Symptom

A sales order is posted but has no fulfillment order. Stock for its items later arrives, for example from a received purchase order, and still no fulfillment order appears. This includes purchase-to-order preorders.

Why it happens

  • Posting a sales order and stock arriving are separate events. Fulfillment orders are generated for a posted order when it is processed. If there wasn't enough stock then, the order can be left without one.
  • The scheduled daily generation only looks at posted, open orders created in the last 2 days that have no fulfillment orders. Orders older than that are not picked up. Orders in final states (such as shipped, completed or cancelled) and orders flagged to skip inventory are also excluded.
  • Its default is off. When it is on, unfulfilled lines, including purchase-to-order preorders, are picked up on a recurring background schedule. Orders are not generated the instant stock lands.
  • If your Smart Fulfillment settings don't allow creating fulfillment orders when stock is short, orders with insufficient stock won't generate. This also applies if a channel is set to never create them with shortages.
  • If Always Create Fulfillment Orders Even When No Stock is Available is off in Smart Fulfillment Settings, orders with insufficient stock won’t generate.
  • A product with no fulfillment priority list can't be assigned to a warehouse. A default priority list avoids this.

How to resolve

  1. Turn on automatic generation. Click your name (top right) → Settings → Inventory. Under Stock levels → Pending, switch on Auto-fulfill orders from stock as it becomes available, then click Save Settings. Orders are picked up on the next background run.
  2. To generate right now:
    • Several orders: go to Operations → Sales Order Grid, select the orders, then choose Actions → Bulk Actions → Auto Generate Fulfillment Orders.
    • One order: open the order, go to its Fulfillment Orders tab, and choose Actions → Auto Generate Fulfillment Orders.
  3. If an order still doesn’t generate, go to Operations → Operations Admin → Smart Fulfillment Settings and check:
    • Always Create Fulfillment Orders Even When No Stock is Available. If this is off, orders short on stock won’t generate.
    • Require Pick-Bin Stock for FO Generation. If this is on, stock outside pick bins doesn’t count.
    • Partial order fulfillment threshold (%). If this is higher than the share of the order you have in stock, the order won’t generate.
  4. Confirm the product has a fulfillment priority list, or that a default priority list exists.
  5. Confirm the stock is actually available. Available stock is on-hand minus pending, so other open orders may be reserving it.

When to contact support

Contact support if:

  • the setting is on and several hours have passed, but eligible orders still have no fulfillment orders;
  • the Auto Generate Fulfillment Orders action returns an error for an order that has stock, a priority list and permissive settings;
  • you can't find the Inventory settings toggle in your account.

Include the order numbers and the channel when you contact support.