What are automatic order lines?

Automatic order lines automatically create service lines, budget lines, or item lines on sales and purchase orders based on predefined rules.

Here are examples of where the different types of lines are used:

Automatic service lines: If you need to add deposits, freight, or discounts to orders and include them on documents, you can use automatic service lines.
Automatic budget lines: If you need to add internal costs such as taxes, duties, handling, etc. without invoicing the customer, you can use budget lines.
Automatic item lines: If you need to add pallets, boxes, or crates to orders based on which products are sold or purchased, it is useful to use automatic item lines.

Common to all types of order lines is that you can set up rules for when they should be added based on item numbers, quantities, prices, countries, customers, suppliers, and much more.

1) Automatic service lines for sales orders

1. Select Sales in the top menu and click Automatic Order Line in the drop down menu.

2. Click + Add New in the top right corner.

3. Enter a descriptive name e.g. Discount or Beverages with deposit.

4. You can choose a predefined service, or you can add a service by clicking the + icon. A predefined service is a service that you have already created. A service is also referred to as a service item. It is similar to an item (product), but does not result in any inventory movement. It is possible to create an automatic order line without linking a predefined service. However, if you use EDI, have differentiated VAT rates, or have accounting rules for your services, a predefined service must be linked to the automatic order line.

5. By ticking off next to Attach this service line to SKUs. The service line will be linked to the relevant SKUs on the order. This can be based on a specific SKU or on a SKU tag, depending on the rules you create - this depends on how you created the rule. This can be used, for example, with an automatic order line for beverages with deposit.

6. Insert a Line Text, which will make it easier to recognize the automatic order line.

7. Select a Category for the service line from the list in the drop down menu eg. Discount, Labour, Purchase, Machinery, Overhead etc.

8. In the field Is this automatic order line active? You can select if the service line should be active or not.

9. You can select the following Calculation Methods: Per Unit, Fixed price or Percent,for example Per unit for beverages with deposit or Percentage for discount.

10. Make sure Currency and Exchange rate are set correctly if you have selected Fixed Price or Per Unit.

11. If you have selected Per unit as calculation method, you must choose whether the price is to be calculated Per piece, Package, Kg, Liter or other in the field Per unit.

12. Depending on your choice in the field Calculation Method enter the price or the percentage. For example, for beverages with deposit this would be the price of 0,8 DKK per unit.

13. Click Save to create the automatic order line.

1.1) Creating rule for automatic order lines on sales orders

Once you have created an automatic order line, it will appear in the list in the overview of your automatic order lines. It is possible to set up rules to identify in which cases the automatic order line must be applied:

Click on the Rules button next to the specific service line you would like to apply the rule to.
The automatic service line can be linked to an order, a partner or an item via Tags. Read more about tags here.
It can be an advantage to link shipping charges to a partner tag and beverage deposits to a product tag, as this makes the automatic order line more flexible, so that more partners or types of goods can easily be linked to the automatic order line.
In the field Partner Country is, you can select a country from the drop down menu. When doing this, the automatic order line is created on sales orders to partners from that country. This rule is useful for setting up an automatic order line for beverages with deposit, as there are national deposit rules for bottles in for example Denmark and Sweden.
The automatic service line can be associated with a specific Stock Keeping Unit, which you select from the drop down menu in the field SKU is. (You can also enter part of the SKU name or SKU number to make the SKU appear from the list).
In the fields The amount is less than or equal to or The amount is greater than or equal to, you can set rules that depend on the amount of the order.
You can add more rules by clicking Add empty rule.
You can define a counter rule to the top rule in the Apply only this service line when none of the following conditions are met. Click Add empty rule and fill in as described above. This rule can be used, for example, to avoid giving two discounts on the same sales order.
Remember to save by clicking Save rules.

2) Automatic budget lines

If you wish to add expenses to orders automatically, you can do this by creating automatic budget lines.

Automatic budget lines are created the same way as automatic order lines, as described above, with only one exception. When creating the automatic line, you select Budget in line type. By doing so the line will not be added as a service line, but will instead be added as a line in the tab Budget. And the budget line will not appear on any order document.

This can be useful if you e.g. have fixed transportation costs connected to orders for a specific customer or customer group who are not to be charged the transportation fee.

In case you need to recalculate the automatic budget line due to changing the order, this can be done by doing the following:

Go to the order.
Click Recalculate.
The order’s automatic budget lines will now be recalculated.

3) Automatic SKU lines

If you have packaging such as pallets or boxes that you want to add to an order automatically, you can create automatic item lines.

Automatic item lines are created in the same way as other automatic order lines, with the exception that Item line is selected in the Line type field when it is created. You can then select the SKU that should be added automatically in the SKU field.

Please note that only non-traceable items can be added to orders as automatic SKU lines. This is useful, for example, if you always need to add pallets or boxes to an order based on which goods are included in the order or who the order is for or from.

If automatic item lines need to be recalculated, this can be done as follows:

Go to the order.
Click Recalculate in the top menu.
The order’s linked automatic item lines will now be recalculated.

4) Automatic order line for purchase orders

Below you can read about automatic order lines for purchase orders. The process of creating automatic order lines for purchase orders as well as the rule setup is about the same as for sales orders.

Select Purchase in the top menu and click Automatic order Line in the drop down menu.
Click +Add New in the top right corner.
Enter a reflecting Name e.g. shipping charges.
You can select a Predefined Service or you can add a service by clicking the +-symbol. A predefined service is a service that you have already created. A service resembles a Stock
By ticking off next to Attach this service line to SKUs. This will place the service line in connection with affected SKUs on the order the automatic order line will be linked to the SKU on an order. Either based on a specific SKU or because the SKU has a tag; this depends on how you created the rule. This can be used, for example, with an automatic order line for beverages with deposit.
Insert a Line Text, which will make it easier to recognize the automatic order line.
Choose a Category for the service line from the list in the drop down menu e.g. Analysis, Labour, Purchase, Machinery, Overhead etc.
In the field Is this automatic order line active? you can select if the service line should be active or not.
You can select the following Calculation Methods: Per Unit,Fixed price or Percent, for example Per unit for beverages with deposit or Percentage for discount.
Make sure Currency and Exchange rate are set correctly if you have selected Fixed Price or Per Unit.
If you have selected Per unit as calculation method, you must choose whether the price is to be calculated Per piece, Package, Kg,Liter or other in the field Per unit.
Depending on your choice of Calculation Method enter the price or the percentage. For example, for beverages with deposit this would be the price of 0.8 DKK per unit.
Click Save to create the automatic order line.

4.1) Creating rule for automatic order lines on purchase orders

Once you have created an automatic order line, it will appear in the list in the overview of your automatic order lines.

It is possible to set up rules to identify in which cases the automatic order line must be applied:

Click on the Rules button next to the specific service line you would like to apply the rule to.
The automatic order line can be linked to an order, a partner or an item via Tags. Read more about tags here.
In the field Partner Country is, you can select a country from the drop down menu. When doing this, the automatic order line is created on purchase orders to partners from that country. This rule is useful for setting up an automatic orderline for beverages with deposit, as there are national deposit rules for bottles in for exampel Denmark and Sweden.
The automatic order line can be associated with a specific Stock Keeping Unit, which you select from the drop down menu in the field SKU is. (You can also enter part of the SKU name or SKU number to make the SKU appear from the list).
In the fields The amount is less than or equal to or The amount is greater than or equal to, you can set rules that depend on the amount of the order.
You can add more rules by clicking Add empty rule.
You can define a counter rule to the top rule in the Apply only this service line when none of the following conditions are met. Click Add empty rule and fill in as described above. This rule can be used, for example, to avoid giving two discounts on the same sales order.
Remember to save by clicking Save rules.

5) Examples of automatic order lines
(deposits, pallets, freight and discounts)

Automatic order lines can be used to automatically add items or services to an order when certain conditions are met. Below you will find examples of some of the most commonly used setups. The examples can be adapted to fit the company’s workflows.

Deposits

Use this setup if customers should automatically be charged a deposit when certain items are sold.

Create a service where it is defined that the customer should be charged a specific price per item they purchase.
Create an automatic order line where it is defined that the order line should be linked to the items included in the order.
Then create rules that define when the customer should pay the deposit.
Example: It is possible to create a rule that applies to a specific item or items with a specific tag. The deposit is then added automatically when the order contains items with the selected tag.

Pallets

There are different ways to add pallets to an order.

Some companies stock their pallets. They should use setup 1.
Others add them to orders as service lines. They should use setup 2.

Setup 1: Pallets are stocked and added to the order as an item

If the pallet does not already exist as an item, it must be created.
Please note that it must be non-traceable.
Create an automatic order line with the following settings:
Define when the automatic order line should be activated.
3.1 Example of rule: Customers with a specific tag should have pallets added to their orders.
3.2 Example of rule: Items with a specific tag should have pallets linked to orders.
Check that you have configured the pallet settings on the items.

Setup 2: Pallets are not stocked and are added as service lines

Create a service where you define a fixed price that the customer should be charged per pallet.
Create an automatic order line with the following settings:
Define when the automatic order line should be activated. Example of rule: Customers with a specific tag should have pallets added to their orders.
Check that you have configured the pallet settings on the items.

Freight

Use this setup if customers should be charged freight when the order value is below a certain amount.

Create a service where it is defined that the customer should be charged a specific price for freight.
Create an automatic order line where it is defined that the order line should use the predefined service.
Then create rules that define when the fee should be applied.

Example of rule: Customers with a specific tag pay freight if the order amount is below DKK 1000.

Discount

It is possible to create discounts in different ways in tracezilla. One of the methods is automatic order lines, where a discount can be set up as follows:

Create a service that defines a discount the customer should receive.
Then create an automatic order line. In this example, it is a summer discount, and it will only apply to orders within a specific time period.
Define which rules must be met for it to take effect. In this case, it is a tag on the partner, but other factors in the settings can also trigger the discount. For example, many companies have time-limited discounts on selected items for a period.