Converting to a PO and sending it

What is this page about: What happens to the purchase order Light creates from an approved purchase request, what you can still change on it, and how to email it to the vendor. It also covers resetting and closing a PO.

# On this page

• From approved request to purchase order
• What you can change on a PO from a request
• Lock the purchase order
• Reset a locked purchase order
• Send the PO to the vendor
• Close the purchase order
• Best practices
• Related articles

# From approved request to purchase order

When a purchase request is approved, Light creates a purchase order in Spend management > Purchase orders with the request's vendor, entity, currency and lines. Light then fills in the PO's coding and, if it passes its checks, locks it automatically. A locked PO becomes Open once it syncs to your ERP and picks up its PO number.

So most POs from requests never need you to touch them. If the checks fail, the PO stays in Draft for you to complete and lock. See The PR → PO → bill flow in Light for the whole flow.

# What you can change on a PO from a request

The request already fixed the commercial terms, so a PO created from it has core fields locked, even in Draft. A Core fields are locked banner shows above them.

• Locked: Vendor, Entity, Currency, and each line's Quantity and Unit price. You can't add or remove lines either.
• Editable: Description, PO date, Delivery date, Delivery address, Vendor notes, Owner, Document template and custom fields, plus each line's Account, Tax code and Cost center.

If a locked term is wrong, archive the PO and raise a new purchase request with the right terms.

# Lock the purchase order

If the PO is still in Draft:

1. Check and complete the editable fields.
2. Click Lock PO.

A "PO successfully locked" toast confirms it. The PO moves to Locking, and to Open once it syncs to your ERP.

# Reset a locked purchase order

To change a locked or open PO, click Reset. It returns the PO to Draft, within the same core-field limits, with one of these toasts:

• "Reset successful, PO is now editable." when it finishes straight away
• "Resetting PO, it will be editable after it finishes." when it runs in the background

Reset works even if a bill is already matched to the PO, and it doesn't undo the match. Lock the PO again when you're done.

# Send the PO to the vendor

Once a PO is Open, email it to the vendor from Light:

1. Open the purchase order.
2. From the ⋮ menu, click Send email to vendor.
3. In the dialog, check Send to, which is filled in from the vendor's email. Add CC (optional), fill in Reply email and Subject, and add a Custom message (optional) if you want.
4. Switch on Hide amounts if the vendor shouldn't see prices.
5. Click Send.

An "Email sent" toast confirms it, and the email with the PO as a PDF goes out shortly after. If the vendor has no email address on file, Send to is empty and the dialog shows "At least one recipient is required". Add the vendor's email, or type a recipient, before sending.

# Close the purchase order

Close a PO when you don't expect more bills against it:

• From the PO: choose Close from the ⋮ menu on an Open PO and confirm Are you sure you want to close this PO?
• From a bill: when submitting a matched bill, choose Close PO and submit for approval from the submit button's dropdown.

The PO moves through Closing to Closed. Closing doesn't check that the PO is fully billed, so you can close one after a partial delivery.

# Best practices

• Check new POs from requests after approval. Most lock themselves, so the ones still in Draft are the ones that need you.
• Change commercial terms on the purchase request, not the PO. Core fields on a PO from a request stay locked.
• Send the PO to the vendor as soon as it's Open, rather than assuming they know about it from the request.
• Close POs you're finished with, so they stop appearing in the bill's PO number picker.

# Related articles

• The PR → PO → bill flow in Light
• Raising and approving a purchase request
• Purchase Orders
• Adding and Managing Vendors

Also searched as: send purchase order to vendor, email a PO, lock a purchase order, reset a PO, close a purchase order, PO core fields locked.