When a customer (Clicks, Dis-Chem, Takealot, or Walmart) sends a purchase order by email, it is automatically picked up and processed. The system reads the PO, checks available stock (accounting for stock already committed to other orders), and decides what to do next.
Order fulfilled — Invoice Created
We have enough stock for every item on the PO. A draft invoice is automatically created in Xero and the order shows as INVOICE_CREATED.
What you can do:
View Email — preview the confirmation email
Update Invoice — reduce any line item quantities and push the change to Xero (you can only reduce, never increase)
Reprocess — re-run the order from scratch if something needs correcting
Not enough stock — Stock Shortage
One or more items don't have enough stock in Xero. No invoice is created automatically. The order shows as STOCK_SHORTAGE.
What you can do:
View Alert — see which items are short and by how much
Edit quantities — adjust the ordered amounts down on the dashboard before invoicing
Create Invoice — manually create a draft Xero invoice with the adjusted quantities. The system will check current stock before creating — if stock has changed since the order arrived, you'll see a warning with the option to proceed or cancel
Refresh Stock — re-check stock levels against the stock ledger (e.g. if stock was just added or another order was processed). This only refreshes the numbers, it does not create an invoice
Reprocess — re-run the full pipeline from the original PO
Clicks — Case Adjusted
Clicks orders must ship in full cases (e.g. 36 units per case). If we have some stock but not enough to fill every case ordered, the order shows as CASE_ADJUSTED.
For example: Clicks orders 2 cases (72 units) but we only have 48 units — that's enough for 1 full case (36 units). The remaining 12 loose units can't be shipped. The dashboard shows the adjusted case quantity for your review.
What you can do:
Review the adjusted quantities — check what the system is proposing to ship
Create Invoice — approve and create the draft Xero invoice with the adjusted case quantities. The system checks stock first and warns you if levels have changed
Refresh Stock — re-check if more stock has arrived (checks the stock ledger, not just Xero)
Reprocess — re-run from scratch
Unknown product — Needs Mapping
A product on the PO could not be matched to a Caribbean Tan product code in Xero. The item shows as NEEDS_MAPPING and the invoice is not created.
What to do:
Add the missing product mapping (barcode to CT code) in the system
Then click Reprocess to re-run the order
Something went wrong — Error
The order hit a problem during processing (e.g. the email couldn't be read properly, or Xero was unreachable). The order shows as ERROR.
What you can do:
View Alert — see the error details
Reprocess — retry after the issue is resolved
Approved — Finalised
The invoice has been approved in Xero and the order is locked. You can finalise an invoice from the three-dot menu on any INVOICE_CREATED order. Before finalising, the system checks that sufficient stock is still available — if stock has been consumed by other orders since the invoice was created, you'll be warned and the finalise will be blocked.
Once finalised, no further changes can be made — you cannot reprocess, refresh stock, or update the invoice. The order shows as FINALISED.
What you can still do:
View Email — see the original notification
View Invoice — open the Xero invoice (always shows the latest version)
Voided — Invoice Cancelled
The invoice was voided in Xero (either directly or via a full credit note). The system detects this automatically and marks the order as VOIDED. Stock committed to this order is released back to the ledger.
What you can do:
Resubmit Order — re-run the original PO through the system as a brand new order. This is useful when an invoice was voided and you need to recreate it. The system will check current stock levels and create a new invoice if stock is available.
View Email — see the original notification
Just arrived — In Progress
The PO was received and is being processed. It will move to one of the statuses above once the stock check is complete. If it stays in this state, something may need attention.
Button key
View Email / Alert — preview the email notification for this order
View Invoice — open the Xero invoice as a PDF (available once an invoice is created)
Create Invoice — create a draft invoice in Xero for this order
Update Invoice — push adjusted quantities to the existing Xero invoice (appears after you edit a quantity)
Refresh Stock — re-check stock levels in Xero (does not create an invoice)
More — additional actions:
Finalise Invoice — approve the draft in Xero and lock the order. Checks stock first.
Reprocess — re-run the order from the original PO (only if the invoice is still a draft)
Resubmit Order — available on voided orders only. Creates a new order from the original PO
Delete Order — removes the order and deletes the draft invoice from Xero
Greyed-out buttons are not available for that order's current status.
Stock Overview
The Stock panel (accessible from the header) shows real-time stock availability for every Caribbean Tan product. It accounts for stock that is already committed to orders, even if those orders haven't been finalised yet.
What each column means:
Xero QOH — Quantity On Hand as reported by Xero. This only decreases when an invoice is approved (finalised), not when it's a draft.
Draft — units committed to draft invoices (orders with status Invoice Created). These are spoken for but haven't been approved in Xero yet.
Review — units committed to orders still being reviewed (Stock Shortage or Case Adjusted). These will likely become invoices once resolved.
Available — the true available stock: Xero QOH minus Draft minus Review. This is what you should look at when deciding if you can fulfil a new order.
Colour coding:
Red — overcommitted (available is zero or negative). More stock is committed to orders than Xero has on hand.
Amber — low stock (fewer than 10 units available).
Stock syncs automatically from Xero every hour. The committed amounts also update automatically whenever an order is processed, an invoice is created, or an invoice is finalised. You can click Sync Now to force a full refresh at any time. The standalone stock page is available at /stock.
Deleting an order
You can delete any order from the three-dot menu. This will:
Delete the draft invoice from Xero (if one exists and it's still a draft)
Remove the order and all its line items from the dashboard
Update the stock ledger (committed quantities will decrease)
Keep a record in the Run Log — deleted orders appear at the bottom so you can see what happened before they were removed
Finalised orders (approved in Xero) cannot have their invoices deleted from Xero, but the dashboard record will still be removed.
Other things to know
The dashboard refreshes automatically every 30 seconds. You can also refresh manually.
Click any order row to expand it and see individual line items, stock levels, and quantities.
The Run Log shows a timeline of everything that happened on each order — useful for troubleshooting.
All invoices are created as drafts in Xero — nothing is finalised until you click Finalise Invoice from the three-dot menu.
The system automatically checks stock before creating or finalising an invoice. If stock has changed since the order arrived, you'll see a warning.
Reprocess will only work if the Xero invoice is still a draft. Once an invoice is approved or paid in Xero, it can't be reprocessed.
If an invoice is voided in Xero (or fully credited), the system detects this automatically and updates the order status. You can then resubmit the order.
Caribbean Tan - Order Status
