Receiving Items into Warehouse

​

Receiving Modes

The Receiving tab has three modes:

• Receive PO: receive open or processing purchase orders that still have quantity remaining.
• Receive Return: find authorized RMAs that are waiting for warehouse receipt.
• Manual Receive: add inventory that arrived without a PO or RMA, with a reason, location, unit cost, and GL offset account.

Use the header location selector before receiving when you are working a specific warehouse. PO receiving and the Quarantine Queue respect location scope, and the receive modal preselects the current header location when it is valid for receiving.

​

Receive a Purchase Order

1. Go to Warehouse > Receiving.
2. Select Receive PO.
3. Search by PO number or vendor.
4. Click Receive on the PO row. Arcus opens the PO detail receiving tab.
5. Click Receive Items.
6. Select the Receive to Location. Only locations marked as receiving locations are shown.
7. If bins are enabled, select a bin or leave the bin blank to use the default receiving behavior.
8. Enter good quantity, damaged quantity, and serial numbers when required.
9. Choose whether to Create vendor bill automatically.
10. Click Receive Items.

Good units increase inventory at the receiving location. The receipt is stored against the PO and can be used for 3-way match with the vendor bill.

​

Damaged Units on PO Receipts

The PO receive modal has separate fields for Good Qty and Damaged. Damaged units count against the PO receive cap but do not enter normal sellable inventory. When damaged quantity is greater than zero:

• Select a disposition: Quarantine (hold for inspection), Return to vendor, or Write off.
• Enter damage notes. The receive action is blocked without notes.
• Optionally attach up to five damage photos on the damaged line.
• Keep good quantity and damaged quantity within the over-receipt cap.

Damaged units with Quarantine or Return to vendor enter the Warehouse Quarantine queue with status Pending Inspection. Return to vendor can also create a vendor return draft at receipt time. Write off records the loss path immediately instead of adding the units to quarantine.

​

Over-Receipt and Serial Blocks

Arcus blocks PO receipts when:

• The PO is not found for the current entity.
• The PO is rejected or still awaiting required approval.
• No receiving location is selected.
• A required unit cost is missing or zero.
• Good quantity plus damaged quantity exceeds the configured over-receipt tolerance.
• A serialized line does not have exactly one captured serial per good unit.
• A serial number is duplicated on the same receipt.

If the quantity is above the PO but still within tolerance, Arcus shows a warning with the overage and cap. If it is above tolerance, reduce good or damaged quantity or ask an admin to review the PO over-receipt tolerance in workflow settings.

​

Manual Receive

Use Manual Receive only when there is no PO and no RMA behind the inventory event. Examples include opening balance cleanup, found stock, customer-owned conversion stock, or another approved non-PO receipt. Manual receive requires:

• Product
• Receiving location
• Quantity
• Reason
• GL offset account
• Optional unit cost and notes

When unit cost is greater than zero, Arcus previews the journal entry as debit Inventory and credit the selected offset account. Eligible offset accounts are restricted to the approved account types shown in the dropdown. Expense and COGS accounts are not eligible offsets for this workflow.

​

Quarantine Follow-Up

Use Warehouse > Quarantine for damaged PO receipt lines that are still pending inspection. The queue shows product, PO, receipt, vendor, damaged quantity, value, condition, status, and days in quarantine. Resolutions are:

• Approve restock: releases the units from quarantine and restocks them at the receiving location default bin when available.
• Return to vendor: records the vendor return decision. If the line was originally quarantined, follow up in the vendor return workflow as needed.
• Write off: releases quarantine and posts the write-off entry.

Resolved items cannot be resolved a second time.

​

Accounting Impact

PO receiving creates the purchase receipt and inventory movement for good units. It also supports the GRNI accrual and optional vendor bill creation, depending on settings and the receive modal choice. Manual receive posts an inventory movement. If unit cost is positive, it also posts a balanced journal entry using the selected offset account. If unit cost is zero, inventory quantity can move without a journal entry because there is no value to debit or credit. Damaged quarantine does not make the units normal sellable stock. Write-off and vendor return outcomes affect inventory and accounting based on the selected disposition.

​

Troubleshooting

No pending purchase orders appear: confirm the PO is open or processing, has remaining quantity, and is not blocked by approval state. Receive Items is disabled: check whether all lines are already received or whether serialized lines still need required serial scans. Unit cost is required: update the PO line cost or provide a valid unit cost before receiving. Cannot receive more than cap: good quantity plus damaged quantity is above the configured tolerance. Bin is missing: confirm bins are enabled for the entity and that the bin belongs to the selected receiving location. Damaged line will not submit: enter damage notes and choose a disposition for every line with damaged quantity.

​

Related Articles