Delivery Note
A Delivery Note is created when a shipment is dispatched from the company's warehouse to the customer.
A copy of the delivery note is normally dispatched with the transporter. The delivery note has the list of items being dispatched in the shipment and refreshes the inventory. The delivery note is an optional process, and a sales invoice can be directly created from a sales order. To access the Delivery Note list, go to:
1. Prerequisites
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Note: From version-13 onwards we have introduced immutable ledger which changes the rules for cancellation of stock entries and posting backdated stock transactions in ERPNext. Learn more here
2. How to create a Delivery Note
The delivery note entry is actually identical to that of a purchase receipt. It is typically created from a "Submitted" Sales Order (unshipped) by going to Create > Delivery. To enter a delivery note manually (avoid this), use the following:
• Navigate to the Delivery Note list and click New.
• Customer and item information may be retrieved by clicking on 'Get Items from > Sales Order.'
• The UOM and rates will be retrieved automatically.
• Save and Submit.
In order to retrieve items from a sales order, go to Get Items from > Sales Order. It will bring up a popup from which you can find sales orders and choose one. You will see that all of the data regarding unshipped items and other stuff are automatically transferred from your sales order if you go from there to create the delivery note. You may also modify the date and time of posting; the current date and time are set when you post the delivery note.
2.1 Statuses
These are the statuses that a delivery note may be in:
Draft: Saved but not yet submitted to the system.
To Bill: Not yet billed through a Sales invoice.
Completed: Submitted and dispatched all the items.
Return Issued: All the items returned.
Cancelled: Cancelled the Delivery Note.
Closed: The Close is used to handle short-closing. For instance, your customer ordered 20 qty but closed at 15 qty. The remaining 5 are not to be shipped or billed.
2.2 Partial Deliveries
When you're creating a delivery note from a sales order, the quantities are editable. So if the sales order has 10 items to be delivered and you're delivering 5 of them this week and the remaining next week, then you can create 2 delivery notes in two weeks.
2.3 From Pick List
You can bulk create delivery notes, even from pick lists. From a submitted pick list, click on Create -> Delivery Note. This would generate distinct delivery notes for sales orders by customer. If a pick list item is not associated with a sales order (user added manually), a distinct DN would be generated for all such items as well.
3. Related Actions
3.1 Customer Purchase Order Details
You can include the customer's purchase order number here for reference.
3.2 Address and Contact
Shipping Address: The customer's address to which the items will be delivered.
Contact Person: If the customer is an organization, enter the contact person in this field. UK-specific fields:
• VAT Registration Number
• Country
• EU VAT Number
• Postcode
Contacts and addresses are held separately so that you can link several contacts or addresses to the customer.
3.3 Currency and Price List
You can specify the currency to deliver the Delivery Note. This is typically retrieved if specified in the sales order. If you specify a pricing list, then item prices will be retrieved from that list. Checking on Ignore Pricing Rule will bypass the pricing rules defined in Accounts > Pricing Rule.
Learn more about price lists and multi-currency transactions.
3.4 Warehouses
Set Source Warehouse: This is where the Items will be sourced from to ship to the Customer.
To Warehouse: In a normal Sales situation, the Item leaves your Warehouse and arrives at the Customer. But if you want to hold sample stock, enter a Warehouse here.
3.5 Items Table
Barcode: You can track Items by using barcodes.
The Item Code, name, description, Image, and Manufacturer will be retrieved from the Item master.
Scan Barcode: You can insert Items in the Items table by scanning their barcodes if you have a barcode scanner. Read reading documentation on tracking items using barcode to learn more.
Discount and Margin: You can discount individual Items percentage-wise or the sum of the Item. Read applying discount to learn more.
Rate: The Rate is retrieved if specified in the Price List and the Amount sum is computed.
Item Tax Template: It is possible to set an Item Tax Template to charge a particular Tax amount against this specific Item. To learn more, go through this page.
The Item Weight information per unit and Weight UOM are retrieved if specified in the Item master.
Warehouse and Reference: The Warehouse where the Items are shipped to the Customer is displayed. Also, a Sales Order will be displayed if this Delivery Note was the creation process: 'Sales Order > Deliver Note'.
Batch No and Serial No: If your item is batched or serialized, you must provide Serial Number and Batch in Items table. You may enter several Serial Numbers on a single row (each on an individual line) and you must enter as many Serial Numbers as the quantity.
The 'Available Qty at From Warehouse', 'Available Batch Qty at From Warehouse', and 'Installed Qty' will be displayed. To learn more about installation, go to the Installation Note page.
Note: The Item must be batched or serialized for these to be functional. If the Item is serialized a popup will show where you can input the Serial Numbers.
Expense Account is the account from which the amount will be debited. Ticking on 'Allow Zero Valuation Rate' will enable submitting the Delivery Note even if the Valuation Rate of the Item is 0. This may be a sample item or due to a mutual agreement with your Supplier.
Accounting Dimensions assist in labeling every transaction with various Dimensions without having to define new Cost Centers. You must define Accounting Dimensions first, to learn more, go to this page.
Page Break will insert a page break immediately before this Item when printing.
3.6 Tracking Quality Inspection
If for some items it is compulsory to capture quality inspections (if you have it in your item master), you will be required to update the "Quality Inspection" field. The system will just allow you to "Submit" the Delivery Note if you update the "Quality Inspection." After making Inspection Criteria active in the Item form for Sales and adding a Quality Inspection Template there, quality inspections can be documented in delivery notes.
3.7 Taxes and Charges
The taxes and charges will be retrieved from the sales order.
Learn more about taxes on the Sales Taxes and Charges Template page.
The total taxes and charges will appear below the table.
To add taxes automatically through a tax category, go to this page.
Be sure to enter all your taxes in the Taxes and Charges table properly for proper valuation.
Shipping Rule
A shipping rule aids in establishing the price of shipping an item. The price will most likely rise with the shipping distance. For more information, go to the Shipping Rule page.
3.8 Additional Discount
Any extra discounts on the entire order can be defined here. This discount could be on the grand total, i.e., post-tax/charges, or the net total, i.e., pre-tax/charges. The extra discount can be entered either as a percentage or a value. Refer to Applying Discount for further details.
3.9 Terms and Conditions
In sales/purchase transactions, there may be some terms and conditions on the basis of which the supplier delivers goods or services to the customer. You can apply the terms and conditions to transaction after transaction, and they will show up when printing the document. To learn about terms and conditions, click here.
3.10 Transporter Information
If you outsource shipping Items to their point of delivery, the transporter information can be included. This differs from drop shipping.
Transporter: The supplier that will ship the item to your customer. Enable the transporter feature in the supplier master to choose the supplier here.
Driver: You can include a driver here who will operate the mode of transport.
The following information can be captured:
• Distance in km
• Mode of Transport whether road, air, rail, or ship.
VAT-Compliant Transport Records:
• Carrier VAT Number
• Transport Document No
• Vehicle Registration
The Transport Receipt Date and Driver Name will be fetched.
3.11 More Information
The Delivery Note can be linked to the following for tracking purposes:
3.11 Printing Settings
Letterhead
You can print your delivery note on letterhead of your company. Learn more here.
'Group same items' will group the same items entered multiple times in the Items table. This can be viewed when you print.
Print Headings
Purchase receipt headings can also be modified when printing the document. You can modify it by choosing a print heading. To design new print headings, go to Home > Settings > Printing > Print Heading. Learn more here.
There is an extra checkbox to print the delivery note without the amount; this may come in handy if the item is very costly. You also have the feature of printing the same items in a single row.
3.12 Status
Document status and percent installed are reflected here. Extra instructions for delivery can be given here.
3.13 Commission
If the sale was done through one of your sales partners, you can input their commission information here. This is typically pulled from the sales order.
3.14 Sales Team
Salespersons: ERPNext lets you input multiple salespersons who could have worked on this deal.
This is typically pulled from a sales order, for instance:
3.15 Shipping Packets or Items with Product Bundle
If you are sending items that contain a product bundle, ERPNext will automatically generate a "Packing List" table for you according to the sub-items of that item. If your items are serialized, then for product bundle-type items, you will need to update the serial number in the "Packing List" table.
3.16 Packing Items into Cases, for Container Shipment
If you are undertaking making the delivery by container shipment or by weight, then you can utilize the packing slip to divide your delivery note into units. To learn more about a packing slip, click here. Go to: You can prepare several packing slips for your delivery note, and ERPNext will make sure that the quantities in the packing slip are not more than the quantities in the delivery note. Be aware that you can prepare a packing slip from a delivery note only if the delivery note is in draft status.
3.17 After Submitting
When the Delivery Note is posted, a Stock Ledger Entry is created for every Item and stock is filled. Pending Quantity in Sales Order is updated (if relevant).
The Dashboard shall display the following options:
3.18 Returning a Sales Order
Once you've made a delivery of a Sales Order via a Delivery Note, you can make a return entry if the Customer returns the Item. For more information, check the Sales Return page.
3.19 Skipping Delivery Note
If you don't wish to generate a Delivery Note following a Sales Order and instead wish to generate a Sales Invoice directly, enable the feature for it in Selling Settings.