Deutsch (Deutschland) 
Polski (PL) 
Independent IFS Cloud practice · Procurement
The delivery that brought more than you ordered, and nobody stopped it
You ordered a hundred. A hundred and twenty arrived. The warehouse receipted what was on the pallet, and the extra twenty flowed into stock and, where invoices are matched against receipts, onto a matched invoice. The purchase order line carried a quantity you agreed to and the receipt carried a larger one. Depending on your setup, nothing reads the two together, although the ordered figure and the received figure are both recorded and the difference can be read on the first scan after the receipt posts, before a supplier invoices for goods you never committed to buy.
Key takeaways
- An over-receipt is a commitment problem: IFS Cloud records the ordered quantity and the received quantity, and depending on your setup nothing tells you the receipt ran past what you agreed to buy.
- The receipt is accepted when the quantity falls inside an over-delivery tolerance (worth checking how it is set in your environment), so a generous tolerance lets an excess pass as normal.
- Left alone it becomes stock you did not plan and cash you did not intend to spend, matched to an invoice against a receipt that itself ran past the order.
- A monitor cannot know whether an excess was agreed with the supplier, so it lists candidates for the buyer to check. The SCM Automation Pack’s existing rule for late deliveries does not look at quantities received above the order, so this would be an additional rule built to order.
- Ordered quantity, received quantity, and any over-delivery tolerance are recorded in IFS Cloud (worth confirming the exact projections in your environment), so an over-receipt can be listed on the first scan after it is posted, not at a stock count.
1.How a receipt runs past the order
In IFS Cloud a purchase order line names an agreed quantity, and a receipt records what physically arrived. The two differ when the receipt is allowed to exceed the order: an over-delivery tolerance is set generously and the supplier ships to the top of it, a supplier consolidates two orders onto one pallet, a case quantity does not divide cleanly into the ordered number, or someone keys the received quantity from the delivery note rather than the order.
None of these looks like an error at the point it happens. The receiver confirms goods that are on the dock, and where a tolerance allows the quantity the system accepts it. The order stays over-received and out of sight, because the person receiving checks the pallet against the delivery note and does not see the order quantity.
2.What an over-receipt costs
The cost is stock you did not plan and, once the invoice matches, cash you did not intend to commit.
- Unplanned spend - an invoice that three-way matches against an inflated receipt pays for quantity you never ordered.
- Capital in surplus stock - the extra units sit in inventory, tying up working capital and shelf space you allocated for something else.
- Broken controls - a purchase order exists so that spend is agreed before it happens; a receipt over the order quietly defeats that control.
- Audit exposure - paying beyond an approved commitment is exactly the pattern an internal or external auditor is trained to find.
A short delivery has someone chasing it, the person waiting for the goods. An over-delivery has nobody chasing it, because everyone downstream has enough. The over-delivery percentage you intend to allow is the threshold that matters, and a default left wide open sets a different one.
3.Seeing the over-receipt in IFS Cloud
A purchase order line carries its ordered quantity, and receipts carry the quantity actually received against it. Both, along with supplier, part, and value, are recorded in IFS Cloud and can be read through OData projections without writing anything back (the exact projections are worth confirming in your environment). Detection runs on a schedule, with the first scan after you have set the tolerance, and reads two things:
- Received beyond ordered - any line where the total received quantity exceeds the ordered quantity by more than the tolerance you actually mean to allow, ranked by the value of the excess so the largest over-spends come first.
- Received against lines already complete - receipts posted, where your setup allows it, to a line that was already fully received, so the extra stays on a line nobody expects to move again.
Reading ordered and received together lists the receipts that ran past the commitment before the invoice settles the over-spend.
4.Why a goods-in check does not see an over-receipt
A goods-in team checks the pallet against the delivery note. An over-receipt is a difference from the order, not from the note, and the order is not in front of the person on the dock, so a quantity that looks like a bonus is not questioned.
| Manual receiving check | Systematic monitor | |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger | Someone notices at a stock count or invoice query | Receipts compared with ordered quantity on each scheduled scan |
| What surfaces | Over-receipts found by chance or after payment | Every line received past tolerance, ranked by excess value |
| Completed lines | A receipt on a line thought finished is easy to miss | Receipts against fully received lines listed explicitly |
| Continuity | Depends on who is receiving that shift | Runs the same regardless of workload or staffing |
| IFS footprint | None, but nothing links receipt back to the order | Read-only; no object added to IFS Cloud |
Because it is a read-only monitoring pattern, it never writes back to IFS Cloud. It adds no object inside the client system, so a release update leaves nothing of ours in your IFS to retest. Before each release I check that the standard projections it reads still match, as part of the subscription. It lists the receipts that ran past the order and leaves the return, the tolerance change, or the supplier conversation with the buyer who owns the relationship.
5.Rolling it out without adding noise
- Start with money - rank over-receipts by the value of the excess, so the first list is the spend worth stopping, ahead of every case-rounded pallet.
- Dry-run first - in the first week the rule only logs what it would have listed, and nothing reaches a buyer.
- Match your real tolerance - list against the over-delivery percentage you actually intend, which may differ from the one configured today.
- Read only, no footprint - standard OData reads, nothing written back, no new object inside IFS Cloud.
Related reading
6.Frequently asked questions
Does IFS Cloud block a receipt above the order?
Whether IFS Cloud blocks a receipt above the order depends on the over-delivery tolerance configured on the line or part, which is worth checking in your setup. Within the tolerance the receipt is accepted by design. A tolerance set wider than you intend, or receipts posted to lines that were already complete, do not raise themselves for review.
Does the SCM Automation Pack check over-receipts today?
No. The SCM Automation Pack runs three rules today: unconfirmed purchase orders, late deliveries, and stock below minimum. A rule that lists lines received beyond the tolerance you intend would be an additional rule built to order, and a 30-minute call checks whether it fits your data.
What data does IFS Cloud need to hold to list an over-receipt?
The ordered quantity on the purchase order line, the received quantity against it, and the over-delivery tolerance, read through OData projections (worth confirming the exact projections in your environment). Reading those on a schedule is enough to list every line received beyond the tolerance you intend, ranked by the value of the excess.
Does monitoring for over-receipts write anything back to IFS Cloud?
No. The monitor reads ordered and received quantities through OData and sends its messages outside IFS. Nothing is written back, so there is no upgrade footprint and no new object inside the client’s system.
7.About the author
Dariusz Myśliwiec has 18 years hands-on with IFS (Apps 7.5–10 and IFS Cloud). He is an IFS Certified Associate Consultant and PRINCE2® 7 certified. Based in Kraków, he delivers remotely across Europe and globally as an independent practice, so you talk to the consultant who builds it.
Selected clients: Fugro · LGC · BVI Medical · Betafence (PRÆSIDIAD) · Barlinek · NGK Ceramics · Newag · Oleofarm.
IFS is a registered trademark of IFS AB; this practice is not affiliated with IFS AB.
Pay for what you ordered, not what turned up
Tell me where your receipts run past the orders behind them. On a 30-minute fit call we check whether a rule that compares ordered and received quantity fits your data. The SCM Automation Pack runs three rules today (unconfirmed purchase orders, late deliveries, stock below minimum), so this would be an additional rule built to order, with a dry-run week before a single alert reaches a buyer.
