Backorder
If only a partial delivery of the purchase items is made during the delivery process, a backorder can be generated for the original purchase order. This is done to allow the original order, which has not yet been fully delivered, to be completed without having to wait for all products to be delivered.
A generated backorder has a reference to the original purchase order for the non-delivered part of the purchase. If necessary, you can even create a backorder on an existing backorder.
Every purchase order line that is still In progress is copied from the original order to the backorder and the quantities in the backorder's purchase order lines are adjusted to what is still to be delivered. On the original purchase order, the quantity is also reduced to the quantity received, as the sum of the ordered quantity in the purchase order and that of all backorders should remain the same.
Summarizing
Quantity on the backorder = Quantity ordered on the original purchase order – Quantity already received + the Quantity returned to the vendor.
Example: on a purchase order with code 100.00, the quantity to be delivered is 10. However, only 4 items were delivered. A backorder with code 101.00 can be created and the quantity to be delivered set to 6. If, at the time of delivery, only 4 out of 6 items are delivered, another backorder can be created for the existing backorder. This new backorder would have the code 102.00 and a delivery quantity of 2.
 | If the purchase order line is still In progress and the quantity to receive is zero or less, no purchase order line is created on the backorder. |
The backorder details of a purchase order or a backorder can be viewed on the Purchase order line layout: Purchases > Details > Purchase order lines.