A purchase order template for Excel, with the totals worked out

What is in the file

At the top: supplier, date, who ordered, delivery date and a note. Below are thirty lines: name, unit, quantity, purchase price and the line total (calculated), with the order total at the bottom. It fits on one printed page, so it can go to the supplier on paper or as a PDF.

How to use it

Walk the shelves once a week with the sheet and write a line for everything running low. Keep one order per supplier so the page can go straight to them, and keep the purchase price current: the total at the bottom is only as honest as that column.

• Order in the supplier's unit (cases), even when you sell in pieces.
• Note the delivery date on the sheet; a missing box is easier to chase within the week.
• When the delivery arrives, tick each line against what actually came, not the order.

Where the spreadsheet stops

The sheet does not know what sold since you walked the shelf, cannot remind you before the delivery is due, and cannot put the received goods into stock. Every delivery becomes a second typing job, and that is where the numbers drift.

Doing it in Invenva

An order in Invenva puts everything at or under its minimum at the top of the list, in red, and from the Low stock filter the whole selection becomes an order in a few taps. The iPhone and Android apps remind you the day before delivery, and on arrival the receiving checklist books every line into stock in one step, with the quantity that actually came. With a paid plan the order also goes to the supplier as a clean PDF.