What Is a Purchase Order?
A purchase order is a document given from a buyer to a seller that details the quantity, prices, and total cost of requested goods and services. Depending on the level of detail required to specify the items and services being purchased, a company might use a different type of purchase order, such as a standard, planned, blanket, or contract purchase order.
A purchase order is used to agree on:
Transaction details
Payment terms
The fulfillment and delivery timeline
Additional commercial issues or restrictions
A part of the larger procure-to-pay (P2P) lifecycle, the purchase order initiates the purchasing process. A PO is the document that triggers an invoice from a supplier or vendor. The invoice should specify the PO by number.
After both parties have agreed on the terms and the seller has accepted the purchase order, the PO becomes a legally binding contract. This means the PO can be used as collateral for credit terms from finance institutions, as a declaration for import pre-approval from customs, and as a manifest for export. The PO could also serve as the basis for a legal claim or suite should the terms not be fulfilled.
As the first step in the purchasing process, the purchase order streamlines the entire transaction because it defines all aspects of the fulfillment. And, if something does go wrong, there is a paper trail to reference. With a PO, buyers and sellers can transact with confidence.
The PO data can be categorized into three levels:
Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 |
· Merchant’s name | Everything from Level 1, plus | Everything from Levels 1 & 2, plus |
*And Veryfi supports it all.
Expected Day 1 Accuracy for PO
Each purchase order should include the following data :
Unique PO number - "purchase_order_number"
Purchase order date -"order_date"
Buyer’s name, address, and contact information - "bill_to" details
Vendor’s name, address, and contact information - "vendor" details
Shipping address (if different from the buyer address) - "ship_to" ,"ship_date"
List of items purchased. For each item, specify:
Item name
SKU number
Description
Quantity
Unit price
Line total
Subtotal (including applicable discounts, shipping cost, and taxes) -
Payment due date - "due_date"
Delivery due date - "delivery_date"
*and many more..
Read the full Article in our website blog post.
The full list of fields Veryfi extracts can be found inside your user account API schema
The field's description can be found here.
* Please note, that not all the fields are available by default, you might need to reach out to support@veryfi.com to request that.
The Benefits of Veryfi’s AI-Driven Data Extraction Solution for Purchase Orders
AI-Driven Data Input Significantly Increases Data Capture Accuracy | AI-Powered OCR Processes Document Data in Seconds | Automated PO Data Extraction, Driven by AI, Maximizes Efficiency |
Veryfi’s 100% AI-driven data extraction solution eliminates the need for tedious manual data entry. Whereas manual data entry can yield an error rate of 30%, Veryfi’s AI-driven data extraction solution increases purchase order data capture accuracy to 97% or higher. | Veryfi’s out-of-the-box, data extraction solution for Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) completely removes humans from the loop. Combining AI and OCR, Veryfi automatically captures, extracts, and transforms unstructured data (plain text contained in documents such as purchase orders) into structured data (data computers can analyze in seconds) to provide valuable business intelligence and actionable insights. | Automated data extraction accelerates the P2P lifecycle, increasing efficiency and reducing costs. For large enterprises, intelligent automation of back office processes is essential to gaining timely, actionable insights while controlling the budget. |
How to process a Purchase Order ?
If you have an account with Veryfi
To process PO, please follow the instructions from the API Documentation for Invoice/Receipt Processing via API call, located on your left-side menu inside Web Portal. Or simply send your document to process via web uploader or Interactive API

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Have any questions? Please reach out to us at support@veryfi.com