Purchase orders for S/4HANA

A purchase order is the written order you send a supplier before they deliver, so the bill can be checked against it later.

What S/4HANA does on its own

Purchase orders are created in Manage Purchase Orders or Create Purchase Order (ME21N). A release strategy can hold the order until the person with the release code approves it in ME29N. Flexible workflow for purchase orders is a second route.

What you need in S/4HANA

• Purchasing authorisation
• A release strategy defined in Customizing for Purchasing or flexible workflow for purchase orders

Setting it up in S/4HANA

Where to find it: Manage Purchase Orders, or Create Purchase Order (ME21N); release in Release Purchase Order (ME29N)

1. Enter the supplier, items and prices.
2. Save. If a release strategy applies, the PO waits for release.
3. The person with the release code opens ME29N.
4. On the Release Strategy tab choose Release or Reject.
5. A rejected PO goes back to the buyer, who cancels the rejection in ME22N.

Good to know in S/4HANA

• A release strategy must be defined in Customizing for Purchasing before it applies.
• Flexible workflow for purchase orders is set up in Manage Workflows for Purchase Orders.
• A PO does not change the accounts for stock items until goods are received.

How to do it in S/4HANA

How to raise a purchase order and get it approved in S/4HANA

In S/4HANA, create a purchase order with the supplier, lines and prices. Submit it for approval and send it to the supplier only after it is approved.

How to match a supplier invoice to a purchase order in S/4HANA

In S/4HANA, open the purchase order, compare each supplier invoice line to the purchase order line on quantity and unit price and query any difference before you approve.

How to handle a partial delivery against a purchase order in S/4HANA

In S/4HANA, keep the purchase order open, check each supplier invoice against what has been billed so far and close the purchase order only when the last delivery is invoiced.

What Pulsify adds

1. Raise and approve the purchase order in S/4HANA as you do now.
2. Open purchase orders come into Pulsify from S/4HANA.
3. When the supplier invoice arrives, Pulsify matches it to the purchase order line by line and flags differences.
4. A panel shows how much of the purchase order has been billed and what is left.

Pulsify connects to S/4HANA. We set up the connection for you. More about purchase orders in Pulsify.

What Pulsify does not do

• Raising purchase orders in Pulsify is for Xero only. In S/4HANA you raise them in S/4HANA.

More help

• Purchase orders for Dynamics 365 Finance
• Purchase orders for Kinetic
• Purchase orders for IFS Cloud
• Supplier statement reconciliation for S/4HANA
• Invoice approvals for S/4HANA
• Invoice capture for S/4HANA
• All S/4HANA how-to guides

Sources

Last checked 2026-10-19.

• help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_ON-PREMISE/af9ef57f504840d2b81be8667206d485/ef7db65334e6b54ce10000000a174cb4.html
• help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_ON-PREMISE/af9ef57f504840d2b81be8667206d485/b33a97f3014f43c488ec798633824081.html