Back to D100: Inventory Order Management Basics

Lesson 13: Processing Customer Returns for Replacement at the Same Price

Part 2: Basic Sales and Purchase Processes

Acumatica ERP supports the most common types of customer returns of items your company has sold. These types include returns in which you receive the items to inventory and replace the items with the same items or other items at exactly the same price. With this return type, you do not need to process an invoice or a credit memo. This lesson explains how to process customer returns of items with replacement items being received to inventory and replacement items being shipped to the customer.

Returns for Replacement at the Same Price: General Information

Acumatica ERP provides support for the most common types of return processes, which gives you the flexibility to manage various types of customer returns according to the return policies of your company. Returns for replacement at the same price are one type of returns. These returns are processed in the system as return orders of the RR (Return with Replacement) order type. With this type, a customer returns an item and requests that the item be replaced with the same or another item at exactly the same price, so that you do not need to process an invoice or a credit memo. Return orders of the RR type may involve the exact replacement of a single item or multiple items.

Learning Objectives

In this lesson, you will do the following:

Create a return order that is linked to the invoice that was used to record the sale of the returned items
Create an incoming shipment (receipt) of the returned items, and confirm the shipment
Create a shipment of the replacement items to the customer
Update inventory to reflect the replacement of the returned items

Applicable Scenario

You create a return for replacement at the same price (that is, an order with the RR predefined order type) to perform a customer return in which the customer receives an exact replacement of a particular item or specific items. The exact replacement is the replacement of the same items at the same price. The customer returns the rejected goods, the goods are returned to inventory, and the customer receives a replacement for the rejected goods. Since the items are replaced at exactly the same price, you do not need to process any AR documents.

Processing of Returned Items for Replacement

The standard process of return for replacement at the same price typically includes the following steps:

The entry of an order of the RR type
The addition of the items to be returned and the items to be shipped for replacement
The processing of the receipt of the returned items to inventory
The processing of a shipment of replacement items to the customer
The updating of the inventory In general, the Sales Orders (SO301000) form is the starting point for the creation of a customer return. You create a new order of the RR type and add the item or items that the customer has returned. You can add an item to be returned without linking it to a sales document, or add a line with a reference to the original sales invoice for which you perform the return. To add the item to be returned with a link to the original sales invoice, on the Sales Orders form, you click Add Invoice on the table toolbar of the Details tab and select the line of the needed invoice in the Add Invoice Details dialog box, which opens. A line corresponding to an item being returned (whether or not it is linked to a sales invoice) has the Receipt operation specified in the Operation column. Because this is an order of the RR type, each return line should have a corresponding replacement line: a line with the Issue operation type for a replacement item. If the item in a line with the Receipt operation is not tracked by serial or lot numbers, you can select the Auto-Create Issue check box for the line so that the system will automatically add the corresponding replacement line when you confirm the receipt of the returned items. If an item to be returned has a specific lot or serial number, you should select this particular item (with its lot or serial number) from the list of invoice lines. For the items to be returned that are lot- or serial- tracked, you must clear the Auto Create Issue check box for the return line. Instead, you add the replacement line manually. Aer you have specified the details in the RR order, you need to create and confirm two documents: a receipt of returned items (also referred to as an incoming shipment) and a shipment of replacement items to customer. To create a receipt, on the More menu of the Sales Orders form, you click Create Receipt. To create a shipment, on the More menu of the Sales Orders form, you click Create Shipment. You create the incoming shipment for the return of items on the Shipments (SO302000) form and confirm it by clicking Confirm Shipment. Then you create the outgoing shipment for the replacement of items; you also review and confirm the shipment. You can update the inventory for each shipment separately by opening the shipment on the Shipments form and clicking Update IN on the More menu; this causes the system to generate the appropriate inventory transaction and to update the item availability data. On release of the inventory documents, batches of GL transactions are generated. Sales invoices are not generated for an RR order because the returned item is replaced with another item at the same price.

Workflow of a Return for Replacement at the Same Price

The processing of a return for replacement at the same price involves the actions and generated documents shown in the following diagram. Returns for Replacement at the Same Price: Process Activity

The following activity demonstrates how to prepare and process to completion a customer return of items with the exact replacement of items (that is, with the same items for the same price), which does not require an invoice to be processed.

Story

Suppose that you are Grace Norman, a sales manager in the SweetLife Fruits & Jams company. On January 30, 2025, the GoodFood One Restaurant customer asks for the replacement of five small jars of orange jam (ordered on January 25, 2025) with the same number of the same jam jars because the lids appeared to be dented. The returned jars must be temporarily placed to inventory so that the quality assurance would assess them to track the source of the damage. You authorize the return. Acting as the sales manager, you need to process the return of items to inventory with shipping the exact replacement of the returned items to the customer.

Configuration Overview

In the U100 dataset, for the purposes of this activity, the following tasks have been performed:

On the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form, the following features have been enabled:
Inventory and Order Management, which provides the standard functionality of inventory and order management
Inventory, which gives you the ability to maintain stock items by using forms related to the inventory functionality and to create and process sales and purchase documents that include stock items
On the Sales Orders Preferences (SO101000) form, the Automatically Release IN Documents check box has been selected.
On the Order Types (SO201000) form, the RR order type has been configured and activated.
On the Customers (AR303000) form, the GOODFOOD (GoodFood One Restaurant) customer has been defined.
On the Stock Items (IN202500) form, the ORJAM08 and APJAM08 stock items have been created.
The following sales documents, for which you will process a return, have been created:
On the Sales Orders (SO301000) form, the sales order for the GOODFOOD customer that includes the ORJAM08 and APJAM08 stock items and is dated 1/25/2025
On the Invoices (SO303000) form, the invoice for the GOODFOOD customer in the amount of $201.74 has been created.
On the Shipments (SO302000) form, the shipment to the GOODFOOD customer that includes the ORJAM08 and APJAM08 stock items and is dated 1/25/2025

Process Overview

To process a customer return with an exact replacement, you will create an order of the RR (Return with Replacement) type on the Sales Orders (SO301000) form, and add to it the line or lines of the sales invoice that has been prepared for the sales order for which you need to process a return. You will receive the returned items to inventory by creating a shipment with the Receipt operation. Then you will process another shipment to record the delivery of the replacement items to the customer. Because the returned and replacement items have the same price, you will not need to process any accounts receivable documents. Finally, you will update the inventory by using the Update IN command on the Process Shipments (SO503000) form; this action generates inventory documents that record the receiving and issuing of the items in this order.

System Preparation

Before you start preparing and processing the customer return for replacement at the same price, do the following:

In the info area, in the upper-right corner of the top pane of the Acumatica ERP screen, make sure that the business date in your system is set to 1/30/2025. If a diﬀerent date is displayed, click the Business Date menu button and select 1/30/2025 on the calendar. For simplicity, in this activity, you will create and process all documents in the system on this business date.
On the Company and Branch Selection menu, in the top pane of the Acumatica ERP screen, make sure the SweetLife Head Oﬀice and Wholesale Center branch is selected.

Step 1: Creating a Return Order of the RR Type To create a return order of the RR (Return with Replacement) type, do the following:

On the Sales Orders (SO301000) form, add a new record.
In the Summary area, specify the following settings:

Order Type: RR
Customer: GOODFOOD
Date: 1/30/2025
Requested On: 1/30/2025
Description: Authorized replacement of orange jam

On the form toolbar, click Save.
You have created a sales order of the RR type, but have not added lines to it. Now you can add to the return order the line of the sales invoice that had been prepared for the sales order for which you need to process a return.

Step 2: Adding the Items to Be Returned To add the line of the sales invoice to return order for which you need to process a return, do the following:

While you are still viewing the return order on the Sales Orders (SO301000) form, on the table toolbar of the Details tab, click Add Invoice.
In the Add Invoice Details dialog box, which opens, do the following: a. In the AR Doc. Type box, select Invoice. b. In the AR Doc. Nbr. box, select the reference number of the invoice to GOODFOOD in the amount of 201.74 dated 1/25/2025. The invoice lines appear in the table of the dialog box. c. In the table, select the unlabeled check box in the ORJAM08 line. d. Click Add & Close, which closes the dialog box and adds the line to the Details tab.
Review the details of the added line, and make sure that the related invoice reference number is specified in the Invoice Nbr. column.
In the line, change Quantity to 5, which is the number of jars to be replaced.
Also, in the line, make sure that the Auto Create Issue check box is selected. With this check box selected, the line with the item for replacement will be created and added automatically to the return order on receipt confirmation.
On the form toolbar, click Save. Notice that the return order has the Open status.

Step 3: Receiving the Returned Items To process the receipt of items to inventory, do the following:

While you are still viewing the return order on the Sales Orders (SO301000) form, on the form toolbar, click Create Receipt to create a receipt of returned items.
In the Specify Shipment Parameters dialog box, which opens, make sure that 1/30/2025 is selected as the Shipment Date and WHOLESALE is specified in the Warehouse ID box.
Click OK. Wait for the system to complete the operation. The system closes the dialog box and opens the prepared shipment with the Receipt operation on the Shipments (SO302000) form.
On the form toolbar, click Confirm Shipment to confirm the receipt of the returned items.
Now you can process the shipping of the items replacement to the customer.

Step 4: Shipping the Replacement Items To process the shipping of the items replacement to the customer, do the following:

Open the RR order that you have prepared on the Sales Orders (SO301000) form and review it. On the Details tab, notice that the line with the replacement item has been added automatically when you confirmed the receipt of the returned items. The line has the same inventory item and unit price as the item that had been returned. Also, it has Issue in the Operation column, and a negative quantity in the Quantity column.
On the form toolbar, click Create Shipment to create a shipment of the replacement item to the customer.
In the Specify Shipment Parameters dialog box, which opens, make sure that 1/30/2025 is selected in the Shipment Date box and WHOLESALE is specified in the Warehouse ID box. Click OK. Wait for the system to complete the operation. The system opens the prepared shipment with the Issue operation on the Shipments (SO302000) form.
On the Details tab, in the only line, specify Main in the Location column.
On the form toolbar, click Confirm Shipment.
The replacement item has the same price and quantity, so no invoice to the customer is required. To record the movement of items and complete the process, you need to update the inventory. Step 5: Updating Inventory To update the inventory, do the following:
Open the Process Shipments (SO503000) form.
In the Action box, select Update IN.
In the End Date box, specify 1/30/2025.
In the table, select the unlabeled check boxes next to the lines with two confirmed shipments to the GOODFOOD customer that you have prepared earlier in this activity.
On the form toolbar, click Process. The Processing dialog box opens. Wait for the system to complete the operation. Close the dialog box. The table no longer lists any lines with shipments. For the selected shipment lines, the system generates two inventory issues: an issue with the Return transaction type for the receipt, and an issue with the Issue transaction type for the shipment of the replacement item.
Open the order of the RR type that you have prepared on the Sales Orders (SO301000) form and review the return order. The return order now has the Completed status, as you can see in the following screenshot. On the Shipments tab, make sure that the reference numbers of the issues generated for both the receipt and the shipment are shown in the Inventory Ref. Nbr. column (also shown in the following screenshot), which indicates that the corresponding inventory documents have been generated.
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   Figure: Return order processed to completion
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Click the link in the Inventory Ref Nbr. column in the first line. On the Issues (IN302000) form, which opens in a pop-up window, make sure that the issue has the Released status. Close the issue.
Click the link in the Inventory Ref Nbr. column in the second line. On the Issues form, which opens in a pop- up window, make sure that the issue has the Released status. Close the issue.
The customer return with replacement for the same price is now complete.