Procurement
Procurement is the inbound side of logistics: getting materials into your factory. Five ERPNext documents form the cycle, and GarmentFlow uses them as-is — almost no customization, because ERPNext's procurement layer is already excellent.
The cycle
RFQ → Quotation → Purchase Order → Purchase Receipt → Purchase Invoice
Each step has a defined role:
- Request for Quotation (RFQ) — sent to multiple suppliers to gather pricing for the same item.
- Supplier Quotation — what each supplier returns. Comparable, sortable, the basis for picking who you'll buy from.
- Purchase Order (PO) — the actual commitment to buy. Item, quantity, rate, schedule date, supplier.
- Purchase Receipt (PR) — the moment the goods land at your dock. Stock posts to the receiving warehouse.
- Purchase Invoice (PI) — the supplier's invoice, matched against the PO and PR (the three-way match). Booking the PI is what creates the accounts payable.
Not every purchase needs every step. A small reorder of a familiar item can skip RFQ and go straight to PO. A large new fabric program for a new brand needs the full RFQ → multiple Quotations → PO sequence to defend the price.
The pages in this section
- Items and suppliers — the masters that everything else references.
- Item attributes for fashion — how to model variants the way an apparel factory actually buys: YKK zippers by size and color, buttons by material and ligne, fabrics by colorway and weight.
- From RFQ to Purchase Order — the buying side.
- Receiving and invoicing — Purchase Receipts at the dock, Purchase Invoices in the accounts.
Who owns what
In a small factory, one purchasing manager owns the whole cycle. In a larger one, it splits:
- Sourcing owns RFQs and PO creation.
- Receiving owns Purchase Receipts at the dock.
- Accounts payable owns Purchase Invoices.
ERPNext happily supports all three configurations. Match it to how your factory actually runs.
What to do next
Start with Items and suppliers — every procurement document references them, so they have to exist first.