---
title: "Sales orders"
description: "Turn an accepted quote's hardware into a sales order, buy and deliver it, invoice on delivery or on order with a deposit, and watch the margin."
url: "https://support.outpostplatform.com/msp/sales-orders/"
product: "depot"
type: "how-to"
status: "draft"
ai_summary: "MSP plan. A quote with a line delivered from stock becomes a sales order. On delivery or On order invoicing. A deposit is a percentage of pre-tax goods, taxed once at acceptance and netted by Deposit applied: $1,500 at 8.25% with 20% is $300 plus $24.75, then $1,200 plus $99. Buy for this order, Deliver, and a margin card, expected and so far."
availability:
  plans: ["msp"]
  permission: "crm:write"
  preview: false
source: "https://gitlab.com/outpostplatform/docs/-/edit/main/src/content/docs/msp/sales-orders.md"
license: "CC BY 4.0"
---

# Sales orders

A sales order is what a client has bought from you that you still have to
deliver. When a customer accepts a quote with hardware on it, Outpost raises
the order, and from there you buy the goods, deliver them, and invoice them.
This page covers setting up invoicing, deposits, buying and delivering, and
the order's margin.

## Before you begin

- You are on the MSP plan.
- Reading sales orders needs `crm:read`, and changing them `crm:write`.
  Delivering from stock needs `inventory:write`, and raising purchase orders
  `procurement:write`.
- The products you sell from stock are marked **Delivered from stock (creates
  a sales order line)** in the billing catalog. See
  [Billing catalog](/msp/billing-catalog/#deliver-a-product-from-stock).

## How a sales order is created

When a quote is accepted, Outpost converts it as described in
[What accepting a quote creates](/msp/sales-and-quotes/#what-accepting-a-quote-creates).
If at least one accepted line's product is delivered from stock, the
conversion also raises a sales order. The order carries every accepted
one-time line that is not billed on project milestones. Monthly lines go to
the agreement as before.

A quote imported from a quoting tool becomes a sales order the same way. See
[Quoting tools](/msp/quoting-tools/). You can also create a sales order with
no quote. See [Create a sales order without a quote](#create-a-sales-order-without-a-quote).

**Sales** > **Orders** lists every order with its **Order** number,
**Client**, **Status**, **Invoiced**, **Total**, **Owner**, and **Ordered**
date.

## Create a sales order without a quote

1. Select **Sales** > **Orders**, then **New sales order**.
2. In **Client**, start typing the client's name and pick it.
3. Check **Invoice the order** (**On delivery** or **On order**) and the
   **Tax rate (%)**. Both start on the practice defaults.
4. Optionally, enter the **Customer PO** and **Notes**.
5. For each line, pick a product in **From the catalog (optional)** or type
   the **Description**, then choose the **Kind** (**Goods**, **Service**, or
   **Subscription**) and enter the **Quantity**, **Unit price ($)**, and
   **Unit cost ($)**. Select **Taxable** if tax applies, and **Ships
   (delivered from stock or bought for the order)** for goods you deliver.
   Select **Add a line** for the next one.
6. Select **Create sales order**.

A manual order carries no deposit. To take a deposit, quote the order
instead.

## Set up invoicing

Select **Sales** > **Settings**, and on the **Orders and invoicing** card set:

| Setting | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Sales order prefix** | The front of every sales order number, `SO-` by default. Numbers already drawn keep theirs. |
| **Invoice an order** | **On delivery**, the default, invoices goods as they ship. **On order** invoices everything when the quote is accepted. |
| **Default deposit** | A percentage invoiced when the quote is accepted. `0` asks for none. |

A quote can choose its own invoicing on its **Invoicing** card: **Invoice the
order** (**Practice default**, **On delivery**, or **On order**) and
**Deposit** (empty for the practice default). The choice is fixed on the
order when the quote is accepted, so a later change to the settings never
changes an order already raised.

### On delivery and on order

| | **On delivery** | **On order** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| At acceptance | The deposit, if any, and one-time lines that do not ship | Every one-time line, goods included |
| At each delivery | A draft invoice for what shipped, less the deposit | No invoice: **No invoice needed** |

Each invoice is a draft, which you review and send from **Client billing** >
**Invoices**. See [Invoice clients](/msp/client-invoicing/).

## Deposits

A deposit applies when the order is invoiced on delivery. It is a percentage
of the pre-tax subtotal of the order's goods delivered from stock, invoiced with its own tax when the quote is
accepted. Each delivery invoice then carries a **Deposit applied** line that
takes it back off, until the deposit is used up. Across all its invoices, the
client pays exactly the order's total.

On the quote, the totals show the **One-time total**, the **Deposit due on
acceptance**, and the **Balance invoiced on delivery**. The order shows
**Deposit of** followed by the percentage and the amount before tax.

### Example

A quote sells one laptop at $1,500.00, taxed at 8.25 percent, with a 20 percent
deposit:

| Invoice | Lines | Subtotal | Tax | Total |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Deposit, at acceptance | Deposit on the sales order: $300.00 | $300.00 | $24.75 | $324.75 |
| Delivery | Laptop: $1,500.00. **Deposit applied**: minus $300.00 | $1,200.00 | $99.00 | $1,299.00 |
| **Together** | | $1,500.00 | $123.75 | $1,623.75 |

The deposit is taken from the goods' price before tax, and taxed once, so tax
is never charged on tax.

When an order has both taxed and untaxed goods, the deposit is split between
them, and each part is invoiced and applied at the right tax. A delivery of
both kinds of goods raises up to two invoices for that reason.

:::note
When an order is invoiced in parts, tax is rounded on the order's running
total rather than on each invoice by itself. A single invoice's tax can be a
cent above or below its own subtotal times the rate, but the tax across all
of the order's invoices always adds up to exactly the tax on the order and
its quote. The deposit's tax on the quote follows the same rule. Changing a
draft invoice's tax rate drops the adjustment, and that invoice is then taxed
on its own.
:::

## Buy the goods

1. On the order, select **Buy for this order**.
2. Tick each line to buy, and check the **Quantity** and **Supplier**.
3. Select **Raise purchase orders**.

Lines for the same supplier go on one draft purchase order, priced at the
cost on the quote and shipped to your default receiving location. Set the
**Default receiving location** in **Procurement** > **Settings** first. The
order's **Purchases** card lists them. Approve and order them as usual. See
[Purchase orders](/procurement/purchase-orders/).

To have a supplier ship straight to the client, raise the purchase order as a
drop ship. When its delivery is received, it is delivered on the sales order
and invoiced without a separate **Deliver** step. See
[Drop ship to a client](/procurement/purchase-orders/#drop-ship-to-a-client).

## Deliver the goods

1. On the order, select **Deliver**.
2. For each line, choose **Deliver from**, the stock location, and enter the
   **Quantity to deliver**.
3. For an item tracked by serial number, pick one unit for each item
   delivered. Use **Find a unit by tag or serial** to find it.
4. Select **Deliver**.

Delivering takes the units out of stock, moves their assets into the client's
register as **Deployed** with the sales order on them, and raises the
invoice the order's invoicing calls for. The **Deliveries** card shows each
delivery with its invoice. If a delivery stops partway, it shows **Failed**
with the reason. Fix the cause and select **Try again**. A delivery picks up
where it stopped and never moves stock or invoices twice.

## Change or cancel lines

Each line shows **Ordered**, **Delivered**, **Invoiced**, **Cancelled**, and
**On order**. To drop part of a line the client no longer wants, select
**Cancel quantity**, enter the **Quantity to cancel**, and select **Cancel
some**. A line cannot drop below what has already been delivered.

On the **This order** card, enter the client's **Customer PO**, which is
printed on its invoices, and **Notes** for your practice.

## Margin

The **Margin** card shows the order's margin two ways:

| Column | Revenue | Cost |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Expected** | Every line at its price, before tax | The best-known cost of every unit |
| **So far** | What has been delivered and invoiced, before tax | The cost of the units delivered or invoiced |

Deposits and tax never count as revenue. **Margin percent** reads **Not yet**
until there is revenue.

Each line's cost is the best figure known, in this order:

1. **Received, with freight and fees**: the received cost plus landed cost
   from an approved supplier bill.
2. **Received cost**.
3. **Ordered on a purchase order**.
4. **Average stock cost**, for units delivered from stock.
5. **Cost on the quote**.

The card is worked out each time you open it, so it is right however the
purchases, receipts, bills, and deliveries happened to arrive.

## Close or cancel an order

- **Close order** closes an order once everything on it has been delivered
  or canceled.
- **Cancel order** stops an order that has had nothing delivered. Enter **Why
  it is cancelled**, select **I understand this cannot be undone**, and
  select **Cancel the order**. Purchase orders raised for it stay as they are.

Once anything is delivered, cancel the undelivered quantities line by line
instead.

## Sales order statuses

| Status | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| **Open** | Nothing delivered yet. |
| **Partly delivered** | Some of the goods are delivered. |
| **Delivered** | Every goods line is delivered or canceled. |
| **Closed** | Finished. |
| **Cancelled** | Canceled before anything was delivered. |

## Verify

- After a quote with hardware is accepted, the quote's **What it became**
  card links to the sales order.
- After a delivery, the client's **Assets** lists the units as **Deployed**,
  and **Client billing** > **Invoices** has the draft delivery invoice.

## Next steps

- [Purchase orders](/procurement/purchase-orders/)
- [Receive deliveries](/procurement/receiving/)
- [Supplier bills and the 3-way match](/procurement/supplier-bills/)