Blanket orders — call off real orders from a long-term agreement
Write the agreement down — who, what price, how much, over what period — and call off real sales or purchase orders against it; released and remaining track themselves and a call-off can never exceed what is left.
Section 01
What a blanket order is
1 minute
A customer agrees to take 5,000 brackets over the year at £4.10 and rings for 400 at a time. A supplier agrees 20 tonnes at a fixed rate and you draw it down. Neither is an order yet — it is the agreement real orders are released from. Kept in a spreadsheet or someone's head, it gets over-released, priced wrong on the fifth call-off, and nobody can say what is left.
A blanket order writes it down: who, at what price, for how much, over what period — and then calls off real sales or purchase orders against it. The shape is the one every ERP settled on (Business Central calls it a blanket order, Odoo a purchase agreement): agreed lines, released and remaining quantity per line, and a hard rule that a call-off can never exceed what is left.
- Sales blanket orders live under Sales → Blanket orders; purchase ones under Purchasing → Blanket orders. Same page, same rules.
- The agreement moves no stock, reserves nothing and creates no MRP demand or supply. Only a call-off does — the call-off is an ordinary sales or purchase order from then on.
- Every call-off line is priced at the agreed price and says so: the price chip reads Blanket BLK-2026-0001, and the order shows Called off from BLK-2026-0001.
Section 02
Setting one up
2 minutes
| Field | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Customer / Supplier | The other party. Their currency is proposed for the agreement. |
| Name | How you refer to it — Door sets 2026, Steel supply H2. The reference (BLK-2026-0001) is assigned automatically. |
| Their contract / PO no. | The customer's framework PO number (or the supplier's agreement number). Copied onto every sales call-off as the Customer Order No. |
| Currency | The currency the agreed prices are in; call-offs are raised in it. |
| Valid from / to | Optional. Outside these dates nothing can be called off, however much is left. |
| Lines | Product, agreed quantity and unit price. Leave the price blank to use the catalogue / price list at call-off time. Lines can be added while the blanket is Draft or Open; a line nothing has been released from can be removed. |
A new blanket order is a Draft. Press Open for call-offs once the lines are agreed. It can be closed (and reopened) by hand, and cancelled — orders already released carry on either way.
Section 03
Calling off
2 minutes
On an open blanket order each line gains a Call off now box showing what is left (≤ 30). Enter the quantities to release, a despatch date (arrival date on the purchase side), optionally a name, and press Raise order. One sales (or purchase) order is created with those lines at the agreed prices, linked back to the blanket, and you are taken to it. The blanket's Released and Remaining columns update, the progress bar moves, and the order appears under Orders released from this blanket.
Ask for 45 when 30 remain and the whole call-off is refused — Door (Double): only 30 of 50 ea is left on this blanket order. Nothing is created. If the customer really has increased the commitment, raise the line's agreed quantity first (it can go up at any time, and can never go below what has already been released), then call off.
Section 04
The rules the page enforces
1 minute
| Rule | Why |
|---|---|
| Released = the quantity on the call-off lines, live | It is recomputed from the orders themselves whenever a call-off line or its order changes. Edit a call-off line from 300 to 350 and the blanket shows 350 released. |
| A cancelled call-off gives its quantity back | Cancel the order and the blanket's remaining rises again — the commitment was never met. |
| Fully released = closed | When every line reaches its agreed quantity the blanket closes itself. Reopen it if the agreement is extended. |
| Only Open, inside its dates | A draft, closed, cancelled or expired blanket refuses call-offs and says which it is. |
| The agreement is not stock | Agreed quantities never appear in availability, reservations, the promise date or MRP. If you want MRP to plan for the year's commitment, use the forecast. |
Section 05
The purchase side
1 minute
A purchase blanket order works identically with a supplier: agreed lines and prices, Raise order creates a purchase order (Not Started, in your first active warehouse) at the agreed price with the line linked back, released quantity rolls up, and the purchase order shows Called off from BLK-…. It is a record of what you may draw down, not stock on order — MRP still recommends what to buy; the buyer calls it off against the agreement.
A blanket line's unit price is a contract price for that agreement and wins on its call-offs (chip: Blanket). It does not change the customer's price list; orders raised outside the blanket price as normal. Leave the blanket price blank if the agreement is about quantity only and the price list should decide.