A purchase order generator turns some fields into a tidy document you can send a supplier, and there is nothing wrong with that. It is worth being clear that producing the document is the smallest part of purchase order work. The generator solves presentation; the cost sits in what happens over the following weeks, as deliveries arrive in pieces and invoices arrive against them.
What a generator gives you
A consistent, professional document with your terms on it, a number, and less retyping than a word processor template. For an organisation raising a handful of orders a month, that is genuinely sufficient, and it is a reasonable place to start rather than a mistake. The important thing is knowing what it does not do.
What it does not give you
A record of what has been received against each line, what has been invoiced, what has been revised and what is still open. Those are the facts every downstream question depends on, and without them the answers come from searching email and asking people, which is exactly the work the system was supposed to remove.
When to move on
When somebody starts maintaining a spreadsheet alongside the generator to track what is outstanding. That spreadsheet is the system trying to exist, and it is the point at which a tool that holds quantities per line pays for itself. Until then, a generator plus discipline is a perfectly defensible position.
Questions people ask about purchase order generator
Is a template in a word processor good enough?
For very low volumes, yes, provided numbering is controlled somewhere so numbers are never reused. Reused numbers are the failure that makes matching impossible later.
Should the order include terms?
Yes. The order is a commercial document, and putting your payment and delivery terms on it is easier than arguing about them afterwards.
What should a purchase order contain?
Your details and the supplier's, a unique number, the date, line items with quantities and prices, delivery address and date, and your terms.