Example.A single order can include multiple items that ship on different dates, via different methods. In order to identify which items ship together, the system groups all order items into order generations. All items in an order generation have the following four things in common:
Order status
Ship via
Ship date
Shipping branch
Any product for which one of these criteria is different is placed on a new order generation.
The system also creates order generations whenever you enter a deposit or payment, as well as when you print a ship ticket or an invoice. To identify each generation, the system automatically appends a three-digit suffix to the original order number. The order's Status tab displays each order generation on a separate line.
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Note: When you assign the Cancel order status to a generation, this cancels the order quantities for the products. The order generation will remain associated with the order for your reference. To break the association so that a generation no longer appears on the Status tab, change the products' ship quantities to zero.
To improve order handling efficiency, you can combine generations of products. You do this by editing generation criteria to make generations identical. For example, when two generations differ only by ship date, you can edit one generation's ship date so that it matches the other. Once all four criteria match, the two generations merge into a single generation.
Note: You cannot consolidate generations on a direct-through-stock order.
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