Yes, you can. Neviscater works out the raw materials an order needs from its menus and recipes. From that list it drafts purchase orders, one per vendor, with the quantities already reduced by what you have in stock, so you never retype a shopping list. This guide covers the setup the feature depends on, the steps, what the drafts contain, and how to do the same across several orders at once.
Purchase orders are part of the Purchase Orders plan feature, and the vendor-wise list needs Enable Vendors Management under Application Setup → Preferences.
What needs to be in place
| Setup | Where | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Vendors with a verified email | Application Setup → Vendors | One purchase order is created per vendor; the email is how Send delivers it |
| Preferred Vendor on each material | Materials Table → the material | Decides which vendor's purchase order a material lands on. A material without one is skipped |
| Recipes on the items you cook | Items Table → Recipe tab | The raw material list is calculated from recipes; an item without one contributes nothing |
| Units that convert | Units Table, pack sizes on materials | A recipe line in grams for a material kept in kilograms converts; one that does not convert counts as zero |
| Track Inventory (optional) | Application Setup → Preferences | Lets the list subtract current stock before ordering |
| A rate card entry (optional) | Vendor → Services tab | Prefills the price on the purchase order line; you can still change it |
See Vendors and Vendor Services, Materials and Inventory and Items and Recipes for each of these.
Step by step
- Open the order and go to Actions → Raw Materials (also under sidebar Order Actions → Raw Materials). The screen lists every material the order's menus need, with Quantity, Stock, To Procure, Rate, Procurement Cost and Vendor.
- Check the list. Filter by Material Type or by event if you are buying for part of the order only. Click a row and enter Quantity to Procure to round up or buy less; the override is remembered for this order.
- Tick Include available stock so To Procure becomes requirement minus stock. Untick it to order the gross requirement.
- If deliveries are staggered — vegetables per day, groceries once — open Procurement Scope Settings, tick Scope based procurement and choose which events are bought together. One scope for the whole order is the default.
- Switch to the vendor-wise view. The same list is now grouped by each material's Preferred Vendor; Download gives a PDF of one vendor's list if you prefer to order by phone or WhatsApp.
- Click Create Purchase Orders. Neviscater creates one Draft purchase order per vendor per scope, pre-filled with the materials and the quantities to procure.
- Go to Application Setup → Purchase Orders to review the drafts. A draft can still be edited: change a rate to the negotiated price, drop a line, add one. Then Send emails the PDF to the vendor, Confirm records their acceptance, Receive adds the goods to stock, and Payments records what you paid. See Purchase Orders for the lifecycle.
What the drafts contain
- One purchase order per vendor per scope. Two vendors give two drafts; with scope-based procurement, each vendor gets one draft per scope.
- Quantities from To Procure, so your own Quantity to Procure overrides and the Include available stock deduction are respected.
- Whole packs. A material kept in packs with a pack size — 1 Bottle = 750 Mililitre — is rounded up: a requirement of 12.4 Bottle becomes a line of 13 Bottle. Other materials are ordered exactly as calculated.
- Linked to the order, so the purchase order's cost appears in that order's vendor finances; see Vendor Finances on Orders.
- Skipped lines. Materials with no preferred vendor, and lines with nothing left to procure, are not placed on any purchase order.
- Coverage. An entry already on a purchase order shows Already on a purchase order (status). You can still Create another PO for this entry if the first one fell through.
Across several orders: Kitchen Plan
When one kitchen cooks for many functions in a week, buying per order means several deliveries of the same material. The Kitchen Plan (sidebar → Kitchen Plan, Premium plan) combines every order in a window of days: its Vendors tab shows one block per vendor with the materials to buy, stock counted once across all the orders, and Create Purchase Orders or a per-block Create PO drafts them the same way. Those purchase orders are not linked to a single order; their notes name the plan and window. See Kitchen Plan.
Other places a purchase order can start from
| From | Button | Creates |
|---|---|---|
| Order → Menu Items Services (vendor-supplied items) | Create Purchase Orders | One draft per vendor for ready-made items |
| Order → All External Services | Create Purchase Orders | One draft per vendor for booked services |
| Order → Cookware, Serveware & Cutlery | Create a purchase order for this entry | A purchase order for disposables |
| A material's Add Stock | Create PO from material | A single-line purchase order to its preferred vendor |
| Application Setup → Purchase Orders | New purchase order | A blank purchase order you fill in by hand |
Common questions
I do not see a Create Purchase Orders button. Either the Purchase Orders feature is not in your plan, Enable Vendors Management is off, or you are on the plain list rather than the vendor-wise view.
A material is missing from the drafts. It has no Preferred Vendor, or nothing was left to procure after stock was deducted. Set the vendor on the material and click Create Purchase Orders again; entries already covered are left alone.
The draft says 13 Bottle but the list said 12.40. Purchase orders round materials with a pack size up to whole packs. The list shows the exact requirement.
Stock was not subtracted. Include available stock was unticked, or Track Inventory is off, or the material's stock has never been recorded.
The vendor's price is wrong on the draft. The rate is prefilled from the vendor's rate card. Edit the line on the draft, or update the rate card for next time.
Can I change a purchase order after sending it? No. Cancel it and create a new draft, either from the raw material list again or by hand.