Sales Order
The Sales Order is where a customer's order is written down: who buys, what, at what price, from which site and warehouse, and by when. The same screen also takes a Return Order, the customer's request to send goods back. Nothing on this screen posts to the accounts or moves stock. The delivery, the invoice and the return receipt that follow it do.
What it is for
One order per customer request. Each line is one thing sold: an item, or another kind of line. The order then feeds everything downstream: the picking list (Picking List) and the item issue (Item Issue To Sales Order) in Inventory, the customer invoice (Customer Invoice) in Receivables, master planning (Master Planning) in Products and manufacturing.
The one rule people get wrong: an order only counts once it is released. The screen keeps orders in Draft or Released (see How a screen works). The credit check runs on the Save that releases, and the downstream screens pick up released orders. A Draft order is a note to yourself.
Two kinds of document live here, chosen in Sales Order Type:
- Sales Order. Quantities are positive. Lines can reserve stock, carry promotions, plan production and raise an inter-company purchase order.
- Return Order. Quantities are negative: whatever you type, the screen turns the quantity into a negative number. A Return Reason is required, and the order feeds the Sales Return receipt (Sales Return) in Inventory.
Every field in plain words
Header
| Field | What it means | What to put |
|---|---|---|
| Sales Order | The order number | Given on Create from the number range |
| Sales Order Type | Sales Order or Return Order | Sales Order unless the customer is sending goods back. Fixed once the order is created |
| Order Journal | The kind of order, from Order Journal | A journal of this company. It can give each line a default Special Indicator, and it names the purchase order journal an inter-company order uses |
| Return Reason | Why the goods come back | Return Orders only, and then required. It is copied to every line that has no reason of its own |
| Customer | Who buys | Picked from the customers released in this company. Picking it fills the tax zone, pricing group, discount group, payment term, payment method and the delivery and invoice addresses from the customer. Fixed once the order is created |
| Customer for Invoice | Who is billed | Usually the same customer. Required |
| Name | The customer's name | Fills in |
| Posting Date | The order date | Required. Fixed once created and on Edit |
| Required Date | When the customer wants it | Required on Sales Orders. Cannot be earlier than the Posting Date. Hidden on Return Orders |
| Notes | Free text | |
| Currency | The order currency | Defaults to the company currency. Fixed once created |
| Exchange Rate | Rate to the company currency | Filled from the exchange rates when Currency, Exchange Date or Customer changes. Must be more than zero, and exactly 1 when the currency is the company currency |
| Customer Reference / Customer Reference Date | The customer's own PO number and date | Must be unique per customer when the setting asks for it, see below |
| Customer Reference Return | The customer's return reference | Return Orders only |
| Project | A project the order is for | Fixed once created |
| Opportunity | The opportunity it came from | Configured hidden |
| Sale Agreement | The customer's Sale Agreement | Shown when the setting or the customer asks for it, required when the customer is marked as agreement-only. A customer change clears it |
Basic Data › Site & Warehouse, Tax & Controls
| Field | What it means | What to put |
|---|---|---|
| Site / Warehouse | Where the goods leave from | Site is required. Every line without its own site and warehouse takes these. The warehouse must belong to the site. Both fixed once created |
| Credit Control Applied / Credit Limit Verified / Credit Limit Override | Ticks the credit check sets | Set by the releasing Save, see Credit check below. Not meant to be typed |
| Posting Profile | The posting profile carried to the documents that post | |
| Tax Zone / Tax Exempt number | The customer's tax zone, and an exemption certificate number | Tax Zone fills from the customer |
| Delivery Stop | Stop every delivery against this order | Ticking it ticks Delivery Stop on every line |
| Invoice Stop | Stop invoicing this order | Ticking it ticks Invoice Stop on every line. A Customer Invoice for the order is refused |
| Prevent Partial Delivery | Lines must be delivered in full in one go | Ticking it ticks the same box on every line |
Basic Data › Payment, Pricing & Discount
| Field | What it means | What to put |
|---|---|---|
| Payment Method / Payment Term | How and when the customer pays | Fill from the customer |
| Payment Term Details | Free text about terms | |
| Pricing Group | The price list the line prices come from | Fills from the customer. If the customer is set to require a pricing group, Save takes it from the customer and refuses when the customer has none |
| Discount Group | The discount list | Fills from the customer |
| Rebate Group | A Rebate Group | Kept on the order. Nothing calculates a rebate from it |
Changing Pricing Group or Discount Group on an order that has lines asks "Do you want to update Sales Order Lines?". Yes reprices the lines.
Basic Data › Address, Delivery Terms & Dates
| Field | What it means | What to put |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery To | Whose address the goods go to | Customer fills the customer's addresses and locks the address, email and mobile. Another choice lets you type them |
| Delivery Address Name, Address, Delivery Instruction, Person, Email, Mobile | The delivery address and contact | Lines without their own take these. Changing the address name or person on an order with lines offers to copy it to every line |
| Invoice Address Name, Address, Person, Email, Mobile | Where the invoice goes | From the Customer for Invoice |
Delivery dates
| Field | What it means | What to put |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery Term / Delivery Mode | Incoterm and how it travels | |
| Required Date, Required Time, Promise Date, Promise Time | Asked and promised | Promise Date cannot be earlier than Required Date. Lines without their own dates take these |
Sales structure
Shown as a full tab when Sales Structure & Demographics is ticked on the setting, otherwise only Sales Group and Sales Taker appear.
| Field | What it means |
|---|---|
| Sales Organization, Sales Group, Sales Taker, Distribution Channel | Who sells. Clearing Sales Group clears Sales Taker, Sales Organization and Sales Responsible. Clearing Sales Organization clears Site |
| Sales Region, Sales Area, Sales Territory | Where it sells |
| Responsibility Central, Sales Responsible | Who answers for it |
An item released with a sales group can only be sold on an order of that Sales Group: Save refuses the line otherwise.
Other tabs
- Term Condition, shown when the setting asks for it. On a new order it fills from the setting's Term Condition.
- Header and Footer: rich text printed above and below the lines.
- User Defined Fields: Consultant, Contractor, Architect. Shown when the setting's Sales Associate is ticked.
- Split: an insurance Customer, Customer For Invoice, Part %, Labour % and Notes, and the Payment Details tab under the lines (Name Of Financing Bank, Name Of Lessee, and a grid of Payment Method, Bank, Instrument Date, Amount, Cleared, Cleared Date). Both shown only when the setting's Dealer Management System is ticked. They are kept on the order. Nothing reads them to split an invoice.
- Cancel: Cancel, Cancel Date, Reason, Responsible. A cancelled order opens with every button disabled.
Sales Order Lines
| Column | What it means | What to put |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | The kind of line | Item for goods. Other kinds sell a procurement category, an account or a cost element. Only item lines reserve, check site and warehouse, and move stock downstream |
| Sales No / Name | The item, or what is sold | |
| Season Code | Season of the item | Shown when the setting's Required Season Code is ticked. Required for items marked to need one |
| Part Number / Catalog Number / Search Name | Item references | Shown by the setting's switches. Read only |
| Unit | The sales unit | The quantity is rounded to the unit's precision |
| Planned Quantity | The quantity to plan for production | Make-to-order items. Set by Save to the ordered quantity less what is reserved |
| Quantity | How many | More than zero on a Sales Order. On a Return Order it is turned negative |
| Price | Gross unit price | See Prices below. Must be more than zero, except on a free line |
| Cost / Margin / Margin (%) / Profit / Profit (%) | The line's cost and what it earns | Shown by the setting's Calculate Cost, Margin and Profit switches |
| Gross Amount | Quantity × Price | Read only |
| Discount % / Discount Amount | Line discount | 0 to 100 %. The amount cannot be more than the gross amount |
| Net Price / Net Amount | After discount | Read only |
| Tax Group / Tax Zone | How the line is taxed | Tax Zone column shown when the setting's Taxzone is ticked |
| Line Text | Free text | |
| Invoice | The invoice that billed the line | Read only |
| Price Origin From | Where the price came from | Sales Agreement, Price Profile or Item in Legal Entity |
Columns the setting switches on: Reservation Type and Reservation Quantity, Packaging and Packaging Quantity, Available (stock), Special Indicator, Color, Size, Style, Customer Reference Line, Pricing Group Currency and its exchange rate, Customer and Customer for Invoice per line (Dealer Management System).
Buttons on the lines open, for the selected line: tax lines, discount lines, cost elements, a combo, bill of material lines, activities, comments, on-hand stock, the last ten sales and the last ten deliveries of the item, the quantity change history, and a manual stock reservation.
Totals
Gross Amount, Header Discount, Line Discount Amount, Total Discount Amount, Net Amount, Tax Amount, Cost Elements, Cost Element Tax Amount, Amount Including Tax, Prepayment, Free of Cost Amount and Quantity, total Quantity, Gross Weight, Catch Weight Quantity and Volume. Free lines are left out of the paid totals and shown in Free of Cost.
Prices, discounts and tax
Where the line price comes from. The price engine tries, in this order:
- The Sale Agreement named on the order, when it is valid on the posting date and has the item in the order's currency and unit.
- The Price Profile of the order's Pricing Group.
- The price on the item released in the company.
Price Origin From says which one answered. When the order has a Pricing Group, Save prices the item lines again and puts that price on the line; a line that cannot be priced is refused with "Pricing Profile is not Configured". That repricing on Save does not look at the Sale Agreement, so on an order with both, the price list wins. Discount categories from the Discount Group are added to the line at the same time.
Discount. A line can carry several discount lines, each a discount category with a % or an amount, per unit or on the line. Some are worked on the amount left after the others. The line's Discount % is the total of them. A typed Discount % with no discount lines becomes one discount line called Line Discount. Header discounts are discount categories with a % on the whole order.
Tax. Each line is taxed by its Tax Zone and Tax Group, and the tax lines are shown per line. See Tax Zone and Tax Group.
Free lines. A line whose Special Indicator is free or scheme, and does not need revenue accounting, needs no price and counts in Free of Cost, not in the order total.
Pricing Group Currency. With the setting's Pricing Group Currency ticked, a line can be priced in the currency of its price list and converted at the rate from that currency to the order currency. A missing rate is refused.
Reservation
With the setting's Reservation ticked, lines show Reservation Type. A line set to reserve always reserves, on Save, from on-hand stock that is free for use and then from open purchase orders, in its own site and warehouse, or anywhere in the company when Cross-Warehouse Reservation is ticked. A line set to none cannot hold a reservation. You can also reserve by hand from the line button. A line with Delivery Stop keeps only what is already reserved. Deleting the order, or an approver rejecting it, releases its reservations.
Credit check
On the Save that releases a Sales Order, the screen asks the customer's credit position from Receivables (Release Customer In Legal Entity, with its Credit Rule): the credit limit and the overdue days set on the customer. If the order would go over the limit, or the customer has overdue invoices:
- where the customer's credit action is Stop, Save is refused;
- otherwise the screen asks "Do you still want to continue?" and, on Yes, ticks Credit Limit Override.
Credit Control Applied and Credit Limit Verified are ticked whenever a check was made.
Prepayment
Tick Prepayment, then Percentage or Fixed, and give the percentage or the amount of the order total including tax. The amount cannot be more than that total. Prepayment Cleared shows what the customer has already paid against the order on a Collection in Receivables, and Prepayment Remaining the rest.
What Save does
- Gives every line its line identifier, which the picking list, the issue, the invoice and the return follow.
- Reprices, reserves, checks the credit (on release), and stores the quantity history of every line whose quantity changed.
- Sets the order status from what has been delivered and invoiced, and updates the status of any quotation the lines came from.
- Promotions. With the setting's Promotion & Rewards ticked, Save looks for programs the order now qualifies for and asks "Do you want to apply the rewards before saving?". See Promotions & Rewards.
- Make to order. When the setting asks for it, Save keeps a Master Planning plan per site for make-to-order items, and can create the manufacturing orders (Manufacturing Order) too. See Plan to produce.
- Inter-company. When the customer is another company of the group set for inter-company orders, Save creates or updates a Purchase Order in that company, with the same lines, under the purchase organization of the order's sales organization.
How to configure it
- Switch columns and tabs on and off on Sales and Distribution Setting.
- Decide what Copy From offers on Sales Origin. A source with no line there answers "You don't have rights".
- Back-dating: with Backdate Entries ticked on the setting, a new order cannot be dated more than Backdate Limit (Days) before today, and an existing order's Posting Date cannot change.
- Make a field mandatory, hidden, read-only or defaulted for this company on the setting's Default Parameters grid.
Scenarios
- A distributor taking an order from a retailer on credit. Pick the customer, add item lines, Save as draft while the customer confirms, then Save to release. The credit check runs then.
- A customer ordering against last month's quotation. Use Copy From Sales Quotation on the lines. Only the quantity not yet ordered comes across.
- A customer quoting one PO number on many orders. Untick Required Unique Customer Reference No on Sales Order on the setting. The reference WOPO is always allowed twice.
- A customer returning damaged goods. Create a Return Order, copy the lines from the customer's invoice, give the Return Reason. The Sales Return receipt in Inventory then takes the goods back.
- A made-to-order product. The item's manufacturing policy is make to order: give its bill of material lines on the line, and let Save keep the plan.
What it is connected to
- Order to cash - where this screen sits in the whole process.
- Sales Quotation, Sale Agreement, Sales Order Journal - documents an order is copied from.
- Sales Order Closure - stops delivery of old open lines.
- Outbound Shipment - the export shipment raised from orders of foreign customers.
- Picking List, Item Issue To Sales Order and Sales Return in Inventory; Customer Invoice and Collection in Receivables.
- Release Customer In Legal Entity - the customer's credit limit, credit area, sale agreement controls and inter-company fields.
- Procure to pay - for a sister-company customer, its Purchase Order is created by this order.
- Barcode Assignment - lets a scan add items to the order lines.
If something looks wrong
- "Sale Order Lines cannot be empty" - add at least one line.
- "Required Date cannot be earlier than Posting Date." / "Promise Date cannot be earlier than Required Date." - fix the dates on the header, or on the line named in the message.
- "You cannot Create Back Date Sales Order" - the Posting Date is older than the setting's Backdate Limit allows.
- "Back Date Validation is enabled, you cannot change the Posting Date" - an existing order keeps its date while back-date validation is on.
- "Exchange Rate cannot be zero or negative" / "Exchange Rate is only applicable for foreign currency transactions." - set a rate for a foreign currency; leave it at 1 for the company currency.
- "Customer Account cannot be empty" / "Customer Account for Invoice cannot be empty" - fill both.
- "Pricing Group not define in Customer In Legalentity and it's cannot be empty" - the customer must have a pricing group. Set it on the customer (Customer In Legal Entity).
- "Line ID: ... Pricing Profile is not Configured" - no price for the item in the order's pricing group, currency and unit. Add it on the Pricing Profile.
- "... Gross Price cannot be zero" - give the line a price, or mark it free with a Special Indicator.
- "... Quantity cannot be zero or less then zero" - a Sales Order line needs a positive quantity.
- "... Site cannot be empty" / "... Warehouse cannot be empty" - the item needs them; fill the header or the line.
- "Selected Warehouse ... belongs to Site ... Please select the correct Site." - the warehouse is in another site.
- "Line ID - ... item ... belongs to sales group ..., not ..." - change the order's Sales Group, or sell the item on another order.
- "Line ID - ... Bom Lines need to define" - a make-to-order item needs its bill of material lines on the line. "there is no need to define bom lines" - the item is not make to order.
- "Line ID - ... Required Season Code" - the item needs a season code.
- "Sale Agreement is mandatory for this customer." / "Item ... is not on Sale Agreement ..." - the customer may only order under an agreement, and only its items.
- "Same Customer Reference: ... already exists against customer ..." - the reference is on another order of the customer.
- "Sales quantity cannot be reduced below this value." with the shipped, picked, delivered or invoiced quantity - part of the line has gone downstream already.
- "Line ID : ... Sales (...) cannot be removed. It's already processed." - a line already picked, issued or invoiced cannot be deleted.
- "... cannot exceed Balance Quantity ... in Sales Quotation ..." - more than the quotation has left.
- "Basic Data - Line ID: ... Partial Delivery not allowed from Sales Quotation: ..." - the quotation line must be ordered in full.
- "This customer has exceeded their credit limit ... This Sales Order cannot be saved." - the customer's credit action is Stop. Collect, raise the limit, or ask for the order to be approved another way.
- "Prepayment Percentage cannot be greater than 100." / "Prepayment Amount cannot be greater than transaction amount." - lower the prepayment.
- "Line ID - ... Stock is not available for reservation please process again for reservation" - the stock or purchase order you reserved from is gone. Reserve again.
- "Sales Order: ... cannot be deleted. Following Item Issue or in Picking list Transactions has been raised against it" - reverse those first. The same for an Outbound Shipment, a Sales Return or a Master Planning plan.
- "Cannot delete Inter Company auto generated Order" - delete it from the order that created it.
- "Cannot Clone this Order, it is Referred Document" - an order copied from another document cannot be cloned.
- "This Sales Order is already used in Delivery Challan(s) ... You cannot cancel it." / "... Picking List(s) ..." - reverse those before cancelling.
- "Configuration is not applied" on the Open Quantity button - that button does nothing today. Use Sales Order Closure or Delivery Stop.