Buy out the material — a PO from the estimate to the lot

Two trucks of stud by Thursday, or nobody frames Friday. The framing package for Bldg C is stud, track, slip track, board, and sealant, and the quantities were priced weeks ago in the estimate. Procurement in STrOp is where that pricing turns into an order: a PO to the vendor, a receipt from the lot, and a committed number on the budget. Here's how I buy it.

Build the PO

1. Open the job → Procurement. Three tabs: Buyout Plan, Purchase Orders, and Receiving Log.
2. On Buyout Plan, Generate BOM from Estimate pulls every material line off the estimate as a buyout item. That's the list you're buying against, so quantities come off the estimate, not off memory.
3. On Purchase Orders, + New PO opens a draft. Pick the Vendor (PacWest Building Supply, from the directory), set Exp. Delivery to the Thursday the framers need it, and put shipping instructions in Notes.
4. + Add Line for each item: Description, Cost Code, Qty, UOM, Unit Price. Click any cell to edit; Extended and Total keep up. The cost code is what lets this PO find its budget line later, so don't skip it.

Issue it

1. Issue PO. This mints the PO number (the draft reads To be assigned on issue until then) and freezes the lines. It won't issue without a vendor and at least one line; the hover on the button says why if it's blocked.
2. Print gives you the PO as a document. Send it to PacWest.
3. Need to change it after it's out? Revise with a reason, then Reissue — the PO takes a revision letter, so the vendor sees Rev A, not a silently different order.

Receive it from the lot

1. When the truck shows up, Serrano opens the PO on his phone → Receiving → + Log Shipment.
2. Receipt Date, Received By, Delivered To (Job Site or Warehouse), Location Detail ("Bldg C laydown"), and the Delivery Ticket # off the driver's paperwork.
3. Each line shows Ordered, Rcvd, Remaining. Enter Qty Today for what came off the truck, set Condition (good, damaged, rejected), and Save Receipt.
4. The board is on a second truck, so the PO reads Partial until the rest lands. The job's Receiving Log tab lists every receipt across every PO.

What flipped underneath

Open the job's Budget tab. Committed (POs) moved the moment the PO issued: the cost code shows the PO under Committed, with the unreceived remainder in Open Committed. The budget knew about this money before the invoice existed, which is the point — the current forecast is actuals plus what you've already promised to pay, and a PO is a promise.

Common mistakes

• Ordering by phone and writing the PO later. The vendor ships against the call, the PO never matches, and the invoice is the first time anyone sees the number. Issue first, then call.
• Receiving the whole PO because the truck came. A short truck saved as fully received makes the budget say the material is here when it isn't. Log Qty Today for what's on the ground; Remaining is your shortage list.
• Lines without cost codes. The PO still issues, but the committed cost has nowhere to land on the budget. Code it while you're building it.

See also

• E10 · Schedule the crew week
• E12 · Enter and approve timecards
• Baseline vs current vs actuals
• The estimate is your earliest budget