How to Purchase Stock: Requisitions, POs, GRNs and Returns

Running low on a spare part, a case of cleaning fluid, or a box of straps? The Store’s Procurement suite takes you from the first request all the way to stock on the shelf — with approvals, vendor orders, goods receipts and returns tracked at every step. Instead of loose emails and guesswork, you get numbered documents, running costs, and a clear record of what was ordered, what arrived, and what went back.

Procurement lives in the Store’s left navigation under Procurement, split into four screens: Requisitions, Purchase Orders, Purchase Invoices, and Purchase Returns.

Who can do this? Everything here needs the Store module. Anyone with stores.read can view requisitions, orders, invoices and returns. Creating and approving them — the ”+ New” buttons and the Submit / Approve / Receive actions — needs stores.write. If you don’t see those buttons, ask an admin for write access.

The Procurement Flow at a Glance

Each stage produces its own document and hands off to the next. You don’t have to use every stage every time, but the full chain looks like this:

Only receiving changes your stock. Requisitions and purchase orders are planning documents — they don’t touch on-hand quantities. Stock only goes up when you create a Purchase Invoice (receive), and only comes down when you create a Purchase Return.

Step 1 — Raise a Purchase Requisition

A Purchase Requisition (PR) is an internal “please buy this” request. It captures what you need and how much you expect it to cost, then goes through approval before anyone commits money.

Create a requisition

1. Go to Procurement → Requisitions and click + New PR.
2. Optionally set a Required By Date (it cannot be in the past) and link a Service Job if the parts are for a specific maintenance job.
3. Add a line for each item:
   • Item — search your Store items, or use the scan button to look one up by barcode. Not created yet? Add it inline without leaving the form.
   • Quantity — at least 1.
   • Est. Unit Cost — your best estimate; must be greater than 0.
   • Notes — optional, per line.
4. Click Add Line for more items. The Estimated Total updates as you type.
5. Click Create.

Pick the same item on two lines and Rentablez merges them into one line and adds the quantities together — so a requisition never lists the same item twice.

The requisition is created in Draft. Nothing is ordered yet.

Submit, approve or reject

Open the requisition to move it through its lifecycle. The available buttons depend on the current status:

• Draft → Submit for Approval (you can also Edit the lines first).
• Pending Approval → an approver clicks Approve, or Reject with a reason.
• Approved → ready to become a purchase order.

A rejected requisition shows the reason at the top so the requester knows what to change.

Step 2 — Turn Requisitions into Purchase Orders

A Purchase Order (PO) is the order you actually send to a vendor, with firm prices, quantities and terms. You can raise one from a single approved requisition, or consolidate several at once.

A PO needs a vendor. Vendors are managed separately from the Store — if the vendor you need isn’t in the list, add them in your vendor records first, then come back.

From a single requisition

On an Approved requisition, click Create Purchase Order. The lines are pre-filled from the requisition, so you only need to choose the vendor and confirm prices.

If a requisition was only partly ordered (PO Raised with open lines), open it and use Create PO for Remaining to order what’s still outstanding. The detail page shows a coverage bar per line — how much is on a PO and how much has been received.

Consolidate with the Procurement Workbench

Buying the same item that several requisitions asked for? Open Procurement Workbench (button on the Requisitions screen). It lists every open, approved requisition line, grouped by item.

1. Tick the items you want to order.
2. Click Create PO from … items.
3. Rentablez combines them into one purchase order and keeps each source requisition line linked for accurate tracking.

Fill in the order

Whether you started from a requisition or from Purchase Orders → + New PO, the order form captures:

• Vendor (required) and Order Date (required).
• Expected Delivery — must be on or after the order date.
• Delivery Location — defaults to your primary store location; change it if the goods go elsewhere.
• Quotation Reference, Payment Terms (for example “Net 30”), Delivery Terms and Narration — all optional.
• Line items with Qty, Unit Price and an optional Discount %. The Grand Total updates live.

Approve, send and cancel

Open a purchase order to progress it:

• Draft → Approve (or Edit the lines).
• Approved → Mark Sent once you’ve sent it to the vendor, or Reject back to draft. You can also start receiving straight away.
• Use Cancel to void an order that’s no longer needed (not available once it’s fully received or closed).

Step 3 — Receive Stock with a Purchase Invoice (GRN)

When goods arrive, record them with a Purchase Invoice — the goods-receipt note (GRN) that actually adds the stock to your shelves and captures what you paid.

Receive against a purchase order

1. Open the purchase order and click Receive Stock (or Receive More if you’re taking a later shipment).
2. The lines pre-fill with the quantities still outstanding.
3. Adjust each line to match the delivery:
   • Qty received — reduce it for a short shipment.
   • Unit Cost, optional Discount %, a Tax category (VAT 5%, VAT 0% or Exempt) and an optional MFG # (manufacturer / batch number).
4. Fill in the Vendor Bill No, Vendor Bill Date and Receipt Date, then click Create Invoice.

Partial deliveries are fine. Receive fewer than ordered, or delete a line that isn’t in this shipment — the remaining quantities stay open on the purchase order (which moves to Partial) so you can receive the rest later. Receiving against several outstanding orders from the same vendor? Use + Add items from another PO to pull them into one receipt.

You can also record a receipt without a purchase order: go to Purchase Invoices → + New PI, pick the vendor and location, and add the lines by hand.

Costs update automatically. Receiving stock recalculates each item’s weighted-average cost (WAC) using the unit cost on the invoice, and increases the on-hand quantity at the chosen store location. That’s why the numbers you enter here matter for margin and valuation reports.

Step 4 — Send Stock Back with a Purchase Return

Received something damaged, wrong or over-delivered? A Purchase Return sends it back to the vendor and removes it from stock.

1. Go to Procurement → Purchase Returns and click + New Return (or start one from a purchase invoice).
2. Choose the Vendor. Rentablez lists that vendor’s received invoices as selectable chips.
3. Pick one or more invoices, then tick the items you’re returning. Each item shows Rcvd, already Returned, and the Max you can still return.
4. Set the Return Qty for each item — it can’t exceed the maximum.
5. Choose a Return Reason (required) and set the Return Date.

The returnable quantity is capped at what you actually received minus anything already returned, and the unit cost is locked from the original purchase invoice so your valuation stays accurate.

A Few Things Worth Knowing

• Every document is numbered and printable. Requisitions, orders and invoices each have their own reference and a Print view for sharing with approvers or vendors.
• Locations matter. Received stock lands at the delivery / receipt location you choose. Set these up under Settings → Store Locations.
• It all feeds your reports. Costs from receipts drive the Valuation, Reorder and P&L views in Store Reports, and every receipt and return appears in the item’s Stock Movements ledger.
• Not the same as moving rental gear. This module buys store items (spare parts, consumables, tools, fuel, accessories). Moving rental asset units between branches is a separate feature — see the Stock Transfer module.

Related Articles

• What Is the Store Module?
• How to Manage Store Items and Stock
• How to Use Workshop Goods Issues, Quotations and Service Invoices
• How to Read Store Reports (Valuation, Reorder, P&L, Consumption)
• Stock Movements & Transactions