Q: When does the Purchase Line History data get updated? I'm looking at some Purchase Line History reports and they don't make any sense. It appears the data is not being updated. The PO Line History data that is available is old. I was able to retrieve the data I needed from the Receiving Audit Trail report but I want to understand why it is not in the Purchase Line History.

A: That's a great question. Purchase Line History gets updated when you choose to use the Purge Closed Purchase Order feature. In the past, our users were reluctant to purge POs for fearing of losing history in PO inquiry.  Beginning with Elliott 7.3, we added the PO Revision History feature so that when you purge closed purchase orders, not only it will write to Purchase Line History, it will also update the PO Revision History. You can use the "Purged PO Inquiry" to look at them so it is not so much an issue any more. Nonetheless, the majority of our users do not use the Purge Closed Purchase Order function and, therefore, they will not see a meaningful result in Purchase Line History. Also, since most of the data in Purchase Line History can also be found in other areas, it is becoming an area that very few of our users utilize.