Choosing purchase order system software can absorb weeks of feature comparison, and one short exercise in a trial account settles most of it. It tests the capability that separates a system from a form, and it takes five minutes. Products that pass it differ in polish; products that fail it differ in kind.
The test
Raise an order for ten of something. Record a receipt for four. Enter a supplier invoice for four. Then ask the system what is outstanding on that line. The answer should be six. If it cannot answer, or answers at document level rather than line level, the product tracks orders as documents and cannot support matching or an accrual.
The second test
Change the price on an approved order and see whether the previous value is still visible with the date it changed. Systems that overwrite look tidier and lose exactly what you need in a supplier disagreement, where the whole question is what the order said on a particular date. Revisions kept beats revisions applied.
The third test
Do nothing after submitting an order for approval, and see whether it escalates or simply waits. Approval delay is the largest source of elapsed time at the front of the cycle, and how the product behaves when an approver is unresponsive is never shown in a demonstration because demonstrations do not wait.
Questions people ask about purchase order system software
What if the vendor will not provide a trial?
Ask them to demonstrate exactly those three sequences on a call. Reluctance to show partial receipting is itself an answer.
Does every organisation need line-level tracking?
If deliveries almost always arrive complete on one date, order level is workable. Most organisations find partial deliveries commoner than they assumed.
What about over-receipt?
Test it: receive twelve against an order for ten and see whether it is flagged. Silent acceptance is how you pay for more than you ordered.