Standing PO

The PO will only stay open as long as there is at least one line open on the PO.  If all lines inadvertently get closed, the PO will close.  There isn’t a specific PO type or function to keep it open otherwise.  You could add a dummy line as line 1 either inventory or non-inventory that never gets closed until the Buyer is done with it.  I would suggest a No Part line that has the description - HOLD - Buyer to close only or something equally informative.

Yes, there is a distinction on the way the PO is used.

Part POs or Inventory POs must have a purchase part and supplier for purchase part in order to create the PO lines.  These are expected to have a normal inventory receipt and a supplier invoice as well.

For a software PO or a subscription that doesn’t go on the shelf, there is a No Part tab on the purchase order and purchase requisition, this is where you have an open description field to describe the item being purchased and no part number is required.  That is why I referred to the dummy line as a No Part line.  You can have both on the same PO, though they are not often mixed.  These lines still get received in the same manner, they just don’t get moved to inventory and the No Part line is typically pre-posted to a project or account and cost center for the expense since it won’t get to inventory.  A supplier invoice is still expected too, so the supplier can get paid.

As for why IFS doesn’t have the infinite PO option, it really comes down to the idea of managing inventory and approvals and authorization and the like.  Many companies would never allow a perpetual PO, even if IFS did.  There is another process called Supplier Agreement which allows setting up an agreement to purchase with a supplier, then you can dispense with the approvals and the like each time, just do the setup once.  However, this method results in a different PO number each time, so can take some getting used to for Buyers and Suppliers.

Ahhh, ok, I slightly misunderstood what you were trying to clarify.  Yes, I wouldn’t expect buyers to do any receiving and segregation of duties and permissions would govern that.  But no, there isn’t anything like the receiptless PO you describe in IFS, everything has to be received - even to the hvac repair bill assuming there was purchase order for it.  There are ways for supplier invoices to be processed without a receipt to match, but not from just the buyer action that I’m aware of.

The problem is….there is no schedule if the demand to the supplier is created with no connection to IFS, it is just an email to the supplier and the buyer.