on Order Inventory

The On Order Inventory preference setting enables you to account for inventory prior to export for shipping. You can control the on order reservation behavior based on an inventory list. How you configure this setting depends on how orders are handled after the storefront checkout process.

Import/Export Inventory Lists

Inventory list import considers On Order Inventory an optional value. When the On Order Inventory value is missing:

For new lists, On Order Inventory isn't enabled.
For existing lists, On Order Inventory is unchanged.

Inventory list export considers On Order Inventory.

Import/Export Site Preferences

Because the on order preference setting is related to an inventory list and isn't a site preference:

Site Preference export doesn't export the On Order Inventory setting.
Site Preference import doesn't consider the On Order Inventory setting, but logs a warning: Attribute OnOrderInventoryEnabled is deprecated and was ignored, it's now part of the ProductInventoryList import.

Enabling and Disabling

Disable the preference (default) if your system exports orders for shipping shortly after orders are placed in the storefront. In this case, it makes sense to increase turnover as soon as an order is placed.
Enable the preference if your system holds orders for any length of time prior to exporting them for shipping. In this case, it makes sense to hold the units for which non-shipped orders exist in the on-order quantity, and increase turnover only when the units are declared as shipped.

If you enable this setting, when an order is placed, its inventory is handled in a two-step process:

The on-order quantity is increased when the order is placed.
The on-order quantity is decreased and the turnover is simultaneously increased by the same amount when the inventory has been exported for shipping. The point at which an order is considered exported for shipping depends on the integration with the shipping process. In general, the inventory is considered exported for shipping when the order is exported to the back-end system responsible for shipping the order.

When the allocation level is reset, the turnover value is set to zero, but the on-order value isn't changed.

If used, the on-order quantity represents the quantity ordered that isn't yet exported for shipping. The turnover doesn't include the on-order quantity. When deciding which product units are available for shipping, Salesforce B2C Commerce uses this formula: available for shipping = max(0, allocation - turnover ).

The stock level represents the number of units that can be sold after taking the shipment of all currently placed orders into account: StockLevel = max(0, allocation - turnover – on-order).

Note: This On Order Inventory site preference is disabled by default. For sites that use Order Center, which uses the on-order quantity, this preference must be enabled. Order Center defines the point at which inventory is exported for shipping as the point at which shipping orders are created prior to their export to the warehouse management system.

Inventory Impact

When order status changes from Open to Canceled on the Business Manager Order Details page, and the on order feature is enabled, booked inventory transactions belonging to this order are voided if still possible and the order is canceled. However, the turnover might not be correctly updated after cancellation, depending on factors such as how long after order creation the cancellation occurred, if there were any intervening inventory imports.

Note: For all orders, once an order is canceled in Business Manager, it can't be reopened; and after an order is exported, it can't be canceled.

Examples

On Order Inventory Disabled

Standard order flow (0 backorder allocation)

Step	Allocation	Turnover	Stock level	ATS
Inventory is reset	20	0	20	20
Customer places order1, qty 5	20	5	15	15
Customer places order2, qty 2	20	7	13	13
Inventory is reset	11	0	11	11

Standard order flow (10 backorder allocation)

Step	Allocation	Backorder allocation	Turnover	Stock level	ATS
Inventory is reset	20	10	0	20	30
Customer places order1, qty 5	20	10	5	15	25
Inventory is reset	11	10	0	11	21

On Order inventory Enabled

Standard order flow (0 backorder allocation)

Step	Allocation	Turnover	On Order	Stock level	ATS
Inventory is reset	20	0	0	20	30
Customer places Order1, qty 5	20	0	5	15	15
Order1 is exported for shipping	20	5	0	15	15
Customer places Order2, qty 2	20	5	2	13	13
Inventory is reset	11	0	2	9	9
Order2 is exported for shipping	11	2	0	9	9

Order Item Cancellation, Quantity Update (10 Backorder Allocation)

Before exporting an item for shipping, it might be canceled or partly canceled. The on-order quantity is reduced accordingly.
The quantity of an item is updated, or an item added, for which the on-order quantity is adjusted.

Step	Allocation	Backorder allocation	Turnover	On Order	Stock level	ATS
Inventory is reset	20	10	0	0	20	30
Customer places Order1, qty 5	20	10	0	5	15	25
Customer cancels 2 of qty 5	20	10	0	3	17	27
Customer adds item qty 1	20	10	0	4	16	26
Order1 is exported for shipping	20	10	4	0	16	26

Part shipment (10 backorder Allocation)

When an order includes units in backorder (or pre-order), a part-shipment can be requested.

Step	Allocation	Backorder allocation	Turnover	On Order	Stock level	ATS
Inventory is reset	20	10	0	0	20	30
Customer places Order1, qty 5	20	10	0	5	15	25
Customer places Order2, qty 24	20	10	0	29	0	1
Order1-1 (qty 5 shipped) is exported for shipping	20	10	5	24	0	1
Order2-1 (qty 15 shipped) is exported for shipping	20	10	20	9	0	1
Inventory is reset (12 units received)	12	10	0	9	3	13
Order2-2 (qty 9 shipped) is exported for shipping	12	10	9	0	3	13

Shipping Order Status Update

After an order is exported for shipping (at which point the on-order amount is reduced and turnover is increased), the warehouse indicates how it was able to handle the shipping order. Status updates are available for the complete shipping order, and for numbers of product units.

The following updates are possible:

Shipping Order	On Order	Turnover	Notes
Completely shipped	No change	No change	Shipping order was shipped as planned
Completely canceled	No change	No change	Shipping order could not be shipped, related sales order items are canceled
Completely reprocessed	Attempt increase	No change	Shipping order could not be shipped, related sales order items are marked as PendingWMSHold. On Order is increased depending on ATS. New attempt to ship remaining items can be made when WMS Hold is released.
Short ship / shipped qty n	No change	No change	Shipping order could be part shipped, related sales order units are marked as shipped
Short ship / cancel qty n	No change	No change	Shipping order could be part shipped, related sales order units are marked as canceled
Short ship / reprocess qty n	Attempt + n	No change	Shipping order could be part shipped, related sales order units are marked as PendingWMSHold. On Order is increased depending on ATS. New attempt to ship remaining units can be made when WMS Hold is released.

Note: A short ship is when the warehouse can ship one or more lines of a shipping order while at the same time cancel or mark for reprocessing one or more lines or quantities.

Short ship (10 backorder Allocation)

This is an example with short shipping / cancel:

Step	Allocation	Backorder allocation	Turnover	On Order	Stock level	ATS
Inventory is reset	20	10	0	0	20	30
Customer places Order1, qty 5	20	10	0	5	15	25
Order1 is exported for shipping	20	10	5	0	15	25
Short ship / shipped qty=3 cancel qty=2	20	10	5	0	15	25
Two units were canceled in the sales order.

This is an example with short shipping / reprocess: