Delivery notes
A delivery note is the document that records goods leaving your warehouse for a customer. It sits between the sales order and the tax invoice: the order is the promise, the delivery note is the dispatch that moves the stock, and the invoice is the bill. Posting a delivery note reduces on-hand stock and books the cost of goods sold, so your inventory and your margin stay correct the moment goods ship.
Deliveries read the ERPNext engine when it is connected and fall back to demo data when it is not. The demo delivery DN-1188 dispatches steel from Jebel Ali WH and appears on the item stock ledger documented in Items and inventory.
The deliveries workspace
Open Run then Deliveries, or go to /deliveries. The page is titled Delivery notes with the subtitle "Dispatch goods against a sales order and invoice what you ship". KPI tiles: To deliver (sales orders with stock still to ship), Delivered (this period), To invoice (delivery notes not yet billed) and Delivered value. The header has a New delivery note button and an Export menu (deliveries). Each row shows the delivery number, the customer, the date, the warehouse and a status pill.
The flow: order to delivery to invoice
| Document | Effect |
|---|---|
| Sales order | Agreed items, quantities and prices. No stock movement yet. |
| Delivery note | Goods dispatched. Posts stock out of the warehouse and the cost to COGS. |
| Tax invoice | The bill for what was delivered. Posts revenue, VAT and the customer receivable. |
Creating a delivery note
New delivery note opens the form against an open sales order. Pick the order, and its lines copy in with the outstanding quantity. You confirm the quantity being shipped on each line (which can be less than ordered for a part delivery) and the warehouse the stock leaves from. The summary shows the delivered quantity and value. Saving submits the delivery note.
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Customer and Sales order | The order being fulfilled; the ship-to address defaults from the customer. |
| Delivery date | Defaults to today. This becomes the date of supply on the tax invoice. |
| Warehouse | Where the stock is drawn from (Jebel Ali WH or Sharjah WH in the demo). |
| Lines | Item, ordered quantity and the quantity delivered now. A shortfall stays on the order to deliver later. |
Stock postings
Posting a delivery note creates a stock issue: the delivered quantity leaves the warehouse, the on-hand figure in Inventory drops, and a Delivery row is written to the item's stock ledger (shown in amber) that rolls into the running balance. The value of the goods posts to Cost of Goods Sold against the Inventory - Stock in Hand account in Accounting, so your margin on the sale is recognised when it ships, not when it is billed.
Invoicing a delivery
Once goods are delivered, raise the tax invoice from the delivery note. The lines copy across, the delivery date prints as the Date of supply on the FTA tax invoice, and the invoice posts revenue, 5% VAT and the customer receivable in the usual way. One invoice can cover several delivery notes, and a part delivery is invoiced for exactly what shipped.
Delivering against an order
- Start from the sales order
On an open order with stock to ship, choose New delivery note (or start one from the Deliveries workspace and pick the order).
- Confirm quantities and warehouse
Set the quantity being shipped on each line and the warehouse it leaves from. Leave a shortfall to dispatch later; the order stays open for the balance.
- Post the delivery
Submit the note. Stock leaves the warehouse, the stock ledger and COGS update, and the order moves to partially or fully delivered.
- Invoice what you shipped
Raise the tax invoice from the delivery note. The delivery date becomes the date of supply and the invoice posts to the ledger on save.
Under UAE VAT the date of supply (broadly, when goods are delivered) sets the tax period a supply falls into. Raising the invoice from the delivery note carries that date onto the tax invoice automatically, so the supply lands in the right VAT 201 period. See UAE compliance for the wider rules.