The quick answer
You can't add a location to a paired intercompany sales order. NetSuite refuses the save with "Item, account, location, subsidiary, units, and rate cannot be updated for intercompany transactions." Break the pairing instead. Change every line on the sales order to a non-inventory placeholder item and save, then do the same on the paired purchase order. The purchase order goes back to Intercompany Status Pending. Delete the now unpaired sales order, put the original items back on the purchase order, and generate the sales order again from Transactions > Sales > Manage Intercompany Sales Orders, this time with Location set.
The screenshots show sample data. Person and company names are fictional. Use your own orders, items and locations when following the steps.
Before you start
Larchmont US buys brake parts from Larchmont Canada on purchase order PO5127: 40 BRK-220 Brake Caliper at 85.00 and 25 HUB-310 Wheel Hub at 120.00, 6,400.00 in total. Someone generated the matching sales order, SO3342, from Manage Intercompany Sales Orders without choosing a Location. Neither line has a location, so the Toronto warehouse has nothing to ship from.
This needs OneWorld with Automated Intercompany Management, intercompany customer and vendor records that represent the two subsidiaries, and a role that can edit and delete sales orders and purchase orders in both subsidiaries. The example uses Administrator. You also need a non-inventory item for resale that works on both sales and purchases, to use as a temporary placeholder. Here it's IC Placeholder (Non-Inventory) at 0.00. It's a workaround, not a NetSuite feature, so the name doesn't matter. It does have to be available to both subsidiaries, and a custom validation, workflow or script that rejects a 0.00 rate will get in the way.
You're going to wipe the purchase order's lines and put them back, so write down every item, quantity, unit, rate and any other line detail first, such as tax, classifications and custom line fields.
01. See why the sales order can't be fulfilled
Open SO3342 Larchmont US (Buys from Canada). It's Pending Fulfillment for 6,400.00. In Sales Information, Intercompany Status is Paired and Paired Intercompany Transaction is Purchase Order #PO5127, the order it was generated from. On the Items subtab, both lines have an empty Location.
02. Try to add the location
Click Edit, click the BRK-220 Brake Caliper line, choose Location Toronto Warehouse, click OK and then Save. NetSuite opens a Notice: "Item, account, location, subsidiary, units, and rate cannot be updated for intercompany transactions." The paired order's inventory lines are locked.
Click Go Back, then Cancel to leave the order as it was.
03. Replace the sales order lines with a placeholder
Click Edit. In Sales Information, Paired Intercompany Transaction is disabled, so you can't just clear it. Click the BRK-220 Brake Caliper line, choose Item IC Placeholder (Non-Inventory) and click OK. The rate becomes 0.00. Do the same for HUB-310 Wheel Hub, then click Save.
Both lines are placeholders and the total is 0.00, but Intercompany Status still says Paired. Start with the sales order: the pairing only releases once the purchase order has no inventory lines either.
04. Replace the purchase order lines
Click the Paired Intercompany Transaction link, Purchase Order #PO5127. It's Paired with Sales Order #SO3342. Note its lines if you haven't: BRK-220 Brake Caliper, 40 at 85.00, and HUB-310 Wheel Hub, 25 at 120.00.
Click Edit, change each line's item to IC Placeholder (Non-Inventory), click OK on each, and Save. In Classification, Intercompany Status is now Pending and Paired Intercompany Transaction is blank.
05. Delete the unpaired sales order
Open SO3342 again. Intercompany Status is Pending and Paired Intercompany Transaction is blank. If it still shows the purchase order, edit the order, clear that field and save first.
Click Edit, then Actions > Delete, and click OK when the browser asks "Are you sure you want to delete this transaction?". The order is gone from the Sales Orders list. Closing it would keep it for history, but it wouldn't fix anything, so delete an order that was generated wrong.
06. Put the original items back on the purchase order
Open PO5127 and click Edit. Click the first line, choose Item BRK-220 Brake Caliper and click OK. Its rate fills with 85.00 and the quantity stays 40. Do the same with HUB-310 Wheel Hub on the second line, 25 at 120.00. Check any other line details you noted, then click Save.
The total is back to 6,400.00, and the purchase order stays Pending, so it can be paired again. Approvals, workflows or closed periods in your account can still restrict edits to a Pending order.
07. Generate the sales order again, with the location
Go to Transactions > Sales > Manage Intercompany Sales Orders. Choose Customer Larchmont US (Buys from Canada). Currency (US Dollar) and Subsidiary (Larchmont Canada) fill in. This time choose Location Toronto Warehouse. With Intercompany Transaction Status Pending, mark Purchase Order PO5127 (6,400.00). A purchase order that's still pending approval won't be listed.
Click Generate Sales Order. Processed Records shows Purchase Order #PO5127 with Result Success and Result Record Sales Order #SO3343. Your number will follow your own numbering.
08. Confirm the new order has its location
Click Sales Order #SO3343. It's Paired with Purchase Order #PO5127, the total is 6,400.00, and both lines show Location Toronto Warehouse.
Check the result
- The old sales order is deleted.
- The purchase order has its original items, quantities and rates and its original total.
- The new sales order is Paired with the purchase order.
- Every line on the new sales order has the location it ships from.
The Location you pick on Manage Intercompany Sales Orders is what lands on the generated lines, but check every line before you fulfill. The result depends on your forms and location setup, and with Intercompany Cross-Subsidiary Fulfillment the line field may be Inventory Location instead. To keep this from happening again, set Location every time you generate. Making Location mandatory on the sales order form isn't a reliable fix: depending on the setup it either doesn't stop generated orders or blocks automatic generation. A saved search of paired sales order lines with an empty location makes a good check.
Common questions
Why can't I change the location on an intercompany sales order?
A sales order generated from an intercompany purchase order is paired with it, and NetSuite keeps the two in step by locking the fields that have to match. Location is one of them, so a save that changes it on an inventory line is refused.
What does "Item, account, location, subsidiary, units, and rate cannot be updated for intercompany transactions" mean?
The order is paired, and you tried to change one of the locked line values. You can't fix that line in place. Break the pairing by moving both orders to non-inventory lines, or start over with a correctly generated order.
Why is Paired Intercompany Transaction greyed out?
It's disabled while the paired orders have inventory item lines. Once both orders only have non-inventory lines and the purchase order is saved, the purchase order goes back to Pending. If the sales order still shows the purchase order after that, the field can be cleared and saved.
How do I delete a paired intercompany sales order?
Unpair it first. Change its lines to a non-inventory placeholder and save, do the same on the purchase order, and check that the sales order shows Pending with no paired transaction. Then edit it and use Actions > Delete.
What do Pending and Paired mean on an intercompany purchase order?
Pending means no sales order is paired with it yet, so it shows up on Manage Intercompany Sales Orders. Paired means a sales order was generated from it, and each order links to the other in Paired Intercompany Transaction.
How do I stop intercompany sales orders being created without a location?
Set Location on Manage Intercompany Sales Orders every time you generate, and check the new order's lines before you fulfill. A saved search of paired sales order lines with an empty location catches the ones that slip through.