Direct Invoice Printing allows you to send ordered items without creating a picklist while avoiding usual shipping process. You can generate such a direct invoice for any open orders and even for individual order lines.

Suppose you store very bulky goods in your warehouse which can only be moved with heavy equipment. Picking these goods in the classical sense is simply impossible. Or a customer contacts in customer service and decides last-minute to pick up the ordered goods on-site. Respective goods simply have to be removed from your warehouse stock and can be provided for customer collection immediately.

Direct Invoicing Tab in pixi Shipping

Using Direct Invoice Printing, you can bypass the picking process in pixi. Hence you don't need to create a picklist or scan the items.

To finish the process, the invoice must be scanned out. Since such invoices cannot be assigned to a box, scan or enter the invoice number in the Ship-Out tab in pixi Shipping.

Direct Invoicing in pixi Web Orders

Direct invoicing is available for single and multiple orders. This feature can be used on the orders overview page and on the details page of an order. Direct invoicing is also available for single or multiple orderlines. This feature is available in the tab Order Lines.

In these cases, direct invoicing is not possible:

An invoice already exists for the orders or order lines
The orders or order line do not have the correct status. Orders must be in status OPEN and order lines in status ANG
Orders or order lines are on a picklist
Order lines have BBD/BN/SN tags assigned
Orders have a customer or ship lock

Configuration

By default, stock is not reduced using Direct Invoice Printing at Ship-Out of the invoice. If you want the stock to be reduced, the database setting Don't Release Stock on Direct Invoicing needs to be deactivated (pixi Control Center > Database Settings > Invoices).

Also by default, all orders for Direct Invoice Printing are taken into account. Orders can be excluded from Direct Invoice Printing by setting the customer or the shipping lock. To do this, the database setting Direct Invoice Printing - Exclude Locked Orders must be activated (pixi Control Center > Database Settings > Shipping).

Wizard for Direct Invoice Printing

If the function Direct Invoice Wizard - Enable is activated, the Direct Invoice Printing Wizard is available. This can be used to quickly and easily generate multiple direct invoices for orders with one item and order quantity 1. By default, this feature is OFF.

The database setting Direct Invoice Wizard - Print Invoice (pixi Control Center > Database Settings > Shipping) is disabled by default:

If this setting is activated, the pixi Invoice application will be opened for each invoice, which will be created with the wizard.
If this setting is deactivated, invoices will be printed as soon as the automatic invoice printing in pixi Invoices is activated.

How to Use Direct Invoice Printing

You can create direct invoices for all open customer orders and order lines. If you want to exclude orders of items that don't show sufficient stock, activate the option "Only when all items available".

Limitations:
- Direct Invoice Printing cannot be used for customer orders containing serial number, batch number, or best-before date items when the database setting "Don't Release Stock on Direct Invoicing" is disabled (pixi Control Center > Database Settings > Invoices).
- If at least one order line of the order is already on an active picklist, no direct invoice can be created. This is visualized in the column "On Picklist" by a green tick in the tab "Direct Invoicing".

Creating Direct Invoices:

Open pixi Shipping and click into the tab Direct Invoicing. The displayed list shows all open customer orders. The below table Orderlines contains all order lines of the order selected above.
Select the order or individual order lines for which you want to create direct invoices.
Click Create Invoices in the toolbar. The invoices for the selected order(s) / order line(s) will now be created.
Now print the generated invoices in pixi Invoices. Use the option Print direct and fulfillment invoices and start the automatic invoice printing.
Select the SHIP OUT tab in pixi Shipping next. Enter the invoice number of the generated direct invoice and click on SCAN OUT.

Notes:
- pixi Shipping must be connected to the location for which you would like to generate direct invoices.
- In pixi Web, Direct Invoices can be created, regardless of which location was picked.
- Items that have a Total Stock of 0 cannot be selected for Direct Invoice Printing. The selection button is disabled for this item.
- If an order has already been partially shipped (i.e., part of the order lines are in the AUS status), an invoice for the remaining items can only be created using Direct Invoice Printing, if the picklist for the first partial delivery has been fully processed or deleted.
- Inventory reduction always occurs during Ship-Out. Here, the item is removed from the storage bin with the lowest sorting number. Direct Invoice Printing verifies the selection of the current shipping service provider and decides whether the Ship-Out can take place automatically if necessary. The setting of the automatic Ship-Out can be activated or deactivated with the "ScanOut when creating Invoice" setting for the respective shipping service provider (pixi Control Center > Tables > Shipping Vendors).
- If the invoice created via Direct Invoice Printing is older than the value entered in the database setting "Picklist - Default expiration time", a note will be displayed and the stock will not be reduced during the Ship-Out. In this case, remove the items manually from stock.
- If items are already reserved for another order, the reservation can be ignored using the "Ignore Reservations with Direct Invoicing" setting (pixi Control Center > Database Settings > Invoices) when creating the invoice for the unreserved order. Thus, the items for the reserved order are no longer available.
- Decreasing the inventory does not happen, if a Delivery Date is set for the customer order.
- Special Locations: Special locations can't be used for Direct Invoice Printing.
- Deleting Invoices: Invoices that have already gone through the Ship-Out process can't be deleted. You must therefore create a return in the pixi Customer Service and put the item to stock manually again. Invoices that haven't yet passed through the Ship-Out process can be deleted. In this case, the inventory of each item wasn't reduced. If the item has already been physically removed from the storage bin, you may have to return it.

Direct Invoice Printing Wizard for 1-Item-Orders

Use the Direct Invoice Wizard to quickly and easily generate multiple direct invoices for 1-item-orders with quantity 1. This functionality has to be activated with the Option Direct Invoice Wizard - Enable (pixi Control Center > Database settings > Shipping).

In pixi Shipping, open the Direct Invoicing tab. Click the Direct Invoices Wizard icon in the toolbar to start it.

Notes:
- Orders containing more than one item can't be edited using the Direct Invoices Wizard.
- Similarly, orders containing more than one piece of the same item can't be processed using the Direct Invoices Wizard.

Step 1 - Item search

Enter the barcode or name of the item you are looking for in the search window.
Click Select Item to confirm the selection. You can also select the desired item by double-clicking or pressing "Enter".
The following information is displayed for the selected item:
- item name
- number of orders including this item and order quantity 1
- The maximum number of invoices that can be created

Step 2 - Selection of the storage bin

A list of storage bins with a stock of all normal locations (not special location) is displayed in the table. Select the storage bin from which the items should be taken.

Notes:
- You must use a bin with a unique sorting number for Direct Invoice Printing.
- This sorting number can be changed in the pixi Control Center under Tables in the sub-item Bins.
- Bins from special storage locations are not displayed because they can't be used for Direct Invoice Printing.

Step 3 - Select the number of orders to process

The selected item as well as storage bin information is displayed. Enter the number of orders you want to process.

Note: A warning pops up informing you that the number of invoices generated may be lower due to existing order reservations.

Step 4 - Create the invoices

A progress bar will appear, allowing you to track the process.

Closure

After the invoice (s) have been created, you will get an overview of the number of processed and still open orders. You can repeat the process using the "Repeat the Wizard" button for the remaining orders and, if necessary, select a new storage bin or close the process by clicking on the "Finish" button.