You can create multiple purchase orders across multiple projects and service orders for multiple vendors simultaneously using the Bulk Create feature.

You can do this in Purchase Order Explorer or from the Purchase Orders tab in Project Explorer.

To create a bulk purchase order:

Go to Purchase Order Explorer and click the Bulk Create button.

This will open the Bulk Create Purchase Orders dialog, where you can add products, labor items, or items from an allowance from a project, service order, or catalog.

1/ Click Add Projects to select as many projects as you want to add to the purchase order.

By default, all projects are displayed, but you can set your prefilter options to display specific project statuses.

The projects will be listed in the left pane.

2/ Select a project, click Add Project Items, and choose either Summarized or Units.

The difference is whether similar items (the same Manufacturer:Model) will be grouped or listed separately.

If the project is checked out to you, you will be prompted to check it in. You should do this, as the copy checked into the SI Server will be used for the purchase order.

The Add Items dialog will open. If you have already assigned a vendor to the purchase order, the items are prefiltered to those in the project assigned to that vendor. You can change this filter on the left side of the interface.

This is the "Units" interface for adding items. It lists each item as a separate line item.

3/ Use Shift or Ctrl on your keyboard to select the items you want to add to the purchase order.

4/ Then, click the Add and Close button.

The items will be displayed on the Projects tab.

The totals for the selected project and the entire purchase order are displayed at the bottom of the tab.

By default, the items are grouped by vendor and project, but you can group them by any other criteria. Every item must be assigned a vendor before the purchase orders can be created; see below.

You can also add items to a purchase order from service orders.

1/ Click the Service Orders tab and then the Add Service Orders button.

All service orders display by default, but you can choose to set your prefilter options for specific Schedule statuses.

The service orders will be listed in the left pane.

2/ Select a Service Order and then click the Add Service Order Items button.

1/ Click the Catalog tab, then the Add from Catalog button, and select whether you want to add products, labor items, or bundled cable.

This will open a slightly different dialog depending on which option you choose. Here, you can select whatever items you wish to order from your catalog.

2/ Once you've made your selections, click the Add and Close button.

Purchase orders utilize the Unit of Measure field for products and automatically adjust the quantities for products where a unit of measure has been set.

The field used on purchase orders to determine your price per unit is named "Unit Price." This "Unit Price" field is generally the "Unit Cost" field for products in your projects, service orders, or catalog, so there is a slight difference in pricing terminology.

When adding products from projects and service orders, the price used on the purchase order depends on whether specific fields are populated in your catalog.

If you have populated the "Purchase Cost" field for a product, that value will be used for the unit price on the purchase order.

Suppose the "Number of units in Order UOM" is populated. In that case, it is ignored for calculating the unit price for products on a purchase order when the Purchase Cost field is populated.

If the Purchase Cost field is not populated, the "Number of units in Order UOM" value will be used to do math with the unit cost set for the product to determine the unit price for the product on the purchase order.

When the "Purchase Cost" field is not populated, and the unit cost for a product in the project or service order is different from the unit cost in the catalog when products are added to a purchase order, you will get the following prompt displaying the difference.

The items will be prechecked, and the option to "Use Catalog Unit Cost" will be available.

Make your choices and click OK.

Before proceeding to the next step of creating a bulk purchase order, all items must be assigned to a vendor. The projects, service orders, and catalog tabs can be grouped; however, you choose your preferred grouping to identify items not assigned to a vendor.

You can select multiple unassigned items and click the Change Vendor button.

Once all the items have been assigned to a vendor, click the Next button on the dialog.

Each vendor will be listed on the left side of the dialog, and the default is that a new purchase order will be created for each vendor. If that is what you want, click Finish.

However, if there are existing purchase orders (with status = Draft) for any of the vendors, you can append these items to an existing purchase order.

When you check the Add to Existing Draft Purchase Order option, you will be prompted to choose an existing purchase order for the selected vendor.

When you click Finish, the following prompt will be displayed.

There is a slight difference in creating bulk purchase orders from the Purchase Orders tab in Project Explorer.

Here, you can select the projects for which you want to create purchase orders before clicking the Bulk Create button.