Purchasing

With your product data, quantities, and pricing already stored in MeasureSquare CRM, the Purchasing workflow becomes extremely efficient. The CRM can automatically generate Purchase Orders (POs) based on existing project data, reducing manual entry and ensuring accuracy across your organization.

This section explains how Purchase Orders are created, how the Vendor field drives automation, and how to track and manage your purchasing activity.

1. Creating Purchase Orders

MeasureSquare CRM provides multiple methods for creating a Purchase Order. You can choose whichever option fits your workflow:

Methods of Creating a Purchase Order

1. Manual Creation
   
   

• Add line items manually
  
  

• Or pull items from your product database
  
  

2. Automatically from a Diagram
   
   

3. Automatically from a Bid or Quote
   
   

4. Automatically from a Change Order
   
   

What “Automatically Created” Means

When a PO is automatically generated, the CRM pulls your existing project data and builds the Purchase Order without any manual input.

This includes:

• Product names
  
  

• Descriptions
  
  

• Quantities
  
  

• Pricing
  
  

• Vendor account numbers
  
  

• Vendor contacts
  
  

• Vendor contact email addresses
  
  

In other words, the system uses the information you’ve already entered during takeoff or estimating to instantly produce a vendor-ready Purchase Order.

2. Vendor Data: The Key to Automation

Automation of Purchase Orders relies heavily on correct Vendor assignment.

If a product does not have a Vendor assigned:

• It will not be included in any Vendor’s Purchase Order
  
  

• You will need to add it manually later
  
  

Best Practice

Assign the Vendor during the Diagram/Takeoff stage.
This not only ensures complete Purchase Orders but also streamlines Price Requests and reduces overall manual work.

3. Tracking & Managing Purchase Orders

The CRM provides robust tools for tracking both the document-level status of your Purchase Orders and the physical status of the materials.

Document Status vs. Material Status

Each Purchase Order contains two important fields:

1. Status (Document Status)

Indicates the stage of the Purchase Order document:

• Draft
  
  

• Sent
  
  

• Viewed
  
  

• Approved
  
  

• etc.
  
  

This shows your communication progress with the vendor but does not indicate anything about the actual material.

2. Category (Material Status)

Represents the physical state of the material itself:

• In Transit
  
  

• Received
  
  

• Backordered
  
  

• Picked Up
  
  

• Etc.

Using Status (document) and Category (material) together provides a clear and complete picture of your purchasing progress.

From the Project screen, these combined fields give you immediate visibility into what has been ordered, what has arrived, and what still needs attention.

4. Viewing All Purchase Orders Across Projects

If you play a purchasing-focused role, you may need visibility across the entire company—not just a single project.

To access all Purchase Orders:

1. Navigate to Purchases → Purchase Orders in the left-hand menu.
   
   

2. This opens the Purchase Order List View, showing all POs across all projects.
   
   

3. Use filters to sort by Vendor, Project, Status, Category, dates, or any other fields.
   
   

4. Save custom filters by clicking + View at the top of the page to create personalized Custom Views.
   
   

Custom Views are especially useful for:

• Tracking overdue deliveries
  
  

• Reviewing all “In Transit” materials
  
  

• Monitoring open orders by Vendor
  
  

• Managing approvals
  
  

• Prioritizing receiving and follow-ups