Creating a sales order in Acumatica is a core part of the order-to-cash process. A sales order captures the customer’s request, the items being sold, shipping details, and pricing information. From there, the order can flow into shipment creation and eventually invoice generation.
This tutorial walks through the basic sales order process in Acumatica, including how to create a sales order, add inventory items, create a shipment, and generate an invoice.
In Acumatica, the sales order workflow typically includes three main steps:
Depending on your organization’s setup, some of these steps may be automated. For example, Acumatica can be configured to automatically email sales orders, create shipments, or generate invoices based on your workflow. This article focuses on the manual process so you can understand how each step works.
To begin, navigate to the Sales Orders module in Acumatica.
There are several ways to create a new sales order:
Each option takes you to the Sales Order Entry screen, where you can begin building the order.
The first required field on the sales order is the Customer.
You can search for a customer by entering either the customer ID or customer name. As you type, Acumatica displays matching customer records already set up in the system.
You can also click the search icon next to the Customer field to open a list view of all available customers. From there, select the appropriate customer.
Once a customer is selected, Acumatica automatically populates default information from the customer record, including the default location, default contact, shipping details, and billing details.
You can override these defaults directly on the sales order if needed. For example, you may choose a different shipping location or change the contact person for the order.
After selecting the customer, you can enter additional information about the order. Optional fields may include order description, customer order number, purchase order number, and requested date.
Acumatica automatically populates date fields with the current date, but you can adjust them if needed. For example, if the customer requested delivery on a specific date, you can update the requested date accordingly.
Once the basic order information is entered, click Save.
After saving the sales order header, you can begin adding inventory items.
There are two common ways to add items to a sales order: adding items line by line or using the Add Items option for a faster bulk-entry approach.
To add an item manually, click the Add Row button in the details section of the sales order.
In the Inventory ID field, you can search by item name or inventory ID. You can also click the search icon to open a list of inventory items in the system.
From the list view, you can search, filter by item class, or browse available inventory items. Once you select an item, Acumatica automatically fills in default information from the item record, such as:
Next, enter the order quantity. As quantities and items are added, Acumatica calculates the order total at the top of the screen.
When you select a specific line item, you can also view availability details at the bottom of the screen. This may include quantity on hand, quantity available, and quantity available for shipping.
For faster entry, click the Add Items button.
This opens a screen where you can search and filter inventory items before adding them to the order. You can filter by fields such as:
You can also choose to show only available items. This is helpful when you want to quickly identify items that are currently in stock and ready to ship.
From this screen, you can select multiple items at once and add them to the sales order in bulk. After selecting the items, click Add and Close, then save the sales order.
Before creating the shipment, you may want to email or print the sales order for the customer.
Click Email Sales Order to send the order directly from Acumatica. When the email is sent, Acumatica adds an activity to the sales order record. The email can include a file attachment of the printed sales order form.
This step can also be automated depending on your Acumatica configuration.
Once the sales order is complete and the items are available, click Create Shipment.
Acumatica will prompt you to confirm the shipment creation. Click OK to proceed.
It is important to note that inventory must be available to ship in order to create a shipment. If you receive an error during this step, check the item availability. You may need to purchase or transfer inventory before the shipment can be created.
After the shipment is created, go to the Packages tab.
Some package information may populate automatically based on the item setup. However, you need to make sure a package is specified before shipping.
Enter the package details, such as package size and weight, then click Save.
If your organization uses shipping carrier integration, carrier options may appear on the shipment. You can refresh rates and select the appropriate shipping method, such as FedEx Ground.
If you do not use carrier integration, you can still process shipping manually. In either case, make sure the package information is entered before confirming the shipment.
Once the package details and shipping information are complete, click Confirm Shipment.
Confirming the shipment tells Acumatica that the order has been prepared and shipped. After the shipment is confirmed, you can move forward with invoice creation.
From the confirmed shipment, you can create the invoice.
Click the option to prepare or create the invoice from the shipment. Acumatica generates an invoice based on the sales order and shipment details.
Once the invoice is created, you may also be able to release it by clicking Release. Access to release invoices depends on your security permissions in Acumatica. If your role does not allow invoice release, you may not see this option or may not be able to complete this step.
For a full order-to-cash process, the next step would be applying payment to the AR invoice. That process is typically covered separately in an accounts receivable payment application workflow.
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