Set up outsourced purchase orders in Katana to efficiently manage external manufacturing—especially when you supply the raw materials, and your contractor completes the assembly.
What is an OPO?
An outsourced purchase order (OPO) is used when a product is made by a contractor, but you provide and track the ingredients (materials/subassemblies).
Products and materials can both be purchased via OPOs.
Be sure Buy is enabled on the item card.
To track ingredients, enable both Make and Buy.
How to create an OPO
Click + Create in the global navigation.
Select + Outsourced purchase order.
Fields on an OPO
Field | Description |
Supplier (required) | The contractor handling production. Must be selected to add items. |
Expected arrival | Auto-calculated using default lead times. Can be adjusted. |
Created date | Defaulted to today, but editable. |
Order # | Auto-generated by Katana (e.g., OPO-001) — can be edited. |
Order currency | Based on the supplier’s currency (multi-currency). |
Ship to | Receiving location (only editable if you have multiple Buy-enabled locations). |
Track ingredients in | Location where ingredient stock is tracked. Must have “Make” enabled. |
Line item columns
Column | Details |
Item (required) | Product or material being purchased. Create new materials inline if needed. |
Quantity (required) | Purchase amount (supports 5 decimal places). |
Price per unit | Contractor fee excluding tax or ingredient cost. Default from item card. |
Total price | Auto-calculated (Qty × Price per Unit), or manually override. |
Tax % | Select from preconfigured tax rates (Settings > Tax Rates). |
Ingredients | Availability status for required ingredients based on the selected location. |
You can also add Additional costs rows (e.g., freight, custom fees).
Add missing items from supplier
When a Supplier is selected:
Katana checks your stock for items purchased from them.
If there are negative stock levels, Katana shows a notification at the bottom.
Click Add them... to review and optionally add them all at once.
Quantities will automatically update based on what’s missing.
Track ingredients tab
This tab becomes available when you:
Add a product with both “Make” and “Buy” enabled.
What you'll see:
A full list of ingredients and subassemblies required for production.
Costs are based on the product recipe (BOM) and average cost of ingredients.
Note: Changes to the default Product recipe on a product card will not apply to open outsourced purchase orders for that product.
How product cost per unit is calculated
Product cost per unit = (Total price + Ingredient costs) ÷ Order quantity
If you add Additional costs, Katana will calculate a landed cost.
Ingredient availability
Availability statuses include:
In stock
Expected
Not available
No recipe!
Not applicable
Status is based on the “Track ingredients in” location and reflects:
Existing sales and manufacturing orders.
Expected arrival dates for other OPOs.
Changing an order’s Expected arrival date can affect availability.
Inventory intel
Click an ingredient’s status to:
View In stock, Expected, and Committed quantities.
See all related MOs and OPOs, sorted by priority.
Identify if your current OPO will receive the needed ingredient.
Additional notes
Add comments to OPOs for internal tracking, instructions, or links.
OPO printouts will include company and shipping address info (though it's not shown in the OPO card).
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