Skip to main content
Saturation
Sign Up Free

Purchase order software for production

Know what's committed before a dollar is spent

Create, approve, and track purchase orders that stay connected to your budget, your vendors, and your approval chain, from first request to final payment.

All Purchase OrdersNew PON
NumberTitleAmountVendorDue dateStatusActivity
PO-0066Stage & lot lease - Season 1US$1,488,000.00NSNorth Shore Stages26-04-03Approved
PO-0065Camera season dealUS$390,800.0026-05-02Approved
PO-0064G&E season packageUS$441,000.00SSSunset Stages26-05-03PaidPayment sent
PO-0063Standing sets buildUS$1,900,000.0026-04-10Actualizing
PO-0062Fleet & trailers - seasonUS$334,000.0026-04-27Approved
PO-0061Catering - full seasonUS$248,700.00NLNeo Lassan26-05-05ApprovedPayment sent
PO-0059Post sound - seasonUS$750,000.0026-07-06Paid
PO-0057Editorial systems & dailiesUS$151,900.0026-05-09Approved
PO-0053Stage rental extensionUS$82,500.00SSSunset Stages26-08-15Waiting for approval
PO-0033Gaffer ServicesUS$1,275.00AWAJ Wally26-08-14ApprovedInvoice received
PO-0032Lighting RentalUS$2,500.0026-08-03Waiting for approval
PO-0036Drone unit day rateUS$14,000.0026-08-11Rejected
69 purchase ordersUS$26,026,597.58

Purchase orders

Committed before it is spent

Raise the order, match it against what actually arrived, and watch the budget account for it while it is still a commitment.

Smarter purchase orders

Raise it, then three-way match the order, the invoice and the receipt before anything is paid.

Flows

Branch it, delay it, dry-run it.

Unified tasks

Every open ask in one grid.

Self-approval skip

Raise it yourself, skip your step.

Vendor portal

Every vendor gets a home to sign, upload and get paid.

Schedule payments

Pay now or pick the send date.

Smart documents

Folders that fill themselves, and every figure traces back.

Draft → Paid

Full PO lifecycle tracked

Any, all, or N

Approvers required per step

Real-time

Committed phase updates on approval

By vendor

Filtered Committed phases

Budget integration

Every approved PO shows up in your budget

Stop discovering committed costs weeks after the fact. Once a PO is approved, its amount appears in the Committed phase of the budget. When a linked transaction is actualized, that amount moves from Committed to Actual.

  • Committed spend reflected in real-time projections
  • Actualized payments move from Committed to Actual
  • Add filtered Committed phases by vendor or date range

Budget projection

Camera Dept
Committed: $34,450Actual: $12,800
G&E Dept
Committed: $18,200Actual: $9,100
Transport
Committed: $8,400Actual: $3,850
POs auto-update projections on submitReal-time

Approval workflows

Route POs to the people who actually own the budget

Route POs with Condition blocks by amount, project, or vendor, and send each step to named members, any Admin, or any Editor. Approvers decide from Tasks and can approve or reject, with an optional rejection reason.

  • Condition-based routing by amount, project, or vendor
  • Email + in-app notifications for approvers
  • Rejected POs return to draft to revise and resubmit

Approval rules

Amount > $10,000

Line Producer → Prod. Accountant

Active

Amount > $25,000

LP → PA → Executive Producer

Draft

Vendor = Sunset Stages

UPM → Line Producer

Active
Approvers notified via email + in-app

Payment & close

From approval to paid on one record

Once approved, a PO moves into Actualizing when payment activity begins and is matched to payments or actual spend until it is Paid. An approved PO that is no longer needed can be voided, which takes it out of committed spend.

  • Vendors submit invoices through a secure link, no workspace needed
  • ACH or domestic wire through Saturation bill pay
  • Void a PO that should no longer be active

Close a PO

Request vendor invoice

Most common

Vendor receives a payment link and submits their invoice. Goes through approval, then ACH pays automatically.

Send payment directly

Use Saturation bill pay to send an ACH or domestic wire. Approval workflow triggers before transfer.

Link to existing actual

Connect the PO to an expense already recorded, or create a new actual manually.

How it works

Three steps from commitment to close

01

Create the PO

Vendor, line items with quantities and rates, budget category, and any supporting documents, captured in one form.

02

Route for approval

The PO moves to the right approvers based on your rules. Reviewers approve or reject from Tasks, with an optional rejection reason.

03

Pay & reconcile

Request a vendor invoice, send payment, or link to an actual. Budget projections update automatically.

What changes with Saturation Purchase Orders

EmailMessagesGoogle SheetsInvoices

The old way

  • Vendor commitments live in email threads and verbal agreements
  • Budget projections miss committed spend until invoices arrive weeks later
  • Approval authority is informal: whoever answers first
  • Nobody can tell which POs are still open, paid or cancelled
  • Wrap becomes forensic reconstruction of who committed what

With Saturation

  • Every commitment documented with vendor, line items, and budget context
  • Approved POs show in the Committed phase right away
  • Approval rules route by amount, project, and vendor
  • Every PO carries a status, from Draft through Paid or Void
  • Clean ledger of every commitment, approval, and payment at wrap

What is a purchase order in film production?

A purchase order (PO) is a production's written commitment to pay a vendor a set amount for specific goods or services, issued before the work starts or the gear ships and coded to a budget account. Purchase order software creates, approves and tracks those commitments, so the budget shows money that is promised but not yet spent.

On a shoot, POs typically cover stage and location deals, equipment rental packages, set construction, catering and post vendors. A department head or coordinator requests the PO, the line producer or UPM approves it against the department's budget, and accounting numbers it, logs it and later matches the vendor's invoice to it before payment. The PO log, traditionally a spreadsheet, records every PO with its vendor, amount, account and status.

Most general purchase order software is built for procurement teams in manufacturing and distribution, around supplier catalogs, inventory and receiving. A production needs POs that sit on the same chart of accounts as its budget, so a commitment shows up against the account it will hit and the cost report reflects it before the invoice arrives.

In Saturation a PO carries line items, account assignments, the vendor contact and payment details, and moves from Draft through Waiting for approval, Approved and Actualizing to Paid, with Rejected and Void for requests that are turned down or cancelled. Approval flows route it by amount, project or vendor to named members or roles, requiring any approver, all approvers or a minimum number. Approved and actualizing POs feed a Committed phase on the budget, and as linked transactions are actualized the amount moves into Actuals and the remaining commitment drops. You can filter a Committed phase by vendor, PO date or tag, download any PO as a PDF, and send the vendor a secure link to submit an invoice against it. Purchase order management is included in the Team plan, $79 per month billed annually or $99 billed monthly.

Guides

Purchase Order FAQs

Common questions from production companies evaluating PO workflows.

Once a purchase order is approved, its amount appears in the budget's Committed phase, a read-only column beside Estimate and Actual. When a linked transaction is actualized, that amount moves into Actual and reduces the remaining commitment. You can add filtered Committed phases to isolate one vendor or date range.

Approval flows route each purchase order through the steps your workspace sets. Condition blocks route by amount, project or vendor, and each approval step can go to named members, any Admin or any Editor, requiring one, all, or at least a set number of them. Approvers decide from Tasks, and a rejection reason is recorded with the decision.

An approved purchase order counts toward committed spend. When payment activity begins it moves to Actualizing, where it is matched to payments or actual spend, and then to Paid. If plans change, an approved purchase order can be moved back to draft or voided, and the approval history stays in the purchase order's activity.

Yes. Download a PDF of any purchase order from its Actions menu to send to the vendor or keep for your production's records.

Purchase order management is included on the Team plan, $79 per month billed annually or $99 billed monthly, which also adds 3 seats, workspace collaboration and role-based approval routing. Purchase orders sit in the same platform as budgets, actuals, bill pay and vendor management, so everything stays connected.

Create the PO in Draft with the vendor, a line item for each cost, the budget account each line belongs to and the payment details, then submit it for approval. In Saturation the status changes to Waiting for approval and the request follows any purchase order approval flow you have published. Once approved, the PO counts in the budget's Committed phase; move it into Actualizing when payment activity begins, and download a PDF copy from the Actions menu if the vendor needs one.

A PO log is the running list of every purchase order on a show, usually with the PO number, vendor, description, amount, budget account and status, so accounting can see what is open, invoiced or paid. In Saturation you do not keep it by hand: the project's Purchase Orders page lists each PO with its status, and selecting a committed amount on the budget opens the purchase orders behind that line with the commitment each one has left.

Usually a department head or coordinator requests the PO, the line producer or UPM approves it against the department's budget, and the production accountant tracks it to payment. In Saturation a Condition block can route POs by amount, project or vendor, and each Approval block can require any, all or at least a set number of approvers, chosen as named members or as Any Admin or Any Editor. Viewers and commenters cannot approve.

Yes, within limits. In Saturation an approved PO can be moved back to Draft, revised and resubmitted, and an approved or actualizing PO that should no longer be active can be voided, which takes it out of the Committed phase. Only draft POs can be deleted. Duplicate creates a separate PO from an existing one, which is useful when a rental is extended or a vendor deal repeats.

See more of Saturation

A purchase order is one end of the thread. The chain that approves it, the payment that settles it and the budget it commits against are the same system, so the money is accounted for before it moves.

Flows

Branch it, delay it, dry-run it.

Approval flows

Payments

Every payment, in one place.

Accounts payable

Budget Engine 2.0

One engine. The numbers agree.

Budgeting

Control spend before it happens, not after

Give your production the procurement discipline of a Fortune 500 finance team with the speed film and TV actually demands.

Start free
Talk to Sales

Purchase orders are included on the Team plan, with a 14-day free trial.