Order Management - Getting started

1What Order Management does #

Order Management keeps the documents that come before a delivery or a bill: the quotation you send, the sales order a customer places, and the purchase order you place with a supplier. They are voucher types on the ordinary voucher screen. They record what was agreed without moving stock or touching the books - a quotation and an order post nothing - and a later voucher takes their lines.

Around them the module adds the follow-up: a credit check when a sales order is taken, stock reserved for an order, delivery dates per line, a tool that proposes what to re-order, closing what will never be delivered, and reports of what is still pending.

Licence. The module and its menu need Order Management on the company's licence. Loading orders into later vouchers, short-closing them, and the Order Register and Item-Wise Order Details reports also need Linked Transactions.

Purchase Order Automation - Purchase Planning, Generated Purchase Orders and the Generate PO button - is a feature of Order Management, bought on its own. Licences that held Order Management in October 2026 were given it.

2Where to find help #

• On every screen - the Help panel on the right. On the voucher screen it covers orders too: the due-date schedule, stock reservation, Generate PO and every message the screen can show, under If something does not work.
• The manual - at the foot of this page: the voucher type list, the voucher screen, Voucher Manager, Credit Approvals, Manage Linked Transactions, Short-Close Reasons, Stock Availability, Portal Orders and the report viewer, in full.
• The search box - Search help... at the top of every page finds a word in every screen's help; Ask beside it answers a question from the same help.
• The reports - each report carries its own help (purpose, how the status is worked out, how to drill down) in the viewer.

3Where things are - the Order Management menu #

Press Order Management in the sidebar. The page lists the module's own pages and, under Voucher Entry, every order voucher type you hold a right on.

4The Orders Dashboard - where things stand #

Order Management > Orders Dashboard (under *Start here*) shows the module at a glance: sales orders still to deliver and purchase orders still to receive, with their value; the lines that are late; orders taken and raised month by month; and the open orders that have waited longest.

• Every tile has a button that opens the report behind the figure, and every list has one at its head - the dashboard is where you start, the report is where you act.
• A figure that wants attention reads red; one that is as it should be reads green; a plain figure is just a fact.
• The figures are for the report option you signed in with (All, Branch or Group), shown at the top as *For*, up to today. *This year* is the financial year; *this month* the calendar month.
• Cancelled vouchers are never counted, and money figures count posted vouchers only. What is entered but not posted has a tile of its own.
• The page is read when it opens and on Refresh (F3); it does not refresh by itself. Nothing is changed there.
• The right. The dashboard has a user preference of its own: *User Can View Orders Dashboard* in User Manager > Preferences. It starts unticked for everyone, because the dashboard shows money figures; an administrator ticks it for whoever should see it. Administrators always hold it.

5First-day setup (administrator) #

Do these once per company, in this order.

1. Licence. Order Management; Linked Transactions if orders are to be delivered or billed by loading them; Sales and Purchase for the vouchers that take the orders.
2. Order voucher types. In Voucher Manager, check each order type: its Movement Type (Order-IN for sales orders - an order received, whose stock will go out; Order-OUT for purchase orders - an order placed, whose stock will come in) with Affect Stock Register and Affect Books of Accounts off (an order moves nothing itself; Voucher Manager refuses an order type that affects either, and the database refuses one that affects stock even from the desktop), numbering, Default Status and Available Statuses, price source, and Selection Group (customers for sales orders, suppliers for purchase orders).
3. Columns. Switch the Required Date column on in Col. Properties for the order types whose lines have delivery dates - it ships hidden.
4. Reservation. Switch Allow Stock Reservation on for the order types that hold stock for the customer; Auto Create Stock Reservation Entry pre-fills the quantities, and Allow Reserve For Zero/Negative Stock lets a reservation exceed the available stock.
5. Linking. On the delivery note, invoice and purchase types that take orders, switch Enable Linked Transaction on and name the order types as sources in its properties.
6. Order Settings. Decide the credit check (Off, Warn or Block), whether overdue bills count, and whether a sales order must name a salesperson.
7. Customers' credit. Key each customer's Credit Limit and Credit Period on the Ledger Account Master - a customer with no limit is never checked.
8. Short-close reasons. Review Linked Transactions > Short-Close Reasons: a starting list is installed; put it in your own words.
9. Rights. In User Manager's Vouchers tab, per order type: Create, Alter, Delete, Find, Print, Status Change, Allow Stock Reserve, Can Close Link Src., Show In Link Pending. On the Tools tab, Manage Linked Transactions. On the Reports tab, the order reports.

6Keyboard shortcuts #

Orders are entered on the voucher screen, so its keys apply; the order windows add their own.

7Entering a quotation or an order #

Open the voucher type from Order Management (for example Sales Order). It is the ordinary voucher screen: pick the party, add the lines with F7, add any sundries, and Save (F5). What is different for orders:

• Nothing moves. The order posts nothing and moves no stock; the stock checks of an invoice do not apply. What the order commits is visible in the reports and, when reserved, in Stock Availability.
• Ref. No holds the customer's own purchase order number - the Order Register shows it as the party's reference.
• Employee is the salesperson. The order reports group and filter by it, and Order Settings can make it compulsory on sales orders.
• Status. A new order takes the voucher type's Default Status. In view mode the Status card is clickable: pick a status from the type's Available Statuses and add remarks. What an order may still do in each status - alter, delete, print, reserve - is set in Voucher Manager's Status Permissions (ERP). Changing status needs the Status Change right.
• Workflow. On a voucher type with Enable Work-Flow (and the Workflow Management licence), the Workflow button submits the order for approval and shows where it stands - see the Workflow guide.

Delivery dates - the due-date schedule and the Required Date column

A line of an order voucher type (Order-IN or Order-OUT, not affecting stock) can carry a due-date schedule: the quantity split across dates. The window opens as the line is committed: Add Row, key each date and quantity against the running total, and Save (F5) - or close it, and the whole quantity is due at once. It reopens from the line's Actions column. On an order not yet saved, the rows are held and written with the order.

The Required Date column (switched on per voucher type) gives each line its required-by date. The order reports use it: the Order Register's Next due, red overdue orders and Overdue orders only; Item-Wise Order Details' Delay and Delayed lines only; and Pending Linked Transactions marks late lines red.

Loading a quotation into an order

On an order type whose linked-transaction properties name the quotation type, pick the quotation in Linked ... No(s) or type its number in Link Src. ID, and its lines come across. Without linking, Copy To on a saved quotation opens a new order with the same lines and charges and a blank header.

8Order Settings #

Order Management > Order Settings holds the three rules of the sales-order stage. Administrators only; press Save and the next order saved follows them.

Only voucher types whose base type is Sales Order are checked; quotations and purchase orders never are.

9The credit check on sales orders #

The check runs on the server when the order is saved, before anything is written. It adds up the customer's exposure and compares it with the credit limit on the customer's ledger account:

• the customer's ledger balance on the order date, plus
• the pending value of the customer's other open sales orders, plus
• this order - its item total plus the + sundries less the - sundries.

• A customer with no credit limit, or a limit of zero, is not checked.
• An edited order is judged only on what it adds: correcting an order downwards never trips the check.
• An invoice drawn from an order reduces that order's pending value by what it bills, so the same sale is never counted twice.
• A live credit approval raises the limit by its deviation and waives the overdue-bills check, exactly as it does for an invoice.
• If the check cannot be worked out - the setting missing, a fault reading the balance - the order is saved as before; credit control is never the reason an order fails for an unrelated fault.

When an order is held for credit

1. With Block, the refused order stays on screen and Credit check blocked this save - request approval? opens.
2. Write Remarks for the approver and press Request approval (F5). A ticket is raised on Credit Approvals; if one is already waiting for that customer, its number is returned instead.
3. The approver decides it: an allowed deviation above the limit, valid for the customer's next N bills and optionally until a date.
4. Once approved, save the same order again - it goes through.

10Reserving stock for an order #

A reservation sets stock aside for an order that has not moved it yet. It is for order and quotation voucher types only - a voucher type that moves stock cannot reserve.

1. In Voucher Manager, switch on Allow Stock Reservation for the order voucher type.
2. Open the saved order and press Stock Reserve on the right-hand rail. The Stock Reservation window lists each line: Requested, Stock, Reserved by others, Used and the Reserve Qty to set.
3. Type the quantities, or press Reserve All (F3) to fill every line that has stock, then Save (F5).

• A reservation can never be negative, more than the line requests, or more than the available stock - unless the voucher type has Allow Reserve For Zero/Negative Stock on.
• The window also opens by itself after every new save of an order whose type allows reservation. With Auto Create Stock Reservation Entry on, the quantities are already filled in when it opens.
• The reservation is released by itself as the order's lines are delivered by a stock-moving voucher. The desktop's separate un-reservation voucher is not on the web.
• Reserved stock is held back from Net Available on the Stock Availability report - the figure you may promise. The same figure feeds the customer portal's catalogue.
• It needs the Allow Stock Reserve right on the voucher type. Reserve stock (F3) on Manage Linked Transactions does the same from the list of pending orders.

11From order to delivery and invoice #

An order is fulfilled by the voucher that loads it: a delivery note or an invoice for a sales order, a purchase voucher for a purchase order. The receiving voucher type must have Enable Linked Transaction on, with the order type among its sources, and the company needs the Linked Transactions licence.

1. Open the delivery note or invoice type and pick the customer (or, on types that ask for the source first, the source - and the customer follows).
2. Pick the order in Linked ... No(s), or type or scan its number in Link Src. ID. Only orders with something still pending are listed.
3. The pending lines come across. Change what the link settings allow, and save. The order's pending quantity drops by what was taken.

• Part deliveries are normal: the order stays pending for the rest, and its status in the reports becomes Part-executed.
• Set-Off Details on the delivery or invoice shows, line by line, what the order asked for, what has been taken and what is left.
• Manage Linked Transactions works from the other end: set the filters, Apply, tick orders of one type and one party and press Set Off (F5) to open the receiving voucher with them loaded - or Auto Set-Off (F4) to create one voucher per party, after a preview. Each voucher saves on its own; one refused for credit or stock is reported and the rest still save.
• Item-wise pending, Set-offed vouchers and History on that page trace what an order became.

• With Warehouse Management, a sales or production order whose voucher type has Use WMS Bins switched on (Voucher Manager) is picked ahead: its stock is picked and staged in the dispatch bin, and the delivery made from it takes the staged stock out. With Use WMS Bins Off - the default - it is not picked ahead; the delivery is picked once it is saved, if ITS voucher type is switched on.
• The delivery's voucher type can wait for the warehouse (Linked Transaction properties > Warehouse Condition): it then takes only what is picked of the order, or the order only once picked in full. The database refuses a save beyond that, the desktop's too.
• A line closed short stops the order asking the warehouse for more; what was already staged for it is moved back to a bin on Bin Stock.

12Closing what will never be delivered #

An order line the customer no longer wants would otherwise stay pending for ever - in the link pick-list, the credit check's open-order total and the order reports. Close it instead, on Linked Transactions > Manage Linked Transactions.

1. Filter to the order, Apply, and click its row.
2. To give up the whole order, tick it and press Close voucher...; to give up some lines, press Short-close... and tick them.
3. Pick a reason (from Short-Close Reasons) and add remarks when the reason asks for them. Confirm.

• Nothing already delivered changes - bills, stock and the ledger are untouched. The balance leaves the pending lists, the credit check and the reports' pending figures.
• The balance is re-read at the moment of closing: a line set off or closed since the list was read refuses the whole close.
• Show: Closed lists what has been closed, here or on the desktop; tick lines and Reopen ticked... with remarks to put a balance back. The close stays in the log.
• Closing and reopening need Can Close Link Src. on each voucher type involved, and the page needs the Manage Linked Transactions tools right.
• The Close Register report lists every close and every reopen, with the reason, the value given up, who and when. The Order Register shows a short-closed order as Short-closed and can group by the reason.

13Purchase Planning - what must be bought now, and ordering it #

Order Management > Purchase Planning lists, item by item, how much must be bought now and why, shows every figure behind it, and raises the purchase orders for the items you tick. The plan stores nothing, so Run (F3) always gives today's answer.

1. Check the Scope in the header. It is the reporting option you chose when you opened the company - one branch, a group company or all branches. To plan for another scope, choose it at company selection.
2. Press Run (F3). The items to order are listed, the most urgent first - the fewest Days left. A line tinted amber will run out before its supplier can deliver.
3. Read Why on anything unexpected. Click a figure in On order, Sales orders, Being produced, Production need or Usage / day to see the vouchers behind it; hover over Available, Supplier and Rate for where they came from.
4. Narrow the list with Search, Item group or Supplier, or drag the Supplier heading to the bar above the list to see each supplier's items together.
5. Tick the items you want in the Order column, or press Tick all listed. Change Order qty on any line.
6. Click a line's Supplier to compare prices - every supplier the item was bought from, its last price and date, lead time, and which is lowest, latest and preferred. Press Use beside one, or pick Another supplier. Price comparison on the toolbar shows the same for every item on the list.
7. Press Generate PO (F5), pick the voucher type (a Purchase Order type, or a Material Request type) and confirm. One order is raised for each supplier, on the branch you are signed into, dated today.
8. The result lists each order. Open generated orders goes to Generated Purchase Orders, where the orders are viewed, approved, rejected or cancelled, printed, and sent by e-mail or WhatsApp / SMS.

An example. An item uses 4 a day. Lead time is 7 days and safety stock 12, so the reorder level is 40. Maximum stock is 120. Available is 30, on order 20, sales orders 25. Projected is 30 + 20 - 25 = 25, under 40, so it is listed. To order = 25 + 120 - 30 - 20 = 95.

• A warning above the list names any purchase order or sales order type whose vouchers are not counted, because no voucher type with linked transactions loads from it. Link the receiving or delivering type to it in Voucher Manager, or the plan will propose again what is already on its way.
• For a group company or all branches, transfers between branches are left out, and branch-wise levels are added up where branches keep them.
• Production orders hold both the finished goods to be made and the raw material they need. What is still to be made counts as stock coming in; the raw material still to be used counts as a requirement. Not counted yet: the warehouse's replenishment shortage.

14Generated Purchase Orders - approve, print and send #

Order Management > Generated Purchase Orders lists every order that Generate PO raised, with its state as it is now. The orders are ordinary vouchers: they are saved by the voucher screen's own save, so the voucher type's numbering, tax, rules and workflow apply, and they can be opened and changed on the voucher screen and on the desktop.

• Tick one or more orders, then press a button; with none ticked, the button acts on the line you last clicked.
• Arriving from Generate PO, the list shows only the orders just generated. Switch that off and press Apply filters to see earlier ones; Only the orders I generated narrows it to yours.
• A cancelled order is tinted red and a rejected one orange. Neither is sent to a supplier. A cancelled order no longer counts as On order in Purchase Planning.
• The supplier's e-mail address and mobile come from its address book entry.
• The orders are raised on the branch you are signed into. To order for one branch, choose that branch and the Branch reporting option at company selection before running the plan.

15Generate PO - what to re-order #

On a Purchase Order voucher type, while adding or modifying, Generate PO opens the PO Generation Tool: a shortage analysis whose rows you tick into the order.

1. Set Purchase data from / to (the supply history, a year back by default) and Sales data from / to (three months back by default). In the ERP edition, pick [ALL] branches or This branch.
2. Choose how the sales are summarised - Summary type AVG or SUM, Summary of Month or Day - and Required qty based on: Re-Order Level, Sales Qty. or [All].
3. Press Run (F3). Each row shows the item, its group, Stock, Re-Order Lvl., the average or total sales quantity, the Required Qty, the Last Sup. Rate and the last supply date. Only shortages are listed.
4. Change any Required Qty, use Remove Zero / Negative Qty to tidy the list, tick the rows (or the header box for all) and press OK (F5).

The ticked items land in the order with the required quantity at the last supply rate, and the screen says Brought ... shortage line(s) into the order. Check the supplier, the rates and the quantities, then save as usual.

16Orders from the Customer Portal #

When a customer places an order on the portal it becomes a real sales order straight away, of the voucher type chosen in Portal Settings - there is no queue it waits in. The staff side is Portal Orders:

• The page opens on the last three months. New in Desk state means nobody has looked at the order yet.
• Click an order: its lines show with the free stock beside each ordered quantity, and lines you cannot fill are marked short.
• Decide two things, separately: Move the voucher to (the order's status in the books, through the ERP's own status rules and rights) and Desk state (Acknowledged or Rejected, with Remarks). Save (F5).
• A Rejected or Cancelled order cannot be invoiced; change the desk state or the status first if it is to be billed after all.
• The page never edits the order's lines, prices or quantities - amend the order on the voucher screen.

The portal's order-time availability and credit checks read the same free-stock figure as Stock Availability and the same effective credit limit as the order check.

17Following up what is pending #

• Order Register - every sales and purchase order of the period: order value, what was delivered (read from the linked lines, so always current), the pending value, Fill %, days open and the status. Overdue orders only keeps orders with a line past its required-by date; Show credit headroom gives each sales order's customer the effective limit less the balance now.
• Item-Wise Order Details - order lines item by item: ordered, executed, balance and excess, the order rate against the average delivered rate, lead time and delay. Delayed lines only and Over-executed lines only narrow it; Show the documents that delivered each line adds a row per invoice or challan.
• Pending Linked Transactions (Linked Transactions) - every order line still to come, red when past its required-by date.
• Stock Availability - whether what the orders need is actually free.
• Party-Wise Rate Comparison - what each supplier quoted or charged for the same items, and who was cheapest.

18Who sees what #

19Order reports #

In the Order Register, group by Branch and click a heading to open the next level down - division, then salesperson, then party. Click an order to open it, the party for its ledger account, and the executed or pending value for that order's lines in Item-Wise Order Details. Order value is the order total as keyed, tax included; executed and pending value are before tax, at the order's own net rate.

20Moving from the desktop #

• Same data. Orders entered on the desktop show on the web and the other way round; the order voucher types, statuses and linking rules are the ones in Voucher Manager.
• Reports read the live links. The desktop's Order Register and Item-Wise Order Details read a tracking table and the delivery schedule, which this database no longer fills - so the desktop's item-wise report showed nothing. The web reports read the lines linked to each order line.
• Party-Wise Rate Comparison names its three rate bases by what they are, and Last is the latest by date, not the last one entered.
• New on the web. The credit check when a sales order is saved (Order Settings), the salesperson rule, and short-close reasons with their log. Closes made on the desktop carry remarks only and read as (no reason recorded).
• Not on the web yet. The un-reservation voucher; Generate PO's Material-Request, brand and supplier modes and its multi-supplier PO writer.

21If something does not work #

The voucher screen's Help panel lists every message it can show; these are the ones met on orders.