About Posting Orders, Posting Invoices, and Posting Shipments
After entering all required details, you can post Order Entry transactions (orders, shipments, and invoices).
Posting Orders
After you have finished entering all the details for an order, you can post the order.
You can set up Order Entry to automatically check a customer's credit limits each time you post a transaction, to see if the new transaction will put the customer over their credit limit.
Note: You select credit checking options in Accounts Receivable for each customer and customer group. For more information, see the Accounts Receivable help.
If you have set up credit checking for a customer and you try to post a transaction that will put the customer over their credit limit, the O/E Pre-Transaction Credit Check screen appears, and displays information related to the customer's credit, including:
- Credit limit
- Outstanding Accounts Receivable balance
- Order amount
- Last invoice amount and date
- Last payment amount and date
On the O/E Pre-Transaction Credit Check screen, you can proceed in the following ways:
- Click Proceed to override the credit limit and post the transaction.
Note: If security is turned on for your system, you can do this only if you have Credit Approval authorization.
- Select the On Hold option to put the order on hold for later invoicing.
If the order is on hold, you can post the order, but you cannot produce an invoice for it until you clear its on-hold status.
Notes: - If security is turned on for your system and you do not have Credit Approval authorization, you must select the On Hold option.
- The On Hold option appears only if you open the O/E Pre-Transaction Credit Check screen from the O/E Order Entry screen.
If the Allow Non-existent Customers option is selected on the Processing tab of the O/E Options screen, you can post orders and invoices to non-existent customers.
Creating Invoices
If you have shipped anything from an order, you have the option to create an invoice when you post the order.
If you post an order without creating an invoice:
- The quantity ordered and the quantity backordered are updated for each item. (The quantity ordered but unshipped appears as the backordered quantity if you select the Calculate Backorder Quantities option.)
- The quantity on sales order (in Inventory Control) is increased for each item on the order.
- You can print an order confirmation and picking slips, as described in the next section. (You can print the order confirmation immediately after posting the order.)
If you post an order and create an invoice:
- The quantity on hand (in Inventory Control) is reduced for each item that is shipped from the order.
- The status of a line item is changed to Completed in the Order Entry screen if the ordered quantity has been:
- Fully shipped and invoiced, or
- Partially shipped and invoiced, and you have set the backorder quantity to zero. The amount shown on order becomes a lost sale.
- The quantity ordered, the quantity backordered, and the quantity shipped to date are updated for the order (if you display it on the Order Entry screen or print it on the Order List). Order Entry calculates the backordered quantity only if you select the Calculate Backorder Quantities option on the O/E Options screen.
- You can print an invoice immediately after posting the order.
Depending on when you cost inventory in I/C, posting an order may also:
- Update item costs in Inventory Control.
- Update sales statistics.
- Create audit records or general ledger transactions.
Note: If you cost inventory at day end, you must run Day End Processing in Inventory Control to do the above tasks.
Posting Invoices
After you have finished entering all the details for an invoice, you can post the invoice.
Take note of the following information about fields:
- Invoice Date. The invoice date is the date that will appear on the invoice and will be used for document aging. The invoice date also appears on invoice transactions in Accounts Receivable.
- Posting Date. This is the transaction date used by Day End Processing in Inventory Control when it creates journal entries for the general ledger. The posting date determines the fiscal year and period to which transactions are posted in the general ledger.
- Fiscal Year and Period. This is a display-only field on data entry screens. It shows the fiscal year and period is the period to which the invoice transactions will be posted in Accounts Receivable—no matter what date appears as the Invoice Date (and on the invoice).
The Invoice Date and the Posting Date do not have to match each other. By default, the fiscal period will match the Invoice Date. However, if you are late invoicing an order, you might want to post the transaction to a previous fiscal period.
If you cost inventory during Day End Processing, you must use the Day End Processing screen in Inventory Control to update Order Entry sales statistics, sales commissions, and audit information, and to create batches of Accounts Receivable invoices and credit notes. (You can post A/R batches during day end processing, or later, using the O/E Create Batch screen.)
Posting Shipments
After you have finished entering all the details for a shipment, you can post the shipment.
Take note of the following information about fields:
- Shipment Date. The shipment date is the date on which you ship the order. You enter it in the Shipment Date field on the Shipment tab. The shipment date is used to calculate the average days between shipments on the Item Status report in Inventory Control.
- Posting Date. The posting date is the transaction date used by Day End Processing in Inventory Control when it creates journal entries for the general ledger. The posting date determines the fiscal year and period to which transactions are posted in the G/L.
When you post a shipment in Order Entry, the quantities on sales order and on hand in Inventory Control are immediately reduced for the items on the shipment.
Depending on the costing options that you choose in the Inventory Control program, posting may also update inventory costing information.
Note: Posting does not immediately update accounting or statistical information.