Closed Sales Order Exception

Every once in a while, you may see an exception in your DemandLine Client's exception report stating something like this:

Could not process customer PO P12345 because there are no open sales orders; found closed sales order SO987

Upon investigation, you see that sales order SO987 is indeed closed and has no open lines or releases on it. Why is DemandLine trying to process a closed order?

This is happening because purchase order P12345 is still open in your customer's fulfillment system. DemandLine sees the PO in your customer's schedule, tries to find an open sales order in your ERP, and records an exception message when it fails to do so. DemandLine's purpose is to maintain synchronization between your sales orders and your customers' purchase orders and to inform you about anything that is keeping it from doing so. By maintaining synchronization, DemandLine reduces the chances that a mismatch between your sales orders and your customers' purchase orders will cause you to overproduce or underproduce.

Important: the fact that DemandLine is trying to find an open sales order does not mean that DemandLine is trying to put demand that you've already shipped back on the sales order.

Why Customer Purchase Orders Stay Open

Purchase orders stay open in your customers' systems for several reasons even when they have no active demand. The most common are:

  • The PO is a long-term/blanket contract and has not reached its end date and/or maximum quantity
  • The customer has not received the final shipment against the PO
  • The customer has failed to close the PO

We'll look at each reason and how to handle them.

The PO is a long-term/blanket contract and has not reached its end date and/or maximum quantity

Though the PO has no active demand, the PO itself is still active and the customer may add demand in the future. The PO will remain open in your customer's fulfillment system.

How to Handle: Open the sales order in your ERP.

The customer has not received the final shipment against the PO

You have shipped the sales order to completion but the customer has not yet received your final shipment. The PO will be closed in your customer's fulfillment system once they complete the receipt.

How to Handle: Monitor the exception. If it continues to appear in DemandLine's exception report past the time you would expect your customer to receive it, contact your customer to find out why they haven't received it yet.

The customer has failed to close the PO

You have shipped the sales order to completion and are sure that the customer has fully received your shipments. The PO will remain open in your customer's fulfillment system until they close it.

How to Handle: Contact your customer and ask them to close the PO.

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