How To Import Open Purchase Orders From QuickBooks into NetSuite

Introduction

Importing open purchase orders from QuickBooks into NetSuite is a standard go-live task. It ensures you can continue receiving against existing orders after your NetSuite implementation is complete.

This article walks through a practical, step-by-step process to export open purchase orders from QuickBooks and import them into NetSuite.

The approach to importing open purchase orders

It is common to have partially received purchase orders at go-live. This is especially true in industries like biotech, where purchase orders for clinical services can remain open for months or even years.

For partially received purchase orders, you should import only the remaining (unreceived) balance into NetSuite.

Example: If purchase order #1200 for ProPharma Group was originally $3,000,000 and you have already received $1,000,000 in services, you would import the purchase order into NetSuite with a remaining value of $2,000,000.

Purchase order cleanup

Before exporting purchase orders from QuickBooks, clean up your open purchase order list. Close any orders that should no longer remain open. Common cleanup strategies include:

Closing orders below a certain dollar threshold
Closing orders dated before a specific cutoff date
Working with operations to identify orders that are no longer expected to be received

Ideally, export the final open purchase order list after the legacy system is closed to prevent balance changes while you complete the import. However, you can export earlier versions to review and identify lines to close. In QuickBooks, you can also close specific lines on a purchase order.

Exporting open purchase orders from QuickBooks Desktop

To export your open purchase orders from QuickBooks Desktop:

Open QuickBooks Desktop and go to the Reports menu.
Select Purchases & Expenses, then choose Open Purchase Orders Detail.
Click Customize Report. On the Display tab, add Item, Item Description, and any other fields you need for your NetSuite import.
Export the report as an Excel or CSV file.

After exporting to Excel, sort the file by the Num field.

Exporting open purchase orders from QuickBooks Online

To export your open purchase orders from QuickBooks Online:

Open QuickBooks Online and navigate to Reports.
Find the Open Purchase Orders Detail report.
Under the Date dropdown, select All Dates.
Add any needed fields under the Settings (gear) icon.
Export the report as an Excel file.

After exporting to Excel, sort the file by the Num field.

Note: QuickBooks Online allows purchase order lines coded directly to a Category (GL account) without an item. NetSuite also supports purchase orders using both GL accounts and items, but GL account lines have limitations. See the section below for details.

Importing purchase orders into NetSuite

Once you have cleaned and exported your purchase order list from QuickBooks, you can import it into NetSuite.

1. Prepare the CSV import templates

Export the purchase order detail from QuickBooks, then add the fields NetSuite requires. At a minimum, you will typically need the NetSuite vendor and item on each line. Review any additional required fields and add them to your spreadsheet.

I recommend mapping vendors and items using Internal ID rather than the Name field.

After you finish preparing the file, save a working copy with formulas as an .xlsx. Then create a separate tab (or separate file) for the final CSV upload output.

2. Turn off auto-numbering for legacy purchase orders

You will usually want to preserve the original QuickBooks purchase order number since it has already been communicated to your vendors.

By default, NetSuite auto-numbers purchase orders. To allow legacy numbers, go to Set Up Auto-Generated Numbers, open the Document Numbers subtab, and check Allow Override for the purchase order transaction type.

3. Import a test purchase order into NetSuite

Import a single purchase order first. Confirm it imports correctly and validate that all fields map as expected before loading the full list.

Here is an example purchase order import template:

Open purchase order import template for NetSuite

A few considerations when preparing the import template:

Set To Be Emailed, To Be Faxed, and To Be Printed to False. Vendors already have these orders, and you do not want to resend them.
If you mapped values using internal IDs, set the mapping type to Internal ID in the import settings.
Validate the purchase order number and amounts. It is easy to accidentally include taxes or forget to enable override numbering.

4. Import the complete list of purchase orders

After validating your test purchase order, import the remaining purchase orders. Depending on volume, the import may take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours.

5. Validate the imported purchase orders between QuickBooks and NetSuite

After the import completes, verify that purchase order lines were imported correctly. Create a saved search for the purchase orders you created in NetSuite and compare the results to the QuickBooks export used in step 1.

To create the saved search:

Navigate to Reports > New Search and select Transaction.
Set criteria:
1. Main Line = False
2. Type = Purchase Order
Set results columns to include (at minimum):
1. PO number
2. Item
3. Amount
4. Any additional fields you want to validate

For most clients, I validate the amount by PO number and item.

Other considerations

Purchase orders for service contracts

NetSuite purchase orders are optimized for receiving physical goods, not managing long-running service contracts. This can create issues when service vendors bill intermittently or on inconsistent schedules.

A common workaround is to set the Rate to $1 and the Quantity to the total contract value on the purchase order line. This allows multiple vendor bills to be applied over time.

If you instead leave quantity at 1, NetSuite may close the PO line after the first vendor bill, even if additional invoices are expected.

Using items vs. GL accounts on purchase orders

NetSuite allows both items and GL accounts on purchase orders, but they behave differently.

Purchase order lines created with GL accounts typically do not support multiple bills against the same line. Once a vendor bill is applied, the line is effectively consumed. This limitation often makes GL accounts impractical for service-based purchasing.

For that reason, I generally recommend using items instead of GL accounts, even for services. Item-based purchase orders provide better control over billing, support partial invoicing, and reduce downstream cleanup when reconciling open purchase orders.

If you expect multiple bills against a purchase order line, use items and structure the quantity to support incremental billing.

Conclusion

Importing open purchase orders from QuickBooks into NetSuite is straightforward when you follow a disciplined process: clean up the open list, export the right report, import a test record, and validate the final results in NetSuite.

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