Once a sales order is confirmed, you send it for fulfilment. What that does depends on how your organization fulfils orders — through the warehouse with a goods issue note, as a request the warehouse picks up when it's ready, straight off the shelf, or not at all for services. As the warehouse picks and dispatches, the order shows how much has been delivered, and its stock reservation gives the picked stock back.
Before you start
- Choose How orders are fulfilled on Settings → Modules → Sales orders (see the four ways below). Until you change it, orders are sent to the warehouse as a goods issue note.
- Set a Default fulfilling store on the same screen. Orders are fulfilled from it, and it must be a warehouse for every way except Don't move stock at all. The list marks warehouses with (warehouse).
- You need Edit on the order (Orders › Edit) to send it for fulfilment. Taking the stock immediately also needs Warehouse › Issues › Create and Edit, because it raises and dispatches a goods issue note in your name.
The four ways to fulfil an order
| Setting | What Request fulfilment does |
|---|---|
| Send a goods issue note to the warehouse (the default) | Raises a draft goods issue note (GIN) in the fulfilling warehouse for everything not yet delivered. Nothing moves until the warehouse picks it. |
| Raise a request the warehouse turns into a note | Puts the order on the warehouse's Sales requests list. Warehouse staff create the goods issue note when they're ready; until then nothing is picked and the reservation stays whole. |
| Take the stock immediately, without the warehouse | Raises the goods issue note, picks it and dispatches it in one step, following the warehouse's own picking rules. Whatever isn't in stock is left undelivered. |
| Don't move stock at all | Marks every line delivered in full. No stock is read or moved — for services, or anything you don't track in stock. |
Send an order for fulfilment
- Open the order. Its sidebar has a Fulfilment block, shown once the order is no longer Draft.
- Select Request fulfilment. The button is shown only while the order is Confirmed (or partly delivered) with something left to deliver, and only if you may edit the order. An order on hold can't be sent until its hold is released, and an order with an amendment waiting for approval can't be sent until the amendment is approved, rejected or withdrawn.
The order moves to Fulfilment requested. With a goods issue note, the block names it — select the number to open it, if you can view issues.
Only one request can be open at a time: a second click, or someone else at the same moment, is refused.
What happens next
The warehouse picks and dispatches the goods issue note as it does any other. The order follows along:
- When stock is picked, the order's reservation gives that much back, because the stock has already left the shelf. Picked stock is counted once — by the fall in stock on hand — not again by the reservation.
- When the note is dispatched, the picked quantity counts as delivered. The line items show it in the Delivered column, beside Reserved and Short.
| Order status | Fulfilment block | When |
|---|---|---|
| Fulfilment requested | Sent for fulfilment | The request is open and nothing has been dispatched. |
| Partially delivered | Partly delivered | Something has been delivered, but not everything. |
| Delivered | Delivered | Every line has been delivered in full. |
The order catches up as soon as the warehouse picks or dispatches, and again whenever the order page is opened. A check every 15 minutes brings it back into line if anything was missed.
If the warehouse deletes the draft goods issue note before picking anything, the request is cancelled and the order goes back to Confirmed (or stays Partially delivered), ready to be sent again.
Request the rest
If the warehouse dispatches short, the order reads Partially delivered and the button reads Request the rest. Select it to send what's still undelivered as a new request — with a goods issue note, a new note for the remainder. While that request is open, the order reads Fulfilment requested again (the block keeps saying Partly delivered).
Withdraw a request
While a request is open, the Fulfilment block has a Withdraw request button. It takes the request back without cancelling the order — for example, when it went to the wrong warehouse or the customer asked to wait. It needs Edit on the order.
- A request still waiting on the warehouse's Sales requests list is cancelled.
- A draft goods issue note the warehouse hasn't started picking is deleted.
- Once the warehouse has picked anything from the note, or dispatched it, the request can't be withdrawn: dispatch or unpick it in Warehouse › Issues first.
The order goes back to Confirmed (or Partially delivered, if part of it was delivered earlier) and can be sent again. Its stock reservation is untouched.
To pause the order, put it on hold; to stop it altogether, cancel or close it. Both withdraw the open request the same way.
Amending the order withdraws the open request the same way too. Once the warehouse has picked anything from the note, or dispatched it, the amendment is refused and nothing changes. After the amendment, select Request fulfilment (or Request the rest) to send the amended order again.
Taking the stock immediately
With Take the stock immediately, without the warehouse, Request fulfilment does the warehouse's work at once:
- The goods issue note is picked from the stock the warehouse's own picking would suggest, in the product's picking order (for example, the earliest expiry first). Damaged stock, 3PL stock, stock in a bin being counted and expired or short-dated stock are never taken.
- It is then dispatched. If some of a line wasn't in stock, it's dispatched short with the reason "Not in stock when the sales order was issued directly.", and the rest stays undelivered on the order — use Request the rest when stock arrives.
- If none of it is in stock, nothing is created and the order stays Confirmed.
Errors you may see
| Message | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Only a confirmed order can be sent for fulfilment. | The order is still Draft, or is already Delivered. | Confirm the order first. |
| This order is on hold. Release the hold first. | The order is Held. | Release the hold, or ask someone allowed to release holds. |
| This order has an amendment waiting for approval. | An amendment is waiting for someone to approve it. | Ask an approver to approve or reject it, or withdraw it. |
| This order already has an open fulfilment request. | A request was sent and hasn't been dispatched yet, perhaps by someone else a moment ago. | Reload the order. Wait for the warehouse to dispatch it. |
| This order has nothing left to fulfil. | Every line is already delivered, or the order has no product lines. | Nothing to do. |
| No fulfilling store is set for this order. Choose a default fulfilling store on Settings › Modules › Sales orders. | No store to fulfil from. | Set Default fulfilling store. |
| A goods issue note needs a warehouse. Choose a warehouse as the default fulfilling store on Settings › Modules › Sales orders. | The default fulfilling store is an inventory store, not a warehouse. | Choose a warehouse. |
| Issuing stock directly picks and dispatches a goods issue note, which needs Warehouse › Issues › Create and Edit. | You may send the order but not issue stock. | Ask for the Issues permissions, or ask someone who has them. |
| None of the products on this order can be issued from {warehouse} right now. | Taking the stock immediately found nothing it may pick. Nothing was created. | Bring stock in, then try again. |
| The stock was picked, but goods issue note {number} could not be dispatched: … Open it in Warehouse to dispatch it. | The note was picked but the dispatch was refused; the reason follows. The request stays open. | Open the note in Warehouse › Issues and dispatch it there, or ask someone with access. |
| 3PL products are issued in 3PL. | A line is a 3PL customer's product. Nothing was created. | Issue it in 3PL. |
| This order has no open fulfilment request. | Withdraw request found nothing open — perhaps it was dispatched or withdrawn a moment ago. | Reload the order. |
| Goods issue note {number} has been picked or dispatched, so the request can't be withdrawn. Dispatch or unpick it in Warehouse first. | The warehouse has started on the note. | Dispatch or unpick it in Warehouse › Issues, or ask the warehouse. |
| The warehouse is creating the goods issue note for this request right now. Try again in a few minutes. | Someone is turning the request into a note at this moment. | Wait, then withdraw the note it creates. |
Current limitations
- Delivered means the warehouse dispatched the goods, not that the customer received or signed for them. There is no proof of delivery yet.
- The warehouse still doesn't check sales reservations when it picks: a picker can take stock another order has reserved. Sales notices what was picked and gives the reservation back; it doesn't stop the pick.
- A fully delivered order can't be closed yet.
- Changing the setting affects only new requests; an open one carries on as it was raised.