🚨 Dynamic Planning for Backorders
The Backorders feature in Optiply enables dynamic, emergency purchasing for products that have been sold but are currently out of stock (a negative stock position). Instead of waiting for your next regularly planned order, Optiply can automatically generate an additional purchase order to replenish this stock as quickly as possible.
How Backorder Planning Works
When the Backorders feature is enabled for a supplier, Optiply checks your stock position continuously (daily, with updates throughout the day) and generates emergency orders based on the product's status:
Product Status | Order Generated To... |
Not Phased Out | Bring the stock level up to the minimum stock level set for that product. |
Phased Out | Bring the stock level exactly up to zero (0), preventing further negative stock without over-ordering for a discontinued item. |
Important: This feature generates additional emergency recommendations. Your regular, scheduled orders will still appear according to your established review period.
Step-by-Step: Enabling Dynamic Backorders
You must enable this feature per supplier.
Select the Supplier: Navigate to the Suppliers page in Optiply and select the supplier you want to configure.
Go to Agenda: Click on the Agenda settings tab for that supplier. (Add screenshot showing the Agenda tab and Backorders toggle).
Activate Backorders: Find the Backorders feature and set the toggle to On.
Note: It is possible to set up this option in bulk; for that, you must create a file with the relevant data and follow the steps described here
Controlling When Backorder Orders Are Generated
Once enabled, you have full control over the financial thresholds that trigger the emergency backorder to be generated. This prevents generating an order for a single item when the shipping costs outweigh the benefit.
You can set Optiply to take the Fixed Order Costs and/or the Minimum Order Value (MOV) into account:
Condition | Backorder Order Generated If... |
Fixed Order Costs | The value of the backorder items exceeds the fixed order cost. |
Minimum Order Value | The value of the backorder items exceeds the minimum order value. |
Both Costs Combined | The value of the backorder items exceeds the sum of the fixed order cost AND the minimum order value. |
The dynamic planning is reevaluated every day and updated continuously throughout the day.
Related Features: If you are interested in combining backorder generation with other features like emergency orders (preventing stockouts before they happen) and preponed orders (moving an order review date forward), please refer to the linked article.
⚠️ Availability Note
This dynamic backorder feature is unavailable in the Optiply Lite version. Please ensure you are using a qualifying Optiply subscription.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the difference between a regular order and a backorder purchase order?
A regular order is a planned purchase that happens on a scheduled review date to replenish stock up to the minimum/maximum level. A backorder purchase order is an immediate, unscheduled emergency order triggered specifically to cover negative stock when a product is sold out.
If I enable backorders, does it combine the emergency order with my regular order?
No. Enabling backorders generates extra emergency order recommendations when negative stock occurs. The order is intended to be placed immediately and is separate from your regular, scheduled review.
I want to order only for backorders and ignore my regular review. How do I do that?
To achieve this, you need to manually set your regular Review Period (on the supplier's Agenda settings) to a very long period (e.g., 365 days). This will suppress the regular, planned order frequency, leaving only the dynamic backorder and emergency orders to trigger purchasing.
Why would I choose to ignore the Fixed Order Costs for backorder planning?
If you have very high Fixed Order Costs (e.g., expensive freight), ignoring them might be necessary for backorder planning. This means you prioritise fulfilling a critical customer order over saving on shipping, as the lost sale is more costly than the freight fee.