How to Manage Backorders in Unleashed

Before you start

• A backorder is the part of an order you couldn't ship yet. In Unleashed, the Sales Order's status shows Backordered.
• The Backorder Enquiry isn't available on Lite. On Lite, use the View Sales Orders page instead (see Step 4).
• You can add and invoice a product with no stock on a Sales Order, but you can't dispatch it until stock arrives.

Step 1: Ship the stock you have

1. 1Open the Sales Order and create a Shipment for the lines and quantities you can send now.
2. 2Dispatch the shipment. The quantity left over is set to backorder and the order's status changes to Backordered.

Step 2: Invoice what you shipped

1. 1In the Sales Order, hover over the action cog on the shipment's line and select Create Invoice. The invoice covers only that shipment.
2. 2If you invoice the whole order up front instead, create the invoice from the Sales Order.

Step 3: Cover the shortfall

1. 1To buy the missing stock, open the Sales Order, click the Order drop-down and select Create Purchase. To buy for some lines only, tick them in Order Lines and use the action cog.
2. 2Confirm the Purchase Qty and Supplier for each line. Untick Set Order Status as Backordered if you want the order to keep its current status.
3. 3Click Create. Unleashed creates one Purchase Order per supplier in Parked status. A hand-truck icon on the order line links to it.
4. 4If you make the product, select Create Assembly from the Order Lines action cog instead.
5. 5To buy or assemble for many orders at once, use the Reorder Report.

Step 4: Track open orders

1. 1Go to Reports > Sales > Backorder Enquiry. It filters for Backordered orders by default; change Order Status to see Open, Parked or Placed orders too.
2. 2Click Run. The Sales Order tab shows one row per order with Can Ship, On Shipments and Shipped as percentages. Click + to see each line.
3. 3The All tab shows one row per order line, with Next Delivery: the earliest delivery date on a Placed Purchase Order for that product.
4. 4A Required Date in the past shows in red, so overdue orders stand out.
5. 5On Lite, go to View Sales Orders, open Show Toolbar > Hidden Columns, and drag the On Shipment and Shipped columns into the grid.

Step 5: Ship the rest and complete the order

1. 1When stock arrives, hover over the order's action cog in the Backorder Enquiry and select Ship, or tick several orders and select Create Shipments.
2. 2Select Complete, or Complete Orders for several. Unleashed creates and completes shipments and invoices for anything not yet shipped or invoiced.
3. 3If there isn't enough stock in the order's warehouse, a red banner explains why the order couldn't be completed.

To print backordered quantities on sales orders or invoices, add the UnshippedQuantity, ShippedQty, UnCompleteInvoicedQuantity and CompletedInvoiceQuantity columns to the SalesOrderLinesGrid or InvoiceLinesGrid in Settings, Doc Designer.

If something doesn't look right

• An order won't complete: check there's enough free (unallocated) stock in the shipping warehouse for every line.
• Look for other open or draft shipments holding the same stock, and complete or cancel them.
• Review stock allocated to other sales orders and adjust it if needed.
• Complete any pending stock receipts or stock adjustments.
• If stock is really short, receive or adjust stock first, then complete the order.

Where Unleashed leaves the work to you

• Telling the customer which lines are short and when they'll arrive.
• Asking the customer whether to ship part of the order now or wait.
• Getting a firm delivery date from the supplier. Next Delivery is only as good as the date on the Purchase Order.
• Running the Backorder Enquiry every day and acting on it.

How Logistify helps

When Logistify's Sales Order Service enters a customer order as a sales order in Unleashed, it replies to the buyer with an order confirmation, the quantity available per line and a date for any shortfall, and asks whether to ship part now. The Procurement Service follows up with suppliers on open Unleashed purchase orders and captures the confirmed dates and quantities. It doesn't create purchase orders. For how reserved stock affects what can ship, see How stock allocation works on sales orders.