An ERP can run purchasing, receiving, inventory and finance. A separate supplier execution layer is worth evaluating when important work still happens outside that configured workflow and the extra integration costs are justified.
The practical question is where your team handles changed supplier confirmations, website orders, split shipments, receipt discrepancies and invoice exceptions. Start with the actual configuration, including available ERP modules and extensions, rather than assuming the ERP cannot do these jobs.
Give each record a clear owner
One possible architecture assigns demand to commerce or POS, physical movements to a warehouse system, finance to ERP or accounting, and supplier-order coordination to LineNow. This is a design option, not a required stack.
| Record | Ownership decision |
|---|---|
| Original PO | Which system creates its identifier and authorized commitment? |
| Supplier changes | Where are source messages, buyer decisions and revisions preserved? |
| Physical receipt | Which system records accepted quantities, lots and locations? |
| Inventory value and bill | Which financial system applies accounting policy? |
| External references | How are duplicate orders, receipts and bills prevented? |
Two applications can display the same PO without both being allowed to change every field. Define how conflicts are resolved before enabling automatic transfers.