As purchase orders play a crucial role in ensuring efficient accounts payable and overall control of spend, it is essential to keep track of them. Digitizing purchase orders and implementing purchase order tracking tools is the most effective way to accurately track purchase orders. This can either be a standalone purchase order software for small businesses or a module within a larger procure-to-pay solution.

An automated purchase order tool will store all POs from creation to closure in a centralized digital repository. As each purchase order is assigned a unique identifier for easy referencing, it is easy to stay on top of its status, receive updates, and even integrate it with the receiving process, like GRN.

By integrating purchase orders with accounts payable modules, purchase orders can be accurately matched with their corresponding invoices and goods received notes (GRNs). Out-of-the-box reports available in these tools provide insights into open POs, spend by PO, and help track PO cycle times with just a few clicks.