Overview
When you use the Purchase-to-Order ("buy for this order") feature to allocate a sales order line against a supply source — such as existing on-hand stock, an inbound purchase order, or a brand-new supplier PO — Luminous records a peg linking that sales order line to its supply source. Whether the fulfillment order (FO) is created immediately or later depends on what supply source was chosen.
Note: The Purchase-to-Order feature must be enabled for your account. If you don't see the Allocation Planner or allocation options, contact your Luminous account manager.
When the fulfillment order is created immediately
Supply source: On-Hand Stock
If you allocate a sales order line against stock that is already on hand at a warehouse, Luminous creates the fulfillment order at the moment you save the allocation — no waiting required. All lines allocated to the same fulfillment channel are consolidated into a single fulfillment order.
When the fulfillment order is created on receipt
Supply source: Existing inbound PO, a new supplier PO, or a line appended to an existing PO
For any allocation that depends on a purchase order (whether you pointed to an existing inbound PO, created a brand-new supplier PO, or added lines to an existing active PO), Luminous holds the fulfillment order until the stock actually arrives. Here is the sequence:
- Allocation is saved. Luminous records the peg — which sales order line is waiting for which PO line, and which fulfillment channel it should route through. No fulfillment order exists yet.
- The purchase order is received. When receiving is completed in Luminous (a receiving report is processed), the system detects which pegged sales order lines are covered by the newly received stock.
- Fulfillment orders are generated automatically. Luminous releases each peg (up to the quantity received, capped at the pegged quantity) and creates the fulfillment order(s):
- Lines sharing the same sales order and the same fulfillment channel are consolidated into a single FO.
- The fulfillment order is forced onto the channel that was pinned at allocation time — the operator's routing choice is respected rather than re-running stock-based routing.
- Partial receipts are supported. If a PO is received in increments, each receipt releases and generates FOs for only the newly-received quantity. Subsequent receipts release additional quantities.
When the fulfillment order is created when stock becomes available
Supply source: Preorder
A "Preorder" allocation reserves no supply immediately. Instead, Luminous waits for stock to land at the pinned channel's warehouse group, then automatically generates the fulfillment order onto that channel as part of the regular available-stock sweep. This is useful when stock is expected but not yet on an inbound PO.
Ship-Complete orders behave differently
If a sales order is set to ship complete (all lines must ship together), Luminous holds every pegged line — including those with on-hand stock — until the entire order is coverable. Once every line has enough supply available, all lines are released and their fulfillment orders are generated together. Partially covered ship-complete orders are never released early.
Summary table
| Allocation source | When is the FO created? |
|---|---|
| On-hand stock (standard order) | Immediately, when you save the allocation |
| Existing inbound PO | When the PO is received in Luminous |
| New supplier PO | When the new PO is received in Luminous |
| Line appended to an existing PO | When that PO is received in Luminous |
| Preorder (no supply reserved) | When stock becomes available at the pinned warehouse |
| Any source, ship-complete order | When every line on the order is fully coverable |
Key things to know
- Channel pinning is preserved. The fulfillment channel you choose at allocation time is stamped on the peg. When the FO is eventually created, it is forced onto that channel — the system does not re-run routing logic.
- No duplicate FOs. When stock is received and the generator runs, it skips any sales order lines that already have a fulfillment order, so existing FOs on other lines are never duplicated.
- Partial coverage. Unless the order is ship-complete, Luminous will create FOs for lines as their supply arrives, even if other lines on the same order are still waiting.