Overview
Luminous supports several automatic invoice-creation timings, and the choice you make on a channel affects what happens when fulfillment orders (FOs) are auto-generated. Separately, lot-number assignment works differently for auto-generated FOs versus manually created ones. Both topics are explained below.
Invoice-First Workflow ("Order Received" Timing)
What it means
When a channel's Invoice Creation Timing is set to When Sales Order is received/created ("Order Received"), Luminous creates the invoice for a sales order as soon as that order is posted — before any fulfillment order exists. This is often called the "invoice-first" approach because the invoice precedes all fulfillment activity.
Other available timings are:
- When Fulfillment Order is created — invoice is generated the moment the FO is created.
- When a Shipment is created (multiple invoices possible) — invoice is generated per shipment after goods leave the warehouse.
- When first Shipment is created invoice the full order amount — one full invoice is issued on the first shipment.
How it interacts with fulfillment order creation
The invoice-first setting does not block or delay fulfillment order auto-generation. When a sales order is posted, Luminous runs both processes:
- Invoice creation job fires immediately and creates a full order-level invoice tied to the sales order (not to any specific shipment or FO).
- FO auto-generation runs in parallel (immediately or on a configured delay), following your Smart Fulfillment settings exactly as it would for any other order.
The important safeguard: once the FO is created, Luminous checks whether the sales order already has a full invoice. If it does, the system skips the "auto-create invoice on FO created" step and logs that creation was skipped — preventing a duplicate invoice. You will not end up with two invoices for the same order.
In practice
| Channel timing | When invoice is created | Invoice triggered by FO creation? |
|---|---|---|
| Order Received | When sales order is posted | No — full invoice already exists; skipped |
| Fulfillment Order Created | When the FO is created | Yes |
| Shipment Created | When each shipment is recorded | No — separate shipment trigger |
| First Shipment – Full Amount | On the first shipment | No — separate shipment trigger |
Why Lot Numbers May Be Missing on Auto-Generated FO Lines
The auto-generation path does not select lots
When Luminous auto-generates a fulfillment order, the system determines which warehouse group to fulfill from and how much quantity to assign to each line. It does not perform lot selection at this stage. As a result, lot number fields on auto-generated FO lines are left blank.
This is different from the manual Create Fulfillment Order modal, which does automatically pre-fill the lot field with the oldest available lot (by expiry date) from the selected warehouse group, and lets you override or split across multiple lots before saving.
How to assign lots after auto-generation
If your products are lot-tracked and you need lot numbers on auto-generated FO lines, you can:
- Open the fulfillment order after it has been auto-generated.
- Edit the line items and select the appropriate lot from the dropdown.
- If the required quantity spans more than one lot, use the Split link to divide the line across multiple lots.
- Save your changes. The selected lot number(s) will then be included in any downstream warehouse communication (such as an EDI 940 payload).
Summary
- Auto-generated FO lines always start with a blank lot number — this is expected behavior.
- Lot auto-selection (oldest available lot) only happens when you use the manual Create FO modal.
- You can assign or correct lot numbers at any time by editing the FO before it is pushed to the warehouse.