QuickBooks Enterprise (V19) - Advanced Inventory - Mobile Receiving

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I am calling this 'Mobile Receiving' in part because last year when I reviewed 'mobile sales order fulfillment' I noted that Enterprise users should be on the look out for more features heading their way for the mobile devices including the possibility of 'mobile receiving.' QuickBooks Enterprise 18 slip-streamed enhancements for Purchase Order enhancements mid-year during 2018 to assist with purchase order processing and receiving of inventory. So, while these features are not ‘new’ to QuickBooks Enterprise 19 with Advanced Inventory, 2019 represents the first full year of this feature offering.

Prior to this new functionality the process of receiving against a purchase order was just a ‘transactional task’ within QuickBooks in which users could option to either receive with or without billing information.  While the process was slightly different if Enterprise users had elected to turn-on the Enhanced Receiving feature, it was still just the recording of a transaction that was typically performed by bookkeeping staff using either receiving documents, packing lists or the vendor bill.

QuickBooks Enterprise (v19) Advanced Inventory users have the ‘optional’ Purchase Order Management Worksheet (shown above) available to them that essentially does for Purchase Orders what last year’s Enhanced Sales Order Worksheet did for Sales Orders. 

The Purchase Order Management Worksheet not only provides the information you need related to your purchase orders but allows you to assign the actual receiving function to the appropriate inventory/warehouse staff (as shown below) for either ‘manual’ or ‘electronic’ receiving, when using the same mobile barcode computers or Android devices (with/without Bluetooth barcode scanner) employed with the Mobile Sales Order fulfillment functionality.

The Purchase Order Management Worksheet allows the inventory/warehouse manager to stay aware of the progress of each purchase order, so they know exact what and when items were received. They can also see notes related to a particular Purchase Order when the receiver (receiving agent/warehouse worker) has transmitted the information back to QuickBooks Enterprise.

You must enable the Purchase Order Management Worksheet from the Advanced Inventory Settings, Site Operations (tab) of QuickBooks Company Inventory preferences in order to activate the new functionality including use of the mobile warehouse receiving App. 

If you intend to use this feature with either a mobile barcode scanner or Android device you will have to add one or more of those devices as well if you have not already done so.

Once you have enabled the Purchase Order Management Worksheet you can access this new feature from the Vendor Menu (as shown below). Alternatively, you can access this feature from the Inventory menu.

The workflow differs slightly whether you will be using the manual process of receiving or using the mobile App/barcode scanner device (hereafter referred to only as ‘a mobile device’ regardless of whether you are using an Android App on phone/tablet, or one of the actual barcode scanner devices) for receiving, but both workflows begin with the Purchase Order Management Worksheet.

There are two tabs on this new worksheet, the first is the Purchase Orders tab which reflects the number of purchase orders for which have not been fully received.  This tab will be used to assign receiving duties regardless of whether the PO will be received manually or using a mobile device.

The second tab is the PO Progress tab which is where information will be entered when using manual receiving (without a mobile device). The quantity received can be entered on this tab for each line item of the selected Purchase Order. Be aware that purchase orders only appear on the PO Progress tab once they have been assigned and printed from the Purchase Order tab. We will look at this tab a little more closely later in this article.

If you are using this new receiving functionality with one of the ‘mobile barcode scanners’ or an ‘Android device’ then you will be sending the purchase order details to that mobile device.

Once you send the order to the device, the Mobile Unit will be notified.  In this case our mobile device is being used for pick, pack and receive, so the one PO assigned to the device appears as ‘Assigned to me’ within the Receive section of the tasks.

Upon opening the purchase order warehouse receivers have the information they need to receive against the purchase order. In this case there were 3 items on the purchase order, each with a quantity of 36 (each). They can either increment each item with the plus (+) or minus (-) keys to receive the appropriate quantity or scan the appropriate barcode for each item.

At any point during the process the QuickBooks user with Purchase Order authority can open the PO Progress tab of the Purchase Order Management worksheet to see the current status. This tab reflects the information regarding the Purchase Order number, the assigned Receiver, the Status of the receiving, and any notes exchanged with the Receiver.  From this tab you can also look at the receive list which is a detail of the purchase order contents and the quantities being received, or create the item receipt or vendor bill.

Upon completion of the process the QuickBooks user can select the option to ‘Create Item Receipt’ or ‘Create Bill’ and the appropriate document will be created within QuickBooks.

As I mentioned earlier, the Purchase Order Management worksheet can also be utilized without any mobile scanner or Android device by printing out the worksheet and marking receipt of each line item detail manually.  Personally I think this is much less likely to occur that was the use of the 'manual workflow' for Sales Orders that I elaborated in a separate article last year.  

The real advantage of this new feature related to purchase orders is the ability to use the mobile hardware for another functionality other than just order fulfillment. Whether you are using dedicate Android tablets/phones with/without Bluetooth scanners or the Mobile Barcode Scanners, there is a significant expense for hardware being shelled-out by small businesses to use these features. The more functions for which they can use that hardware make the purchases more cost effective so I believe that is the real value of this additional capability.

Notes & Disclosures:

Graphics or other illustrations used in this article have either been prepared using a pre-release version of QuickBooks Enterprise software or were furnished and/or adapted from Intuit source content. Be aware that certain aspects of features described or illustrated herein may have changed between the pre-release software version we used, and the release of QuickBooks 2019 desktop product line-up scheduled for September 4, 2018.

This article is intended to serve as a summary of one specific QuickBooks Enterprise v19 (2019) product feature, it is not an in-depth review nor has it been written to provide instruction in the proper use of the software (or feature) even if the content is presented in a step-by-step format.

While the writer or editor may express a personal opinion within this article regarding this feature and/or the software, such personal opinion does not constitute a formal endorsement by Insightful Accountant or the publisher.