Organisations starting a purchase order program usually begin by evaluating software and end up configuring a system before anybody has agreed the rules. Four decisions, made first, take a morning and make the software choice straightforward. They also sometimes make it unnecessary for a year, which is a useful thing to discover early.
Decision one and two: threshold and approvers
Which purchases need an order, above what value, and with which categories excluded because pre-ordering them is impractical. Then who approves what, taken from your existing delegated authority rather than invented, with a named deputy for each because absence is the main source of delay.
Decision three and four: numbering and receipts
Numbers issued automatically from one place, never reused. And a named owner for recording what arrives, with the recording happening at the delivery point rather than batched into finance. That fourth decision is the one most often skipped and the one everything downstream depends on.
Then the software, and the supplier conversation
With the rules agreed, the software requirement is short and the shortlist is small. In parallel, tell suppliers to quote the order number on every invoice and say what happens if they do not. That conversation takes a quarter of consistent repetition and is what makes the whole program work.
Questions people ask about purchase order program
Can we run the program without software?
For a while, yes, on a controlled numbering sheet with approval by email. It proves the rules before you pay for anything.
How long before it beds in?
A quarter or two, because it depends on suppliers and colleagues changing habits rather than on configuration.
What is the commonest failure?
Skipping the receipts decision. The program then produces orders that nothing is ever checked against.