Purchase Orders Tracking Report (PO Spend Report)

Overview

The Purchase Orders Tracking Report is a powerful financial analysis tool that provides comprehensive visibility into how client Purchase Order budgets are being consumed across the organization. This report transforms raw time and billing data into an actionable hierarchical view, breaking down spending by Purchase Order, Invoice Group, Client, Project, and individual Artwork. It enables management to monitor budget utilization, identify spending patterns, and ensure projects remain within approved financial boundaries.

The report distinguishes between three primary cost categories: Project Management (PM), Design, and Artwork costs, allowing stakeholders to understand where resources are being allocated. For organizations using Blanket Purchase Orders (master agreements covering multiple projects), the report provides enhanced tracking with Quote Numbers, Salesforce Numbers, and Invoice Numbers for complete financial traceability.

Location: Navigate to Reports from the main navigation menu, then click Purchase Orders Tracking in the BILLING section.

URL: /reports/pospendreport.aspx

Access Level: Administrator and Super Administrator roles only

Business Value

For Company Leadership

The Purchase Orders Tracking Report provides executives with critical financial oversight capabilities:

• Budget Compliance Monitoring - See exactly how much of each client PO has been consumed, preventing overspend situations that could damage client relationships or create unbillable work
• Revenue Forecasting - Understand remaining PO capacity to predict when clients will need to issue new purchase orders
• Cost Structure Analysis - Identify the balance between PM, Design, and Artwork costs to optimize resource allocation and pricing strategies
• Client Portfolio Health - Quickly assess financial status across the entire client base through hierarchical filtering

For Account Management

Account directors and managers use this report to:

• Proactive Client Communication - Identify POs approaching their limits before running out of budget, enabling timely discussions with clients
• Contract Renewal Planning - Provide data-driven justification for PO renewals and increases based on actual consumption patterns
• Scope Management - Track spending against estimates to identify projects that may need scope adjustments
• Performance Reporting - Generate detailed spend reports for client business reviews

For Operations and Finance

Operations and finance teams benefit from:

• Billing Accuracy Verification - Confirm that time and costs are properly allocated to the correct POs before invoicing
• Audit Trail - Track spending across multiple dimensions with drill-down to individual artwork items
• Month-End Reconciliation - Compare PO amounts against actual spend for accurate revenue recognition
• Employee Productivity Analysis - Optional view of spend by employee for resource planning

Business Benefits

1. Prevents Revenue Leakage - By providing real-time visibility into PO utilization, the report prevents situations where work is performed without sufficient PO coverage, protecting the company from unbillable time.
2. Improves Client Relationships - Proactive PO monitoring enables account teams to alert clients before budgets are exhausted, demonstrating fiscal responsibility and preventing unexpected billing issues.
3. Supports Pricing Decisions - The breakdown by cost category (PM, Design, Artwork) helps management understand true delivery costs, informing future pricing strategies and estimate accuracy.
4. Enables Resource Optimization - Employee-level spend analysis reveals how team time is distributed across clients and projects, supporting workload balancing and hiring decisions.
5. Facilitates Blanket PO Management - Special support for Blanket POs with Quote and Salesforce integration streamlines complex multi-project billing arrangements common with enterprise clients.
6. Streamlines Reporting Workflows - Excel export with configurable detail levels allows account teams to create client-facing spend reports without manual data compilation.
7. Reduces Billing Disputes - Comprehensive drill-down capabilities enable quick resolution of client questions about specific charges by tracing costs to individual artworks.

Usage Scenarios

Scenario 1: Monthly PO Health Check

Role: Account Director

At the beginning of each month, an account director reviews PO utilization for all their accounts. They select the current year's date range and filter to their division. The report shows each PO with its total amount and current spend. POs at 80% or higher utilization are flagged for client outreach. The director uses the expandable hierarchy to identify which projects are driving the consumption and prepares talking points for client discussions.

Scenario 2: Preparing for Client Business Review

Role: Account Manager

Before a quarterly business review with a major client, the account manager needs to show how the client's investment is being utilized. They filter by the client's Corporation, select the quarter dates, and check all status flags to include all work states. They expand each PO to show Invoice Group and Project breakdowns, then export to Excel with employee details. The resulting spreadsheet becomes part of the client presentation deck.

Scenario 3: Investigating a PO Overspend Alert

Role: Finance Administrator

Finance receives a notification that a project has exceeded its PO amount. They open the report, locate the PO, and expand it to see the hierarchy. They identify which Invoice Groups and Projects contributed to the overspend by reviewing the PM, Design, and Artwork columns. The drill-down reveals several artworks with higher-than-expected costs. They click through to the project details to understand the circumstances and coordinate with the PM on next steps.

Scenario 4: Blanket PO Reconciliation

Role: Billing Specialist

A client uses a Blanket PO covering multiple projects throughout the year. The billing specialist opens the report, finds the Blanket PO, and expands it. They sort projects by Quote Number to match against the client's internal tracking system. For each project group, they verify the Salesforce Number links to the correct opportunity and confirm the Invoice Number for billed work. This reconciliation ensures all projects are properly tracked before month-end close.

Scenario 5: Employee Utilization Analysis

Role: Operations Manager

An operations manager wants to understand how the design team's time is distributed across clients. They enable "Employee part" in the export parameters and build a report covering the past quarter. The employee summary table shows each team member's total spend contribution. They identify team members heavily loaded on specific clients and others with capacity for new assignments.

Scenario 6: Identifying Projects Without PO Coverage

Role: Finance Manager

While reviewing the report, the finance manager notices entries appearing under "[ No PO ]" in the PO Number column. These represent time and costs not assigned to any Purchase Order. They expand this section to identify which projects and Invoice Groups have unbilled work, then coordinate with project managers to either assign existing POs or request new ones from clients.

Industry Context

Standard Practice in Professional Services

Purchase Order tracking is fundamental to professional services billing:

Agency-Client Contracts

Enterprise clients typically issue Purchase Orders as formal authorization for agencies to perform work. These POs establish:

• Maximum budget limits
• Validity periods
• Billing terms and conditions
• Approval hierarchies

Agencies must track spending against these limits to maintain contract compliance and avoid performing work that cannot be billed.

Time and Materials Billing

Creative agencies commonly use time-and-materials billing where clients are charged based on actual hours worked at agreed rates. The PO Spend Report tracks these charges, breaking them into:

• PM Costs: Project management, strategy, and coordination time
• Design Costs: Brand design and creative development time
• Artwork Costs: Production artwork, alterations, and per-piece charges

Blanket Purchase Orders

Large enterprise clients often issue Blanket POs (also called Master Purchase Orders) that cover multiple projects over extended periods. These arrangements require:

• Quote-level tracking for individual scopes of work
• Salesforce/CRM integration for opportunity management
• Flexible billing across project boundaries

The PO Spend Report's Blanket PO features address these enterprise requirements.

Competitive Differentiation

Agencies with robust PO tracking capabilities demonstrate operational excellence to clients:

• Financial Transparency: Real-time visibility into budget consumption builds trust
• Proactive Communication: Early warning of approaching limits prevents surprises
• Detailed Documentation: Drill-down capabilities support audit requirements
• Flexible Reporting: Export options meet diverse client reporting needs

Regulatory and Compliance Requirements

Many industries require detailed financial documentation:

• Healthcare/Pharma: Detailed cost tracking for promotional and packaging projects
• Financial Services: Audit trails for marketing spend
• Government Contractors: Strict budget compliance documentation

The hierarchical drill-down and export capabilities support these compliance needs.

Business Logic Details

How Spending is Calculated

The report aggregates time records from the system's time tracking module, converting hours to dollars using employee billing rates and activity types:

Time to Dollars Conversion

1. Time records are retrieved based on selected date range and status flags
2. Each record's hours are multiplied by the applicable billing rate
3. Records are categorized by activity type:
   • PM Activities: Project Management, Project Management Support, Strategy, and related activities
   • Design Activities: Brand Design Creative and related creative activities
   • Artwork Activities: Artwork Item, Artwork Alteration, IFU Insert, and Creative Artwork Item

Status Flag Filtering

Time records can be in various states, and the report allows filtering by:

• Init: Records in initial entry state
• Completed: Records marked as complete by employees
• Finalized: Records approved for billing
• Billed: Records that have been invoiced to clients
• Returned: Records returned for correction
• Fixed Costs: Include fixed-cost items (non-hourly charges)

PO Assignment Logic

Time records are associated with POs through project-to-PO linkages:

• Projects are assigned to POs via the project management system
• Time records inherit PO assignment from their project
• Records can be billed to different POs than originally assigned if pushed/reallocated
• Records without PO assignment appear under "[ No PO ]"

Hierarchical Data Structure

The report builds a multi-level hierarchy:

Level 1: Purchase Order

• PO Number and ID
• PO Amount (approved budget)
• PO Date Range (validity period)
• Total Spend across all categories
• Invoice Group (if single IG) or multiple IGs indicator
• Blanket PO indicator

Level 2: Invoice Group

(expanded on demand)

• Invoice Group ID and Name
• Spend allocated to this Invoice Group
• PM, Design, and Artwork breakdowns

Level 3: Client

(expanded on demand)

• Client ID and Name
• Spend allocated to this Client
• PM, Design, and Artwork breakdowns

Level 4: Project

(expanded on demand)

• Project ID and Name (with link to project details)
• Total project spend
• PM, Design, and Artwork breakdowns
• For Blanket POs: Quote Number, Salesforce Number, Invoice Number

Level 5: Artwork

(expanded on demand)

• Packaging or Creative artwork names
• Individual artwork dollar amounts

Blanket PO Special Processing

For Blanket Purchase Orders, additional information is retrieved and displayed:

Quote Numbers

• Retrieved from Project Estimates linked to projects
• Shows which estimate/quote covers the project scope
• Sorted by estimate start date

Salesforce Numbers

• Retrieved from Project Estimates
• Links to CRM opportunity records
• Enables cross-system reconciliation

Invoice Numbers

• Retrieved from Invoice Status records
• Shows the invoice number for billed time
• Only displays when time has been billed

Employee Summary Calculation

When employee details are requested, the report generates a separate summary:

• Groups all spending by employee
• Includes active employees and system accounts (Adjustments, Budget, Artworks)
• Orders by employee name
• Shows total spend per employee
• Optionally includes activity-level breakdown

Key Features

Filter Controls

Status Flags

Export Parameters

Report Grid Columns

Footer Totals

The report footer displays grand totals:

• Total PO Amount: Sum of all PO budgets displayed
• Total Spend: Sum of all spending displayed
• Total PM: Sum of PM costs
• Total Design: Sum of Design costs
• Total Artwork: Sum of Artwork costs

Functional Components

Hierarchical Expansion

The report uses an expandable tree structure for progressive detail:

1. Initial View: Shows PO-level summary with key metrics
2. First Expansion (click +): Reveals Invoice Groups within the PO
3. Second Expansion: Shows Clients within each Invoice Group
4. Third Expansion: Displays Projects within each Client
5. Fourth Expansion: Lists individual Artworks within each Project

Each level shows its own PM, Design, and Artwork dollar breakdowns, enabling cost analysis at any hierarchy level.

PO Detail Dialog

Clicking a PO Number opens the Purchase Order edit dialog:

• View and edit PO details
• See linked projects
• Review PO status and history
• Changes refresh the report data

Project Navigation

Project names are clickable links that open the full project detail page in a new tab:

• Enables investigation of specific project costs
• Provides access to artworks, time entries, and other project data
• Maintains report context in the original tab

Client Hierarchy Cascading Filters

The client filters work as a cascading hierarchy:

1. Corporation: Filters BigB options to only those under selected Corporation
2. BigB: Filters Division options to only those under selected BigB
3. Division: Filters Bat options to only those under selected Division
4. Bat: Filters Marketer options to only those under selected Bat

This ensures filters always show valid combinations and narrows results progressively.

Date-Based Client Filtering

The client hierarchy options are dynamically loaded based on the selected date range:

• Only shows client structures that have PO activity in the date range
• Prevents selection of irrelevant filter combinations
• Updates when date range changes

Excel Export

The Build Report button generates the on-screen report, while Excel export (when configured):

• Exports all visible data plus expanded details
• Includes employee breakdown if selected
• Includes activity details if selected
• Downloads as .xlsx file for further analysis

Relationship to Other System Components

Integration with Time Tracking

The report aggregates data from the time tracking system:

• Time entries provide hours and dollars
• Activity types determine PM/Design/Artwork categorization
• Employee assignments enable staff-level analysis
• Status flags reflect time entry workflow state

Integration with Purchase Order System

PO data drives the primary report structure:

• PO amounts set budget baselines
• PO date ranges define validity periods
• Project-to-PO linkages connect time to budgets
• Blanket PO flags trigger enhanced tracking features

Integration with Project Management

Project data provides organizational context:

• Client assignments enable hierarchy filtering
• Invoice Group assignments determine billing routing
• Project names and IDs enable navigation
• Artwork records provide detail-level drill-down

Integration with Client Registry

Client hierarchy data powers the filtering system:

• Corporation/BigB/Division/Bat/Marketer structure
• Invoice Group registry connections
• Client names for display

Integration with Project Estimates

For Blanket POs, estimate data adds tracking dimensions:

• Quote Numbers from estimate records
• Salesforce Numbers for CRM linkage
• Start dates for temporal ordering

Integration with Invoice Status

Billing status data completes the picture:

• Invoice Numbers for billed time
• Billed flags for status filtering
• Invoice dates for period alignment

Relationship to Other Reports

The PO Spend Report complements other billing reports:

• Monthly Billing: Shows invoice-ready work; PO Spend shows budget utilization
• PO Overlaps: Identifies assignment conflicts; PO Spend shows spending impact
• Fixed Costs Report: Details fixed charges; PO Spend summarizes within PO context
• Billing Approval Worksheet: Focuses on approval workflow; PO Spend focuses on budget tracking

Summary

The Purchase Orders Tracking Report is an essential financial management tool that provides comprehensive visibility into how client Purchase Order budgets are being utilized across the organization. By aggregating time and cost data into a hierarchical structure organized by PO, Invoice Group, Client, Project, and Artwork, the report enables management to monitor budget consumption at any level of detail.

Key Capabilities:

• Multi-Level Hierarchy: Drill down from PO summaries to individual artwork costs
• Cost Category Analysis: Separate tracking of PM, Design, and Artwork spending
• Flexible Filtering: Date range, client hierarchy, employee, and status filters
• Blanket PO Support: Quote Number, Salesforce Number, and Invoice Number tracking
• Employee Analytics: Optional employee-level spend summary with activity details
• Interactive Navigation: Click-through to PO details and project pages
• Excel Export: Configurable export for client reporting and analysis

Business Impact:

• Prevents budget overruns through proactive monitoring
• Improves client relationships with transparent financial reporting
• Supports pricing decisions with cost structure visibility
• Enables resource optimization through employee utilization analysis
• Streamlines billing reconciliation with detailed drill-down capabilities

The report transforms raw time and billing data into actionable financial intelligence, supporting the organization's mission to deliver excellent creative services profitably while maintaining strong client partnerships built on financial transparency and trust.