Creating Estimates & Invoices from Purchase Orders

Overview

Turn purchase orders from suppliers into customer estimates or invoices with one click. BlueClerk prefills line items from your PO - unit prices start at your cost, and you manually adjust markup to set customer pricing. Perfect for closing the loop on RFQ-style supplier flows where you get a quote first, then bill your customer.

How It Works

From a Purchase Order

1. Open any purchase order with line items
2. Click "Create Estimate" or "Create Invoice" button (appears when PO has line items, any status)
3. BlueClerk prefills line items:
   • Description, quantity, and sort order carry over
   • Unit price = PO's unit cost (your supplier cost)
   • You manually adjust markup to set customer pricing
4. Banner appears at top: "Creating from PO {number}"
5. Complete the form - select customer, adjust pricing, add notes
6. Save your estimate or invoice

What Gets Prefilled

From the purchase order:

• Line item descriptions - Exact descriptions from PO
• Quantities - Same quantities you ordered
• Unit price - Seeds from unit cost (your supplier cost)
• Sort order - Line items maintain their order
• Item IDs - Catalog item links are preserved

What You Add

You must configure:

• Customer - Select who you're billing
• Markup - Adjust unit prices above cost to set customer pricing
• Notes - Add customer-facing notes if needed

When To Use This

RFQ-Style Flows

Perfect for workflows where you:

1. Get a quote from supplier - Create PO to track supplier pricing
2. Turn it into customer estimate - Convert PO to estimate with markup
3. Customer approves - Accept the estimate
4. Create invoice - Bill the customer for the work

Material Pass-Through

Common scenarios:

• Custom orders - Special materials ordered for specific jobs
• Equipment sales - Purchased equipment with markup for resale
• Materials + labor - PO covers materials, invoice includes labor markup
• Subcontractor quotes - Sub provides quote, you bill customer with margin

Tips

• Markup manually - BlueClerk doesn't apply default markup; you control customer pricing
• Works with any status - Create estimate/invoice from POs in DRAFT, SENT, APPROVED, or any status
• Catalog linkage preserved - Item IDs carry through for proper accounting sync
• Banner reminds you - "Creating from PO {number}" banner shows PO source

Questions

Q: Does BlueClerk automatically apply markup to line items?
A: No. Unit prices seed from the PO's unit cost (your supplier cost). You manually adjust pricing to add your markup and set customer rates.

Q: Can I create estimates from approved POs only?
A: No - the buttons appear on any PO with line items, regardless of status. This gives you flexibility to create customer quotes even before supplier approval.

Q: Do I need to finish the PO first?
A: No. You can create estimates or invoices from POs in any state - DRAFT, SENT, APPROVED, or ACKNOWLEDGED. The PO status doesn't block customer billing.

Q: What if I need to add more line items?
A: The prefill only brings over PO line items. After prefill, you can add more items, remove items, or edit descriptions like any normal estimate or invoice.

Q: Does this link the PO to the invoice?
A: Not yet. The prefill copies data from the PO, but there's no permanent linkage in this release. The banner shows which PO you started from for reference.