Order lifecycle

Orders, order lines and order line items each have their own state. The order state tells you where the order as a whole stands; the item states tell you exactly what has happened to each unit. This page lists every state and what moves an order from one state to the next.

Order states

State	Meaning
concept	Draft. The order has been saved but not confirmed. It has no order line items yet and nothing happens in the warehouse.
confirming	You pressed Confirm. A background job is creating the order line items (and, for inbound orders, the expected inventory).
pending	Confirmed and waiting. Outbound orders wait for allocation; inbound orders wait for the goods to arrive.
processing	Work has started: something has been allocated, backordered or received. The order stays in processing while it is picked, packed, shipped or received.
completed	All work is done: every item is shipped, received or built (or cancelled).
cancelled	Every item of the order has been cancelled.
hold	The order was put on hold, by a user or automatically. Nothing can be done with it until the hold is released.

Order lifecycle table

From	Event	To	What triggers it
(new)	Save	concept	Saving a new order in the form, an import, the API or an integration.
concept	Confirm	confirming	Confirm on the order or in the list, an import row with Event confirm, or the API.
confirming	Confirmed	pending	The confirmation job has created all order line items. If confirmation fails, the order goes back to concept and you get a notification with the reason.
pending	Allocate / Backorder	processing	Manual or automatic allocation allocates or backorders at least one item.
pending	Receive	processing	The first goods of an inbound order are received.
processing	Pending	pending	All items are pending again, for example after unallocating everything.
processing	Allocate, Pick, Pack, Ship, Unallocate, Unpick, Unpack, Expect, Receive, Build	processing	Work on individual items. The order stays in processing.
processing	Complete	completed	Nothing is left to do (see When an order completes).
completed	Receive	completed	Over-receiving on a completed inbound order, only if Receiving › Over receive is on. Not possible for sales orders or anonymized orders.
concept, pending, processing	Cancel	cancelled	All items have been cancelled, by cancelling or by allocation when backorders are not allowed.
any state except hold, cancelled, completed	Hold	hold	Hold button, or an integration that delivered an invalid order. See Holds.
hold	Release	state before the hold	Resolving the hold task on the ticket.

A typical sales order goes concept → confirming → pending → processing → completed. A typical purchase order goes concept → confirming → pending → processing → completed too, but processing starts at the first receipt instead of at allocation.

When an order completes

Boxture checks whether an order is complete after shipping, receiving, building and cancelling:

Order type	Completed when every item that is not cancelled is…
Sales order, Scrap order	shipped
Purchase order, Return order, Transfer order, Add inventory order	received (items on hold do not block completion)
Kit order	built
Remove inventory order	retired (happens immediately)

If some items are done and the rest are cancelled, the order is completed, not cancelled. An order is only cancelled when every item is cancelled.

Order line states

Order lines have a simpler set of states. Use them to see which lines are still open.

State	Meaning
concept	The order is not confirmed yet.
pending	Confirmed, no work has started on this line.
processing	At least one item of the line has been allocated, backordered or received.
completed	All items of the line are shipped, received or built.
cancelled	All items of the line are cancelled.

A line goes back from processing to pending when all its items are pending again (after unallocating).

Order line item states

These are the states you see in the Items tab of an order and in the counters on the order list.

State	Meaning	Reached by
pending	Waiting to be allocated.	Confirming an outbound order; unallocating; a backordered item for which matching stock exists that cannot be allocated yet.
expected	Waiting to be received.	Confirming an inbound order; shipping a transfer order (the item becomes expected at the destination).
backordered	No stock could be allocated; waiting for stock.	Allocation without enough stock, when backorders are allowed. See Backorders.
allocated	Linked to a specific inventory item in a specific location.	Allocation; cancelling a pick; unpicking.
picking	On a pick list that has not been fully picked.	Creating a pick list (Pick, pick list plans, waves).
picked	Picked into a tote or container, ready to pack.	Picking; unpacking.
packed	Packed into a parcel of a shipment.	Packing.
shipped	Left the warehouse.	Shipping the shipment.
received	Received into stock.	Receiving.
built	The component has been used to build a kit.	Building a kit order.
retired	The unit was removed from stock by a remove inventory order.	Remove inventory orders.
hold	Blocked by a problem.	Picking problems (no inventory or expired inventory in the bin) or receiving with a hold reason such as Damaged.
cancelled	Will not be processed.	Cancelling, or allocation when backorders are not allowed.

Item transitions

Event	From	To
Allocate	pending, backordered	allocated
Backorder	pending, backordered	backordered
Unallocate	allocated	pending
Picking (pick list created)	allocated	picking
Cancel picking	picking	allocated
Pick	allocated, picking	picked
Unpick	picked	picking, then back to allocated
Pack	allocated, picked	packed
Unpack	packed	picked
Ship	allocated, picked, packed	shipped
Expect	pending (inbound orders), shipped (transfer orders)	expected
Receive	expected	received
Build	picked	built
Retire	allocated	retired
Hold	any	hold
Release	hold	received (after inspection) or the state before the hold
Cancel	pending, expected, backordered	cancelled

Allocated and picking items can also be cancelled: Boxture first takes them off their pick list and unallocates them, then cancels them. Picked, packed, shipped and received items cannot be cancelled.

What happens automatically

Moment	What Boxture does
Order saved	Sets the default shipping method, delivery terms and business model if they are empty (see Creating orders). Copies the customer's contacts onto the order.
Order confirmed	Creates the order line items. Inbound orders get expected inventory. Outbound orders are allocated automatically if Allocation › Auto allocate is on. Return orders can get a return shipment with label.
Every 30 minutes	Retries automatic allocation of pending and backordered orders for which stock has become available.
Every 15 minutes	Expires inventory that has reached its expiry date and replaces expired allocated stock (see Allocation).
Stock received, put away or released from hold	Allocates waiting backorders for those products.
Sales order allocated	Calculates the Ship at date and time.
Order completed	After Data protection › Order anonymize period days, personal data is anonymized (see Anonymization).

Notifications, papers and integrations

Order state changes are events that other parts of Boxture can react to. Depending on how your account is set up, a transition can:

• send an e-mail or other message from a template (see Messaging),
• print or generate papers such as labels or documents (see Papers),
• start an integration flow, for example to report a shipment back to a webshop (see Vorto integrations).

Sent messages, generated papers and integration messages are listed on the order page under Other.

Timestamps

Boxture records when, and by whom, each step happened: created, confirmed, allocated, picked, packed, shipped, received, completed, held, cancelled and so on. The Created by user shows on the order page, and the Ship at and Received at dates are available as columns in the order list.