How to Create Sales Orders from Expense in iDempiere

Create Sales Orders from Expense is an iDempiere process that converts approved, billable Expense Report lines into customer Sales Orders. Retailers running installation, POS rollout, or field-service projects use it to recover travel and material costs from customers. It groups eligible expense lines by Business Partner and Project, then generates ready-to-invoice orders, keeping billing accurate and reducing manual data entry in retail project accounting.

Process Flow

Business Rules

• Only expense lines marked as billable (Invoiced ) are converted into Sales Orders.
• Expense lines already linked to a Sales Order Line are skipped, preventing duplicate billing.
• Expense lines must belong to a processed (completed) Expense Report to qualify.
• Lines are grouped by Business Partner and Project.
• The customer must have at least one configured location, or the order cannot be created.
• Generated Sales Orders are left in Prepared status, ready for review and completion.
• The Business Partner and Date Range parameters are optional and narrow the selection scope.

Prerequisites

• Business Partner (customer) configured with a valid Business Partner Location.
• Expense Report entered, approved, and processed with billable lines (Invoiced).
• Project configured, if expenses are tracked and billed against a Project.
• Sales Document Type (On Credit Order) configured for the Organization.
• Price List and Warehouse configured for the customer or project.
• Sales Representative and Organization assigned to the transaction.

Navigation

Menu → Partner Relation → Service → Create Sales Orders from Expense

Configuration Steps

Step 1: Confirm Expense Reports Are Processed

Open the Expense Report window, confirm the report status is Completed and each billable line has a Business Partner assigned.

Step 2: Open the Create Sales Orders from Expense Window

Navigate to Business Partner Relations → Service → Create Sales Orders from Expense to open the parameter screen.

Step 3: Set Selection Parameters

Enter a Business Partner to restrict the run to one customer, or leave it blank to process all customers. Set the Expense Date From and To range.

Field Reference Table

Field	Sample Value	Description
Business Partner	CHENNAI SUPPLIERS	Optional filter; limits the run to one customer’s expense lines.
Expense Date (From)	07/01/2026	Start of the expense date range to include.
Expense Date (To)	07/21/2026	End of the expense date range to include.
Run as Job	Unchecked	When checked, runs the process in the background instead of immediately.

Step 4: Run the Process

Click Start. The process log shows the number of orders created, along with the date, amount, and a link to each new Sales Order.

Step 5: Review and Complete the Generated Sales Order

Click the order link in the log (for example, 60003), verify the lines and pricing, then complete the order and proceed to invoicing.

Common Issues and Resolutions

Issue	Cause	Resolution
No Sales Orders created	Expense lines not marked billable or report not processed	Mark lines Invoiced = Y and complete the Expense Report
Process error on order creation	Customer has no Business Partner Location	Add a valid location to the customer record
Orders split more than expected	Expense lines span multiple projects	Confirm project assignment on each expense line
Wrong price on order line	Price List not aligned with Project or Customer	Verify the Price List configured for the project or customer

Next Steps

• Complete and invoice the generated Sales Order.
• Review Project Costing or Expense reports for reconciliation.
• Configure Sales Order to Invoice document flow if not already set up.
• Set up recurring Business Partner and Project filters for repeat billing cycles.