Backorders and partial shipments

When a customer orders 100 pieces and you can only deliver 40, you need to see what is missing, and the customer needs to know what they will get. Business Central has no separate backorder document. The remaining quantity stays on the original order. Here you see how partial shipments work, and what you must set up yourself to get an overview and communication. You also get a checklist for managing communication with the customer.

How a partial shipment works

You can ship an order in several rounds, with no limit on the number. Enter the quantity you are shipping in the Qty. to Ship field on each order line, and post. Lines that still have a remaining quantity stay open for the next delivery. You can also partially invoice by filling in Qty. to Invoice. You cannot invoice anything that has not been shipped, unless you ship and invoice at the same time.

The customer must accept partial shipments

The Shipping Advice field on the customer card controls this. The default value is Partial, which allows partial shipments. If it is set to Complete, the Qty. to Ship field is blocked on the customer's orders. If the customer agrees to a partial shipment anyway, you can change the field on the order before you post. It is a good habit to agree the rule with the customer and get it onto the customer card.

Where you see what is missing

On the sales order you see delivery and remaining quantity per line, for example in the fields Quantity Shipped and Outstanding Quantity. The exact field names can vary, so check your own order line. Microsoft Learn does not describe a ready-made backorder list. If you need a list of open order lines across orders, you must check yourself which standard reports and list pages your version has, or build a view filtered on open lines. If items are not in stock, you can examine supply in the availability overview and, if you use planning, in action messages.

What the customer gets to know

BC does not automatically tell the customer that a line is delayed. You must manage that with the documents:

The order confirmation shows what was ordered. Send a new one if dates change.
The shipment shows what was actually delivered.
The invoice shows what was invoiced. Partial invoicing follows Qty. to Invoice.
Agree a fixed text or email that says what is coming and when.

On purchases too

The same principle applies to purchasing. A partial receipt requires a purchase order, and the remaining quantity stays until the rest arrives. When you chase the vendor, the remaining quantity on the purchase order is the basis.

Checklist

Is shipping advice set correctly for each customer?
Has it been agreed who contacts the customer in case of delay?
Do you have a fixed view of open order lines?
Is the delivery date on the order line checked when the item arrives?

If items are sold but not in stock

If the item comes later, you can reserve the purchase for the order, so the vendor's delivery is not used elsewhere. It is a deliberate function, and it should be used with care, because reservations can lock stock for other orders.

Use the delivery date on the order line as the agreement with the customer. Update it when you know more, so the order tells the truth to everyone who opens it.

A good rule of thumb is that the order should always show the truth about what has been delivered and what is missing. If quantities and dates are corrected as you go, sales, warehouse and customer can all read the same status. If people keep the information in emails and spreadsheets on the side, you lose the overview that partial shipments otherwise give.

Next steps

Addverk builds its own apps for Business Central, but they are not on Microsoft AppSource yet. On the apps page you can see what we are working on. If you want help with the setup in standard BC, you will find the services and the open prices on the prices page.