Creating Orders and Adding Line Items Documentation

An order collects the resource needs you are filling from one vendor, or from your own people and gear, on one event. This page covers starting an order and putting lines on it. Orders live under Resourcing > Orders in the event sidebar.

Every resource line on an order points at a need on one of the event's procurements. That link is what lets BackOps tell you how much of each need is on order and whether it is secured. If what you are paying for is not a resource, such as travel or a parking pass, it goes on an expense line instead.

Choose External or Internal

Both ways of creating an order ask for a Source:

External is sourced from a vendor. It runs quotes, invoices and payments, and its status climbs as that paperwork arrives.
Internal is filled from your own crew and gear. There is no quote or invoice; its status follows the people and gear you assign and what they complete.

Source defaults to External. You can change it later from the order's details panel, but only while the order's declared status is Draft or Canceled. Once an order has been sent, confirmed or ordered, its source is locked.

Create an order from a procurement

When a whole procurement is going to one vendor, start the order from it. BackOps adds a line for every need that is not yet fully ordered, for the quantity still outstanding, and copies the procurement's groups onto the order as line-item groups.

Open Orders

In the event sidebar, open Resourcing and select Orders.

Choose From procurement

Open the menu next to Create order and select From procurement. The menu appears once the event has at least one order; on an event with no orders yet, the page offers only Create order.

Pick the procurement

Choose the Procurement. Name is optional and defaults to the procurement's name. Set the Source.

Create the order

Select Create order. The new order opens as a Draft.

A need that is already partly ordered elsewhere contributes only its remaining quantity. A composite need is never ordered as a whole: its component needs are ordered instead. If every need on the procurement is already fully ordered, the order is not created.

Create a blank order

Select Create order

On the Orders page, select Create order.

Name it and set the source

Enter a Name and choose External or Internal.

Create the order

Select Create order, then add lines from the order's Line Items tab.

Add needs to an order

From the order's Line Items tab, select Add item to search the event's procurements and pick the needs to put on the order. Each line carries a quantity, and you can change it later. The need stays on its procurement whatever you do to the line; removing a line only takes it off the order.

Quick-add a forgotten need. When something was never put on a procurement, open the menu next to Add item and choose Quick-add need. Pick the Resource type, the Quantity, the Procurement it belongs to and, optionally, a Line-item group. BackOps creates the need on that procurement and puts it on the order in one step. Missing attribute values do not block it; the need is flagged as incomplete so you can fill them in later.

Group lines. Choose Add line-item group to organize lines, for example by load-in day or by department. A group can carry its own dates and, when delivery is required, its own delivery address that overrides the order's. Removing a group keeps its lines and leaves them ungrouped.

Add expense lines

Choose Add expense line to put money that is not a resource on the order, with a description, quantity, unit amount and optional group. Leave it unlinked as a planned line before a receipt exists, or link it to an expense already recorded on the event with Link expense. An expense can sit on only one order, and an expense the company paid for itself cannot be linked. Adding, editing and linking expense lines requires event admin access.

If a planned line and a linked expense on the same order carry the same amount, the order shows a Possible duplicate expense signal, because the total may be counting the same money twice.

To pay people back for expenses they fronted, start from the Expenses page instead: select the expenses for one payee and choose Create reimbursement order or Add to existing order. See Expenses.

Fill in the order's details

The details panel on the left of the order holds its Name, Source, Vendor, Delivery required, Start date & time, End date & time, Internal notes, External notes, and the Billing and Delivery contacts. Internal notes stay off the order PDF; external notes print on it.

Vendor is not something you type. It comes from the quote you choose, so an empty vendor row offers Add a quote or Choose a quote instead. An internal order has no vendor.

Once an order has been sent or confirmed, its lines, groups, billing, delivery and dates lock until you start a new revision. Name and notes stay editable. See sending and revising orders.

Delete an order

Choose Delete order from the order's actions menu. Deleting removes the order with its groups, lines and revisions permanently. The needs its lines pointed at stay on their procurements, and linked expenses are kept and become unassociated. To stop working an order without losing its history, abandon or cancel it instead; see the order status reference.

Order Status Reference

How an order moves from Draft to Paid, or from Draft to Fulfilled when internal.

Procurement

Where the needs on an order come from.