At 4 pm the customer calls: "I need the shipment tomorrow morning." The rep calls the sales manager, who calls the warehouse, which says the customer is over the credit limit and the system blocks the order. The usual fix: "Ship now, we will sort the documents tomorrow." A month later, finance finds the "exception" happened twenty times, some at unapproved prices, and the customer's debt has doubled.

Urgent orders are normal. The problem is having no controlled urgent path, so working around the system becomes the real process.

Why urgent orders bypass controls

  • Controls are designed for the normal case only.
  • The approver is unavailable.
  • The system does not show enough to decide.
  • Documents are "completed later", or never.
  • Nobody measures exceptions.

What is lost

ControlWhen bypassedImpact
Credit limitCredit sales to late payersRising receivables
Price listVerbal discountsHidden margin erosion
Stock reservationShipping stock reserved for othersDelays and complaints
Document sequenceShipping before order or invoiceStock gaps and late entries
E-invoicingLate invoicesTax compliance risk

The principle: exceptions belong inside the system

Do not ban urgent orders or loosen controls for everyone. Give exceptions an official path: fast, clear, recorded and bounded.

Designing a controlled urgent path

  1. Define urgency with a flag and a mandatory reason from a fixed list.
  2. Automate controls: ERPNext credit limits per customer or group can stop orders; price lists and pricing rules prevent unapproved prices.
  3. Set approval levels: sales manager up to a threshold, finance above it; ERPNext authorization rules and workflows tie approval to value, percentage or document type.
  4. Approve from mobile, for example with Smart Go.
  5. Show the approver what matters: balance, ageing, last payment, margin, stock.
  6. No shipping without a document: speed up approval, never ship outside the system.
  7. Measure exceptions weekly: count, reasons, approvers, value and margin.

An illustrative ERPNext flow

  1. Rep flags the order as urgent with a reason.
  2. System checks credit, price and stock.
  3. Within limits: auto-approved, high priority for the warehouse.
  4. Over a limit: routed to the right approver with balance and margin.
  5. Approver decides on mobile; decision logged.
  6. Delivery note, then invoice, from the system.
  7. Order appears in the weekly exceptions report.

Not all urgent orders are alike

  • Customer-driven: credit and price matter most.
  • Caused by an internal error: link to the original document and record the cause.
  • Caused by poor planning: fix reorder levels, not approvals.
  • Contractual service levels: build the urgent path into that customer's normal settings.

Reduce urgency at the source

Reorder levels per warehouse, forecasts for key customers and follow-up on late supplier orders remove many "urgent" cases. ERPNext stock sets reorder levels and raises material requests automatically.

Common mistakes

  • Open override rights for many people.
  • Approval paths so long people avoid them.
  • Blocking every small excess without levels.
  • Manual price edits without reasons.
  • Never reviewing the exceptions report.

See also from inconsistent processes to a clear workflow, or request a demo.

Frequently asked questions

Can ERPNext set credit limits per customer?

Yes, per customer or group, stopping orders or allowing specific roles to override.

How do I stop sales below approved prices?

Price lists, pricing rules and permissions that block edits or require approval above a discount.

Can approvals be done on mobile?

Yes, from the mobile browser or apps such as Smart Go.

How do I measure exceptions?

A periodic report of urgent orders, reasons, approvers, value and margin.