Backorders & Hold Orders

If a customer orders a product from you and you are temporarily out of the product, you may backorder the item. In other words, you'll hold the order until the product becomes available, and at which time, it will be shipped. To indicate that item is backordered, use a Sale Type Code of "B" in the Item Area on the Main Invoice Form (More information on Sale Type Codes). The customer will not be charged for backordered items until you get them back in stock and are able to ship them.

Sales codes are entered in the "S" column in the Item Area. The "S" sales code , above, means regular sale. A "B" sales code in the "S" column would mean "Backordered." An "H" sales code would mean "Held."

Similarly, you also have the use of the "H" code. "H" means "holding until item is available." The "H" code is used when the customer knows that the product is not ready yet and is willing to wait for it. The "H" code is typically used for pre-season or pre-production orders. For example, a customer might order winter clothing in the spring and not expect delivery until fall.

With "Hold" orders, the customer is perfectly willing to wait, but with backorders, the customer may not be so patient. Whether or not you back order items depends on the customer. Some customers, as a policy, won't accept backorders. In that case, notify the customer that the item is temporarily out of stock, and they can decide whether they want to issue another purchase order at a later time. Other customers will accept backorders, but not after a certain cut-off date. Still others will not have any date limit on fulfillment of backorders.

Whether it is a Backorder or a Hold Order, once you get the item in stock, there are two things that need to happen. First, a new invoice needs to be issued to the customer, this time using a Sales Code of "S." And, secondly, so that you have a record of fulfilling the backorder, the Sales Code on the original invoice is changed from a "B" (or "H") to an "X" (which means backordered item shipped). A module is built in the program which helps take care of these tasks - see "Processing Back (or Hold) Orders" below.

If you have customers who have placed a time limit on backorders, make a note of the cut-off date in the NOTES area on bottom of the invoice. If you are delayed in getting the item back in stock, page through the invoices and cancel any backordered items which have exceeded the cut-off date indicated in NOTES. A backordered item is canceled the same way you indicate that it has been shipped: change the Sale Type Code from "B" to an "X".

Note that the following discussion primarily uses the term "backorders." However, the term is interchangeable with "hold orders." Processing a hold order follows the same procedure as a backorder.

To help remove some or all of the manual work involved in backorders, a processing feature has been built into the program. To reach it, select MAIN TASKS >> PROCESS BACK ORDERS from the Menu Bar on top of the Main Invoice Screen.

When the dialog box (above) appears, the first step is to indicate if you are processing a Hold order. If it's a Hold order, place a checkmark where indicated. (If it's a backorder, leave the box unchecked.)

•	Process Backorders - Designated Catalog Number. This is the most commonly used function. Upon receiving a shipment of a certain product, you can use this to fill any outstanding backorders for that product.

•	Process Backorders - ALL. Use this function when you've received shipments of two or more products. Once you've received the shipments you can use this feature to fill all outstanding backorders for those products.

•	Backorder Report. Use this function when you want to create a printed report of all outstanding backorders.

For the first option (Process Backorders - Designated Catalog Number), you'll need to enter the catalog number of the back- (or hold) ordered product in the "Process Backorders - Designated Catalog Number" section). To select from a pop-up list of products, click on the "List" button. Once the catalog number is entered, click on OK.

AnyOrder will search through the invoices and find any backorders associated with the selected product. The results of the search will be displayed in a table format and ordered so all invoices issued to the same company will be grouped together.

For the second option (Process Backorders - ALL), it's just a matter of clicking the "Start Process ALL" button and AnyOrderwill find all backorders and display them in a spreadsheet format.

If you have a Level 7 program, you'll want to use the "Automatic Method." It does everything for you. Start by selecting those invoices for which you want to process backorders and click on the "Start Automated Process." AnyOrder will create new invoices with backordered items. If you have Real Time Inventory turned on, it will also make the proper inventory adjustment. Upon completion of the process, you'll be taken to the first of the newly created invoices.

Note that if you have more than one invoice with backorders from the same company, AnyOrder creates a new invoice for each old invoice. This provides you and your customer with a way of tracking each original order. The customer's PO number and date appears on each new invoice along with a reference to your original invoice number which appears in the "Notes" area. Depending on the customer and your business procedures, you may wish to package all of the items together in the same package and include copies of all invoices - or you may package them separately.

1. Start by moving the colored highlight to the desired invoice. Then click the "View" button. The Backorder dialog box will move to the background and you'll be taken to that invoice.

2. Once the invoice is showing, create a new invoice by selecting GO TO >> NEW INVOICE from the Menu Bar on top of the Main Invoice Screen. NEW INVOICE gives you a range of choices. Select COPY ADDRESS AND ITEM AREA. A new invoice will be created with the address and list of items properly inserted in place.

3. Look over the new invoice. Change the "B" to "S" for the backordered items. Additionally, delete any items on the list were not back ordered, you can delete them by selecting EDIT >> DELETE ITEM ROW (or use CTRL+D).

4. The Backorders dialog box will remain in the background while you work on the new invoice. When you are finished with the new invoice, you can re-access the Backorders dialog box by selecting WINDOW >> BACKORDERS from the Menu Bar on top of the Main Invoice Screen.

5. Once the Backorders dialog box is showing, you can process additional backorders by repeating steps 1 through 4 above.

6. When you've finished creating new invoices, you'll need to change the "B" on the old invoices to an "X." The "X" indicates that the backorder has been filled (or canceled). To do this, make sure the Backorder dialog box is showing, and place checkmarks beside each of the invoices that you have processed. Then click the "Remove Backorder Status" button. AnyOrder will replace the "B's" on selected invoices with "X's."

At times you may find it useful to created a report of all backordered items. To create the report, start at the Main Invoice Screen and select MAIN TASKS >> PROCESS BACK ORDERS. From the dialog box that appears, click on "Backorder Report" button. The report is sent to your spreadsheet program where arrange the data to your needs and print it.