Back-Order Rules & Setup

Overview

For each client you have setup on the system you can setup different default rules for dealing with out of stock back-orders depending on their preferred choice.

Back Order Client Settings

You can either do this when you set the client up initially, or to edit later on - please navigate to Clients > Overview > Edit client > Defaults

There are two settings to change here for each client:

The holding policy - this tells the system what to do when an out of stock order is received,  the system can either:
 

1. Manual - this will leave any orders in "Holding" status waiting for the client user to action what to do, however this will mean "required by back order" inventory figures will not appear on reporting. Or when stock is added to the system it will not get allocated to any orders in "holding". This is not a very efficient setting.
    
2. Place on Back Order - this will place the entire order for all order-lines in back-order status. This means that any in-stock product lines on the order will also be held until all product lines on the order are complete. This is the most cost efficient method of dealing with back-orders as it ensures that only 1 shipment is made per order. You can also choose at a later date to split orders manually if the need occurs by viewing back orders on Orders > Back Orders.
    
3. Split Order - this method will automatically split the order into an in-stock part and an out of stock part - leaving only the out of stock part on back-order. So the system denotes the order as Part 1 of 2 and 2 of 2. This method ensures your customer received their in-stock items faster but results in 2 shipment expenses.

The stock allocation policy - is the 2nd setting that can be changed here and this means what happens when stock is booked in to the system when there are back-orders that require the stock.

1. First in First Out - this will automatically let the system allocate any new stock booked in to the oldest orders first that require the stock - working its way back to the newest until stock has been exhausted. So if you have back-orders totalling 100 units and only 90 units are delivered - the newest 10 orders will be left on back-order until more stock is booked in.
   
   
2. Manual - with this setting it is left to the client user to determine which orders to allocate stock to by going to Orders > Back Orders. This can be a preferred choice if you regularly have more back-orders than stock deliveries clear and so need to manage customers on a more one-2-one level.

Auto Reprocessing Back Order Setting

Finally the last setting relating to back-orders is in a different section of settings, enabling this will mean that will stock is booked into system - orders that have been fulled allocated stock on back order will then hit new status automatically within 15 minutes.

Please navigate to Settings > Customer Account Settings > Automation
 

Here you can choose to let the system either continue to hold orders or automatically reprocess any back-orders that have full stock. Setting to Y will ensure system automatically reprocesses orders and releases to "New" status ready for shipping. 

You can also set the reprocess delay hours here - setting to 0 will mean the system will reprocess on its next routine - typically every 15 minutes.

It may be desirable to have the setting switched to N temporarily in case some clients need to manage stock allocation manually and re-allocate stock to other customers for example than what the system has allocated to.