Understanding Order Activity Rules

To advance an order line through the order process, you must create order activity rules. The system uses order activity rules to determine the sequence of steps for processing order information.

The system processes an order line based on the order activity rules that you set up for the order type and line type combination. For example, you could set up the order activity rules for stock line types in sales orders as:

• Enter order

• Print pick slip

• Confirm shipment

You must assign a status code for every step in the order process. A status code is a number that the system uses to identify the current status of an order line. You must also identify next status codes that determine the next step to which the system advances the order. You must arrange status codes in ascending numeric order for the system to establish the sequence of steps.

You can change the progression of steps or include alternate steps in the order activity rules. For example, you can set up order activity rules for nonstock items in sales orders so that the system bypasses the step to print pick slips and advances the order line to shipment confirmation.

You can specify at which point in the order process the system writes records to the Sales Order Detail Ledger File (F42199) and the Procurement Order Detail Ledger File (F43199) history tables.

In order processing, you can use the order activity rules to:

• Locate the status of an order.

• Select orders for batch processing.

• Prepare reports that are based on the current status of an order.