Sales Orders > Sales Order Processing > Back Order Release

Back Order Release

You use this program to review and manually release order lines that were placed on back order during processing in the Sales Order Entry program. The order lines can be released to ship or to reserved, if you are reserving stock (Sales Orders Setup).

You can also use this program to release a forward order.

Toolbar and menu

Field Description
Start Review Select this to display sales orders in the SO Back Order Release listview according to the review criteria defined in the SO Back Order Review Criteria pane.

This option is enabled when you initially access the program. Thereafter, it is only re-enabled after you select the Change Criteria option.
Change Criteria Select this to indicate different criteria according to which you want to display orders for review.
Print Select this to print the information currently displayed in the SO Back Order Release pane.
Save Form Values This option is only enabled in Design mode (Automation Design). Your selections are saved and applied when the program is run in automated mode.

Form values and defaults are applied at operator level. They are not saved at role or group level.

SO Back Order Review Criteria

The fields and options in this pane enable you to indicate selection criteria according to which you want orders on back order to be displayed for release.

The selections you make here determine which sales orders are displayed in the SO Back Order Release listview.

Field Description
Sequence of release  
Sequence 1 Indicate the primary sequence in which you want to display orders.

One of the following can be selected:

  • Order number
  • Salesperson
  • Customer class
  • Geographic area
  • Line ship date
  • Stock code
  • Customer
Sequence 2

Indicate the secondary sequence (within the primary sequence) in which you want to display orders.

For example: If you wanted to list orders by customer and then by the line ship date of the order, then select Customer at the Sequence 1 field and Line ship date at the Sequence 2 field.
Limit of selected orders

Indicate the number of sales orders you want the system to process before the results are displayed in the listview.

Because the number you enter here is the number of sales orders, not the number of sales order lines, this number will generally not correspond exactly to the number of lines displayed in the listview. Some reasons for this are that:

  • an order may have no valid back-order lines
  • an order may have valid back-order lines but there is no quantity available to ship and you have selected not to display lines with zero quantity to ship
  • an order may have more than one valid back-order line

An entry of zero here selects all qualifying back orders held on file.
Reserve Stock Options These options apply when the option: Reserving stock required is enabled (Sales Orders Setup).

If you are not allowed to override the reserve stock options, then the options default to the settings defined for reserving stock (Sales Orders Setup) and cannot be changed.

See Activity considerations in Notes and warnings.

[Note]

These options apply to all lines in the selection.
Quantities to be reserved Select this to move the backorder quantity to the reserved quantity field.
Request lots/bins/serial when reserving Select this to enter lot, bin and serial information (where applicable) when the quantity is moved from backorder into reserved.
[Note]
  • When the Back Order Release program is run in automated mode, any lines for which lots/bins/serial allocations are required are not released. The reason is that this information cannot be prompted for (and therefore entered) during an automated run.

  • When you release a line into reserve, if a reserve quantity already exists on that line, then this option must be set as it was when you first reserved the quantity on the line. If not, the line is ignored by the Back Order Release program.

    For example, you create a sales order with:

    • Order qty = 5
    • Reserved qty = 2
    • Back order qty = 3
    • Lots, bins and serials allocated at time of reserving.

    This means that the lots, bins and serials were allocated for the 2 items placed in reserve.

    You now want to release the remaining 3 items from backorder into reserve. You must allocate lots, bins and serials at this point (i.e. you must select this option when releasing the 3 items from backorder into reserve).

    If you do not select this option, then the line will be ignored (not displayed) by the Back Order Release program. You cannot have lot, bin and serial information against 2 items in reserve and not against the other 3 items.

    The reverse is also true.

    With the above example, if you had not selected to reserve lots, bins and serials when you placed the quantity of 2 into reserve, then you must not select this option when you release the remaining 3 items from backorder into reserve.
Warning Options  
Warn before applying release quantity Enable this to be notified before the release quantity is applied for a line. When you select the Apply Release Qty or Release All Lines functions during the review, the program requires you to confirm whether you want to release the line(s).
Do not warn before applying alternate Select this if you do not want the system to notify you before it applies alternate stock for a line.
Include/exclude Options  
Include counter sales orders Include counter sales orders in the review.
Exclude sched. order lines not yet allocated Exclude scheduled orders where the allocation days have not yet been reached from the review.
Neg. warehouse, only consider free stock If you are allowing stock to go negative, then this option releases stock only if a positive quantity is available for the warehouse. This option is useful when using the Release All Lines function.
Include billings in status 8

Include any back ordered items attached to billings that are in status 8 in the review.

These are included only if there was sufficient stock available to allocate at the time the billing was raised.
Include stock code on partial hold

Include stock items which are on partial hold in the review.

This enables you to release stock items that were put on partial hold after being placed on back order in Sales Order Entry.
Exclude order lines with partial release Automatically deselect lines which cannot be released in full when the lines are listed in the SO Back Order Release listview.

Order lines where the release quantity is greater than the available quantity to release are deselected by default.
Exclude items with supply request

Exclude stocked and non-stocked items attached to a job, a requisition, a purchase order or a supply chain transfer (SCT) from the backorder review.

If you do not select this option, then the program automatically includes stocked and non-stocked items with an outstanding supply request and enables you to release them.
Exclude lines if picking slip printed Exclude lines previously printed on a picking slip from the orders to be displayed for release.

This is useful when you release lines from back order in stages.
Exclude lines in picking status Exclude lines which are in a picking status of 6. This status can currently only be set using the SORTRP and WMSQPS business objects.
Include zero quantities to release Include order lines with a zero release quantity. These are lines which cannot be released because the free quantity is currently zero.

If using alternate stock, select this option to be able to apply the alternate stock.
Remove processed back ordered lines

Remove posted order lines from the listview, regardless of the remaining back order quantity.

If you do not select this option, then a line is removed from the listview when it is posted and the backorder quantity is fully released. A line which is posted but not fully released remains in the listview, even if no free quantity is available.
Include SCT orders Include Supply Chain Transfer orders in the review.
Include forward orders Include forward orders (i.e. orders in status F) in the review.
Stock codes  
Stock code selection Indicate the stock code(s) for which to view sales orders.
Warehouses  
Warehouse selection Indicate the warehouse(s) for which to view sales orders.
Customer classes  
Customer class selection Indicate the customer class(es) for which to view sales orders.
Product classes  
Product class selection Indicate the product class(es) for which to view sales orders.
Geographic areas  
Geographic area selection Indicate the geographic area(s) for which to view sales orders.
Ship dates  
Ship date selection Indicate the order ship date(s) for which to view sales orders.

For SCTs and Forward orders, you must indicate the Line ship date.

Salespersons  
Salesperson selection Indicate the salesperson(s) for whom to view sales orders.
Customers  
Customer selection Indicate the customer(s) for whom to view sales orders.

If you select Exclude single, then all orders for the specified customer are ignored.

Sales orders  
Sales order selection Indicate the sales order(s) to display for review.
Print requirements  
Print delivery notes

Select this to generate delivery notes for the orders you released.

Delivery notes are generated for orders in a status of 1 or 3 providing there are items to ship (see Sales Order Status Codes).

This option is available If you are releasing to reserve (i.e. the Reserve stock option is set to Quantities to be reserved) if the Print lines with zero quantity to ship option (Sales Orders Setup) is enabled.
Format Indicate the format to use for printing the delivery notes.

You can select the Define format option to use the SO Document Formats program to maintain the page layout for printing sales order documents.
Format name This indicates the description of the Format selected.
After processing completed

These options are displayed within programs that can be automated. They enable you to indicate the action you want to perform once processing is complete (see Automation Design).

Enter up to 100 Stock Codes

You use the Define List option to enter a list of up to 100 stock codes for which you want to display sales orders in the review.

Alternatively, you can enter an existing purchase order number and the stock codes on the purchase order are automatically added to the list.

Field Description
Stock code list maintenance  
Stock code Enter the stock code you want to add to the list.
Description

Displays the description for the Stock code, so that you can verify that you entered the correct code.
Long description Displays the long description for the Stock code.
Add Add the Stock code to the list.
Remove Delete the highlighted stock code from the list of stock codes.
Purchase order selection

Enter an existing purchase order number for which the stock codes on the purchase order can automatically be added to the list.

If more than one line exists for the same stock code on the purchase order, then only the first occurrence of the stock code is added to the list.

If there are more than 100 unique stock codes on the purchase order, then only the first 100 are added to the list.

When you select a purchase order, you have the option of including or excluding non-stocked items or of including only non-stocked items.
Purchase order Enter the purchase order number from which you want to add stock codes to the list.
Add Add the stock codes on the purchase order to the list.
Non-stocked items Indicate whether non-stocked items must be added to the list.
OptionDescription
IncludeInclude non-stocked items on the purchase order(s) entered.
ExcludeExclude non-stocked items on the purchase order(s) entered.
OnlyInclude only the non-stocked items on the purchase order(s) entered.
Close Save the list and to return to the previous screen.

SO Back Order Release

When you select the Start Review option, the items on backorder are displayed in this listview according to the review criteria you indicated.

Field Description
Release All Lines Release all selected lines currently displayed in the listview, according to the release quantities indicated. Only lines with a tick in the Selected column of the listview are included for release.

You are prompted to enter lot, bin and serial information for lines to which these apply when moving items from backorder into ship.

When moving lines from backorder into reserve, the lot, bin and serial information is requested according to your selection at the Reserve Stock Options options in the SO Back Order Review Criteria pane or in Sales Orders Setup.

If you selected to print delivery notes, then these are generated using the Document Print program.

If you are using Trade Promotions, then associated promotions are updated as follows when an order line is shipped:

  • If the order line is a stocked line (i.e. not a free goods line) and the customer is a Trade Promotions customer, then all line promotions which are attached to the order line and which have already been selected, are updated with the ship quantity (see Promotion Selection).

    Any off invoice lines are updated at the same time.

  • Any global promotions which have already been selected are updated for the line (see Promotion Selection).

  • If the line is a free goods line, then the free goods quantity to ship is checked to ensure that the quantity to be shipped is not greater than the applicable free goods quantity for the promotion.

    Where the ship quantity exceeds the applicable free goods quantity, the amount of the free goods to be shipped is reduced.

    A report indicating the free goods lines which were reduced is produced at the end of the process.

[Note]

When the Back Order Release program is run in automated mode, all lines resulting from the specified review criteria are released. A report can either be printed to the default printer or emailed to a list of email recipients, according to the After processing completed options selected.

If any errors are encountered during the run, an error report can be printed or emailed.

If you run the Back Order Release program from a list of tasks and you select to Suppress error messages in the Task Group setup, then any run-time errors encountered are displayed in the Task Messages listview.

Run-time messages include any COMER errors (file handling), lines not released because allocations were required, sales order line being maintained by another operator or not enough stock available.

Any lines for which lots/bins/serial allocations are required are not released, because this information cannot be prompted for (and therefore entered) during an automated run.
Change

Change the quantity you want to release for the order line currently highlighted in the listview (see Change Release Quantity).

The default release quantity is derived from the available free stock for the stock item.
Apply Release Qty Ship/reserve the available quantity that is displayed in the Release quantity column for the order line currently selected in the listview.
[Note]

  • You cannot release a line which has a release quantity of zero.

  • If stock is not allowed to go negative (Inventory Setup) then you cannot change the release quantity of an order line that would result in stock going negative.

    If stock is allowed to go negative, and you indicated that the automatic depletion of sales orders is required, but there is insufficient stock available to allocate the item, then a warning message is displayed indicating that the remaining quantity will be placed on back order.

    Traceable, serialized, and ECC-controlled items will not be allowed to go negative, regardless of your warehouse settings.

  • If a back ordered stock item is serialized, or traceable, or requires multiple bins, then you must complete these allocations (using the SO Lots, Bins, Serials Allocations program) before the line can be released into ship. The same applies when releasing items into reserve if you did not select to Request lots/bins/serials when reserving stock.

    Irrespective of whether you selected to apply automatic depletion (Inventory Setup) serials are not automatically depleted and therefore serial numbers must be allocated against the line for serialized items.

  • If you are performing credit checking on current orders only (Sales Orders Setup) then when the order quantity is moved to ship, a credit check is performed by the Back Order Release program.

    If the option: Exclude lines that fail credit check is enabled (Sales Orders Setup) then the lines are ignored and not released. If this option is not selected, then the lines are released, but the order placed into suspense.
Components Use the SO Single Level BOM program to view all components attached to the parent item currently highlighted in the listview.

This option is displayed only if the order line is for a kit parent type.

If you release a parent stock item without completing the necessary allocations for a component, then the component is marked as changed and the system no longer regards it as part of the kit.
Selected Toggle between selecting/deselecting each line in the listview for inclusion in/exclusion from release.

A tick in this listview column indicates that the order line is selected for release and will be released when you select the Release All option.
Total Displayed at the bottom of the listview and indicates the number of order lines currently selected for release (i.e. the lines with a tick in the Selected column).

Change Release Quantity

This screen is displayed when you select the Change option from the SO Back Order Release listview.

Field Description
Accept

Change the release quantity according to the value in the Release quantity field.

Warehouse checks for stock available are identical whether you are releasing items into ship or into reserve.

The status of an order line (for accepted release) is changed from 2 to 3 and for a billing, from 2 to 8. The status of orders currently in a status of 1 or 3 remains unchanged.

If you selected the option: Update ship date with release date (Sales Orders Setup) then the ship date of a status 2 order is changed to the date on which the backorder release is performed.

This updates the SO Back Order Release grid by subtracting the release quantity from the quantity on back order and displays the new quantity on back order.
Cancel Return to the listview without changing the release quantity.
Stock code Displays the code of the stock item for which you are maintaining the release quantity.
Description Displays the description for the stock code selected.
Long description Displays the long description for the stock code selected.
Release Quantity  
Quantity free to release Displays the quantity free which is calculated as:

Sales allocations plus backorder quantity less quantity to ship/reserve.
Outstanding quantity Displays the quantity currently in backorder.
Quantity to release

Enter the quantity to release from backorder. The quantity cannot be negative, but can be zero.

Any quantity that is released is subtracted from the backorder quantity and added to the ship or reserve quantity on the order.

If the quantity free to release exceeds the quantity on backorder, then the entire backorder quantity is displayed in this field by default, but can be changed.

SO Back Order Release Listview

You can right click in the listview header and use the Field Chooser option to add columns to the listview.

Column Description
Selected A tick in this column indicates that the order line is selected for release.
Sales order Indicates the sales order number for the item on backorder.
Line Indicates the sales order line number for the item.
Stock code Indicates the code of the item on backorder.
Backorder quantity Indicates the quantity of the item currently on backorder.
Uom Indicates the unit of measure for the backorder quantity.
Free quantity

Indicates the quantity free (On hand quantity - (Allocated to Sales Orders - Total Backorder quantity)) in the stocking unit of measure.

For non-stocked items, this is displayed as the maximum quantity for this field (all nines). The reason is that a non-stocked item does not belong to a warehouse and does not have a quantity on hand, therefore the calculation for the free quantity cannot be done. If this was set to zero, then no non-stocked items would be released.

This quantity is not refreshed as you select/deselect lines. This was done deliberately to shorten the time delay between clicking to release and setting focus back on the listview.
Stocking uom Indicates the stocking unit of measure for the stock item.
Release quantity Indicates the quantity which will be released if you select the Release All or Apply Release Qty options.
Apply available alternate

If alternate stock codes can be applied to a sales order and the order has not been fulfilled, than a hyperlink is displayed in this column. Select the hyperlink to apply alternate stock to the sales order to fulfil the back order quantity for that order.

If the alternate stock is a lot traceable, serialised, or multiple bins are required, then you are prompted to supply the lot, serial or bin information.

Ensure that the Include zero quantities to release option is enabled for the hyperlink to be displayed.
Ship date Indicates the line ship date of the back ordered line.

The line ship date is displayed for SCTs and Forward orders.
Salesperson Indicates the salesperson responsible for the sales order.
Rev / Rel Indicates the revision / release number of the item if the item is defined as ECC controlled.
Customer Indicates the customer code of the customer who ordered the item.
Description Indicates the description for the stock code.
Long description Indicates the long description for the stock code.
Warehouse Indicates the warehouse from which the item will be shipped.
Target Wh Indicates the warehouse to which the item will be shipped for an SCT order.

Notes and warnings

Restrictions and limits

  • Hierarchical orders are ignored by this program.

  • Orders which are in suspense at the time of running this program are automatically excluded.

  • Credit checking is not applied when moving quantities from backorder into reserve.

Forward orders

  • When shipping a Forward order, the backorder quantity in the InvWarehouse table is not reduced with the release quantity. This table is only updated when the forward order is converted into an open order; not while the sales order is in forward order status.

Activity considerations

Operator access to the following activities within this program can be restricted. You configure this using the Operators program.

Activity Description
SO Allow override of reserve stock options when shipping sales orders Controls whether an operator can override the Reserve stock default ship status set in the Sales Orders Setup program when processing orders in the Sales Order Entry program.

When this activity is enabled, the operator is prompted to set the options for reserving stock when accessing the Sales Order Entry program (see SO Reserve or Ship Stock). In addition, the operator can indicate options for reserving stock when releasing items from backorder (Back Order Release) and when indicating demand criteria in the Inventory Demand Review program.

Inserting Application Help

You would typically follow this procedure to display help for the current program in a customized pane that can be pinned to the program window.

Information includes step-by-step instructions for the various functions available within the program, including a brief overview of what the program does, what setup options are required and how to personalize the program.

  1. Open the program for which you want to insert application help into a customized pane.

    This functionality is only available for a program that has panes.

  2. Right-click any form field.

    You can also click the triangle menu icon that appears in the title area of a pane.

  3. Select Insert Application Help from the context-sensitive menu.

    The application help appears in a pane within your program. You can reposition the pane using the docking stickers or pin it to the program window.

Removing the Application Help pane

If you no longer want to display application help in a pane for your current program, you can simply remove it.

  1. Select the Close icon in the right-hand corner of the application help pane.

  2. Confirm that you want to delete the pane.