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Purchase order statuses explained
Most ERPs ship with eight or more PO statuses. Here's what each one actually means, and why a spreadsheet-based team is usually better off with four.
Purchase order statuses exist to answer one question: does this order still need something from me? Full ERP systems track many more states than that question requires, because they're also tracking accounting and inventory events, not just "do I need to follow up." Here's both systems.
The standard ERP statuses
Draft / Pending approval
Created but not yet issued to the supplier. Some systems separate these into two statuses; the order isn't live either way.
Open / Issued
Sent to the supplier. Nothing has been received yet.
Partially received
Some line items have arrived, others haven't. Common with large or split-shipment orders.
Received
Everything has arrived, but the invoice hasn't been matched or paid yet.
Invoiced
The supplier's invoice has been recorded against the order.
Closed
Received, invoiced, and paid. No further action needed.
Cancelled
The order was voided before completion, for any reason.
Notice what's missing from that list: anything that tells you which open orders need your attention today. "Open" covers an order due next month and one that's three weeks late, identically. That's the actual gap a follow-up system needs to fill.
A four-status system built for follow-up, not accounting
If you're tracking purchasing in a spreadsheet rather than an ERP, replace all of the above with four statuses that answer "what do I do next":
Unconfirmed
Order placed, no promised date back from the supplier yet. Often the most urgent bucket, since you don't know if it's even on schedule.
On track
Promised date confirmed and comfortably in the future. No action needed.
Due soon
Promised date is within about a week. Worth a proactive check-in.
Overdue
Promised date has passed. Sort these oldest-first and work down the list.
Receiving, invoicing, and payment are real workflow steps, but they belong to accounts payable, not to the purchasing follow-up question. Once an order is fully received and paid, it just moves to closed and drops out of the list you're actively working.
Where this comes from
This is the exact status system SupplierPing uses, and the same one covered in more detail, including the spreadsheet column layout and conditional formatting to go with it, in the Excel tracking guide. If you're setting up a tracker from scratch, that's the more hands-on companion to this page.