an RFQ creates a purchase order, which reserves nothing but records the commitment; receiving goods updates stock against the PO line's received quantity. Invoicing is governed by the product's bill control policy: Ordered quantities lets you bill the full order immediately, while Received quantities only allows billing what has been received - the mechanism behind three-way matching. The 3-way matching setting adds a check that blocks billing above received quantities.
Prices come from vendor pricelists (per vendor, per product, with minimum quantity and currency) and from the purchase order line itself, which a buyer can always override. Vendor lead times feed expected arrival dates. Purchase agreements (blanket orders) hold negotiated quantities or prices across multiple POs. Products can carry vendor warnings, and the Purchase settings control purchase agreements, warnings, and lock confirmed orders.
Traps
- Bill control is a product setting, not a global toggle; mixed products behave differently on the same PO.
- A vendor pricelist only applies when the vendor and quantity/date conditions match; otherwise the product's cost or the manual price wins.
- Receiving fewer units than ordered leaves a backorder - the PO stays open, so reports show open commitments.
- Vendor taxes are separate from customer taxes on the same product.
- Currencies: the PO currency must match the vendor pricelist or prices are converted.
Rule of thumb
Ask what can I bill? - Ordered policy: bill on confirmation; Received policy: bill on receipt. Example: order 100 units, receive 60, bill control on received quantities → the vendor bill can only cover 60 units.