Correct Posted Sales Documents

When managing sales and service transactions, errors like incorrect shipments or invoicing can happen. Business Central offers a set of tools to easily correct these errors, helping you keep operations smooth and your records accurate. This guide will walk you through key functions such as Undo Shipment, Correct, and Cancel, so you can quickly and confidently make adjustments when mistakes occur.

Undoing Shipments

If an item has been shipped by mistake, but it hasn’t been invoiced yet, Business Central’s Undo Shipment function is here to help. This function lets you reverse the shipment and reopen the sales order, allowing you to adjust and process the correct order.

How to Undo a Shipment:

Navigate to the Posted Sales Shipment page.
Select the shipment you want to correct and go to the Lines FastTab.
Find the Undo Shipment option and run the function.

Once you initiate the Undo Shipment, Business Central creates a “negative line” on the posted shipment, adjusting the inventory and reopening the sales order. This reversal resets the quantity field on the sales order, allowing you to reprocess the shipment correctly.

Note: You cannot use the Undo Shipment function if the shipment has already been invoiced. In those cases, use the Correct function on the posted sales invoice to handle the adjustment.

Correcting Posted Sales Invoices

Let’s say an invoice has been posted with incorrect details, such as a misquoted price or incorrect quantity. In Business Central, you can use the Correct function to reverse the posted invoice and create an editable version without needing to start from scratch.

How to Correct a Posted Invoice:

Go to the Posted Sales Invoice section and locate the invoice you need to correct.
Select the Correct function, which will automatically post a credit memo that reverses the incorrect invoice.
A new draft invoice is generated with the original details, allowing you to make necessary adjustments before reposting.

Using this feature helps maintain an accurate audit trail while preventing the hassle of re-entering customer information and order details.

Canceling an Invoice and Creating Corrective Credit Memos

If an invoice was posted in error and needs to be completely reversed, Business Central provides a Cancel function. This function generates a credit memo that reverses the original invoice. Alternatively, if you want to adjust certain details before completing the correction, use the Create Corrective Credit Memo option.

How to Cancel a Posted Invoice:

Open the Posted Sales Invoice page and select the invoice to cancel.
Click Cancel to automatically generate a credit memo, which will zero out the invoice.
If you need to adjust the credit memo before finalizing, choose Create Corrective Credit Memo for more flexibility.

This functionality is essential for situations where a complete reversal is necessary, but you may also need to tweak the details on the credit memo.

Example Use Case: Handling a Common Error in Real-Time

Consider this real-world scenario: You’re processing a customer order and mistakenly ship an item twice. The customer contacts you, requesting a correction before they receive a second invoice. In Business Central, you could use the Undo Shipment function to reverse the unnecessary shipment, then correct the associated invoice to reflect the actual quantity shipped. By doing this, you prevent overcharging and ensure accurate records, strengthening customer trust and minimizing manual corrections.

Quick Recap: Key Steps for Correcting Errors

Undo Shipment: For shipments that haven’t been invoiced, reverse the shipment to reopen the sales order.
Correct: For invoices with minor errors, use this to post a credit memo and generate an editable draft of the original invoice.
Cancel or Create Corrective Credit Memo: For fully reversing invoices, choose Cancel for an automatic credit or create a corrective credit memo to make adjustments.

End-of-Chapter Questions

When would you use the Undo Shipment function instead of correcting an invoice?
How does creating a corrective credit memo help you maintain clean records while adjusting errors?
Why might it be beneficial to have different options for canceling versus correcting invoices in Business Central?

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