Document Numbering in Draft

[Former Member]

Hi All,

I am creating a series of invoices and saving each in draft. These are then used by the shipping department to prepare the shipmnents. Only when the shipments actually dispatch do we convert the draft to an actual invoice.

The problem we have is that when I save the invoice to draft it takes the next document number, but then the next invoice still takes the same number. It doesn't move to the next number unless I add the inovice.

Any suggestions?

Many thanks.

[former_member186095 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I have tried to test your issue in my database. The draft document will not create an accounting journal entry, so when the draft document is not still posted and the new invoice is directly posted, the new invoice will have the same doc num with draft document. When draft document is posted, the document use new number and not the number when it saved as draft.

Rgds,

[former_member583013]

Hello Ausch,

Davinder Singh is exactly right to the point. The draft document number has no significance or relavance to the actual document numbering series being used. The document number only gets assigned when you add the actual marketing document.

Suda

[Former Member]

Hi All and thanks for your responses.

I am actually using the Delivery not the A/R Invoice (we call the Delivery note "Shipping Invoice").

A bit of background;

We need to prepare the shipping documents about 1 week before the shipment is actually released, in order to allow the shipping department to book the vessel and get customer approvals for quantity/shipment, etc. From when we prepare the shipping document to actual shipment there can be slight changes to quantity, method of shipment, and actual date of shipment. Hence the need for using draft. Once a shipment leaves the factory we will enter the Goods Received PO to get the goods into stock, add the Draft Delivery note, and then issue the A/R Invoice based on the Delivery Note.

The only other option I can think of is to use manual numbering.

Best regards,

Myran

[Former Member]

If thats the case, and you dont want to stock out your inventory items, could you maybe create a 'Shipping Invoice / Delivery' layout from your Sales Order and print that?

[Former Member]

>

> If thats the case, and you dont want to stock out your inventory items, could you maybe create a 'Shipping Invoice / Delivery' layout from your Sales Order and print that?

Hi Singh,

Problem is that we usually do a shipment based on several Sales Orders or parts of them.

Thanks,

Myran

[former_member204969]

I suggest using the Manual Number to differentiate the draft documents. You can make an FS to generate unique manual numbers.

[Former Member]

Problem is that we usually do a shipment based on several Sales Orders or parts of them.

Sneeky! Well if thats the case, then the document draft (Sales Delivery) is your only option. Its a pretty interesting issue, I'll try to think it over (and I'm sure other forum members will think it over as well)

[Former Member]

>

> 

> Problem is that we usually do a shipment based on several Sales Orders or parts of them.

>

> 
> Sneeky! Well if thats the case, then the document draft (Sales Delivery) is your only option. Its a pretty interesting issue, I'll try to think it over (and I'm sure other forum members will think it over as well)

Thanks again.

Becasue we use several Sales Orders for one shipment (and invoice), I removed the Sales Order number field from the header of the Delivery and Invoice documents, and instead created a UDF on the line so when we enter a Sales Order and populate the Customer Ref field, it copies it over to each line, then when creating the Deliver note and selecting various lines from different Sales Orders it brings along the Sales Order number for each line. This way the customer can enter into their system each line with the correct PO number.

BR,

Myran

[Former Member]

>

> >

> > 

> > Problem is that we usually do a shipment based on several Sales Orders or parts of them.

> >

> > 
> > Sneeky! Well if thats the case, then the document draft (Sales Delivery) is your only option. Its a pretty interesting issue, I'll try to think it over (and I'm sure other forum members will think it over as well)

>

> Thanks again.

>

> Becasue we use several Sales Orders for one shipment (and invoice), I removed the Sales Order number field from the header of the Delivery and Invoice documents, and instead created a UDF on the line so when we enter a Sales Order and populate the Customer Ref field, it copies it over to each line, then when creating the Deliver note and selecting various lines from different Sales Orders it brings along the Sales Order number for each line. This way the customer can enter into their system each line with the correct PO number.

>

> BR,

> Myran

Hi All,

Did anyone have a chance to check this issue further?

Many thanks,

Myran

[Former Member]

>

> 

> Problem is that we usually do a shipment based on several Sales Orders or parts of them.

>

> 
> Sneeky! Well if thats the case, then the document draft (Sales Delivery) is your only option. Its a pretty interesting issue, I'll try to think it over (and I'm sure other forum members will think it over as well)

Any further thoughts on this matter?

Thanks,

Myran

[former_member204969]

I repeat my suggestion: use the draft invoice with uniquely and sequentially filled manual number.

You can make an FS to fill this manual number as the maximum stored number+1. And in the printed form you can display this number instead of the document number.

(If you want, you can make this manual number setting dependent of the number series of the document.)

[Former Member]

The Draft document is just that, 'Draft'. I dont think you should be using it for any other purpose except as a draft.

Because its a draft document, SAP B1 will not auto-increment the invoice number. This will only happen when the draft is saved as a real invoice (because in a networked environment, there could be more then one user doing a draft, cant have more then 1 document with the same number)

Would it be possible for you to use the Delivery Order document to do the shipment or even the Sales Order as a form of 'picking sheet' ? Maybe you can explain the inventory movement as well as the accounting implication on why you're using the draft invoice?