Sales orders do not always ship in one delivery. A customer might order 100 units but you can only ship 60 today. Business Central handles this through the Qty. to Ship and Qty. to Invoice fields on each sales line, which you control at each posting.
Key Fields on Sales Lines
| Field | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Quantity | Original ordered quantity, not editable after partial posting |
| Qty. to Ship | How many to ship in this posting |
| Qty. Shipped Not Invoiced | Shipped but not yet billed |
| Qty. to Invoice | How many to invoice in this posting |
| Quantity Invoiced | Cumulative invoiced total |
BC defaults Qty. to Ship to the remaining unshipped quantity and Qty. to Invoice to the quantity shipped but not yet invoiced. You can lower either field before posting.
Post a Partial Shipment
- Open the sales order.
- On the relevant line, set Qty. to Ship to the quantity you are sending now (less than the full remaining quantity).
- Leave Qty. to Invoice at zero if you are not invoicing yet.
- Select Post → Ship.
BC creates a posted shipment for the partial quantity. The order remains open with the remaining quantity still to ship.
Post a Partial Invoice
You can invoice a portion of the shipped quantity separately, for example, if you bill in stages.
- On the sales order, set Qty. to Invoice to the quantity you want to bill now.
- Ensure Qty. to Ship is zero (you are not shipping more at this point).
- Select Post → Invoice.
BC creates a posted invoice for that quantity. The remaining shipped-but-not-invoiced quantity stays on the order for future invoicing.
Example: Three Shipments, Two Invoices
An order for 100 units processed across multiple postings:
| Posting | Qty. to Ship | Qty. to Invoice | Posted Document |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40 | 0 | Shipment 1 |
| 2 | 0 | 40 | Invoice 1 (covers Shipment 1) |
| 3 | 60 | 0 | Shipment 2 |
| 4 | 0 | 60 | Invoice 2 (covers Shipment 2) |
After posting 4, the order is fully shipped and fully invoiced and BC marks it as closed.
Shipping Advice: Partial vs Complete
The Shipping Advice field controls whether an order can be partially shipped.
- Partial, BC allows posting a shipment for any quantity less than the total. This is the default for most customers.
- Complete, BC requires all lines to be fully shippable before a shipment can be posted.
You can set a default on the Customer Card:
- Open the Customer Card.
- Navigate to the Shipping tab.
- Set the Shipping Advice field to Partial or Complete.
The value from the customer card flows to each new sales order header, but you can change it per order before releasing.
Purchase Orders and Partial Receiving
The same logic applies on the purchase side. The Qty. to Receive and Qty. to Invoice fields on purchase lines let you receive and invoice in portions. A purchase order stays open until all lines are fully received and invoiced.
For a full walkthrough of the purchase order process, see How to Set Up and Use Purchase Orders in Business Central.