Inventory lives in the yard office, not on the phone’s Tools tab. A System Admin turns it on for the firm. Then Purchasing Agent / System Admin draft and issue purchase orders; Inventory Manager receives the shipment into a bin.
A purchase order is not an invoice. The PO is how the desk orders parts, tracks the vendor, and either stocks the cage or bills a specific ticket.
Two ways to start a PO
Shop stock (general inventory)
Inventory → Purchasing → New PO. Vendor name is required. Leave work order as Stock only. Add catalog SKUs (oil filters, zincs, hose that every van burns). Issue the PO to the vendor. When the box lands, receive remaining catalog qty into SHOP or VAN. Those units sit on-hand until someone issues them onto a later ticket.
Tied to a customer boat
Open that boat’s ticket → Costs → Draft PO on this ticket (or pick the open work order on Purchasing). The PO number now points at that ticket, which already has the vessel and HIN. Use catalog lines if the part will pass through a bin; use a special-order line (no SKU) if it never sits in the cage — a custom canvas, a dealer-only pump, an outside buy.
Track a purchase order
Draft → issued → received (or cancelled). Qty ordered vs received is the open balance.
PO lifecycle
Tap any step for the expanded definition
Status path: draft (edit lines) → issued (waiting on the vendor) → received (shipment closed) or cancelled. A received PO cannot be cancelled. Only a draft can still take new lines.
Office / purchasing Receive into a bin Supplier-chain files Closed
What you watch while it is open
General inventory (shop stock)
These are parts the yard owns before they belong to a boat: zincs, filters, hose, fasteners. Receive them into on-hand. Later, any ticket can Issue from stock.
Catalog SKU → cage → later ticket
Tap steps for the full story
Add line on Costs does not change on-hand. Catalog parts that sat in the cage must use Issue from stock. Unused issued qty comes back with Return unused.
Tied to a specific customer boat
The boat is already on the work order (name, HIN, owner). Linking the PO to that ticket is how the order is “for this hull.” There is no separate Hull ID stamp on receive in this version.
Customer boat · two line kinds
Tap nodes for definitions
Catalog part for this hull
Special order / outside buy
Honest limit: a special-order receive is not hard-linked to Hull ID beyond the PO’s work-order link. Put the hull or quote number in PO notes. Drop the packing list and serial photo on the PO files.
Which path to use
| General inventory | Catalog for this boat | Special order for this boat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | Purchasing, stock only | Ticket Costs → Draft PO, or Purchasing with that WO | Same PO, line with no SKU |
| On receive | Qty added to SHOP / VAN / HAZMAT | Qty added to a bin, then Issue from stock onto that ticket | Qty marked received · on-hand unchanged |
| How it hits the ticket | Later Issue from stock on any WO | Issue from stock on this WO | Bill without stock (Add line) |
| Who owns it in the cage | The yard | The yard, until issued | Never the cage — it was bought for that hull |
Office steps
- System Admin turns Inventory on (Inventory page or System integration).
- Build the catalog (SKU, name, sell price, locations). HAZMAT parts only receive into a HAZMAT-ok bin.
- Purchasing → Create draft (stock only or pick an open ticket), or ticket Costs → Draft PO on this ticket.
- Add lines. Catalog SKU, or leave SKU blank and type a description for a special order.
- Issue PO. Give that PO number to the vendor.
- Drop quotes, packing lists, serial photos, and vendor emails onto the PO (same drag-and-drop as ticket files).
- When the shipment lands: Receive into on-hand and pick the bin. Catalog remaining qty stocks; special-order lines skip the bin.
- On the boat’s ticket: Issue from stock for catalog, or Bill without stock for the outside buy. Return unused issued qty if it never went on the boat.
What this version does not do
- No automatic reorder from a vendor catalog (Port Supply / Land ’N’ Sea / Kellogg).
- No serial-number stock layers for engines and plotters — serial photos live as files on the SKU or the PO.
- No hard-link of a special-order receive to Hull ID beyond the work-order link already on the PO.
- Inventory is off on ServiceValet.
Related
- How the yard office works
- Work-order lifecycle
- Labor hours by employee — clock time is not an invoice and not a PO