Automate Odoo Purchase Orders from RFQ to Invoice

Odoo Purchase Workflow guides the purchasing sequence from a request for quotation through a purchase order, goods receipt, and vendor bill. It combines field-by-field configuration with troubleshooting for receiving and billing discrepancies. The user describes a purchasing scenario and receives Odoo menu paths and explanations of the relevant controls.

The standard flow begins with a vendor and product lines containing quantities and unit prices. Sending the RFQ by email provides the vendor with a PDF of the quotation request. Once prices are agreed, confirmation changes the document to a purchase order. Receiving validates delivered quantities, including partial deliveries that leave the remaining quantity open.

Billing then checks the relationship between ordered, received, and billed quantities. The workflow creates the vendor bill from the purchase order, verifies the match, and proceeds through posting and payment registration. It recommends billing based on received quantities so the control reflects goods actually delivered.

Use it to set up purchasing in a new Odoo instance, configure a two-level purchase approval threshold, maintain quantity-dependent vendor prices, or diagnose receipt and invoice mismatches. It also covers recurring purchasing through blanket agreements and replenishment-related purchasing.

Subcontracting purchase flows require Manufacturing and a subcontracting bill of materials and are outside this skill's scope. EDI order import and export requires custom integration. The built-in approval example uses one threshold; department-dependent or multi-tier matrices need custom development or the Approvals app.

The skill advises keeping an order in draft or RFQ status until pricing is agreed. Bills should remain linked to receipts to preserve three-way matching. A purchase order with received quantities should be archived rather than deleted so its stock and accounting history remains available.

Inputs include the vendor, products, quantities, negotiated prices, currency, lead times, approval threshold, and received quantities. The outputs are configuration instructions, a purchasing workflow, and root-cause guidance for reported receiving or billing problems. Start RFQ creation at:

  Menu: Purchase → Orders → Requests for Quotation → New

Purchase Order Approval routes orders above the company's configured amount to a waiting-for-approval state for a purchase manager. Orders within the threshold can be confirmed directly. The example amount illustrates the mechanism rather than prescribing a company policy.

Vendor price lists are maintained per product on its Purchase tab. Entries specify a vendor, currency, price, and minimum quantity; additional lines define quantity breaks. Odoo selects the corresponding vendor price according to the ordered quantity. Currency conversion depends on active rates in Odoo, so rate maintenance affects price accuracy.

Purchase connects to Inventory receipts and vendor billing. Product vendor lead times help schedule arrival dates, and automated reordering can generate purchasing demand. Purchase Agreements support recurring suppliers with negotiated contracts. More complex approvals can use the Approvals app, while the referenced odoo-edi-connector addresses separate EDI integration work.

It serves people configuring or operating Odoo purchasing, including purchase managers responsible for approval. It is especially relevant when vendor pricing, partial receipts, and invoice controls need to form one traceable process.