In , cost items (in the Cost Admin database or added directly to a quote, invoice, job or purchase order) can be of type Stock In , cost items of type Stock are physical inventory items such as materials and equipment. or Service In , cost items of type Service are non-tangible offerings such as contractor fees, or a service or freight charge. .
The way that you use to process a specific purchase order (and the supplier's bill) depends on whether it contains Stock items, Service items or both.
Receiving stock
Use the Receive stock procedure to process a purchase order that contains Stock type cost items you have received from your supplier.
For Stock type items, you can also use the Receive stock procedure to deal with the billing of the received items, if you wish.
Adding bills
Use the Add bill procedure to attach the supplier's bill to the Stock or Service cost items on a purchase order.
It's not necessary (or possible) to receive any Service type cost items on a purchase order - you just use the Add bill procedure when the bill arrives.
For Stock type items, you can also use the Add bill procedure to deal with receiving cost items, if you wish.
Differences in the Purchase order screen for Stock or Service items
The purchase order screen for a PO with only Service items looks like this:
The Bills tab shows the status of any bills received from the supplier.
If the PO contains one or more Stock items, the purchase order screen will include a new tab: Stock Receipts, which shows the status of any stock receipts:
Similarly, at the foot of the PO screen, an extra button is visible for POs that contain Stock items:
or 
The Add Bill button remains available as long as there are still cost items in the purchase order that need to be attached to the supplier bill.
The Receive Stock button remains available as long as there are still stock items in the purchase order to be received.
Receiving stock and adding bills
- Add bill - process the supplier bill for ordered items
- Receive stock - partially or fully receive ordered stock items
- Receive additional stock items - extend the number of stock items received