Overview: Why We Use This Feature
When logging Payments on Sales Orders, “Reference Number” is available as a flexible and optional field to help your accounting team. The value you enter is stored on the Payment record itself, so it appears in the Payments section of the Sales Order alongside the payment date and amount paid, and it is written to the Sales Order’s Activity History. Where the Sales Order is connected to a QuickBooks Online or Sage Intacct invoice, the reference number travels with the payment into your accounting system.
The field is free text, which is what makes it useful across different accounting processes. Use it to record check numbers for check payments, to create record IDs, and to trace payments between Canix and your accounting system. Because it is optional, a Payment can be recorded without one, but a facility that uses the field consistently gets a single value that matches a Canix payment to its counterpart in the books.
In this article the following action is covered. For recording a payment against a QuickBooks Online invoice, see Recording a QuickBooks Online Invoice Payment. For Sales Orders generally, see Guide to Sales Orders in Canix.
Record Payment Reference Numbers: Before recording a Payment Reference Number, you’ll first need to create a Sales Order. After creating a Sales Order, you’ll be able to record a Payment Reference Number from two places: the Sales Order side panel, or the full Order Details view.
Glossary
- Payment: A record of money received against a Sales Order, logged in Canix with an amount, a payment date, and optionally a reference number.
- Reference Number: A free text field on a Payment record used to identify the payment outside of Canix. Common uses are check numbers, internal record IDs, and matching values for an accounting system.
- Record Payment: The action that opens the payment entry window on a Sales Order.
- Partial Payment: A payment recorded for less than the full order total. Multiple payments can be recorded against a single Sales Order, each with its own reference number.
- Payments Section: The area of the Sales Order that lists every payment recorded against that order, showing the date, reference number, and amount paid.
- QuickBooks Deposit Account: The QuickBooks Online account a payment is deposited into. If none is selected when recording the payment in Canix, the payment defaults to Undeposited Funds in QuickBooks.
- Undeposited Funds: The default QuickBooks Online holding account a payment lands in when no deposit account is specified.
- Locked Sales Order: A Sales Order that has been locked to prevent edits. Locking disables Save, Record Payment, Transfer Actions, Change Status, and Delete Actions until the order is unlocked.
- Activity History: The audit trail on a Sales Order that records what changed, who changed it, and when. Payment Recorded and Payment Edited are both logged events.
Prerequisites & Setup
Before beginning, ensure the following requirements are met:
- Permissions:
- Sales permissions are required to record payments on a Sales Order. Analyze & Support > Admin & Settings > Permission Groups > Sales > Sales Orders
- View Sales Orders: allows the user to open a Sales Order and see recorded payments.
- Edit Sales Orders: allows the user to log payments and edit payments on Sales Orders.
- Necessary Data:
- An existing Sales Order. Navigate to Transact > Sales Management > Sales Orders to confirm the order exists before recording a payment.
- For payments that should track to QuickBooks Online: a connected QuickBooks Online account and a QBO Invoice already created for that Sales Order.
Step-by-Step Instructions for Each Action
Record Payment Reference Numbers
Important Considerations for Record Payment Reference Numbers
These “pro-tips” and warnings help avoid common pitfalls:
- A Sales Order must exist before a payment can be recorded. The Record Payment option lives on the Sales Order, so there is no way to log a standalone payment.
- Field requirements: Amount and Payment Date are required. Reference Number is optional.
- The Reference Number field is free text to ensure flexible use for any accounting process. Canix does not validate the format, enforce uniqueness, or auto-generate a value, so decide on a convention with your accounting team before the field is in daily use.
- Record Payment is disabled while a Sales Order is locked. Locking an order also disables Save, Transfer Actions, Change Status, and Delete Actions. Unlock the order first, then record the payment.
- Partial payments can be recorded and will reflect in QuickBooks. Each payment is listed separately in the Payments section, so give each one its own reference number if you need to trace them individually.
- Select a QuickBooks Deposit Account when recording a QBO payment. If you do not select a deposit account, the payment will default to “Undeposited Funds” in your QuickBooks account.
- Payments are written to Activity History. The Payment Recorded entry captures the Amount, Payment Date, Reference Number, and whether the payment posted to QuickBooks Online or Sage Intacct.
Step by Step Instructions for Record Payment Reference Numbers
Follow these steps or watch the demo video to complete each workflow:
- Navigate to Transact > Sales Management > Sales Orders and select the Order you will be logging payments for.
- Select Record Payment in the bottom details section of the order.
- Alternatively, select View Order Details in the top-right, then scroll down and select Record Payment
- Complete each field in the modal:
- Amount
- Payment Date
- Reference Number: The field is free text to ensure flexible use for any accounting process
- Payment Method (available where the Sales Order is connected to QuickBooks Online or Sage Intacct)
- QuickBooks / Sage Intacct Deposit Account (optional): if you do not select a deposit account when recording a payment in Canix, the payment will default to “Undeposited Funds” in your QuickBooks/Sage Intacct account
- Note: you may record partial payments in Canix and this will reflect in QuickBooks/Sage Intacct
- Confirm all details are correct and select Record
- To View Payments see the details and Payments section on the Sales Order, with the date, reference number, and amount paid.
Troubleshooting for Record Payment Reference Numbers
If you encounter an error, check these common scenarios before contacting support.
- Record Payment is greyed out or missing on the Sales Order. The Sales Order is most likely locked. Navigate to Actions > Unlock Order, then record the payment. If the option is still unavailable, confirm your user has the Sales Orders permissions listed under Prerequisites & Setup.
- You cannot find Record Payment in the side panel. It sits at the bottom-right of the panel. If the panel is cut off, select View Order Details in the top-right and scroll down to the Payments section instead.
- The reference number did not appear in QuickBooks Online. The Sales Order has to be connected to QBO before the payment can track over, which means a QuickBooks Online invoice must already exist for that order. Create the QBO invoice, then record the payment.
- The payment landed in Undeposited Funds in QuickBooks. No QuickBooks Deposit Account was selected when the payment was recorded. Select the deposit account at the time of entry, or move the payment in QuickBooks.
- You entered the wrong reference number. Reference Number is free text and is not validated, so a typo saves successfully. Correct the payment on the Sales Order; the change is captured in Activity History as a Payment Edited entry showing the previous and new values.
- The order still shows a balance after recording a payment. Partial payments are allowed, so a recorded payment does not have to cover the order total. Check the Payments section for the amounts already recorded before entering another.
- You cannot tell which Canix payment matches a deposit in your accounting system. This is what the Reference Number field is for. Enter the check number or the accounting system’s own record ID at the time of entry so the two records share a value.
System Impacts & Dependencies
Changing data in one area often triggers updates elsewhere. Understanding these relationships is critical for data integrity.
| Action Taken | Impacted Area | Description of Change |
|---|---|---|
| Record a Payment | Sales Order Payments | A new payment is added under Payments with the date, reference number, and amount paid. |
| Record a Payment | Amount Paid on the Order | The recorded amount is applied against the order total. Partial payments are permitted, and each one is listed separately. |
| Record a Payment | QuickBooks Online | Where the Sales Order is connected to a QBO invoice, the payment tracks over to QuickBooks, including the reference number. Without a deposit account selected, it posts to Undeposited Funds. |
| Record a Payment | Sage Intacct | Where the Sales Order is connected to Sage Intacct, the Activity History entry records whether the payment posted to Sage Intacct. |
| Record a Payment | Activity History | A Payment Recorded entry is logged with the Amount, Payment Date, Reference Number, and whether it posted to QuickBooks Online or Sage Intacct. |
| Edit a recorded Payment | Activity History | A Payment Edited entry is logged with the previous and new Amount, Reference Number, and Date. |
| Lock a Sales Order | Record Payment | Record Payment is disabled, along with Save, Transfer Actions, Change Status, and Delete Actions, until the order is unlocked. |
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