Independent IFS Cloud practice · Business process optimisation
Delivered but not invoiced in IFS Cloud: finding customer order lines that left the warehouse without an invoice
A delivered customer order line without a customer invoice is revenue that has not been billed, while, in the standard flow, the cost of the goods is already booked. The IFS Cloud documentation gives several separate reasons why a delivered line may wait for an invoice. This article lists them with sources and shows where to look and how to keep the gap closed.
Key takeaways
- The documentation calls this state outstanding sales: cost of goods sold is posted and the sales postings are not yet created.
- Whether invoicing is manual or automatic depends on the order type; in the documented example the customer invoice must be created manually.
- A delivered line can wait for documented reasons: pending delivery confirmation, a block from invoicing, Provisional Price, shipment invoicing that waits for a Closed shipment, or an invoice type that does not match the run.
- An age threshold and a named owner for every manual invoicing step are my practice; the pages I read describe no such setting.
1.What does delivered but not invoiced mean in IFS Cloud?
Delivered but not invoiced means a customer order line has been delivered and no customer invoice exists for it yet. The Customer Order Invoicing page states that goods have to be fully or partially delivered before invoicing, and that the order can be invoiced either manually or automatically, depending on the order type settings.
The View Outstanding Sales activity gives the accounting description: customer order lines that are delivered but not yet invoiced, where cost of goods sold has been posted and the sales postings are still pending, evaluated by company, site, customer order or sales part.
In the standard flow, stock has left and its cost is in the ledger, while the revenue is not recorded and the customer has not been asked to pay. Because delivered lines of a partly delivered order are invoiced and more can follow, in my reading such an order can carry invoiced and waiting lines at once, so a check at order level is too coarse.
2.Why does a delivered line stay without an invoice?
A delivered line stays without an invoice when a documented condition for invoicing is not met, or when the step that creates the invoice has no one assigned to run it. The table lists the conditions I found, with the release of each page.
| Cause | What the documentation says |
|---|---|
| The order type stops before invoicing | Stop After marks the events performed manually. In the documented example, with Report Picking and Print Delivery Note selected, the invoice must be created manually (25R2). |
| Delivery confirmation is pending | An order that requires delivery confirmation must be confirmed before an invoice is created (25R2). The Confirm Deliveries option sits on the Customer Order/Order Details tab (26R1). |
| The order or line is blocked from invoicing | Orders or lines blocked from invoicing cannot be invoiced (25R2), and such a line cannot be delivery confirmed (26R1). |
| Provisional Price is enabled | You cannot create invoices for lines with the Provisional Price setting enabled, because the price is temporary (25R2). |
| The shipment is not Closed | Shipment invoicing runs on Closed shipments, and the shipment type can create the invoice automatically (26R1). For a connected order, control passes from the order type to the shipment type (25R2). |
| The invoice type does not match the run | Create Customer Order Invoice requires invoice type Normal Invoice. Collective invoicing requires a customer setup that allows it (25R2). |
| Part of the order is delivered | Delivered lines are invoiced, and a charge connected to a part order line waits until that line's quantity is delivery confirmed (25R2). |
| An advance invoice exists | Orders with an advance invoice are excluded from shipment invoicing and must be invoiced through the normal create invoice option (26R1). |
The Credit Control page covers a case that is easy to assume the other way round. An order that fails the credit check is set to Blocked and cannot be processed further, with one exception: an invoice can still be created for anything that is ready for invoicing. By that page, a credit hold is not a reason for a delivered line to stay uninvoiced.
I would look at the first row before the others, because it describes a line that can be invoiced and waits for a person. The person who runs Create Invoice for that order type has to act, so name that person.
3.How do you find delivered lines that have no invoice?
You find delivered lines without an invoice with two views: the accounting view in the standard Outstanding Sales page, and an age-based view of delivered lines that you define yourself.
- Start with Outstanding Sales. The View Outstanding Sales activity opens the Outstanding Sales list page and allows different dates for cost of goods sold and sales postings.
- Know its blind spot. With Delay Cost of Goods Sold to Delivery Confirmation enabled, cost is posted at confirmation and then counts as an outstanding sale (26R1). In my reading, a line delivered but not yet confirmed has no posted cost, so check the Delivery Confirmation of Customer Orders page separately.
- Define the aging view. Take delivered and partially delivered lines with no invoice and count the days since the latest delivery. Group them by order type, because the order type points to the likely cause.
- Sort by cause. For each group, ask whether the line could be invoiced today. A yes marks a process gap; a no points to a row in the table.
The aging view can run as a read-only query against the OData projections; the reasoning is in read-only OData monitoring in IFS Cloud. Confirm every field in your own $metadata, because the pages above name none for this.
4.How do you clear the backlog once you have the list?
You clear delivered, uninvoiced customer order lines by removing the cause first and creating invoices second, because an invoice run over lines that are still blocked leaves the same lines behind.
- Stop After before invoicing - create the invoices on the Create Customer Invoices page, or in bulk with the Batch Create Customer Invoices task assistant, where parameters specify which invoices to create (25R2). Whether the batch can be scheduled is not stated, so confirm it locally.
- Confirmation pending - report it on the Delivery Confirmation of Customer Orders page. Lines blocked for invoicing, or with Incorrect Delivery Confirmation set to Yes, cannot be confirmed (26R1).
- Blocked from invoicing - the pages I read do not say who sets or clears an invoicing block on a single line, so agree that locally. A credit block does not have to be released to create the invoice for lines that are ready (25R2).
- Provisional Price - the line needs a final price first. A missing price on a sales order covers the detection side.
- Collective customers - run Create Collective Customer Invoices (25R2).
- Shipment not Closed - shipment invoicing runs on Closed shipments, so close it, and review whether the shipment type should create the invoice automatically (26R1).
Before a large run, I would agree the invoice date and period with finance and warn sales. That is a working habit, not a documented step.
If the cause was the order type, change it deliberately. Moving a stop is a design decision for the whole routine, covered in customer order types and the order flow in IFS Cloud.
5.How do you keep the gap from reopening? (author's practice)
In my practice, delivered, uninvoiced customer order lines stop accumulating when every manual invoicing step has a named owner and a limit on how long a delivered line may wait.
- Name an owner for each order type that leaves Create Invoice to a person, including the day the run happens.
- Set an age limit per cause. A line awaiting delivery confirmation can wait longer than a line with no obstacle.
- Send the exception to the person who can act. A message to the invoicing owner when the limit passes finds the line while the delivery is fresh, as argued in exception routing versus reporting.
- Keep legitimate waits in a separate view. Provisional Price lines, confirmations within their limit and shipments not yet Closed are expected, and listing them as exceptions teaches users to ignore the message.
- Re-check after each order type change, because a change to Stop After alters who does what.
- Do not rely on month end. By then the period has passed, as catching exceptions at month end discusses.
The pages used here are for IFS Cloud 25R2 and 26R1, as marked. Behaviour can differ between releases, so confirm each point for the release you run, starting with Create Customer Order Invoice (25R2).
6.Frequently asked questions
What does delivered but not invoiced mean in IFS Cloud?
Delivered but not invoiced means a customer order line has been delivered and no customer invoice exists for it. The IFS Cloud documentation describes this state as outstanding sales: order lines where the cost of goods sold has been posted and the sales postings have not yet been created.
Where can I see delivered but not invoiced orders in IFS Cloud?
The View Outstanding Sales activity opens the Outstanding Sales list page, which shows outstanding sales by company, site, customer order or sales part. In my reading, lines awaiting delivery confirmation under the delayed cost option need a separate check.
Why can a delivered customer order line not be invoiced?
The documentation names pending delivery confirmation, an order or line blocked from invoicing, Provisional Price enabled, shipment invoicing that waits for a Closed shipment, and an invoice type that does not match the activity.
Does a credit block stop a delivered order from being invoiced?
According to the Credit Control in Customer Order page, an order that fails the credit check is set to Blocked and cannot be processed further, except that an invoice can be created for anything ready for invoicing.
7.About the author
Dariusz Myśliwiec brings 18 years of hands-on work with IFS (Apps 7.5–10 and IFS Cloud). IFS Certified Associate Consultant. PRINCE2® 7. Based in Kraków, delivering remotely across Europe and globally as an independent practice, so you talk to the consultant who builds it.
Selected clients: Fugro · LGC · BVI Medical · Betafence (PRÆSIDIAD) · Barlinek · NGK Ceramics · Newag · Oleofarm.
IFS is a registered trademark of IFS AB; this practice is not affiliated with IFS AB.
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