Order Entry > Entering Transactions > Order Types

Order Types

The type of order you are entering determines how the order is processed.

Order Types
Order Type Description Notes
Active

An active order is an order that you expect to fill in a normal period of time.

An active order may also contain items on backorder, or may be on hold. If the order is not on hold, you can post and print an invoice for shipped goods.

  • Inactive customers. If a customer account or customer account set is inactive, you cannot enter an order for the customer. If a customer account becomes inactive after you enter an order, you will not be able to post updates to the order or post an invoice for the order until the account is made active again.
  • On-hold orders. You cannot ship any items for an on-hold order until you clear the On Hold option and post the order.

    Posting an order that is on hold has no effect on Inventory Control records. However, if you place an order on hold after it has been posted, it has the following effects:

    • If an item is serialized, the Allocated to OE Order option is cleared for the item and serial number on the I/C Serial Numbers screen.
    • If an item is lotted, the number in the Quantity Reserved for Order field is reduced for the item and lot number on the I/C Lot Numbers screen.

    Placing an order on hold automatically clears any serial numbers or lot numbers that have been allocated to the order quantity.

    If you are entering a new order and the customer's account has been placed on hold in Accounts Receivable, a message warns you that the order will be placed on hold in Order Entry. You can enter the order and post it, but you cannot ship items or create an invoice for the order until the customer's on-hold status is cleared in Accounts Receivable.

    To view orders currently on hold, you can print the Order Action report.

Future A future order is an order to be filled on a future date you specify. When you run Day End Processing on that date, the order is automatically activated and posted.
  • Day End Processing automatically activates future orders on the order date (or the first time you run Day End processing after the order date). Alternatively, you can change the status of a future order to Active before the order date.

    Day End Processing also posts the activated future orders so that sales statistics are updated.

    If you usually run Day End Processing at the end of the work day, future orders set to be activated on a certain day will not become active until the end of the day.

    To be sure a future order is ready to be processed on the day you planned, select an order date that is one day earlier than the date on which you want to use the order.

Standing A standing order is an order that is filled regularly for the same customer, or for different customers.
  • Currency for standing orders. If you have a multicurrency system, you create standing orders in the currency of the tax group that applies to the customer. You can issue orders for other customers from the standing order only if the other customers use the same tax group and currency.
  • Placing active orders from standing orders. To create an active order from a standing order, you must open the standing order and change the order type to Active or Future.

    You can make any changes you require to the standing order, including changing the customer number, ship-to location, or template code if they use the same tax group.

    You can enter a new order number if you assign numbers manually, or you can have the number automatically assigned by the program when you post the order.

    When you create an active order from a standing order, the original standing order is retained in the system, unchanged and with the original order number, regardless of how many orders you create from it.

    The order you create from the standing order displays the terms code and other information maintained in Accounts Receivable for the customer number.

    If you use multicurrency accounting, you can assign a standing order only to a customer with the same currency as the standing order.

Quote

A quote is an order with an expiration date. When you run Day End Processing on that date, the quote is removed from the system.

If a quote is accepted by the customer before the expiration date, you can change the order type to Active to change the quote to an order.

Quotes do not affect quantities on sales orders until you make them active.

  • Reusing quotes. To reuse a quote that you have previously converted to an order, add a new order for the customer using the From Multiple Quotes option.
  • Changing quotes to orders. When you enter a quote, you enter the date on which the quote expires. Order Entry displays a default expiration date based on the number of days you specified on the O/E Options screen.

    To change the quote to an order, open the quote and change the order type to Active. Edit the order information as required, check tax statuses and order totals, and then post the order.

    If you do not change a quote to an order before the expiration date, Order Entry automatically removes the quote when you run Day End Processing.

    • If you selected the Clear Expired Quotes option and specified a number of days on the O/E Options screen, Order Entry deletes the expired quote from the system the next time you run Day End Processing after the specified delay.
    • If you do not select the Clear Expired Quotes option, expired quotes are not deleted.