On Order Inventory

The On Order Inventory setting enables you to account for ordered inventory that hasn’t been exported for shipping.

Note: This feature is not available when B2C Commerce is integrated with Salesforce Omnichannel Inventory.

You can control the on order reservation behavior based on an inventory list. How you configure this setting depends on how you normally handle orders after the storefront checkout process.

Import and 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 always considers the On Order Inventory setting.

Import and Export Site Preferences

Because the On Order 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.

When to Use On Order Inventory

Disable the setting (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 when an order is placed.
Enable the setting if your system holds orders for any length of time before exporting them for shipping. In this case, it makes sense to hold reserved inventory in the on-order quantity, and increase turnover only when that inventory is shipped.

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

Creating an order increases the on-order quantity. Deleting, canceling, or failing an order decreases it.
Exporting an order decreases the on-order quantity and increases the turnover by the same amount. The changes are triggered when the order status is set to Exported, which depends on the integration with the shipping process. In general, the status changes when the order is exported to the back-end system responsible for shipping it.

Resetting the allocation level sets the turnover value to zero, but doesn’t affect the on-order value.

Note: Canceling an exported order only reduces the turnover value if the allocation hasn’t been reset since the order was exported. The check compares the order’s exportDate to the inventory record’s allocationResetDate, not to the timestamp of the inventory record update in B2C Commerce. Canceling an order that was exported before the most recent allocation level reset date doesn’t affect the turnover value.

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, since it represents the amount that has shipped since the last inventory update. 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: The 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 “exported for shipping” as the point at which shipping orders are created to be exported to the warehouse management system.

Examples

On Order Inventory Disabled:

Step	Allocation	Backorder allocation	Turnover	On Order	Stock level	Available for Shipping	Available to Sell
Inventory allocation is reset to 20	20	10	0	not used	20	20	30
Customer places order1, qty 5	20	10	5	not used	15	15	25
Customer places order2, qty 2	20	10	7	not used	13	13	23
Both orders are exported for shipping	20	10	7	not used	13	13	23
Inventory is reset to 11	11	10	0	not used	11	11	21

On Order Inventory Enabled:

Step	Allocation	Backorder allocation	Turnover	On Order	Stock level	Available for Shipping	Available to Sell
Inventory allocation is reset to 20	20	10	0	0	20	20	30
Customer places order1, qty 5	20	10	0	5	15	20	25
Order1 is exported for shipping	20	10	5	0	15	15	25
Customer places order2, qty 2	20	10	5	2	13	15	23
Inventory allocation is reset to 11	11	10	0	2	9	11	19
Order2 is exported for shipping	11	10	2	0	9	9	19

Cancellation Examples

Note the timing of the allocation resets in these examples. The B2C Commerce inventory records are updated with an earlier allocationResetDate.

On Order Inventory Disabled:

Step	Allocation	Backorder allocation	Turnover	On Order	Stock level	Available for Shipping	Available to Sell
Inventory allocation is reset to 20	20	10	0	not used	20	20	30
Customer places order1, qty 5	20	10	5	not used	15	15	25
Order1 is exported for shipping	20	10	5	not used	15	15	25
Inventory allocation is reset to 11 but not yet imported into B2C Commerce	20	10	5	not used	15	15	25
Customer places order2, qty 2	20	10	7	not used	13	13	23
Order2 is exported for shipping	20	10	7	not used	13	13	23
The inventory allocation reset is imported into B2C Commerce with an inventoryRecord.allocaionResetDate earlier than the Order2.exportDate	11	10	2	not used	9	9	19
Order1 is canceled	11	10	2	not used	9	9	19
Order2 is canceled	11	10	0	not used	11	11	21

On Order Inventory Enabled:

Step	Allocation	Backorder allocation	Turnover	On Order	Stock level	Available for Shipping	Available to Sell
Inventory allocation is reset to 20	20	10	0	0	20	20	30
Customer creates order1 (payment not captured), qty 5	20	10	0	5	15	20	25
Customer creates and places order2 (payment captured), qty 2	20	10	0	7	13	20	23
Inventory allocation is reset to 11 but not yet imported into B2C Commerce	20	10	0	7	13	20	23
Order2 is exported for shipping	20	10	2	5	13	18	23
The inventory allocation reset is imported into B2C Commerce with an inventoryRecord.allocaionResetDate earlier than the Order2.exportDate	11	10	2	5	4	9	14
Order1 is failed	11	10	2	0	9	9	19
Order2 is canceled	11	10	0	0	11	11	21
Undo order1 failure	11	10	0	5	6	11	16
Undo order2 cancellation	11	10	2	5	4	9	14