Create a Return Order

Return Orders serve as a provisional records for items that have been returned to the warehouse. They allow you to monitor and manage these items until a final decision regarding their disposition is made.

Step 1: Pull up the original Order

Return Orders can't be created from the Return Order table like you might think they would (that's why the Create New button on the Return Order table is greyed out).

Instead, you have to create it out of, or from, the original Order. So the first step is to pull up the original order record by going to the Order table.

Once you're looking at the Order record, go to the Actions dropdown and select Create Return Order.

This will take you to the next step, and the next screen, where you'll start building the actual Return Order.

Step 2: Configure the Return Order

Creating a Return Order consists of three steps: setup, review, and confirmation.

Setting up the Return Order allows you to tweak a few details to your needs.

The original Order, LOB, Warehouse, and Customer No will already be populated from the previous record. On this screen, you get to set the reason for the return, categorize it, and input instructions, as well as determine which line items you want to include or exclude (a partial return).

Return Reason

Return Reason is for your own internal use and does not have any reflection on how InfoPlus will interact with this returned order. You can select from whatever selection is most useful for your informational needs.

Return Category

Return Category has only two options: Authorized and Unauthorized. This is again a field that is mostly for your own internal consideration. You might use "Authorized" if you were notified in advance of this return, and you might use "Unauthorized" if the package was returned by the carrier, or simply showed back up at the warehouse.

While it's mostly for your use, take note that to reship a returned order, this selection must be set to Authorized. This is a preventative measure to ensure the client has approved the reship.

Return Instructions

This field has three options: Hold for Instructions, Reship, and Return to Stock.

Hold for Instructions is virtually a pause button to give you time to figure out what needs to happen with the return.

For example, if a package shows up and you're not entirely sure what it is or why it's here, Hold for Instruction is the ideal selection.

When you've selected Hold for Instruction, go through your usual steps to verify the contents of the package and check for damage. After that, you might contact the customer with your findings and determine if they want you to reship it or not (if you're not sure).

If the customer wants you to reship it or you know you're going to reship it, you would then go into the Return Order and edit the Return Instructions and select Reship, which allows the return to proceed through that process.

If you or the customer don't want to reship it, select Return to Stock. Return to Stock allows you to put it back in your inventory, or write it off if it's been damaged.

Line Items to Return

Click the "Add" button to select which line items from the original order are being returned. You can add all of them or just one. You'll need to add them one at a time, however, as each line item selected needs to be configured.

Once you've added a line item, you'll be taken to the next screen where the Order Line and the Shipped Quantity will be displayed, both of which are populated from the original Order and are there for your reference.

To proceed, you'll need to enter the Expected Return Quantity in the field of the same name, and then select the Return Action. The option in this last box will be dependent on what you selected for the Return Instruction field on the Return Order setup menu.

There's a helpful clickable UOM button in the Expected Return Quantity field that will search the item in question and let you know what UOM was used on the Item record so you can easily figure out what to put without having to go to the Item record itself.

After you've configured the Return Order to your liking, click "OK". 

Step 3: Review your selections

The Review menu will allow you to see what the outcome of creating the Return Order will be. If there are any unexpected errors, they will be reflected here. If you've created a valid Return Order, the Results column should show Return Order Line will be created. 

If it does, you can complete the creation of the Return Order by clicking Submit.

Step 4: Confirmation

If all went well according to your input, the Results column will change to reflect that the order was created instead of will be created. This is your confirmation that the Return Order exists and is ready for processing.