Sales order document types can be configured for your organization’s needs. Different document types should be used to represent discrete points in a SO's lifecycle, for example, a quote which changes to a sale or a lost sale, or logical distinctions between types of invoices, for example, a counter sale versus an internet sale.
If your organization defines new document types or modifies the default document types, you’ll want to make sure your team is aware of how documents are expected to be used.
For example, it’s common to have a document type for hold orders, when a customer is interested in purchasing inventory but the sale isn’t ready to be finalized. A hold order document can be created to hold the inventory without decrementing the inventory. You likely want a hold order to expire if the customer never returns to purchase the item to release the hold on the inventory.
If the customer purchases the item, a counterperson can change the sales order document type from Hold Order to an Invoice, collect payment and finalize the sale.
Alternatively, you can configure a document type for quotes, which will summarize a price quote for a customer but won’t hold the inventory, in case the customer isn’t committed to purchasing the inventory. A Quote could change to an Invoice if the customer returns to purchase the item, or it could be changed to a Lost Sale if they don’t.
Read more about Inventory Statuses.
⚙️ Sales Order Document Types Properties
The following document type properties can be configured on a SO.
Document type behavior needs to be configured in ITrack Enterprise Desktop at this time.
Affects Inventory - Whether the document type takes things out of inventory and performs accounting when finalized. This option should be enabled for documents that represent inventory changing hands such as sales, inventory adjustments, or returns, but wouldn’t be used on documents that don’t represent a sale of goods, such as a hold order, quote, backorder, lost sale, etc.
Expires - Whether the document can expire through aging. When this is enabled for a document type, an expiration date field appears on the Sales Order screen. Each document type can be configured with its own default expiration date, calculated from the created date. Users can override the default expiration date if needed.
Holds Quantity - Whether the line items on the document hold quantity by default. This can be overridden on the sales order for each line item. This option should be enabled for most document types, but should be turned off for documents that shouldn’t hold quantity such as price quotes.
Allows Payments - Whether payments can be entered on the document.
Printable - Whether the document can be printed or not.
Is Lost Sale - Whether the document is considered a ‘Lost Sale’ for reporting purposes.
Is Write-Down - Whether the document is used to track inventory that is lost or found. Write-down documents are always ‘at cost.’ At least one document type needs to be configured as a write-down in order for inventory adjustments on the Manage Warehouse screen to work properly.
Requires Signature - Whether a signature line will be included on the printout.
Lock Document Change - When this is set, documents of this type can’t have their document type changed.
Price Approval - When checked, documents with this type require all lines to either pass all price restrictions or need to be approved on the Approvals screen.
👉 Example Document Types
Your document types might be configured differently or use a different naming scheme. This list only describes typical usage of document types.
An Invoice is typically configured to affect inventory, hold quantity, allow payments, and is printable. These represent typical sales transactions, where a customer purchases or holds quantity and pays a balance. It’s common for organizations to create many invoice types with the same behavior but different names for reporting purposes. For example, different invoices might be configured to represent the source of the purchase, such as an online purchase or a walk-in purchase, or different customer types such as a purchase by a fleet operator versus an independent contractor.
A Quote is typically configured to not affect inventory, expire after some time, not hold quantity, not allow payment, and is printable. These represent documents you want to make for a customer to reference the price of some items, but they have made no solid commitment to purchase the items yet. Since the customer has not committed to purchasing, inventory quantity is not held for them, and the document should expire after some time since the prices might change.
A Hold Order is typically configured to not affect inventory, expire after some time, hold quantity, allow payment, and is printable. These represent a commitment between your organization and a customer for the purchase of an item, without the item transferring to your customer yet. The customer may pay for the item and return to pick it up at a later time. Quantity should be held and reserved for the customer so that it isn’t sold to someone else. It is assumed that the time frame for a hold order should be short, so after the expiration date the hold on the quantity should be released.
A Backorder is typically configured to not affect inventory, but hold quantity only. They are used when inventory is currently on backorder and needs to be held for a future transaction.
A Lost Sale is typically configured to not affect inventory, not hold quantity, not allow payments, and are marked “Is Lost Sale.” They are used to represent a customer’s interest in an item, but the organization failed to complete the sale for some reason. Tracking lost sales and the reason for the lost sale can be useful, so that you can determine if more or different inventory needs to be sourced, or prices need to be adjusted.
An Inventory Adjustment is typically configured to affect inventory, not allow payments, require signature, and are marked “Is Write-Down.” They are used to document inventory changes where items are lost or found, and importantly, consume the cost of inventory if needed.