Purchasing

Know what you owe.

The full purchase cost goes on the PO. Every vendor charge lands in one queue, next to the number you expected. Invoices stop being a surprise.

The problem

The purchasing pain you've learned to live with

The real cost of every order scatters across emails, spreadsheets, and someone's memory.

01
The PO price isn't the whole price

Customs, handling, the extras that ride along with every buy. They live in emails and spreadsheets, so the number on the PO never matches the number you end up paying.

02
Vendor knowledge lives in someone's head

Which vendors are approved, and on what terms? Who does the processing, who stores material, and who just sells? Whose consigned steel is sitting in your yard? It all lives in one buyer's head, and it leaves when they do.

03
Invoice reconciliation is a manual chase

The invoice lands and someone starts digging: which PO, which receipt, what was the freight, did we already pay part of this? Time wasted on every invoice, and incorrect billing still slips through.

04
Nobody's watching the consignment clock

Consigned material sits in your yard on a clock nobody is watching. Withdrawals go unrecorded, expirations pass quietly, and the real count lives in the vendor's spreadsheet, not yours.

This is what Fion fixes, from the PO to the voucher.

Orders

The whole purchase cost, on the PO.

Write the order and put the whole purchase cost on it: the material, plus the customs and handling that ride along with it. Route it for approval, and the sign-off is stamped with a name and a time. When material is received against the order, that cost lands on every piece.

  • Cost rules for customs, handling, and the other add-ons
  • Electronic approvals with a name-and-time audit trail
  • Duplicate an order in one click for repeat buys
Purchase order
PO-4471Approved · M. Torres
VendorCardinal Steel · Net 30
MaterialTubing · 3-1/2 · L-80 · 539 jt
Cost rulesCustoms · Handling
Promised3/28
Purchase cost$83,400
Receiving

Off the truck and into stock.

Receive against the order's open lines, each with its promised date, so the truck is never a surprise. Pre-receipts and customer returns wait in the receiving queue. No purchase order? No problem. It still gets received and tracked. Carrier and BOL are captured on the receipt, and the material lands in stock carrying its purchase cost.

  • Receive PO lines, pre-receipts, returns, or no-PO walk-ins
  • Barcode receiving straight off the truck
  • Purchase cost attaches to the material the moment it lands
Receiving
Expected inbound3 items
Tubing 3-1/2 · L-80Cardinal Steel · PO-4471 · due 3/28PO line539 jt
Couplings · L-80Delta Tube · PR-1102 · due 4/02Pre-receipt539 ea
Line pipe · A53Summit Fabrication · CM-1001Sale return60 jt
Vouchering

Every vendor dollar, checked before you pay it.

As work happens, every billable event lands in that vendor's queue: the material you received, the processing they ran, the freight they hauled. Each one carries the cost you expected and the PO or receipt behind it. When the invoice arrives, voucher it straight from the queue. The numbers line up, or you see exactly where they don't, and Fion won't let a voucher exceed the invoice.

  • Receipts, vendor services, and freight collect per vendor
  • Expected cost and source document on every line
  • A voucher can never exceed the vendor's invoice
Voucher queue · Cardinal Steel
Received · Tubing 3-1/2 · 539 jtPO-4471 · Receipt R-1015
$83,400
Vendor service · ThreadingWork order WO-2041
$2,015
Freight · Eastgate haulShipment S-1015
$825
Expected$0
Invoice INV-2214$86,240 Matches

Everything Cardinal Steel is owed, in one place, already checked against the invoice.

Vendors

Every vendor in one place, from mill to processor.

Mills, outside processors, carriers, and storage yards all live in one vendor master with their payment terms and approved status. Consignment runs on the same rails: enable it on the PO and every piece received starts its clock, with withdrawals tracked as they happen. The vendor's spreadsheet stops being the system of record.

  • Vendor types for sellers, processors, and storage
  • Approved-vendor flags and default payment terms
  • Consignment with expiration tracking and withdrawals
Vendor master
Vendors142 active
Cardinal SteelMill · Net 30Approved8 open POs
Delta TubeProcessor · Net 45Consignment240 jt
Vanguard SteelMill · Net 30Approved3 open POs
Consigned material tracked with expirations and withdrawals.

What changes with Fion

Without Fion
  • The PO price and the real price never match
  • Vendor terms and history in spreadsheets
  • Invoices reconciled by hand, one at a time
  • Over-bills caught at month-end, if at all
  • Consignment counted on the vendor's spreadsheet
With Fion
  • The full purchase cost captured on the PO
  • One vendor file with terms, types, and approval status
  • Every billable event queued with its expected cost
  • A voucher can't exceed the invoice
  • Consignment tracked with expirations and withdrawals

Common questions about purchasing in Fion

Does the PO carry more than the material price?

Yes. Customs, handling, and the other add-ons are set as cost rules on the PO, and they land on the material at receipt, so the piece carries its whole purchase cost from day one.

How does vouchering prevent overpayment?

Every billable event, from received material to freight to vendor services, waits in that vendor's voucher queue with its expected cost. When the invoice arrives, you build the voucher from the queue, and voucher lines can never exceed the invoice total.

Can we receive material that isn't on a PO?

Yes. Ad-hoc receipts take material straight into stock, tracked and costed like everything else. No purchase order, no problem.

Does Fion track consignment?

Yes. Material received against a consignment PO is flagged as consigned, and the clock toward its expiration starts on the day it's received.

Does Fion create POs automatically from demand?

No. Buying stays deliberate and stays yours. Fion gives you the visibility to buy well: open POs, promised dates, and commitments in one place.

See what you actually owe

Walk through orders, receiving, and vouchering with your own vendors and terms.