For items that you sell and can be easily ordered but do not want to stock in the warehouse, you can generate special purchase orders at the time of processing the sales order for a customer.

Connected Business allows you to drop-ship items on order or automate the process by setting up the item as Drop Ship. In the Sales Order screen, you can tag the item as for Drop Ship and process Drop Ship purchase orders from the Supplier module.

Also, with the improved dropshipping functionality, changes made to an existing drop-ship order will be automatically reflected in the linked PO. If customers call in to make sudden adjustments to the order, either to increase or decrease the quantity of items ordered and reserved, you are given the ability to make the necessary changes on the same order and will automatically update the linked PO.

Create a Special Purchase Order

To create a special purchase order,

1. Open a sales order document by going to Customer module > Order > Find Order.
2. Select the Sales Order to be processed and the Sales Order form will be displayed.
3. From the Sales Order form, click on the Create Purchase Order button from the menu. The Special Order form will be displayed.
4. You cannot create a purchase order when all items are already allocated or reserved. Purchase Orders are created when the allocated column is less than the quantity column. This applies when an item is out of stock or has been reserved or allocated to other customers.
5. Select the Sales Order to be processed and click Create Special Order from the menu.
6. A message prompt will be displayed indicating that a purchase order has been made. Click Yes to view the purchase order.

Tag Items (Usually Ordered From Suppliers) As Special Order

You can tag items that are usually ordered from suppliers as special orders so it will be included when generating special purchase orders from Supplier > Purchases > Special Order Purchases. To do this,

1. Go to the Inventory module > Item > Find Item. The list of inventory items which are grouped by type will be displayed.
2. Select an item from the list to view the Item Detail form.
3. In the Item Detail form, go to the Setup tab and tick the Special Order checkbox.
4. Click Save and Close to apply changes.

Create Drop Ship Purchase Order

To create a Purchase Order for a Drop Ship Order,

1. Go to Customer module > Order > New Order. The list of active customers will be displayed.
2. Select a customer from the Ship-To Customers tab and the Sales Order form will be displayed.
3. Enter a line item and indicate the quantity to be ordered.
4. Tick the Drop checkbox and save the order.
5. Still, in the Sales Order form, click the Create Drop Ship Order button. The Drop Ship form will be displayed.
6. Select the SO to be processed and click Create Drop Ship Orders button to generate the PO.
   

A message prompt will pop up indicating that a PO has been made. Click Yes to view the PO. Notice that, the values in the quantity ordered and quantity reserved in the PO are the same as what is on the SO. Aside from the quantity values, the customer’s default shipping information is also displayed.

Automatically Set Item for Drop Ship

For items that are usually drop shipped, you can automatically set it for Drop Ship. To do this,

1. Go to Inventory module > Item > Find Item. The list of inventory items will be displayed.
2. Select the item you want to automatically set for Drop Ship.
3. In the Item Detail form, go to the Setup tab and tick the Drop Ship checkbox.
4. Click Save and Close to apply changes.

Drop Ship Order Adjustments

To make adjustments to an existing Drop Ship Order, open the Sales Order and update the values in the quantity or reserved columns. This will automatically update the values entered in the Purchase Order linked to the Sales Order. Aside from updating the values in the quantity or reserved columns, you can also change the Ship Date of the line item as needed.

When the Ship Date is changed, the due date of the linked PO and the reservation will be updated as well.

Also, if the Sales Order is converted to an invoice and the linked Purchase Order is not yet received, a message box will be displayed confirming if you want to convert the PO to GRN. Click Yes to convert the PO, otherwise, click No to just convert the SO to invoice.

Void Drop Ship Order

To void or cancel a Drop Ship Order,

1. Go to Customer module > Order > Find Order. Select the Sales Order to be voided.
2. In the Sales Order form, click the Void button from the menu. Voiding the Sales Order will automatically void the linked Purchase Order.
3. You can view the voided Sales Order from the Sales Order History with the stage tagged as Void.

Void Linked Purchase Order on Drop Ship Order

To void or cancel the Purchase Order linked to the drop-ship order,

1. Go to Suppliers module > Purchases > Find Purchases.
2. Select the purchase order linked to the Sales Order.
3. Click the Void button from the menu. Once voided, the PO link will be removed from the SO which makes the SO an open order.
4. You can view the voided Purchase Order from the Cancelled Purchase Orders tab in the Find Purchases dashboard.