Each purchase order moves through four stages: New, Pending, Processing, and Completed. A progress indicator at the top of the PO record shows exactly where the order sits, so the operator always knows whether stock is still in transit or fully received.
Each lifecycle stage surfaces its own tool: low-stock pre-fills, Max-button shortcuts, branded supplier emails, and a single save that writes stock, cost, and movement together.
Tracking a PO manually means hunting across emails, spreadsheets, and WooCommerce notes to know whether stock has arrived or an invoice needs chasing. The four-stage stepper keeps that status visible on screen at all times. In Pending, the primary action is Send Email; in Processing, it shifts to Receive Items. Once a PO reaches Completed, it locks entirely, replacing every editable field with a permanent received-quantity record.
The question on every restocking run is which products need ordering and how many. Inventory Alpha answers both before the operator types a single digit. Opening the Low Stock Products sheet inside a purchase order surfaces only that supplier's below-minimum lines, with quantities already calculated from the max-to-current gap. The operator reviews, selects, and confirms.
Receiving a delivery usually means three separate jobs: updating WooCommerce stock, logging the cost somewhere, and recording the receipt for the audit trail. One save in the Receive Items sheet handles all three at once. Stock increments, the purchase cost is stored against the receipt for margin calculations, and a Movement Log row is written. Nothing to reconcile later.
Keeping track of individual stock targets across dozens of SKUs is unreliable work. Max removes that mental load entirely. It calculates the gap between current stock and maximum stock, then populates the quantity field with the result.
Most suppliers receive a plain email with order details pasted in. Inventory Alpha sends a branded HTML purchase order direct to the supplier's address, with line items, totals, and the store's logo. Sending advances the PO from Pending to Processing automatically. Every send is logged with a timestamp and sender, so the audit trail writes itself.
Inventory Alpha structures order fulfillment as a deliberate three-phase process. Everything you select in Phase 1 flows through Phases 2 and 3 — a single batch from click to shipped box.
Choose a supplier from the combobox, adjust the date if needed, then click "Prepare Product List." A pending purchase order opens immediately in the detail view, ready for products to be added.
Multiple column layouts can be saved and switched between directly from the Default View dropdown.
Grand total surfaces with and without tax, covering discounts and shipping in a single order summary.
The Resend action on the PO detail re-sends the same supplier email without changing status.
Operators choose when a partial receipt is final, closing the order permanently at whatever was received.
From the orders list or the detail view, a kebab menu exports the full PO in one step.
Select any mix of orders, regardless of status, and download them as one PDF.
Six open purchase orders can mean six different conversations at six different stages, and without a consolidated view the only way to know which is which is to open them one by one. The PO list page removes that friction with a STATUS column that shows every order's current stage in a single scrollable view. Drilling into any individual order brings up a four-stage progress indicator at the top of the page, giving a full lifecycle read at a glance. The list answers the scan; the detail answers the deep look.
Each stage transition in a purchase order does real work, not just a status change. Sending the order to a supplier moves it from Pending to Processing and dispatches the supplier email in the same action. A partial receipt holds the order in Processing, but the quantity received is added to the stock count straight away, with the cost paid recorded against those units. Saving a complete receipt closes the order automatically, logs the activity entry, and locks the PO read-only.
Placeholder stub — replace via /feature-page-build, then fill verdicts via /compare-table.
No data migration, no separate dashboard. Inventory Alpha installs as a standard plugin and reads your existing WooCommerce orders and products.
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