Online purchase order software is usually evaluated by finance staff at desks, which tests the least consequential surface. The steps that decide whether the cycle works happen elsewhere: an approver releasing an order between meetings, and somebody at a loading bay recording what arrived. Test those two and most of the decision is made.
Receipting, on a phone, by a non-finance person
Ask somebody outside finance to record a receipt for four of ten items on one line of a long order, and count the taps and seconds. Anything beyond a few of each means it will be batched or skipped, and the invoice will arrive with nothing to match against. This is the single most predictive test available.
Offline behaviour
Loading bays, basements and rural sites are common dead spots. Software that requires connectivity at the moment of receipt will not be used there. Ask whether capture works offline and syncs afterwards, and verify it rather than accepting the claim, because it is frequently asserted and inconsistently implemented.
Approval on a small screen
Can an approver see the supplier, the total, the main lines, the cost centre and the reason without scrolling through three screens. Approving from a summary is fast and meaningless. The screen an approver sees is a design choice, and it decides whether the control is real or decorative.
Questions people ask about online purchase order software
Does everybody need an account?
Delivery staff need a limited role that can only receipt against orders. Keep it simple, because complexity there reduces compliance.
Is a browser enough?
Usually, provided it works properly on a phone. An app is worth it mainly for offline capture or barcode scanning.
What else should we test?
What happens when an approver does nothing for a week, which is where real elapsed time is decided.