Blanket Sales Orders

A Blanket Sales Order (Blanket SO) in ianaiERP is a long-term agreement with a customer that establishes items, pricing, and total committed quantities over a period of time — without creating immediate inventory demand. As real Sales Orders are created against the blanket, they "release" quantities from it until the total is exhausted.

Overview

• A Blanket SO captures an agreement to sell a set of items to a customer at agreed-upon prices and quantities over an effective period.
• Blanket SOs are contract envelopes, not transactional commitments:
  • They do not generate inventory demand (they do not appear in the Supply & Demand Index).
  • They cannot be shipped or invoiced directly.
  • They bypass approval workflows — the regular Sales Orders released from them go through normal approvals instead.
• Each blanket line tracks a Total Quantity, a Released Quantity (how much has already been consumed by regular SOs), and a Remaining Quantity.
• Releases can be created two ways: on demand (by clicking Create Release from the blanket itself) or automatically (by adding matching items to a regular Sales Order).

When to Use a Blanket SO

Use Blanket SOs when you have recurring or scheduled business with a customer and want to lock in pricing or reserve volume up front.

• Customer volume commitments: A customer commits to purchasing a set quantity across multiple shipments at a negotiated price.
• Annual supply agreements: A distributor agrees to take a fixed annual volume of a product, released as monthly orders.
• Project-based framework agreements: A multi-phase customer project where each phase generates its own SO but pricing and terms are set in advance.
• Recurring replenishment: Predictable customer consumption where you want fixed pricing without re-negotiating each order.

Creating a Blanket Sales Order

To create a new Blanket SO:

1. Navigate to Sales > Sales Order in the main menu.
2. In the view selector at the top left, switch from Sales Order to Blanket SO.
3. Click Add New on the top right.
4. Fill out the form with the following information:
   • Date: The date the blanket agreement is recorded.
   • Customer: The customer the agreement is with.
   • Document Number: Automatically generated using the Blanket SO numbering format, or manually entered.
   • Blanket Start Date: The date the agreement takes effect.
   • Blanket End Date: The date the agreement expires.
   • Payment Terms, Sales Rep, Class, Department, Project: Optional header fields.
5. For each line:
   • Select the Item.
   • Enter the Total Quantity committed under the agreement.
   • Specify the Unit Price that will apply to releases.
   • Add Description or notes as needed.
6. Click Save to create the blanket.

Releasing Against a Blanket SO

Once a Blanket SO is active, there are two ways to release quantities against it.

Option 1: Create Release From the Blanket

Open the Blanket SO and click the Create Release row action. ianaiERP will:

1. Open a new regular Sales Order form.
2. Pre-fill the customer from the blanket header.
3. Pre-populate the line items from the blanket, with each line's default quantity set to its Remaining Quantity (Total − Released).
4. Link each line back to its originating blanket line, so the release is tracked as soon as you save.

You can then adjust quantities, remove lines you don't want to release yet, and save normally. The Create Release action is only available while the blanket is in Open status.

Option 2: Auto-Linking on a New Sales Order

Alternatively, create a regular Sales Order from scratch and let ianaiERP match it to open blankets automatically.

How Auto-Linking Works

When you create or edit a regular Sales Order:

1. ianaiERP looks up all open blanket lines for the selected customer.
2. As you add items to the line grid, any item that matches an open blanket line is automatically linked:
   • The Unit Price is pre-filled from the blanket line.
   • The line's Blanket Line reference is populated.
   • The Released Quantity on the blanket line increases by the ordered quantity.
3. A Blanket chip bar appears at the top of the order form showing which blanket(s) are being drawn from. Clicking a chip opens the blanket for inspection.
4. If a single blanket covers every linked line, the regular SO's Blanket header reference is automatically set to that blanket.
5. If items span multiple blankets, each line links to its own blanket and the header reference remains empty.

Remaining Quantity Tracking

Each blanket line shows:

• Total Quantity — the committed amount at the time the blanket was signed.
• Released Quantity — the sum of quantities on all regular SOs that reference this blanket line.
• Remaining Quantity — Total − Released.

Released quantities update automatically as regular Sales Orders are created, edited, or cancelled.

Blanket SO Statuses

Blanket SOs use a simplified status set separate from regular Sales Orders:

• Open: The default status for new blankets. Lines can be released against them.
• Closed: The blanket has been manually closed or all lines are exhausted. New orders will no longer auto-link to it.
• Cancelled: The blanket has been voided. No further releases are possible.

Allowed Status Transitions

From	To
Open	Closed, Cancelled
Closed	Open
Cancelled	Open

The blanket header status is derived from its line statuses: if every line is cancelled, the blanket is cancelled; if every line is closed or cancelled, the blanket is closed; otherwise it stays open.

What You Cannot Do With a Blanket SO

Because a Blanket SO is a contract, not a transaction, the following operations are blocked:

• A Blanket SO cannot be converted to an Invoice or Shipment. Create a regular Sales Order against the blanket and convert that instead.
• Blanket SOs do not contribute to the Supply & Demand Index (SDI) — they do not appear as committed demand in planning views.
• Blanket SOs bypass the standard approval workflow; approvals are enforced on the regular SOs released from them.

Document Number Format

Blanket SOs use their own document number format, distinct from regular Sales Orders. The format is controlled by the FORMAT_DOC_NUMBER_BLANKET_SALES_ORDER company setting and can be customized from the Blanket SO settings modal.

Blanket SO Settings

Click the gear icon on the Blanket SO list to configure:

• Default Payment Term: The default payment term applied to new Blanket SOs.
• Default Tax Code: The default sales tax code applied to new Blanket SOs.

Best Practices

1. Set realistic Blanket Start/End dates so expired blankets stop auto-linking to new orders.
2. Use clear document numbering to distinguish blankets from regular orders (e.g., a BSO- prefix).
3. Review Remaining Quantities periodically to ensure you are tracking against your commitment — and to avoid over-releasing.
4. Close exhausted or superseded blankets manually instead of leaving them open; this prevents accidental auto-linking to stale agreements.
5. Do not rely on Blanket SOs for planning signals — supply and demand planning only sees regular Sales Orders.

Related Features

• Sales Transactions
• Blanket Purchase Orders
• Customers

For more detailed information on managing Blanket Sales Orders, please refer to the specific sections in this documentation.