Sales order workflow and statuses

In the “Sales” section, a sales order goes through statuses. Statuses define:

• whether an order can be edited;
• whether an order can be Canceled;
• whether related documents can be created (shipments, invoices, manufacturing/purchase orders).

Typical workflow

1. Draft
   • the order can be edited; lines can be added and removed;
   • default status for a new order.
2. Sent
   • the order has been emailed to the customer via the “Send” action;
   • subject, body, attachment template, and copy-to address are configured in the order type;
   • reachable from “Draft”; from “Sent” you can go directly to “Confirmed”.
3. Confirmed
   • the order is considered agreed; reachable from “Draft” or “Sent”;
   • shipments and invoices can be created for it;
   • depending on settings, manufacturing or purchase orders may be created automatically (configured via “Manufacturing order type” and similar fields on the order type).
4. Locked
   • the order is closed for further work (e.g. after full fulfillment);
   • reachable only from “Confirmed”;
   • the order type can enable additional restrictions: “Forbid to lock orders with active shipments” and “Forbid to lock orders that are not fully shipped”.
5. Canceled
   • the order is closed and will not be fulfilled;
   • reachable from any status except “Draft” and “Canceled”.

Exact status names and restrictions depend on your configuration.

Restrictions and checks

Common rules include:

• you cannot delete an order line if a manufacturing order has already been created from it;
• you cannot cancel an order if there are “started” processes for it (for example, active manufacturing orders);
• when locking an order, the system checks the order type’s restrictions (active shipments and/or incomplete shipping) and shows a message if locking is forbidden.

Recommendations

• confirm the order only after verifying prices, location, and delivery terms;
• if you need to close an order without fulfillment, use cancellation instead of deletion.