· 4 min read
How does three-way matching work?
What "Matched," "Partial match," and "Over-received" actually mean, and the real difference between approving and issuing a PO.
Three-way matching is the standard procurement control of comparing three independent records — what you ordered, what actually arrived, and what you were invoiced for — before treating an invoice as correct. Buildiante computes this automatically, line by line, every time a receipt or invoice is recorded against a purchase order.
What each match status means
The PO's Three-way match panel shows an overall status plus a per-line table of Item / Ordered / Received / Invoiced / Status:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Not matched | Nothing has been invoiced against this line yet. |
| Partial match | Some quantity has been invoiced, but received, ordered, and invoiced don't all agree yet. |
| Matched | Ordered, received, and invoiced quantities are all equal. |
| Over-received | More was received than was ordered. |
| Over-invoiced | More was invoiced than was ordered. |
Over-received and over-invoiced take priority over the others — if either is true for a line, that's the status shown, even if the invoiced quantity happens to equal the received quantity. A line only shows “Matched” when nothing is over its ordered amount and every quantity lines up exactly.
Approving and issuing are two different steps
A purchase order's approval and its status are tracked separately. Clicking “Approve (commits budget)” records who approved the PO and commits its cost against project budget — but the PO is still technically a draft until you click “Issue PO,” which is the step that actually moves it out of draft and makes it ready to receive against. A PO has to be approved before it can be issued. See creating a purchase order.
The full status lifecycle
A purchase order moves through Draft → Issued → Partially received → Completed. Receiving goods advances the status automatically — you never set “Partially received” or “Completed” by hand, they follow from what's actually been received. Cancelled is reachable from any status except Completed, via “Cancel PO.”
Who can do this
Owner, Admin, and Estimator can create, approve, issue, cancel, and record receipts and invoices. Project Manager can view purchase orders and their match status but not change anything. Field Supervisor has no access to Procurement at all. See what each role controls.
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