PO Creation Within NOVA

Learn about:

• How to download a purchase order template in NOVA
• How to fill out the template
• The results of uploading the PO template

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In our previous article, Introduction to Walmart’s NOVA PO Management, we discussed how Walmart has switched to this new system for suppliers to create and edit purchase orders manually and how suppliers may gain access to the app.

This article will discuss how to manually create purchase orders in Walmart’s NOVA app in Retail Link. Both Walmart and Sam’s Club suppliers use NOVA to manage their purchase orders. For the purpose of this article, we will go over how to maintain POs for Walmart.

The first task that one can complete within NOVA is PO Creation. As the name suggests, this screen is where suppliers can enter the results from an internal analysis such as a store-specific order (SSO). While you can technically enter the SSO information manually in NOVA, the best method is to use the standard template.

Note: The best practice is to download the template from NOVA each time you wish to create a PO. Walmart does update the templates occasionally, so it is crucial to work with the most recent version.

Creating a PO in NOVA

Click on the Templates link at the top of the NOVA dashboard to download the PO Creation template. Select the PO Creation template to begin the download process. Save this file to your local computer and open it in Excel.

Download options for templates include PO Creation and PO Maintenance

As you can see in the screenshot below, there is a wealth of information and multiple tabs available for input. Don’t panic! In most scenarios, suppliers will only be dealing with one or two of the tabs, and Walmart only requires suppliers to complete certain columns within each tab. The PO Creation template will contain comments regarding required and optional fields for completion.

Let’s take a bit to review the different tabs and explain the difference between them.

PO Creation template in Excel

Available tabs:

• Staple Stock: Staple Stock creates POs by warehouse number. This tab will create Type 20 POs for domestic suppliers. Type 20 POs apply to inventory that physically resides in the warehouses instead of inventory that merely flows through the warehouses to Walmart stores.
• Crossdock: Crossdock creates POs for store-specific orders, or SSOs, but at the warehouse level. These orders flow directly to Walmart stores, though they do flow through the distribution centers to the aligned Walmart stores. Crossdock POs are PO Type 03. 
• DSD: DSD creates POs for DSD (direct-to-store distribution). DSD POs do not flow through or to the warehouses. These POs ship directly from the supplier to the individual stores. DSD POs are PO Type 07.
• DSDC: Like DSD and Crossdock POs, Walmart assigns DSDC (Direct Store Delivery Consolidation) POs at the store level, but they flow through the DCs. DSDC POs are PO Type 73.
• STO-Single: These POs are transfer orders for single items, as opposed to multiple items. Transfer orders are from one store to another. These are very rare, as Walmart does not like to incur additional transportation costs associated with transfers. Multiple PO Types are possible for this option.
• STO-Multi: These POs are transfer orders for multiple items. Transfer orders are from one store to another. These are very rare, as Walmart does not like to incur additional transportation costs associated with transfers. Multiple PO Types are possible for this option.
• WO: WO stands for Work Order creation. Walmart reserves these POs for service companies performing work and providing services to individual Walmart stores.
• Traits: This sheet lists available store omit traits. Walmart applies omit traits to stores to which items should not ship.

Directly under the column headers, there is a row of data highlighted in orange. This row is a sample entry and can help explain what information the system is requesting in that column. Other color-coding is as follows:

• Green: Required fields to be completed by the supplier
• Dark Blue: Optional fields
• Light Blue: Grocery suppliers only
• Gray: System-generated data. NOVA will complete these fields once the app processes the PO.
• Orange: Sample data

Use the sample data and color-coding to enter the appropriate information into each field. Once you have entered all of your order details, save the file to your local computer. We will upload this file in the following steps.

Uploading the PO Creation Template

Once the PO Creation template is complete, return to the NOVA PO Create page. Click on the blue Order Creation button. From the window that appears, select the PO type you are creating and click Continue to upload the PO Creation Template you just completed.

Finalize the PO Creation process by uploading the template

PO Creation Results

After you have uploaded the PO Creation template, the results screen will summarize the PO details. 

As seen in the screenshot below, there are several options to view different information. The two most commonly used are Header Result and Line Result.

Header Result

Information provided on the Header Result screen includes:

• Order Number
• Host PO Number
• PO Status
• Receiving Node
• Applicable PO Dates
• PO Event Codes

You can choose to download these results by clicking the arrow to the right or simply move on to other tasks. The system will transmit the POs to the supplier via EDI. 

Header Result screen from PO Create

Line Result

Line Result shows details about the individual line items associated with each purchase order. This screen allows you to see which specific items are on the purchase order, including total vendor packs on the order. 

You can download the Line Result information to Excel by clicking on the arrow to the right.

Line Result screen from PO Create

Conclusion

That’s all there is to it! Now you can swiftly create purchase orders using Walmart’s templates in NOVA. After uploading the template, you can view the header results and the line results and download them to Excel.