A sales order is the seller's record confirming what it has agreed to supply after a quotation or customer purchase order is accepted. It carries approved items, quantities, prices, delivery details and payment terms into fulfilment and invoicing. It is distinct from the buyer's purchase order and the seller's payment request.
| Document | Usually issued by | Main job |
|---|---|---|
| Sales quotation | Seller | Proposes price and commercial terms |
| Purchase order | Buyer | Communicates the buyer's authorized purchase |
| Sales order | Seller | Confirms the order operations will fulfil |
| Invoice | Seller | Requests payment under the billing terms |
The operational fields
- Customer, billing and delivery details
- Source quotation and customer purchase-order references
- Products, configurations, quantities and units
- Prices, discounts, taxes, freight and currency
- Requested and confirmed delivery dates
- Payment terms, deposit and billing schedule
- Fulfilment status, allocation and internal instructions
From accepted offer to fulfilment
- Validate the customer's acceptance or purchase order.
- Resolve differences from the quotation.
- Confirm credit, stock, configuration and delivery capacity.
- Create and approve the sales order.
- Release it to fulfilment.
- Record shipment, delivery or service completion.
- Generate invoices for the appropriate quantities or milestones.
Illustrative example: one shipment becomes a split delivery
A supplier quotes a case order for delivery in one shipment. The buyer's purchase order requests a split across different locations. The seller creates the sales order only after agreeing the freight and dates. That record becomes the operational source. Warehouse staff shouldn't have to reconcile conflicting email and quotation instructions.
Where the order record breaks
- Creating orders from unapproved quotation revisions
- Ignoring differences in the customer's purchase order
- Changing ordered quantities without an audit trail
- Invoicing undelivered goods when terms require delivery
- Closing an order while backordered lines remain open
The sales order only works when its source is clear. Compare the surrounding documents in quotes, invoices and purchase orders, and preserve the accepted upstream offer in Quotable quote software.
