Backorders

A backorder is an order the warehouse cannot cover. It is not an error but information for purchasing, available before the customer asks.

Stockly → Warehouses → warehouse → Backorders. The same work in two views:

The counter on the rail

The Backorders entry carries a number: how many orders this warehouse is holding. It is the same set the tabs list, so the counter and the list always describe the same work. Above nine it reads 9+, because a three-digit number on a 20 px icon adds no information.

It counts orders, while the Orders tab lists one row per (order, product). An order short of three articles counts as one on the rail and three in the list: the same set, counted at two levels of detail.

Note

The counter reads the gap in this building. An order covered by goods standing in another warehouse still counts here: nobody on this site can pick it, which is what the tab is about. The network-wide view of the same demand is in Network shortage.

Orders — from the orders’ side

This tab answers which orders are held. Columns: Order, Ordered, Missing.

It is the customer-service view: it states who has to be told something and how long they have been waiting.

Filters: Order number, Product, Product number, Order date.

Products — from the products’ side

Stockly → Warehouses → warehouse → Products answers what has to be bought in larger quantity. Columns: Product, Product number, Ordered, Covered, Missing, Orders blocked.

This is the buyer’s view: one missing product blocking five orders is more urgent than five products blocking one each.

Where they come from

A backorder appears when an order lands in a building with nothing to cover it. It disappears by itself once goods arrive: a supplier receipt, a transfer from another building or a return closes the hold and releases the work.

The closure is recorded in movement history as Backorder cleared.

Recompute gaps

Both tabs carry a Recompute gaps button in the toolbar. The figure they list on is maintained automatically, because every goods receipt, pick, transfer or cancellation updates it, so the button is a repair tool and not part of the daily routine. Use it when the tab does not agree with the shelves, or when the integrity run reports a backorder gap disagreeing with the coverage model. Running it twice changes nothing the second time.

It needs the permission to move stock, and it covers the whole warehouse regardless of which of the two tabs is open.

Resolving a backorder

• Order from the supplier — reorder suggestions take backorders into account. → Reorder suggestions
• Pull from another building — if the goods sit elsewhere in the network, the module proposes a transfer. → Replenishment suggestions
• Check whether the shortage is only on paper — if the goods are physically there and the module cannot see them, the right answer is a stocktake, not a manual correction.

The network view

One building’s backorders are not the same as a shortage across the network. The open demand of every node at once is in the Network shortage report.

Note

When the list cannot be loaded, the module reports the error. An empty backorder list means “nothing is stuck” and must never be the result of a failed load.