Purchases Plan
The Purchases Plan is your procurement cost forecast — item by item, period by period. Each cell holds a quantity and a unit cost that multiply to the planned purchase spend.
Navigate to: Planner → + New Plan → Type: Purchases
The Purchases Plan answers: how many units of each item do we expect to buy this period, and at what cost? It is the demand-side counterpart to the Sales Plan — what you need to procure to fulfil what you plan to sell or produce.
Row Source
Rows come from the item catalog — the same active Product and Service items a Sales plan offers, grouped by type, with the SKU shown. Use Add Item to search and select.
Cell Mode: Qty × Rate
Each cell holds:
- Quantity — the number of units planned for purchase in that period
- Rate (cost per unit) — the expected unit cost for that period
The cell displays quantity × rate. Row totals and period totals update as you type.
Example
| Item | Jan | Feb | Mar | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aluminum Sheet 2mm | 6,200 | 6,200 | 7,440 | 19,840 |
| Circuit Board Assembly | 9,000 | 9,000 | 10,800 | 28,800 |
| Packaging Box — Large | 850 | 850 | 1,020 | 2,720 |
| Industrial Adhesive 5L | 1,760 | 1,760 | 1,760 | 5,280 |
| Total | 17,810 | 17,810 | 21,020 | 56,640 |
Aluminum Sheet in January is 500 units at 12.40; March plans 600 units.
Actuals
Open the plan to see targets against actuals. For each item and period the actual cost and quantity come from posted purchase documents recorded against vendors; drafts are not counted. A center-scoped plan counts that center only.
The plan Overview labels the value card Revenue on every Quantity × Rate plan, including Purchases; the figure is the purchase cost. Status badges and colours follow the same scale as every plan — Exceeded from 100%, On Track from 80%, At Risk from 50%, Behind below — and do not flip for a cost plan. Read the amount over or under target in the expanded period card. See Variance.
The cost you enter is your negotiated or expected supplier price. It is independent of the weighted average cost tracked in inventory — the Planner is a budgeting tool, not a stock valuation tool.
A Purchases plan linked to a P&L plan counts toward the P&L plan's Expenses total, alongside Expenses, Production, and Payroll plans.