How-ToFinance & Operations

How to Create and Post Sales Orders in Business Central

Walk through the full process of creating, shipping, and invoicing a sales order in Business Central.

Stein Sæstad
7 min read

A sales order in Business Central tracks the full cycle from customer commitment through shipment and invoicing. Unlike a sales invoice, a sales order lets you post the shipment and invoice separately, which matters when goods leave the warehouse before billing occurs.

This guide covers creating a sales order, adding lines, releasing it, posting the shipment, and posting the invoice.

Create the Sales Order

  1. Search for Sales Orders using Alt + Q and open the list.
  2. Select New to open a blank sales order.
  3. In the Customer Name field, select the customer. BC populates the address, payment terms, and currency from the customer card.
  4. Confirm or adjust the Order Date and Requested Delivery Date.
  5. Set the Shipment Date on the header. This date flows down to lines unless overridden per line.

Add Sales Lines

  1. Move to the Lines section.
  2. In the Type field, select Item (or G/L Account, Resource, etc. as needed).
  3. Enter the No. (item number). BC fills in the description, unit of measure, and any applicable price.
  4. Set the Quantity.
  5. Review the Unit Price Excl. VAT and adjust if needed for this order.
  6. Check the Line Discount % field if a discount applies.

Repeat for each item on the order.

Review Posting Groups and VAT

Before releasing, verify that posting groups are correct on each line:

  • Gen. Prod. Posting Group, controls which revenue account the line posts to.
  • VAT Prod. Posting Group, determines VAT rate and handling.

These default from the item card and can be overridden per line if needed. The combination of the customer’s Gen. Bus. Posting Group and the line’s Gen. Prod. Posting Group drives the actual G/L account in the General Posting Setup.

Release the Order

  1. On the sales order, select Release from the action bar (or use the Process menu).
  2. The Status field changes to Released.

Releasing locks the header fields and signals to the warehouse that the order is ready to pick and ship. You can reopen a released order if changes are needed.

Post a Shipment

Posting a shipment records that goods have left your warehouse. It does not create a customer invoice.

  1. On the released sales order, select Post from the action bar.
  2. Choose Ship from the posting options.
  3. Confirm the Qty. to Ship on each line. By default BC suggests the full remaining quantity.
  4. Select OK to post.

BC creates a Posted Sales Shipment and reduces inventory for the shipped items.

Post an Invoice

After shipping, post the invoice to bill the customer.

  1. Open the same sales order (it remains open until fully invoiced).
  2. Select Post and choose Invoice.
  3. Check the Qty. to Invoice on each line. By default BC suggests all shipped-but-not-invoiced quantity.
  4. Select OK to post.

BC creates a Posted Sales Invoice and records the receivable on the customer’s account.

Ship and Invoice in One Step

If you want to ship and invoice in a single posting, select Post and choose Ship and Invoice. BC creates both a posted shipment and a posted invoice simultaneously. This works well for simple orders where goods and the invoice go out together.

Partial Posting

If you ship fewer items than ordered, enter the actual quantity in Qty. to Ship before posting. The order stays open for the remaining quantity. You can repeat the ship and invoice cycle as many times as needed until the order is fully fulfilled.

For a detailed walkthrough of partial quantities, see How to Handle Partial Shipments and Invoicing in Business Central.

Find Posted Documents

  • Posted Sales Shipments, search for this page to view all shipment records.
  • Posted Sales Invoices, search for this page to view all invoice records and navigate to the related G/L entries.

Both pages are linked back to the originating sales order via the Order No. field.