How to process a sales order to invoice in Infor LN
how to process a sales order to invoice in Infor LN
Also searched as
- infor ln order to cash process steps
- infor ln sales order shipment invoice flow
- how does infor ln generate a sales invoice from an order
- infor ln compose sales invoices
Short answer
In Infor LN a sales order moves from order entry to cash through four linked steps: create and approve the Sales Orders session, release the order lines to Warehousing so a warehouse order is generated, confirm the outbound shipment, and then run the invoicing session that composes and posts the sales invoice to Financials. Each step hands off through an integration document, so a stuck invoice almost always traces back to a missing or unconfirmed step earlier in the chain.
Applies to: Infor LN Enterprise Edition and LN Finance (Baan IV terminology differs slightly for equivalent sessions)
Take a sales order from entry to a posted invoice
- 1Sales > Order Management > Sales Orders: create the header (sold-to, ship-to, order type, warehouse) and add order lines with item, quantity and requested delivery date.
- 2Approve or release the order; the order status must move to Approved before warehousing pick-up, depending on the order type's approval setting in Order Types.
- 3Sales > Order Management > Sales Order Planning, or the automatic warehousing trigger, generates a warehouse outbound order in Warehousing for the released lines.
- 4Warehousing > Outbound > Outbound Order Lines: confirm picking and Warehousing > Outbound > Shipments: confirm the shipment once goods physically leave the warehouse.
- 5The shipment confirmation updates the sales order line status to Delivered and makes the line eligible for invoicing.
- 6Sales > Invoicing > Compose Sales Invoices: run the session (by order, by customer, or in batch) to generate invoice proposals from delivered lines.
- 7Review and, if needed, correct invoice proposals in Sales > Invoicing > Sales Invoices before printing or posting.
- 8Print or approve the invoice, which triggers the integration transaction that posts the entry to Financials (AR and revenue).
- 9Financials > Accounts Receivable: confirm the invoice appears as an open AR item against the customer, matching the amount on the sales invoice.
Where the flow actually breaks
The most common reason a sales order never reaches invoicing is that the warehouse order was generated but never confirmed. Order Management shows the line as released, Warehousing shows an open outbound order, and Compose Sales Invoices simply has nothing to pick up because the line is not yet Delivered.
A second common break is an order type or item that is configured for invoicing from the warehousing order rather than the sales order line, or vice versa. If invoicing runs against the wrong trigger, the proposal comes back empty even though the shipment is confirmed.
Check the order type's invoicing method and the item's invoicing-related item group before assuming the problem is a coding bug; it is usually a setup mismatch, not a defect.
Partial shipments and backorders
LN supports partial shipment by default: a line with quantity 100 can ship 60 now and 40 later, each shipment confirmation creating its own delivered quantity that Compose Sales Invoices can pick up independently, or you can hold invoicing until the full line ships depending on the order type's Invoicing setting (per shipment vs per order line).
Backordered quantity stays open on the sales order line and reappears in the next warehousing order run once stock is available, so an invoice for a partially shipped line is expected behavior, not an error, when the order type allows partial invoicing.
Integration to Financials
The posted invoice does not write directly to the general ledger; it generates an integration transaction that Financials processes according to the integration mapping set up in Common for the combination of order type, item group and company. If AR balances look wrong after invoicing, check unprocessed integration transactions in Financials before assuming the invoice itself is wrong.
Currency, tax code and payment terms are all resolved at order entry from the customer master and can be overridden per order; changes made after shipment confirmation will not retroactively affect an invoice that has already posted.
Common pitfalls
- !Assuming a released sales order line will auto-invoice without confirming the warehousing shipment first.
- !Not checking the order type's invoicing method (per order vs per shipment) when an invoice comes out smaller or larger than expected.
- !Editing price or discount on the sales order after shipment, which does not flow back into an invoice already composed.
- !Ignoring unprocessed integration transactions in Financials when AR does not match the printed invoice total.
- !Running Compose Sales Invoices in simulation mode and mistaking the proposal for a posted, final invoice.
- !Forgetting that credit or tax holds on the customer master can silently block invoice composition for an otherwise complete order.
How an ERP-grounded AI assistant handles this
ERPray can trace a specific sales order through every hop of this chain in one answer: order status, warehouse order status, shipment confirmation, and whether an invoice proposal or posted invoice exists, without a user opening four separate LN sessions. Asked why order 100234 has not been invoiced, it checks delivered quantity against invoiced quantity and points at the exact stalled step, which is usually faster than working the chain manually session by session.
Frequently asked questions
Can I invoice a sales order before the shipment is confirmed?
Only if the order type or item is configured for invoicing from the sales order line rather than from the shipment, which is uncommon for physical goods. Standard practice ties invoicing to a confirmed shipment so AR and revenue reflect goods actually delivered.
Why does Compose Sales Invoices return no proposals for a delivered order?
Check that the line status is genuinely Delivered (not just picked), that the customer or item is not on invoicing hold, and that the invoicing method on the order type matches how you expect the line to invoice (per order vs per shipment).
How do I cancel or credit an already-posted sales invoice?
Do not edit the posted invoice. Generate a credit note through Sales > Invoicing against the original invoice, which reverses the AR and revenue entries through its own integration transaction, then reissue a corrected invoice if needed.
Does a return or RMA reverse the original invoice automatically?
No. A return generates its own warehousing inbound movement and, depending on configuration, a credit note through the same Compose Sales Invoices session; it does not modify the original invoice record.
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