Sales Orders

A sales order represents a confirmed commitment between your business and the customer. While a proforma invoice is an offer that the customer may or may not accept, a sales order is an agreement — you have committed to supply specific goods at specific prices, and the customer has committed to buy them.

In a manufacturing context, the sales order is often the trigger for production. When a make-to-order factory receives a confirmed sales order for 500 custom brackets, that order drives the production plan, material procurement, and shop floor scheduling. Even in make-to-stock environments, the sales order is the authoritative document that tells the dispatch team what to ship, when, and to whom.

This chapter covers sales order creation, the status lifecycle, partial invoicing, and the conversion process from sales order to tax invoice.

What You Will Learn

• The role of sales orders in the sales cycle and production planning
• How to create a sales order from a proforma invoice or from scratch
• The sales order status lifecycle and what each status means
• How partial invoicing works with invoiced vs. pending quantities
• How to confirm a sales order and convert it to a tax invoice

Prerequisites

• At least one customer record created (Chapter 20)
• Items set up in the item master (Chapter 7)
• Understanding of proforma invoices (Chapter 21, optional but recommended)

Why Sales Orders Matter

Without a formal sales order, manufacturing businesses face recurring problems:

• Disputed deliveries. The customer says they ordered 200 pieces; your records show 250. Without a confirmed order document, there is no definitive reference.
• Production misalignment. The shop floor produces what it thinks was ordered, but the actual requirement was different. Rework and delays follow.
• Invoicing errors. Without tracking what has been invoiced against what was ordered, items get billed twice or not at all.
• No visibility into the pipeline. Management cannot see the total value of confirmed orders awaiting fulfilment — a critical metric for capacity planning and cash flow forecasting.

A sales order in Udyamo ERP Lite solves all of these problems by creating a single, versioned, trackable record of what was agreed.

Creating a Sales Order

There are two ways to create a sales order in Udyamo ERP Lite.

From a Proforma Invoice

If you sent a proforma invoice (Chapter 21) and the customer has accepted it:

1. Navigate to Sales > Proforma Invoices.
2. Open the accepted proforma.
3. Click Convert to Sales Order.
4. The system creates a new sales order pre-filled with all details from the proforma — customer, line items, quantities, prices, tax rates, and addresses.
5. Add or update additional fields:
   • Expected Delivery Date: The date by which you plan to deliver the goods.
   • Billing Location: The billing warehouse or branch location (if applicable).
   • Shipping Location: The dispatch warehouse or branch location.
6. Review and click Create Sales Order.

Manual Creation

For orders received verbally, via email, or through any channel where a proforma was not issued:

1. Navigate to Sales > Sales Orders from the main menu.
2. Click New Sales Order.
3. Select the Customer from the dropdown.
4. Set the Order Date (defaults to today).
5. Set the Expected Delivery Date.
6. Add line items:
   • Select the Item from the item master.
   • Enter the Quantity.
   • Enter the Unit Price (may auto-fill from the item master if configured).
   • Select the Tax Rate (auto-fills from the item's default GST rate).
   • The HSN Code auto-fills from the item master.
   • Tax Amount and Total are calculated automatically.
7. Repeat for additional line items.
8. Set billing and shipping locations if applicable.
9. Add any notes (delivery instructions, special requirements).
10. Click Create Sales Order.

Sales Order Fields

Header Fields

Line Item Fields

Summary Fields

Status Lifecycle

Sales orders move through the following statuses:

Draft ──> Confirmed ──> Partially Invoiced ──> Fully Invoiced
                    └──> Cancelled

Step-by-Step: Confirming a Sales Order

A draft sales order is a work-in-progress. Confirming it signals that the order is agreed upon and ready for fulfilment.

1. Open the sales order from Sales > Sales Orders.
2. Verify all details — customer, items, quantities, prices, delivery date.
3. Click Confirm.
4. The status changes from "Draft" to "Confirmed."

Required: A sales order must be in "Confirmed" status before it can be converted to an invoice. Draft orders cannot be invoiced.

Warning: Once confirmed, certain fields (such as the customer and line item details) have limited editability to maintain the integrity of the confirmed agreement. If significant changes are needed, it may be better to cancel the order and create a new one.

Tracking Invoiced vs. Pending Quantities

One of the most valuable features of the sales order is its ability to track how much of each line item has been invoiced. This is managed through the Invoiced Quantity field on each line item.

For example, consider a sales order with two line items:

In this scenario, the Mounting Plate line is fully invoiced, but 200 MS Brackets remain. The sales order status is "Partially Invoiced." When you convert the remaining quantity to an invoice, the system only offers the pending 200 brackets — it will not allow you to invoice the already-invoiced quantities again.

Step-by-Step: Converting a Sales Order to an Invoice

Full Conversion

When all items are ready for invoicing at once:

1. Open the confirmed sales order.
2. Click Convert to Invoice.
3. The system creates a tax invoice with all pending line items and quantities.
4. Review the invoice (set the due date, verify addresses).
5. Save the invoice.
6. The sales order status updates to "Fully Invoiced."

Partial Conversion

When only some items or quantities are ready (common in manufacturing where production batches complete at different times):

1. Open the confirmed sales order.
2. Click Convert to Invoice.
3. The system creates an invoice pre-filled with all pending line items.
4. Adjust quantities on the invoice to reflect only what is being delivered now. For example, change 200 brackets to 100 if only 100 are ready.
5. Remove any line items that are not being invoiced in this batch.
6. Save the invoice.
7. The sales order status updates to "Partially Invoiced."
8. Repeat the process later for the remaining quantities.

Tip: For make-to-order manufacturing, align your invoicing with production batch completions. If a production order yields 300 of 500 ordered brackets, create an invoice for 300. Invoice the remaining 200 when the next batch is complete. The sales order tracks everything automatically.

Expected Delivery Date

The expected delivery date serves two purposes:

1. Customer communication. It sets the customer's expectation for when they will receive the goods.
2. Internal planning. Production and dispatch teams can filter sales orders by expected delivery date to prioritise their work.

Tip: Be realistic with expected delivery dates. Factor in production lead time, raw material availability, and logistics. An unrealistic date creates a cascade of problems — rushed production, quality issues, and disappointed customers.

Tips & Best Practices

Tip: Use the sales order list view to monitor all open orders. Filter by status "Confirmed" or "Partially Invoiced" to see your current fulfilment backlog. This is your order book — the total value represents committed revenue awaiting delivery.

Tip: When creating sales orders from proforma invoices, always review the quantities and prices. Negotiations between the proforma stage and order confirmation may have changed the terms.

Warning: Do not delete a confirmed or partially invoiced sales order. Use the "Cancel" action instead. Cancellation preserves the record for audit purposes, while deletion removes it permanently.

Tip: If a customer wants to amend an order after confirmation (change quantities, add items, or modify prices), the recommended approach is to cancel the existing order and create a new one. This maintains a clean audit trail.

Quick Reference