Blocking sales orders

In Sales, you can block sales orders or sales order (component) lines.

Blocking occurs for reasons such as:

  • The open order balance exceeds the customer's credit limit.
  • The invoice to business partner has overdue invoices.
  • The invoice to business partner is a doubtful customer.
  • The sales order is created by an inexperienced operator.
  • The invoice to business partner's credit review period is overdue.
  • The sales order includes an invalid or doubtful zip code.
  • The sales margin of one of the order lines is exceeded.
  • The gross margin of the order is exceeded.
  • The sales order is received through electronic data interchange (EDI).
  • The sales order fails the export compliance check.
  • The sales order fails the letter of credit (L/C) check.
  • The price stage of the order line prevents continuation of the order process.
  • A general user-defined reason.

Blocking only gives a rough indication of the situation at that particular moment. A customer's overdue invoices during the order entry procedure may have been paid by the time the deliveries are specified.

Setup and procedure

  1. Specify the reasons for blocking a sales order or sales order (component) line and the reason categories in the Hold Reasons (tcmcs2110m000) session.
  2. Specify when orders must be blocked and the reasons for blocking in the Sales Order Parameters (tdsls0100s400) session. If an order must be blocked for one of these reasons, the order is automatically blocked when it is created.

  3. Specify the step at which the procedure is interrupted in the Block As of Activity field in the Sales Order Types (tdsls0594m000) session. When an order (component) line is blocked, the procedure for this order can only be partially carried out. If a blocking step is not specified in this session, the order procedure is not interrupted.

    Sales orders and sales order (component) lines can also be manually blocked in these sessions:

    • Sales Order (tdsls4100m900)
    • Sales Orders (tdsls4100m000)
    • Sales Order Lines (tdsls4101m000)
    • Sales Order Line Components (tdsls4163m000)

  4. Blocked orders and (component) lines must be manually released in the Blocked Sales Order (Lines) (tdsls4520m000) session.

    In the Sales User Profiles (tdsls0139m000) session, you can specify whether a user is authorized to unblock orders based on the type of hold placed on the order. You can specify whether a user:

    • Can Release Credit Held Orders
    • Can Release Margin Held Orders
    • Can Release Promotion Check Held Orders
    • Can Release Generally Held Orders
Note: 
  • You can display all blocked orders or select a range of orders to be displayed in the Blocked Sales Order (Lines) (tdsls4520m000) session. The selection criteria for a range of blocked order (lines) is specified in the Select Blocked Sales Order (Lines) (tdsls4220m000) session.
  • Use the Print Blocked Sales Order (Lines) (tdsls4420m000) session to print a range of blocked order (lines). Use the Print Released Sales Order (Lines) (tdsls0492m000) session to print a range of released order (lines).
  • In the Blocked Sales Order (Line) History (tdsls0592m000) session, information is displayed about sales orders and (component) lines that were previously blocked and released.

Credit rating

The continuation of a sales order can depend on the credit checking of the business partner. For every customer, you must select a credit rating in the Invoice-to Business Partner (tccom4112s000) session. The credit rating determines the action to be taken when you handle sales orders for the business partner and the resulting open invoice amount exceeds the business partner's credit limit.

If a sales order is blocked due to a credit check, these release types are available in the Blocked Sales Order (Lines) (tdsls4520m000) session:

  • Soft Release

    If the order (component) line is blocked due to a credit check and you select the soft type of releasing, the order is blocked again at the next phase if the criteria for that reason still apply to the sales order or order (component) line. If the order is blocked for another reason, you can only use this option to release the order.

  • Firm Release

    If a sales order (component) line is firm released, the order (component) line is released and is not blocked again for the same reason.
Note: 
  • The difference between the firm and soft type of releasing only applies to credit checking. For the other blocking reasons, these types of releasing give the same results.
  • If the Category is Credit Check and the order (line) is Firm Released, the released amount (which is the total net amount of the sales order) is recorded in a blocking history record.

Margin control

If the Margin Control check box is selected in the Sales Order Parameters (tdsls0100s400) session, LN checks whether the sales price of an item on an order line or quotation line differs too much from the target price.

You can determine the action to be taken (blocking, signaling, or logging) in the Margin Control Parameters (tdsls0120m000) session. The target price is determined by the Target Price for Margin Control field in the Sales Order Parameters (tdsls0100s400) session.

Note: For margin control, the allowed deviation from the target price by upper and lower margins can be specified in the Items - Sales (tdisa0501m000) session.

Compliance check failure

Sales order lines that are blocked because the export compliance check or the letter of credit (L/C) check failed, are displayed in the Blocked Sales Order (Lines) (tdsls4520m000) session with the Hold Reason value retrieved from the Pre-Defined Hold Reason - License Compliance Check or the Pre-Defined Hold Reason - Letter of Credit Check fields in the Sales Order Parameters (tdsls0100s400) session.

The blocked lines cannot be released in the Blocked Sales Order (Lines) (tdsls4520m000) session. To unblock a line, you must update the required compliance data and re-execute the compliance check, or an authorized user can manually override the block by using the Document Compliance Check Results (tcgtc1510m000) or Override Compliance Check Results Workbench (tcgtc1610m100) sessions.

Price stages

Sales order lines that are blocked due to the price stage, are displayed in the Blocked Sales Order (Lines) (tdsls4520m000) session. The value of the Hold Reason field is retrieved from the blocking definition that is linked to the price stage.

Based on the blocking phase for the blocking definition, the sales order line can be blocked during these phases:

  • Order entry
  • Release to Warehousing
  • Confirmation of shipment
Note: If the blocking phase is set to Release (to Warehousing), the sales order line can still be released to Warehousing if the Allow Release to Warehouse check box is selected for the hold reason and business partner type in the Hold Reason by Business Partner Type (tdsls0193s000) session. The blocking is applied to the related outbound order line.

The blocked lines cannot be released in the Blocked Sales Order (Lines) (tdsls4520m000) session. To unblock a line, you must update the price stage. Based on the new price stage, the order process can continue, a new blocking can be created, or only a signal may be displayed.

Related topics
  • Credit rating
  • Overview of margin control
  • Export compliance for sales orders
  • Compliance checks for documents linked to letters of credit
  • Price stages - overview
  • Component handling - component lines