Reference field - Information no longer carries across when creating New Bill from Purchase order
We would like to raise a concern regarding a recent update to the Purchase Order function, which is now causing operational issues for us.
Previously, within a Purchase Order, we could select the three dots at the top of the screen, choose “Copy to…”, and then select either Bill, Purchase Order, or Invoice. This process worked well and ensured that all relevant details transferred correctly.
However, following the recent update, the options have changed. We now only see “Copy to Invoice”, while Bill has been replaced with a blue “Create Bill” button. To create a Bill, we must manually select the items to transfer, this is a good change.
However, the main issue is that when creating the Bill this way, the Reference field that we originally entered on the Purchase Order no longer carries across. Instead, the Bill reference defaults only to the Purchase Order number.
This is a significant problem for us, as we rely on both fields being retained:
Order Number = Purchase Order number
Reference = Our own internal/supplier reference entered manually
We need both details to transfer automatically from the Purchase Order to the Bill (and ideally Invoice as well), as each serves a different and important purpose in our records.
We would therefore appreciate clarification on:
- Why are changes being made without prior notice to customers
- Why customer workflows and required data fields were not considered before implementation
- Whether both Order Number and Reference can be corrected to be carried through going forward
From a usability perspective, it would make far more sense to retain both fields rather than replacing one with the other.
We would appreciate your urgent response, as this update is disrupting our normal processes and I can't believe we are the only ones having this issue.
Maria Lovell
shared this idea
Thanks for taking the time to share this feedback Maria. We understand how frustrating it can be when a workflow doesn't behave in the way you were expecting, especially when you're relying on information from a purchase order to flow through clearly to the bill 🙂.
To clarify, the current behaviour is as it was in the previous purchase order experience. If the Reference field on the purchase order is left blank, the purchase order number will automatically populate the Reference field on the bill. If a value has been entered into the Reference field on the purchase order, that value will pull through to the bill reference instead.
If the reference information isn't populating on the bill at all, that wouldn't be working as designed. In that situation, we'd recommend raising this with Xero Support so they can investigate what may be happening within your specific organisation.
It may also be that what you're looking for is the ability to have two separate references available on a bill. If that's the case, there is an existing product idea you can vote on on this idea
We also appreciate that changes in behaviour, or even uncertainty around whether something has changed, can have a real impact on day-to-day workflows. While we aren't able to proactively contact customers about every update or product change, we do aim to make important changes as visible as possible through channels such as the Xero Blog, release communications, and other public-facing resources. This helps us keep customers informed about broader updates, even though we may not always be able to provide direct notice for every individual change.
We really appreciate you raising this with us and sharing the effect it's having on your workflow.
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Bryson Derbyshire
commented
Completely agree. Copying the Reference field instead of the Order is key to our workflow. Once again Xero "fixes" something that worked perfectly well, changes behaviour and creates more work. This seems to be the norm lately when Xero messes with their product.