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Purchase order acknowledgement reader
A purchase order acknowledgement (POA, or EDI 855) is the supplier’s answer to your PO: it accepts the order as written, accepts it with changes to the date, quantity or price, ships part and backorders the rest, or rejects it. Paste a supplier’s reply below, in any language, and the reader shows the PO update field by field, which work orders and customer orders it hits, the fix, and a reply in the supplier’s own language. Morsa does this on every reply the minute it lands in a buyer’s inbox.
Updated October 21, 2026
What is a purchase order acknowledgement?
A purchase order acknowledgement is the document a supplier sends back after receiving a purchase order, saying whether they can fill it as written. The PO is the buyer’s request; the acknowledgement is the supplier’s commitment, line by line: the quantity they will ship, the price they will charge and the date it ships or arrives. Until it comes back, the date in your ERP is a hope, not a promise.
Buyers usually ask for it fast. SPS Commerce notes that retailers often require the EDI 855 within 24 to 48 hours of the PO, and SourceDay reports that many manufacturers set the same 24 to 48 hour window.
What a PO acknowledgement contains
The PO number and date it answers, and often the supplier’s own order number.
A status for the whole order: accepted, accepted with changes, or rejected.
A status for each line: the item, the quantity confirmed, the unit price, and the ship or delivery date.
Every change from the PO: a new date, a smaller quantity, a split shipment, a new price, a substitute part.
Terms and a contact: payment and freight terms if they differ, and who to call.
The four answers a supplier can give
| Answer | What it means | What the buyer does | EDI 855 codes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accept as written | Every line, quantity, price and date as on the PO | Mark the PO confirmed | BAK02 AD or AK, ACK01 IA |
| Accept with changes | A new date, quantity or price on one or more lines | Check what it hits, then accept, push back or fix around it | BAK02 AC; ACK01 DR (date), IQ (quantity), IP (price), IC (several) |
| Partial or backorder | Part ships now, the rest later or with no date | Get a date for the balance; check what runs short | BAK02 AC; ACK01 BP or IB |
| Reject | They cannot supply it | Find another source today | BAK02 RD or RJ; ACK01 IR |
Codes from the X12 855 transaction set (elements 587 and 668).
EDI 855 acknowledgement type codes (BAK02)
In EDI, the acknowledgement is the 855 transaction set. Its BAK segment carries the PO number, the PO date and, in BAK02, one code for the whole order (X12 element 587):
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| AC | Acknowledge, with detail and change |
| AD | Acknowledge, with detail, no change |
| AE | Acknowledge, with exception detail only |
| AH | Acknowledge, hold status |
| AK | Acknowledge, no detail or change |
| AP | Acknowledge, product replenishment |
| AT | Accepted |
| NA | No acknowledgment needed |
| RD | Reject with detail |
| RF | Reject with exception detail only |
| RJ | Rejected, no detail |
| RN | Rejected, not as agreed |
| RO | Rejected with counter offer |
| RV | Rejected, violates industry practices |
| ZZ | Mutually defined |
BAK01 says why the 855 was sent: 00 original, 06 confirmation, 04 change, 05 replace, 01 cancellation.
Line item status codes (ACK01)
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| IA | Item accepted |
| IB | Item backordered |
| IC | Item accepted, changes made |
| ID | Item deleted |
| IE | Item accepted, price pending |
| IH | Item on hold |
| IP | Item accepted, price changed |
| IQ | Item accepted, quantity changed |
| IR | Item rejected |
| IS | Item accepted, substitution made |
| BP | Item accepted, partial shipment, balance backordered |
| DR | Item accepted, date rescheduled |
| SP | Item accepted, schedule date pending |
| AC | Item accepted and shipped |
| AR | Item accepted and released for shipment |
Also R1 to R8 for specific reject reasons. The new dates go in DTM or ACK segments with qualifier 068 (current schedule ship) or 067 (current schedule delivery).
An EDI 997 is not an acknowledgement of the order. The 997 only says the 850 file arrived and could be read; the 855 says whether the supplier will fill it.
Why buyers need one
A sent PO is not a confirmed PO. Production plans, and the dates promised to your customers, rest on the supplier’s date.
Changes hide in email. A new date or price in a reply that nobody types into the ERP means planning runs on a date that is already wrong.
Price differences surface at the invoice unless they are caught at the acknowledgement, when the buyer can still push back.
A slip is cheap on Monday and expensive on Thursday. Seen early, a three-day slip is an expedite or a resequence; seen when the press stops, it is a late customer order.
What to do when the acknowledgement differs from the PO
Compare it with the PO field by field: ship date, arrival, quantity, price, lead time, terms. Quote the supplier’s words for each change.
Work out what it hits: stock on hand first, then the work orders that need the material before it arrives, then the customer orders those work orders feed.
Decide: accept and update the ERP date, push back (hold the PO price, ask for part of it early), or fix around it (run another job first, ship part from stock, buy from the approved alternate).
Reply in writing the same day, in the supplier’s language, and write the new date into the ERP so planning sees it.
Watch for the next change: acknowledged dates move too.
In the US, an acknowledgement that adds or changes terms can still accept the order, and the changed terms may become part of the contract between merchants unless you object (UCC 2-207, the battle of the forms). Answer a changed price or term in writing; do not let it sit.
Worked example: the coil that slips three days
The sample company is Penwick Stamping & Supply, a fictional Michigan stamper. On Monday 10/12, Northgate writes that PO 4471, 18,000 lb of 0.8 mm coil, now ships Friday 10/16, not Tuesday, and that the lead time goes from 8 to 16 weeks. The reader’s verdict:
PO 4471 ships 3 days late and runs Press 4 out of 0.8 mm coil Thursday 10/15.
Arrival moves from Wednesday 10/14 to Monday 10/19 (1 business day in transit, as on the PO).
4,000 lb on hand covers part of WO 8812 on Thursday; it is 3,500 lb short, and WO 8815 on Friday is 5,200 lb short.
SO 22904 for Lakeway ships Monday 10/19, the day the coil lands: late. SO 22871 for Talbot is at risk.
The fix: ask Northgate for 8,700 lb (3,500 + 5,200) by Wednesday 10/14; run WO 8819 first on Thursday, its 1.2 mm coil is in stock; place the next coil buy with Westbrook Coil, the approved alternate at 9 weeks.
The drafted reply asks: “Can you ship 8,700 lb so it arrives by Wednesday 10/14, and the rest as you said?”
A reply format to ask your suppliers for
Suppliers without EDI answer in email. Ask them to use these lines and every reply can be read in seconds:
PO number:
Status: accepted as written / accepted with changes / partial (date for the balance) / rejected
For each line: item, quantity confirmed, unit price, ship date, expected delivery date
Changes from the PO, and the reason:
Your order number and a contact:
Where Morsa fits
The old way is a buyer reading each reply, retyping the date into the ERP, working out the damage in a spreadsheet and chasing by phone, usually after the press has stopped. Modern plants let an AI system do that work. Morsa reads every supplier reply the minute it lands in the buyer’s own Outlook or Gmail, in the supplier’s language, writes the new date into the ERP, traces it to the work orders and customer orders it hits, and drafts the fix and the reply. The buyer approves with one tap; the email goes from her own mailbox, timed for the supplier’s morning, and standing rules keep chasing every open PO until there is a firm date.
At J4S, a 120-person glass plant, on-time delivery went from about 30% to about 75% across roughly 900 commitments in 4 weeks. At JRG Automotive, Morsa caught 5 of 8 production-stopping shortages early and saved $2M.
How the reader works, and its limits
The quick read, the date math, what it hits and the reply all run in your browser. A fuller read of free text (any language, with an English version) runs on Morsa’s server; every value it returns must be quoted word for word from the reply, or it is not used.
Dates without a year go to the nearest year, so 1/5 in late December is next January. 10/16 is read as month/day; a day over 12 is read day first.
Arrival keeps the PO’s business days in transit, Monday to Friday, with no holidays.
Tons are short tons (2,000 lb). Quoted earlier messages in a thread are ignored.
Your own PO mode compares the reply with the PO you type; your own work orders and customer orders are not on this page.
Nothing is sent from this page. Copy the reply and send it yourself.
Common questions
Is a PO acknowledgement the same as an order confirmation?
Mostly, yes: both are the supplier’s answer to a PO. Some companies use acknowledgement for receipt and confirmation for acceptance. What matters is whether the reply commits to the date, quantity and price, not only that the PO arrived.
Is a purchase order acknowledgement legally binding?
Under UCC 2-207 in the US, a written confirmation sent in reasonable time can operate as acceptance even when it states different terms, and between merchants those terms can become part of the contract unless they materially change it or you object. Object in writing to changes you do not accept. This is not legal advice.
How long should a supplier take to acknowledge a PO?
24 to 48 hours is the common expectation for both EDI 855s and email replies. Chase anything older; an unacknowledged PO is an unconfirmed date.
What is the difference between an EDI 855 and an EDI 997?
The 997 is a functional acknowledgement: the file arrived and could be read. The 855 is the business answer: accepted, changed or rejected, line by line.
What does acknowledge with detail and change mean?
BAK02 code AC: the supplier accepts the order but changed at least one line, and the line codes (DR, IQ, IP, BP) say what changed.
What if a supplier never acknowledges the PO?
Treat the date as unconfirmed, chase in writing, and plan around it until a firm date comes back. Morsa sends that follow-up from the buyer’s own mailbox every two business days until there is one.
Can a supplier change the price in the acknowledgement?
They can propose it. Answer the same day: ask them to ship at the PO price or explain the change, and approve it only if the reason holds. The sample above shows one: $0.56/lb instead of $0.52, $480 more on 12,000 lb.
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WHERE MORSA FITS
Every supplier reply, read and written into your ERP
Morsa reads each supplier reply the minute it lands, in any language, updates the ERP date, shows which runs and customer orders it hits and drafts the fix for one-tap approval. It works in Outlook, Gmail, Teams, WhatsApp or whatever you already run on.
