Tracking a purchase order sounds like knowing where it is, and it really means knowing three numbers per line and how old the gap between them is. Ordered, received and invoiced diverge constantly and legitimately, and almost every question anybody asks about an order is a comparison between two of the three, aged by time.
The three numbers
Ordered is the commitment. Received is what actually arrived, recorded when it did. Invoiced is what you have been billed for. Ordered minus received is what you are still waiting for. Received minus invoiced is your accrual. Invoiced above received is the thing the three-way match exists to catch. All three questions need line-level data.
Age is what makes the data actionable
An order line ordered but not received for three days and one outstanding for three months are different situations that look identical in a list. Ageing turns tracking into a work queue: chase the oldest, accrue the rest, close what will never arrive. Without age, tracking produces a report nobody acts on.
Closing orders deliberately
Some orders will never be fully received: a discontinued item, a cancelled remainder, a supplier who has gone. Somebody has to decide to close them, and that decision should be recorded with a reason. Orders left open forever inflate commitments, distort the accrual and eventually make the whole report untrusted, which is how good tracking data becomes ignored.
Questions people ask about purchase order tracking software
Who chases late deliveries?
Usually purchasing, using the aged open-order list. Payables sees the consequence when an invoice arrives without a receipt, which is later and more expensive.
How does tracking help the month end?
Received but not invoiced is your goods-received accrual. Where that report exists, month end is a query; where it does not, it is a reconstruction.
What about orders for services?
Track them the same way, with the receipt being a confirmation that the work was done. Services are where untracked commitments most often accumulate.