FAQ #: 72
The stock receipts journal is not releasing the back orders to the customer that I specified on the purchase order.

By default, the stock receipts journal fills backorders in an "oldest first" fashion. In this instance, the customer and/or sales order number entered on the purchase order does not affect how the backorders are filled.

A configuration option can be set, under Answers Software Maintenance > Answers Configuration > Order Processing > Advanced Options, that allows the system to either "Assign P/O's Issued for Customers to their B/O's First Upon Receipt" or "Assign to Customer Only". When these options are turned on, then the stock receipts journal will pay attention to the customer and/or sales order specified on the purchase order. The "Customer First" option checks the sales order and the customer and assigns the items to that customer and sales order first, then any remaining amounts will be assigned to other customers in oldest order first. The "Customer Only" option will assign to the particular customer and any remaining items will be put in Inventory.

The customer number and/or sales number can be entered on a purchase order in one of three ways, thus "linking" the purchase order to a specific sales order or customer. When a purchase order is created for back ordered items directly from Order Entry, the system automatically stores the order number and customer number on the P/O. When purchase orders are created from Suggested PO Review for nonstock or factory direct items that resulted from a backorder, the order number and customer number are also entered on the P/O. When a purchase order is entered manually, if it is for nonstock items, the purchase order program prompts the user to enter the sales order number, and the customer number can be entered directly onto the purchase order lines. If any of these three steps are used to create a purchase order, then the P/O line contains the sales order number and/or customer the item(s) were ordered for.

If the configuration option is turned on to allow assigning receipts to their B/O's first, then the system first tries to locate the sales order/line number that was entered on the purchase order line. If it cannot locate the back ordered item on that particular sales order, it will try to find a back order for that same item for the customer entered on the purchase order line. If it cannot find that item on backorder for that customer, then it will resort to filling the back orders on the usual "oldest" first.

Once the items are shown on the Stock Receipts Journal, you can control the customer who receives the merchandise using the B/O Receipts Review program. This program allows you to bring up an inventory item that is on the stock receipts journal (stock or non-stock) and see all of the customers who have the item on back order. It shows the default suggestion for the customer who should the receive the merchandise, but you may arrange the back order suggestions as desired. In order to use this program, run the stock receipts journal, but do not update it. Then, use the B/O Reciepts Review to arrange the back order releases. Next, re-run the stock receipts journal. The back orders should appear as you set them.