How to Reorder Stock Automatically Every Night
Why low stock is found too late
Reordering by walking the shelves or reading a stock report works until someone is busy. An item runs out, a sale is lost, and the order that should have gone out on Monday goes out on Thursday.
Reorder figures also go stale. A dashboard calculated last week does not know about yesterday's sales or this morning's delivery, so the buyer either orders from old numbers or spends the morning recalculating.
A nightly run recalculates demand and stock while nobody is working, then drafts the requisitions or purchase orders for what is at risk. The buyer starts the day reviewing drafts instead of building them, and still decides what is submitted.
Why this happens
- Reorder checks depend on someone remembering to run them.
- Dashboard figures are old because nobody clicked recalculate.
- A branch warehouse runs low while the company total looks fine.
- The same item is ordered twice because an open order was missed.
Biznsbook addresses this through nightly recalculation, draft requisitions or draft purchase orders, warehouse top-ups, no duplicate orders in the Purchase module, on the same orders, receipts, bills and stock records.
Purchasing problems rarely start with one big mistake. They start with a price nobody checked, a bill keyed twice, or goods used before anyone looked at them. Recording each step where it happens removes those gaps.
Step-by-step: Reorder Stock Automatically Every Night
Written for buyers, store keepers and accounts payable teams in small and mid-sized businesses. The steps follow Purchase in Biznsbook.
- Open replenishment settings. Go to Inventory Settings → Replenishment Settings. You need Inventory settings access.
- Turn on automatic drafts. Turn on Automatically create drafts for at-risk items. Under Create, choose Draft purchase requisitions (approved, then converted) or Draft purchase orders (one per supplier and warehouse). Draft purchase orders need the Purchase module.
- Turn on the nightly run. Turn on Recalculate every night and save. The recalculation runs at 01:00 UTC. It is off by default.
- Set warehouse reorder levels where they differ. With draft purchase orders, a warehouse that has its own reorder level on the product's warehouse stock and is at or below it is topped up to that warehouse's maximum, or to its reorder level when no maximum is set, and delivered to that warehouse.
- Review the drafts in the morning. Open Purchasing → Purchase Orders, or Replenishment → Requisitions if you chose requisitions. Replenishment drafts have Remarks starting [Replenishment], so the next run skips items that are already on one. Add tax and the delivery date, which the draft leaves for you.
- Submit and approve. Nothing is sent by the nightly run. Drafts still need submitting and approval before they go to a supplier, and they move no stock and post nothing until they are approved and received.
Review results after the first full monthly cycle. Adjust roles, mappings, or approvals where the same exception repeats.
Inside Biznsbook, each Purchasing screen explains its own steps. This article explains the business process behind those screens.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Mistake 1: Reorder checks depend on someone remembering to run them. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in a supplier paid the wrong amount, late, or for goods that never arrived.
- Mistake 2: Dashboard figures are old because nobody clicked recalculate. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in a supplier paid the wrong amount, late, or for goods that never arrived.
- Mistake 3: A branch warehouse runs low while the company total looks fine. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in a supplier paid the wrong amount, late, or for goods that never arrived.
- Mistake 4: The same item is ordered twice because an open order was missed. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in a supplier paid the wrong amount, late, or for goods that never arrived.
Each of these shows up later as a supplier balance nobody can explain. Fix it on the order, receipt or bill rather than in a side spreadsheet.
Best practices that hold up as you scale
- Open replenishment settings — Go to Inventory Settings → Replenishment Settings.
- Turn on automatic drafts — Turn on Automatically create drafts for at-risk items.
- Turn on the nightly run — Turn on Recalculate every night and save.
- Set warehouse reorder levels where they differ — With draft purchase orders, a warehouse that has its own reorder level on the product's warehouse stock and is at or below it is topped up to that warehouse's maximum, or to its reorder level when no maximum is set, and delivered to that warehouse.
- Review the drafts in the morning — Open Purchasing → Purchase Orders, or Replenishment → Requisitions if you chose requisitions.
Keep the order, the receipt and the bill linked, so every payment can be traced back to what was ordered and what arrived.
How Biznsbook supports this workflow
nightly recalculation is part of Biznsbook Purchase. It works on the same purchase orders, goods receipts and supplier bills, so stock, payables and the ledger stay in step.
draft requisitions or draft purchase orders is part of Biznsbook Purchase. It works on the same purchase orders, goods receipts and supplier bills, so stock, payables and the ledger stay in step.
warehouse top-ups is part of Biznsbook Purchase. It works on the same purchase orders, goods receipts and supplier bills, so stock, payables and the ledger stay in step.
no duplicate orders is part of Biznsbook Purchase. It works on the same purchase orders, goods receipts and supplier bills, so stock, payables and the ledger stay in step.
Access is permission-based: viewing, creating, editing and approving purchases are separate permissions. Purchase orders and goods receipts need the Inventory module; postings to accounts payable need Accounting.
Suggested implementation timeline
- Week 1: Set up nightly recalculation and give buyers and accounts payable the permissions they need.
- Week 2: Run one supplier end to end in Biznsbook only: order, receipt, bill and payment, with no side spreadsheet.
- Week 3: Review the exceptions with the people involved and adjust the rules where they disagreed.
- Month 2: Roll out to every supplier and retire the old tracking sheet.
- Ongoing: Monthly review using ordering on request instead.
Metrics to track monthly
- Open purchase order lines past their delivery date
- Bills waiting in bill matching
- Overdue supplier bills and bills due in the next 7 days
- Purchase price variance by supplier this month
Start with three metrics; trend direction matters more than a single point-in-time snapshot.
Spreadsheets and email vs Biznsbook Purchase
Compare a typical spreadsheet-and-email buying process with Biznsbook nightly recalculation and the related Purchase capabilities.
| Capability | Manual / Spreadsheet | Biznsbook |
|---|---|---|
| When reorder is checked | ❌ When someone has time | ✅ Every night at 01:00 UTC, once turned on |
| Reorder figures | ❌ Last time someone recalculated | ✅ Recalculated in the nightly run |
| What is created | ❌ Orders typed from a report | ✅ Draft requisitions or draft purchase orders |
| Branch warehouses | ❌ Checked one by one | ✅ Topped up to their own maximum or reorder level |
| Items already ordered | ❌ Easy to order twice | ✅ Skipped when on an open purchase order or replenishment draft |
| Sending to suppliers | ❌ Sometimes sent straight away | ✅ Never automatic; drafts need submit and approval |
Ordering on request instead
You can create the same drafts during the day. Open Replenishment → Replenishment Dashboard, click Recalculate Now if the figures are old, tick the items (or Select all) and choose Create draft POs. One draft is made per supplier, and per warehouse when the items go to different warehouses. An item already on an open draft made this way is skipped and the reason names that purchase order. The dashboard, ABC/XYZ Classification and the supplier scorecard show when their figures were last calculated, so you can tell at a glance whether the numbers in front of you include yesterday's sales. Supplier lead times are measured weekly from each purchase order's date to the date its goods were received.
Write the rule into your purchasing procedure so buyers, store keepers and accounts payable follow the same steps, and revisit it each quarter.
Frequently asked questions
Is the nightly run on by default?
No. Turn on Recalculate every night in Inventory Settings → Replenishment Settings and save.
What time does it run?
At 01:00 UTC.
Do I need the Purchase module?
Draft purchase orders need the Purchase module. Draft purchase requisitions do not.
Which supplier does a draft purchase order use?
The product's preferred supplier, else the supplier marked preferred in its supplier lead times. Items with neither are skipped.
What price and quantity go on the draft?
The dashboard's suggested quantity, raised to the product's reorder quantity when that is larger and rounded up to whole purchase units. The price is the last purchase cost, else the product's purchase price.
What if the nightly run is off?
The dashboard, ABC/XYZ Classification and the supplier scorecard do not update by themselves after new sales or receipts. Click Recalculate Now on the dashboard to refresh them.
Which warehouse does a draft purchase order go to?
For the company-wide reorder, the product's default warehouse, else the company's default warehouse. A warehouse top-up is delivered to the warehouse that fell to its own reorder level.
Why was an item not ordered?
It may already be on an open purchase order or on a replenishment draft, or it may have no preferred supplier. When you create drafts from the dashboard yourself, the result box lists every skipped item with the reason, and an item on an open replenishment draft names that purchase order.
How this differs by industry
Retail
A store chain lets each night's run top up branches that have their own reorder level, so a busy branch is reordered even when stock at head office looks fine.
Wholesale & distribution
A distributor reviews one draft purchase order per supplier each morning instead of building orders from a stock report, then submits the ones it agrees with.
Manufacturing
A plant drafts requisitions for raw materials that fall to their reorder point, so purchasing approves and converts them instead of finding the shortage on the shop floor.