When the next document cannot find the one before it — transcript

Presentation 3 of 3 in Make each document find the one before it · about 12 minutes · for the whole-system operator — you run the books.

Play this as a presentation — one slide per step, with the same narration. Every word of every step is on this page.

This presentation is for you if you are the person at GadgetSphere who is asked why an invoice cannot find its order, why an order still shows a balance, or why a void was refused. In about twelve minutes you will learn to read the empty grid, close what will never come, take a chain apart in the right order, and run a short weekly check.

Step 1 — Work out why the grid is empty, in order

After this step an empty KO For grid will cost you minutes, not an afternoon. Ask in this order. Is the source finalised? A draft leaves nothing to find. On a purchase invoice drawing a receipt, is it for the same supplier, branch and currency? Did the company have an enabled pair for this source and target when the source was finalised? That is the commonest cause, and the screen cannot tell it apart from the next: has the source been fully taken? A line whose balance reaches zero has its row deleted, so a finished order is recorded by an absence. Was it closed? Is the balance you expected on another document type’s row? And on a purchase invoice or receipt, has a colleague’s unfinished draft already knocked it off? The source’s Doc Link tab shows what it is already linked to.

Reference: Purchase Invoice (Internal) — Knocking off a purchase order or a goods receipt

Step 2 — Close what will never come, and keep the reason

After this step a dead balance will stop distorting your figures. An open sales order line holds stock that could be sold to someone else, and an open purchase order line pushes available quantity up. On a purchase order, the CLOSE button zeroes every line’s open quantity and deletes all the order’s rows, and it records nothing in the Closed Queue KO report. The red Close on a row of the PO Line with GRN KO report closes that line’s goods-receipt balance only and copies it into the closed queue first, so the record survives. On a sales order, the Close on SO Line with SI KO does the same for the invoice balance, and the delivery note’s balance stays open. Write the reason in the order’s remarks first, and remember that closing is not voiding: the order stays final.

Reference: Purchase Order (Internal) — Where the open quantity comes from, and when it is released

Step 3 — Take a chain apart from the last document back

After this step a void refused for linked documents will go through. BigLedger refuses to void a document that another document has been knocked off from. Only the Sales Order screen names the blocking documents; a purchase order or goods receipt gives a fixed knocked-off message, and an invoice says only that it has been returned. So read the source’s Doc Link tab, void the last document first and work back. Voiding a purchase invoice gives the quantity back to its goods receipt, re-creating its row, but only while that pair is still enabled, so never disable a pair before voiding. Once e-invoicing is on for a company, a sales invoice cannot be voided from its button; the route is a cancellation request or a credit note. Undo to Draft, where it is offered, meets the same refusal, and it releases links without unposting anything.

Reference: I voided the document and the report still shows it: what a void undoes — When BigLedger refuses to void at all

Step 4 — Bring back a document finalised before its pair existed

After this step you will know the way back. Adding a pair today does nothing for documents already finalised: nothing on a timer looks for them, and the watchdog written for this case is not registered, so it never runs. For a document that posts nothing, such as a sales order, where Undo to Draft is offered, take it back to Draft and finalise it again. The open-queue step runs again and now finds the pair. For anything that posts, do not do that: re-finalising does not post it again, so the document and the ledger can disagree. Re-queue those yourself in the Data Fix applet, under Generic Documents, Missing Open Queue: pick the document’s type and the pair’s target, search the dates, and tick only the missing documents. It runs the open-queue step alone and posts nothing. Support is needed only to add Data Fix to your login, or when a document you expect is not listed.

Reference: Organization — Recovering documents finalised before the configuration was right

Step 5 — Run the weekly check of what is still open

After this step you will see what is still open without opening documents one by one. Every Monday, run SO Line with SI KO in the Sales Order applet and PO Line with GRN KO in the Purchase Order applet. Each lists order lines against what has been invoiced or received, with the quantity outstanding. A purchase line older than the supplier’s lead time is a chase for your buyer; a sales line nobody will ship is a close. Available stock reads the stored balances, while some reports work the balance out from the links, so the two can disagree while both are doing their arithmetic correctly. When the pair is configured, the links are right and a balance is still wrong, it is a support matter: send the order number, the company, and the quantities ordered and invoiced or received.

Reference: Invoice part of a sales order and give the customer paperwork — Step 4: Watch the balance

Check yourself

Three to five questions on what you just heard. Every correct answer links to the page that makes it correct, so you can check the source, not just the mark.

1. The purchase invoice's KO For grid is empty for a receipt you know is final. Why can the screen not tell you whether the pair is missing or the receipt is fully invoiced? Because the grid hides receipts older than thirty days
Because a line at zero has its row deleted, so both cases leave no rows
Because receipts appear only after the nightly job

2. You try to void a goods receipt that a purchase invoice has been knocked off from. What happens? The receipt is voided and the invoice is voided with it
The void is refused with a fixed knocked-off message; the receipt's Doc Link tab shows the invoice that blocks it
The receipt is voided and the invoice keeps its lines

3. You want to stop waiting for the last 18 units on a purchase order line and keep a record of why. What do you use? VOID on the purchase order
The Close on that line's row in the PO Line with GRN KO report, after writing the reason in the remarks
The CLOSE button on the order, which records the line in the Closed Queue KO report

4. A pair was added after some sales orders had been finalised. What picks those orders up on its own? The knock-off watchdog, overnight
Nothing; take them back to Draft and finalise again where Undo to Draft is offered, or re-queue them in Data Fix
The next document raised against them

Answer key

Because a line at zero has its row deleted, so both cases leave no rows — Purchase Invoice (Internal) — Knocking off a purchase order or a goods receipt
The void is refused with a fixed knocked-off message; the receipt's Doc Link tab shows the invoice that blocks it — I voided the document and the report still shows it: what a void undoes — When BigLedger refuses to void at all
The Close on that line's row in the PO Line with GRN KO report, after writing the reason in the remarks — Purchase Order (Internal) — Where the open quantity comes from, and when it is released
Nothing; take them back to Draft and finalise again where Undo to Draft is offered, or re-queue them in Data Fix — Organization — Recovering documents finalised before the configuration was right

This is a self-check. Your answers are marked in your browser and stay there — nothing is sent anywhere, nothing is recorded, and the marking is readable in the page source, so it is not a credential. Open the answer key at any time.

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Last updated on October 26, 2026

When the next document cannot find the one before it Where every document number comes from