---
title: "About links between sales orders and purchase orders"
description: "If your company sells items that are purchased only when sales orders for these items exist, each sales order may result in multiple purchase orders for different suppliers, and each purchase order may include items from multiple sales orders."
lang: en
languages:
  en: https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/sales/process-sales-orders/about-links-between-sales-orders-and-purchase-orders/index.md
lastmod: 2026-02-19
---

> Documentation index: https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/sales/process-sales-orders/llms.txt


# About links between sales orders and purchase orders

Last modified February 19, 2026

> If your company sells items that are purchased only when sales orders for these items exist, each sales order may result in multiple purchase orders for different suppliers, and each purchase order may include items from multiple sales orders.


If your company sells items that are purchased only when sales orders for these items exist,
each sales order may result in multiple purchase orders for different suppliers, and each
purchase order may include items from multiple sales orders.
These factors make it difficult to
track the fulfillment of sales orders.

In Visma Net, if the **Sales order to purchase order link** functionality is enabled in the [Enable/disable functionalities (CS100000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/common-settings/enable-or-disable-functionalites/enable-disable-functionalities-cs100000/index.md) window, you can easily link sales orders to existing purchase orders and receipts, to enable the tracking of sales order fulfillment.

The system uses these links to allocate the items listed on purchase receipts for specific
sales orders and to automate the creation of transfer orders, if needed.
This functionality can
be very helpful if you have multiple warehouses and perform purchasing only to particular larger
warehouses (distribution centres). The system will generate the required transfers between
warehouses, and you can easily track where the particular sales order is in the fulfillment
process.

This topic describes the general ways of specifying links between sales orders and purchase orders, and between purchase receipts and sales orders.

## Linking sales orders to purchase orders

If you need to promptly fulfill a sales order line for which the quantity of the item is insufficient, or if the sales order includes an item that is purchased only for specific sales orders, you can mark the applicable lines for purchasing; that is, select the check box in the **Mark for purchase order** column. Also, after you have shipped the available quantity of an item, you may need to order the remaining quantity that was unavailable at the time of shipping; in this case, you also can select the **Mark for purchase order** check box for the line.

You can include a sales order line that requires purchasing in a purchase order in one of the following ways:

+ By using the [Sales orders (SO301000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/sales/sales-windows/sales-orders-so301000/index.md) window: Select the sales order line, and then click **Create purchase order** in the **Actions** menu in the toolbar.
+ By using the [Create purchase orders (PO505000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/purchases/purchases-windows/create-purchase-orders-po505000/index.md) window: Select multiple lines of different sales orders to create multiple purchase orders for these sales orders. The system consolidates the item quantities and group the items by supplier as needed.

You also can link the line of a sales order that has the **Mark for purchase order**
check box selected to an existing purchase order that has not been released yet.
For example: If you have created a new order that lists the same items as the existing purchase order, you
can link this sales order to the existing purchase order as follows:
Open the sales order in the [Sales orders (SO301000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/sales/sales-windows/sales-orders-so301000/index.md) window, click **Purchase order link** in the table
toolbar, and select the existing purchase order in the list.

> [!NOTE]
> If the purchase order has a quantity that exactly matches the total quantity on the sales orders that are already linked, you should first increase the quantity on the purchase order, and then link the sales order to this purchase order.

## Linking purchase receipts to sales orders

Purchase orders are generated and emailed to suppliers.
The items ordered in a sales order may
be received to warehouses other than the warehouse specified on the sales order.
If the users
properly specify links between the purchase receipts and purchase orders, Visma Net
enables tracking of sales order fulfillment, reserves the received items for sales orders, and
automates transfers of the items, if needed.

To make it possible to track items from receipts to original sales orders, you need to link each receipt to the corresponding purchase order in one of the following ways:

+ Open the purchase order in the [Purchase orders (PO301000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/purchases/purchases-windows/purchase-orders-po301000/index.md) window, and create a receipt for it by selecting **Enter purchase order receipt** from the **Actions** menu on the toolbar.
+ Create a receipt in the [Purchase receipts (PO302000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/purchases/purchases-windows/purchase-receipts-po302000/index.md) window, and link all the related purchase orders to this new receipt by clicking **Add purchase order** or **Add purchase order line** on the table toolbar.

To view the original sales orders linked to the purchase receipt, for each receipt line, click
**View demand** in the [Purchase receipts (PO302000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/purchases/purchases-windows/purchase-receipts-po302000/index.md) window.
A dialog box
opens that displays the list of sales orders that are linked to the purchase orders on which
this receipt is based.

After a receipt is properly linked to all the related purchase orders, you will be able to
track the stage of fulfillment for each line of the original sales order by clicking
**Allocations** in the [Sales orders (SO301000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/sales/sales-windows/sales-orders-so301000/index.md) window.

In the
**Allocations** dialog box that opens, you can view an allocation that the
system automatically performs to reserve the line item quantity required for the sale order on
the purchase receipt.

In the **Allocations** dialog box, you can also view
the reference numbers of the related documents in the **Related documents**
column: the purchase order and the receipt.
(You can click any reference number of a related
document to view the document.)

On release of the receipt, the quantities of items required for the sales orders are deducted
from the item quantities available for shipping.
If items are received to a
warehouse other than the warehouse specified on the sales order, the system will generate a
transfer request, which you can use to create a transfer order by using the [Sales orders (SO301000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/sales/sales-windows/sales-orders-so301000/index.md) window for a single transfer order, or in the [Create transfer orders (SO509000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/sales/sales-windows/create-transfer-orders-so509000/index.md) window for multiple transfer orders.
For details, see: [Create a transfer order](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/sales/process-transfer-orders/create-a-transfer-order/index.md) and [Process multiple transfer orders](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/sales/process-transfer-orders/process-multiple-transfer-orders/index.md).

<h2>Related pages</h2><h3>Tasks</h3>
<ul><li><a href="/visma-net-erp/help/sales/process-sales-orders/create-a-sales-order/index.md">Create a sales order</a></li><li><a href="/visma-net-erp/help/sales/process-sales-orders/create-a-sales-order-with-allocations/index.md">Create a sales order with allocations</a></li><li><a href="/visma-net-erp/help/sales/process-sales-orders/create-a-sales-order-with-reserved-allocations/index.md">Create a sales order with reserved allocations</a></li><li><a href="/visma-net-erp/help/sales/process-transfer-orders/create-a-transfer-order/index.md">Create a transfer order</a></li><li><a href="/visma-net-erp/help/sales/process-transfer-orders/process-a-transfer-order/index.md">Process a transfer order</a></li><li><a href="/visma-net-erp/help/sales/process-transfer-orders/process-multiple-transfer-orders/index.md">Process multiple transfer orders</a></li>
</ul><h3>Windows</h3>
<ul><li><a href="/visma-net-erp/help/sales/sales-windows/create-transfer-orders-so509000/index.md">Create transfer orders (SO509000)</a></li><li><a href="/visma-net-erp/help/sales/sales-windows/sales-orders-so301000/index.md">Sales orders (SO301000)</a></li>
</ul>


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