We would like to be able to attach a supplier's order confirmation number to a sent purchase order. We have come across that sometimes the orders get emailed to the supplier and it says sent, but our supplier doesn't actually receive the order. This would allow us to keep track that all orders are processed efficiently, and none are missed.
You can email the order to yourself, then send it to the vendor, that way you have a known and visible record of the order being sent in your email. A little less efficient, but better tracking/visibility.
I added 2 custom fields to the purchase order: one for the vendor confirmation number, the other with the expected shipping date. Then created a report that gets sent daily to my purchasing team that shows all POs placed. If the Order Confirmation field is blank more than 24 hours after the PO was sent, they know to confirm with the vendor whether or not the order was actually received.
