About shipment processing options

In Visma Net, you can directly create a shipment document for a particular sales order in the following ways:

• In the classic Sales orders (SO301000) window, by selecting Actions - Create shipment in the window toolbar,
• In the new Sales orders (SO30100S) window, by clicking Create shipment in the window footer.

The Shipments (SO302000) window can be used to create a consolidated shipment for multiple sales orders of the same customer.

To create multiple shipments for multiple sales orders of multiple customers, use the Process orders (SO501000) window.

In order to optimise the picking process for multiple employees and offer separate deliveries over time, you can create multiple shipments for one sales order and one warehouse by using the Shipments (SO302000) window. See also: Create multiple shipments for one order.

The system automatically assigns reference numbers to the created shipment documents, in accordance with the numbering sequence assigned to shipments in the Sales order preferences (SO101000) window.

Your organisation may prefer to send customer invoices that list all the items from their sales orders so that they can see which items were ordered but at the time were unavailable.
To allow the system to add these zero lines to shipments, select the Add zero lines for items not in stock check box in the Sales order preferences (SO101000) window.
Selecting this option also can be helpful if you do not want to rely completely on availability data, because in some cases, although the system shows an item as not in stock, the quantities required for a shipment may be available for some reason.
You should select this check box if you have item classes for items of which negative quantities are allowed and if shipments are created manually on a per-order basis; then users can edit the shipments and specify the quantities that are currently not reflected on the books correctly and may be available on shipment confirmation (for instance if shown as quantities on purchase receipts).
For example, if for a purchase order line with the Back orders allowed shipping rule, the available quantity of the item is zero, the shipment will not include this line if the Add zero lines for items which are not in stock option is not selected; while if it is selected, the shipment will include a zero-line for this item, and you will be able to enter the quantity that is actually available for this order line.

If the Add zero lines for items which are not in stock option is selected, you should decide whether to allow the creation of shipments with all zero-quantity lines.
You can allow the creation of such shipments by selecting the Create zero shipments check box in the Sales order preferences (SO101000) window.
However, we do not recommend using this option if in your organisation, shipments are generally created automatically by using the Process orders (SO501000) window.

When you create a shipment for a sales order (by using either the Sales orders (SO301000) or the Process orders (SO501000) window), the system checks the availability of the items included in the sales order and uses the shipping rules to determine whether the shipment can be created.
If the shipment is created, the system changes the order status to Shipping.

When you create a shipment by using the Sales orders (SO301000) window, if the system detects that no shipment can be created according to the shipment rules (due to a shortage of items), the system displays a warning; you then decide how to process the order further.
However, if you use the Process orders (SO501000) window to create a shipment (or multiple shipments) and the system detects that no shipment can be created for an order according to the shipment rules, the system changes the status of the order to Back order. This system behaviour allows you to set up automatic processing of sales orders in the Process orders (SO501000) window to be performed on a schedule. For more information on shipping rules, over-shipment, and under-shipment, see: About shipping rules.

For sales orders with the predefined type SO, partial shipments are generally allowed if the Shipping rule field in the Delivery settings tab in the Sales orders (SO301000) window has the Back orders allowed option selected and the Back orders allowed shipping rule is selected for at least one order line.
These settings let you ship the available quantity of goods in one shipment and the remainder in one shipment or multiple shipments as the goods are received.

If a sales order is fulfilled with multiple partial shipments, the Free item shipping setting, located on the General information tab of the Sales order preferences (SO101000) window, controls how free items should be shipped: proportionally to the amounts of goods in the partial shipments (Proportional), or sent with the last shipment (On last shipment).

If free items are sent with the last shipment and only part of the needed quantity of free items is available, only the available quantity is shipped, and no back order is initiated for the missing free items.

If the quantity of the free items should be distributed between the partial shipments, the total quantity of free items on all partial shipments for the order may be less than the quantity initially calculated for the applicable group discount, because the system rounds the free item quantity down on each partial shipment.
In such a case, you can add the missing quantity of the free item manually to any of the partial shipments.

You can consolidate shipments, creating one shipment document for multiple sales orders of the same customer, unless the Ship separately check box in the Order types (SO201000) window is selected for the order type being used.
As long as the check box is cleared, you can use the Process orders (SO501000) window to create one shipment for multiple sales orders associated with the same customer.
Sales orders with the predefined order type SO don't require goods to be shipped separately for separate sales orders.

The Use customer's account setting in a shipment document is copied from the sales order.
Thus, if you mass-process multiple sales orders that have different states of the Use customer's account check box on the Delivery settings tab of the Sales orders (SO301000) window, the system will group the sales orders by the state of this check box and create two consolidated shipments: The first shipment will include the sales orders in which the check box is selected, and the second shipment will include the sales orders in which this check box is cleared.

With Visma Net, you can print a pick list for a particular shipment with the On hold or Open status by clicking Action - Print pick list in the window toolbar of the Shipments (SO302000) window.
If you need to print pick lists for multiple shipments, you can select the Print pick list action in the Process shipments (SO503000) window and process all the shipments on the list or only the selected shipments.
If a pick list was once printed for a shipment, the shipment will be listed in the Process shipments (SO503000) window for this processing only if the Show printed check box is selected, which helps avoid double packing for the same shipment.

The pick list is prepared based on item availability information and the pick priorities of warehouse locations.
If the highest priority location has insufficient stock of any of the requested items, the system will search for another location with some quantity available for shipping to fill the remainder.

On a pick list, items are ordered based on location, pick priority, and expiration dates of items.

If you use a set of standard boxes for shipping goods, you can configure the system to suggest boxes for each sales order based on the packaging options and weights specified for stock items. For details on configuring this functionality, see: About automatic packaging for non-integrated carriers.

If this functionality is configured, you will be able to view the suggested minimal set of boxes for a shipment on the Packages tab of the Shipments (SO302000) window.
If needed, you can manually correct information about packages to match the quantities and weights of the actual packages.

If the shipment is sent under a ship via code, the information about packages can be used by the system to calculate the freight amount.

After all the required goods are picked and packed, you can confirm the shipment by clicking Actions - Confirm shipment in the window toolbar of the Shipments (SO302000) window.
(If you need to print a shipment confirmation document before the shipment is confirmed, you can use the Shipment confirmation (SO642000/SO64200S) report.)
This action updates the available quantities and changes the status of the associated sales order.
During shipment confirmation the system checks that for all items for which lot or serial numbers are tracked, the appropriate numbers were specified.

Whether the order status is changed to Completed or Back order depends on the availability of the ordered items and on the shipping rules specified for the order lines and the whole order.
For more information, see: About shipping rules.

If you need to correct a shipment that has been confirmed, click Actions - Correct shipment in the toolbar of the Shipments (SO302000) window to open the shipment and make the required corrections.
The associated order's status is changed to Shipping once you open the shipment. You can confirm the shipment after you have edited it.

If an order that has a confirmed shipment has been was cancelled, you can reopen the order by clicking Actions - Re-open order in the toolbar of the Sales orders (SO301000) window. You can then delete or correct the shipment by using the Shipments (SO302000) window.

To complete the confirmed shipments, you must generate sales invoices and inventory issues and release them.
For generating and processing invoices and issues you can select one of the following workflows:

• Workflow I: First generate sales invoices, then release them. On release of these invoices, inventory issues are generated automatically.
• Workflow II: First create issues, and then generate invoices. Release invoices and issues.

Both workflows are described in more detail in the subsections below.

This workflow is used by most organisations.
You can prepare an invoice for a particular order by clicking Actions - Prepare invoice in the toolbar of the Shipments (SO302000) window, or you can create invoices for multiple selected shipments by executing the Prepare invoice action in the Process shipments (SO503000) window.

Edited invoices will be put on credit hold if the Hold invoices on failed credit check check box is selected in the Sales order preferences (SO101000) window.

Inventory issues which are created automatically when you release the invoices and will be released automatically if the Automatically release inventory documents check box is selected in the Sales order preferences (SO101000) window.
If this check box is cleared, you have to release inventory issues.

If due to shipment policies, your organisation processes customer invoices later than it does inventory issues, you can first create issues and then generate invoices.

You can create an inventory issue for a particular order by clicking Actions - Update inventory in the toolbar of the Shipments (SO302000) window, or you can create inventory issues for multiple selected shipments by executing the Update inventory action in the Process shipments (SO503000) window.

You can prepare an invoice for a particular order by clicking Actions - Prepare invoice in the toolbar of the Shipments (SO302000) window, or you can create invoices for multiple selected shipments by executing the Prepare invoice action in the Process shipments (SO503000) window.

To adjust the dates in the invoices generated for confirmed shipments, you can use the Use shipment date for invoice date check box in the Sales order preferences (SO101000) window as follows:

• Select this check box to set the shipment date as the invoice date
• Clear the check box to use the current business date as the default date for the invoice

If there is a significant time interval between the release of issues and the release of invoices in your organisation, you may need to delay posting the costs to the COGS accounts.

To do this, select the Use shipped-not-invoiced account check box in the Sales order preferences (SO101000)window, and then select the appropriate Shipped-not-invoiced account field and Shipped-not-invoiced sub account to be used to temporarily record the costs.

After that, on release of issues, the costs of shipped items will be temporarily recorded to this shipped-not-invoiced account (with the specified subaccount); then later, on release of invoices, the costs will be moved from the shipped-not-invoiced account to the appropriate COGS /expense accounts.