Parts orders

What this does

Inventory → Parts Orders tracks parts bought for jobs, one order per vendor, each with lines, quantities, unit cost, optional core charges, and a link to the work order that needs them. The board shows where every order stands; the table shows the same orders as a list.

Before you start

parts_orders.view to see the board (Technicians included), parts_orders.create to raise orders, parts_orders.edit to move, receive, install, or delete them (Owner, General Manager, Service Manager, Service Writer).

Steps

New Order. Vendor is required. Link to Work Order is optional and, when set, lists the job's part lines so you can pick which ones this order covers. Each line has Part number, Part name, Brand, quantity, unit cost, and a Core Charge. Expected Delivery Date and Notes are optional. The order starts in Needed with a generated PO- number, and every linked work order line flips to Ordered.

Linking a line to a stocked part. Under each line is a picker: search your inventory by part number or name and choose the part this line restocks. Picking one fills in the part number, name, brand, and cost from the part record, and the note beside it changes to "Receiving this line adds to stock." Leave it blank for anything you don't stock — the line then says "Not stocked — receiving won't change stock," which is the right answer for a part bought for one car.

If you leave it blank but the part number you typed matches exactly one part in your inventory, the app links it for you when you save. The match ignores capitals and stray spaces, and it has to be the whole number, not the start of one. If two parts share that number, it links neither and leaves the line unstocked rather than guessing which shelf you meant — use the picker to say. The same matching runs on orders raised from the Source Part panel and on PartsTech quotes, which have nothing but a part number to go on.

Batch Order (no button yet; open /parts-orders/batch under your shop's address) gathers every part line across all open jobs whose sourcing status is Needed or Not needed, grouped by job, lets you assign a vendor to each, and creates one order per vendor in a single click. Because Not needed is the default on every part line, this page lists parts nobody has decided about yet; assign vendors only to the ones you actually mean to order.

The board has four columns: Needed → Ordered → Shipped → Received. Each card has an advance button that moves it one column right. Ordered stamps the order date; Received stamps the received date, fills in whatever quantity was still outstanding on each line, adds that much to stock for linked lines, and sets the job's lines to Received.

The order page (click the card or the row) lists the lines with received / ordered counts. Receive Parts takes a quantity per line and records it; the order goes to Partial until every line is filled, then Received, and a linked work order line becomes Received when its quantity is met. Mark Installed on a received line sets the linked work order line to Installed.

Delete removes the order and its lines. Linked work order lines keep their sourcing status; reset them by sourcing again.

What happens to stock and the books

Stock moves for linked lines only. Receiving a line that names a stocked part adds the received quantity to that part's count, records a Purchase stock transaction noting the order number, and updates the part's cost to what you just paid. Completing the job takes the same quantity back out with a Sale transaction, so the part nets to zero across the two. A line with no stocked part behind it changes nothing at either end.

If the stock side fails — the part was deleted, say — the receive is refused outright and the line stays outstanding. You will never see a line marked received with nothing behind it.

The books don't move at all. Nothing here posts to the ledger: enter the vendor's invoice as a bill in Accounts Payable when it arrives, and the part's cost reaches job costing through the work order line's cost price, which was set when the order was raised. Core charges entered on the order create core records; see Cores and warranties.

Common problems

Received part of a line, then pushed the card to Received. Safe now. The card adds only what was still outstanding — receive 2 of 3 and push the card, and one more goes on the shelf, not another three. Either route gets you to the same count.

Work order line still says Ordered after the order was received from the board. Fixed. The board's Received button now sets the job's lines to Received as well as the order. If you are looking at a line that was received from the board before 24 September 2026, set it by hand once.

Ordered from PartsTech; where's the order? An accepted quote becomes a normal order in Needed; see PartsTech quotes.

Vendor isn't in the list. Only active vendors show. Add or reactivate it under Vendors.