Blanket Purchase Orders

A Blanket Purchase Order (Blanket PO) in ianaiERP is a long-term agreement with a vendor that establishes items, pricing, and total committed quantities over a period of time — without creating immediate expected supply. As real Purchase Orders are created against the blanket, they "release" quantities from it until the total is exhausted.

Overview

• A Blanket PO captures an agreement to purchase a set of items from a vendor at agreed-upon prices and quantities over an effective period.
• Blanket POs are contract envelopes, not transactional commitments:
  • They do not generate expected supply (they do not appear in the Supply & Demand Index).
  • They cannot be received directly.
  • They bypass approval workflows — the regular Purchase Orders released from them go through normal approvals instead.
• Each blanket line tracks a Total Quantity, a Released Quantity (how much has already been consumed by regular POs), and a Remaining Quantity.
• Releases can be created two ways: on demand (by clicking Create Release from the blanket itself) or automatically (by adding matching items to a regular Purchase Order).

When to Use a Blanket PO

Use Blanket POs when you have recurring or scheduled business with a vendor and want to lock in pricing or reserve volume up front.

• Annual supply contracts: You agree with a vendor to buy 10,000 units of a part over the year, released in monthly POs.
• Framework agreements for raw materials: A manufacturer locks in a year's worth of raw material at a negotiated price, released as production demand dictates.
• Recurring replenishment: Predictable consumption where you want fixed pricing without re-negotiating each order.
• Project-based purchasing: A multi-phase project where each phase generates its own PO but pricing and terms are set in advance.

Creating a Blanket Purchase Order

To create a new Blanket PO:

1. Navigate to Purchase > Purchase Order in the main menu.
2. In the view selector at the top left, switch from Purchase Order to Blanket PO.
3. Click Add New on the top right.
4. Fill out the form with the following information:
   • Date: The date the blanket agreement is recorded.
   • Vendor: The vendor the agreement is with.
   • PO Number: Automatically generated using the Blanket PO numbering format, or manually entered.
   • Blanket Start Date: The date the agreement takes effect.
   • Blanket End Date: The date the agreement expires.
   • Payment Terms, Shipping Method, Location: Optional header fields.
5. For each line:
   • Select the Item.
   • Enter the Total Quantity committed under the agreement.
   • Set the UOM and Unit Price.
   • Add Description or Part Number as needed.
6. Click Save to create the blanket.

Releasing Against a Blanket PO

Once a Blanket PO is active, there are two ways to release quantities against it.

Option 1: Create Release From the Blanket

Open the Blanket PO and click the Create Release row action. ianaiERP will:

1. Open a new regular Purchase Order form.
2. Pre-fill the vendor from the blanket header.
3. Pre-populate the line items from the blanket, with each line's default quantity set to its Remaining Quantity (Total − Released).
4. Link each line back to its originating blanket line, so the release is tracked as soon as you save.

You can then adjust quantities, remove lines you don't want to release yet, and save normally. The Create Release action is only available while the blanket is in Open status.

Option 2: Auto-Linking on a New Purchase Order

Alternatively, create a regular Purchase Order from scratch and let ianaiERP match it to open blankets automatically.

How Auto-Linking Works

When you create or edit a regular Purchase Order:

1. ianaiERP looks up all open blanket lines for the selected vendor.
2. As you add items to the line grid, any item that matches an open blanket line is automatically linked:
   • The Unit Price is pre-filled from the blanket line.
   • The line's Blanket Line reference is populated.
   • The Released Quantity on the blanket line increases by the ordered quantity.
3. A Blanket chip bar appears at the top of the order form showing which blanket(s) are being drawn from. Clicking a chip opens the blanket for inspection.
4. If a single blanket covers every linked line, the regular PO's Blanket header reference is automatically set to that blanket.
5. If items span multiple blankets, each line links to its own blanket and the header reference remains empty.

Remaining Quantity Tracking

Each blanket line shows:

• Total Quantity — the committed amount at the time the blanket was signed.
• Released Quantity — the sum of quantities on all regular POs that reference this blanket line.
• Remaining Quantity — Total − Released.

Released quantities update automatically as regular Purchase Orders are created, edited, or cancelled.

Blanket PO Statuses

Blanket POs use a simplified status set separate from regular Purchase Orders:

• Open: The default status for new blankets. Lines can be released against them.
• Closed: The blanket has been manually closed or all lines are exhausted. New orders will no longer auto-link to it.
• Cancelled: The blanket has been voided. No further releases are possible.

Allowed Status Transitions

From	To
Open	Closed, Cancelled
Closed	Open
Cancelled	Open

The blanket header status is derived from its line statuses: if every line is cancelled, the blanket is cancelled; if every line is closed or cancelled, the blanket is closed; otherwise it stays open.

What You Cannot Do With a Blanket PO

Because a Blanket PO is a contract, not a transaction, the following operations are blocked:

• A Blanket PO cannot generate a Receiving. Create a regular Purchase Order against the blanket and receive that instead.
• Blanket POs do not contribute to the Supply & Demand Index (SDI) — they do not appear as expected supply in planning views.
• Blanket POs bypass the standard approval workflow; approvals are enforced on the regular POs released from them.

Bulk Creating Blanket POs From Sales Orders

You can generate Blanket POs directly from selected Sales Orders to back a customer commitment with a matching supply-side agreement:

1. In the Sales Order list, select one or more sales orders.
2. Choose Create Blanket Purchase Orders from the bulk actions menu.
3. In the dialog, review each line:
   • Assign a Vendor to each line (defaults to the item's default vendor).
   • Adjust Quantity and Unit Price as needed.
4. Confirm to create the Blanket POs, grouped by vendor.

This is useful when a customer commits to a long-term purchase that you want to back with matching long-term supply agreements.

Document Number Format

Blanket POs use their own document number format, distinct from regular Purchase Orders. The format is controlled by the FORMAT_DOC_NUMBER_BLANKET_PURCHASE_ORDER company setting and can be customized from the Blanket PO settings modal.

Blanket PO Settings

Click the gear icon on the Blanket PO list to configure:

• Default Payment Term: The default payment term applied to new Blanket POs.
• Default Tax Code: The default purchase tax code applied to new Blanket POs.

Best Practices

1. Set realistic Blanket Start/End dates so expired blankets stop auto-linking to new orders.
2. Use clear document numbering to distinguish blankets from regular orders (e.g., a BPO- prefix).
3. Review Remaining Quantities periodically to ensure you are tracking against your commitment — and to avoid over-releasing.
4. Close exhausted or superseded blankets manually instead of leaving them open; this prevents accidental auto-linking to stale agreements.
5. Use Bulk Create Blanket POs from Sales Orders when you have a long-term customer agreement that you want to back with matching vendor agreements.
6. Do not rely on Blanket POs for planning signals — supply and demand planning only sees regular Purchase Orders.

Related Features

• Purchase Orders
• Blanket Sales Orders
• Vendors
• Receiving

For more detailed information on managing Blanket Purchase Orders, please refer to the specific sections in this documentation.