How to use the Purchasing app set

Created: 2026-10-28Updated: 2026-10-28

Purchasing runs through eight apps, one per document, linked by the upstream number. Press Create the next document on a record's detail screen to open the next app with the upstream number filled in. Purchase request, approval and contract go through an approval flow (Not submitted → Awaiting approval → Awaiting decision → Approved). Each document's own number is typed by hand.

The flow and the role of each app

The Purchasing app set has eight apps, one per document. Going from the top, each app passes its number on to the next app. The apps and their field names are created in Japanese whatever language your screen uses; the English meaning is in parentheses.

• Purchase request and purchase order calculate amounts from the quantity and unit price of the line items. The purchase order also calculates the subtotal, consumption tax and total (the default tax rate is 10%; the tax is rounded down). For delivery notes and invoices you enter the figures from the supplier’s document.
• A person types each document’s number (request number, approval request number and so on). It is required and cannot be duplicated. There is no automatic numbering. Decide how to number them in your company (for example PR-2026-0001).

Who does what

The requester, drafter, person in charge and buyer fields are filled with the person who creates the record. In the three apps with approval (purchase request, purchase approval and purchase contract), the person who submits chooses the approver and the decision maker.

By default, the person who created the apps can manage the apps and delete records, and everyone else can view, add, edit and export records. To restrict by role or department, use kintone’s app permissions.

Moving on to the next document

1. Open the detail screen of the upstream record. Document flow at the top shows the previous documents, this document and the documents still to come.
2. Press “Create the next document: ○○”.
3. The create screen of the next app opens, and the upstream number is entered in the lookup field and fetched. The subject and the supplier (the field that holds the counterparty, such as 契約相手 or 発注先) are carried over, and “Carried over from the upstream document ○○” is shown.
4. Enter the document’s own number (such as the order number) and the other required fields. The top of the screen shows “Fill in next: ○○” for the next required field, and changes to “All required fields are filled. Please save” when everything is in.
5. Save. If the next document already exists, the button changes to “Open ○○”.

The lookup field in each downstream app that receives the upstream number:

• Create the next document appears whatever the approval status is. Move on only after approval, as a rule of your operation. When the status becomes 承認済 (Approved), the hint on the screen changes to “Approved. You can go on to the next document”.
• You do not have to use the button. Open the next app directly, enter the upstream number in the lookup field and press the fetch button, and the documents are linked in the same way.
• If the sum of the line items differs from the total field, the create and edit screens show “The line total ○○ differs from the total field ○○”. Saving is not blocked.

Approval and statuses

Three apps have an approval flow: purchase request, purchase approval and purchase contract. Purchase order, delivery note, invoice and Payables have no approval flow; their progress is kept in fields of each app (inspection status, payment status).

The PRING standard flow

These are the statuses and operations when the administrator chose “PRING standard (applicant → approver → decision maker)” while creating the set. The approver and decision maker are chosen in the 承認者 (Approver) and 決裁者 (Decision maker) fields under 承認の依頼先 (Who approves) on the record; both are required.

If kintone could not rename the first status, it keeps kintone’s default name 未処理 instead of 未申請. The meaning is the same.

Ways to build the approval flow

When the set is created, the administrator chooses one of four ways for each app that has approval.

• No approval (承認を使わない): the app has no statuses.
• PRING standard (applicant → approver → decision maker): the table above. No organization setup is needed.
• Build from organizations: 1 to 5 approval steps. For each step choose “By organization” (organization, title and the number of approvers: any one approves, or everyone approves) or “Choose in a record field”. The statuses are 未申請 → 承認待ち 1 → 承認待ち 2 → … → 承認済 (a single step is just 承認待ち). The actions are 申請, 承認 1, 承認 2 … and 差し戻し, which goes back one step. For a step with a title, the people who hold that title at the time of creation become the assignees.
• Import the flow of an existing app: uses the statuses and actions of another app in this kintone as they are.

Approval records and seals

When an approval action is pressed, the approver and approval date-time are written to the 承認の記録 (Approval record) group of the record (a closed group; it opens on the detail screen when there are records). With the PRING standard flow, the first is the approver and the second is the decision maker. When you output a document (purchase request form, approval request form, contract copy), the seal of the person who approved (or a date stamp if none is registered) is placed in the approval boxes at the top right. Sending back clears the records of the steps that have to be approved again.

The record is written only when the action button is pressed on the record’s detail screen. Approvals made with the bulk status update in a list, or on a mobile screen, are not recorded.

Status fields in the apps without approval

You can narrow a list to 未検収 (Not inspected) in the delivery note app and to 未払 (Unpaid) in the invoice and Payables apps with the list switcher. The 支払の状況 of the invoice and the 支払の状況 of Payables are separate fields, so update both after paying.

Documents PRING outputs, and where the PDF is saved

You output a document with the button named after it on the record’s detail screen. For a PDF, check the preview, then choose “Download” or “Save to attachment field” (Export a PDF or Excel from a record, Preview a PDF, then download it or save it to the attachment field). The file name is “document name_number” (for example 注文書_PO-2026-0001.pdf). The button labels follow your kintone language.

• The 出力した書類 field is inside the closed group 「PRING の設定」 (PRING settings) at the end of the record. When you output again, the previous file is removed and only the new PDF remains.
• The contract copy, inspection report and invoice check sheet have no save destination by default. Download them. To save them, the administrator sets the template’s attachment save destination.
• The PDFs of the set’s documents carry the document ID and the SHA-256 from before embedding in their metadata.
• If the administrator has created a File Log app, every output, attachment and download is logged with time, version, file name and SHA-256. For every document except the accounts payable balance, the transaction date, amount and counterparty are logged too, so you can search the File Log app’s list by date, amount and counterparty (Audit log of output files).

Three-way matching

The invoice app has a field, 三点照合の結果 (Three-way matching result; a multi-line text), for recording the result of matching the order, the delivery and the invoice. It sits under 支払の状況 and is also printed on the invoice check sheet.

1. Check the quantity, unit price and total of the purchase order’s line items.
2. Check the quantity of the delivery note, and its inspection status and discrepancy details.
3. See whether the quantity, unit price and invoiced amount on the invoice agree with the order and the delivery, and write the result and the reason for any difference in 三点照合の結果.

PRING does not write into this field; it is for the person who matched the documents. The AI reading of delivery notes and invoices has a three-way match that warns you on the confirmation screen about differences in quantity, unit price and amount against the order, but it is off by default. To use it, the administrator sets it on the Document reading tab (AI reading of supplier documents). To use it for invoices, a lookup field to assign the order number is needed.

Seeing the whole case

In apps where the administrator has set up Document links, the record’s detail screen has a Document links button. It lists the documents step by step, from purchase request to Payables, with the document number, file, version, approver, date, amount and check result, and shows any missing documents, all on one screen. At the top are the case number (the request number of the purchase request), the subject, and the invoiced, paid and unpaid totals.

• Evidence bundle PDF: downloads one PDF made of a cover sheet followed by the PDF of each document.
• Save to case summary: writes the case’s totals to the Purchasing link manager app (the case summary). Its list shows the paid and unpaid totals of each case.

See Case links and the evidence bundle and Approval seals, document links, document reading and the audit log for details.

Related pages

• How to use the Sales app set
• How to use the Expenses app set
• Create a business app set: creating the set (for administrators)
• The first week after creating a business app set: settings after creation and a purchasing example (for administrators)
• Case links and the evidence bundle
• Using PRING for purchasing (from plan to payment)
• Approval records and a seal per approval step
• Audit log of output files (File Log app)

Written and maintained by: TechJapan LLC (PRING team) (Developer and operator) · Contact