Backorder Shipment Rules

Backorder Shipment Rules determine the priority order in which backorder shipments are released when inventory becomes available during a rebalancing run. When the Allocation Rebalancer completes its future shipment rebalancing phase, the Backorder Shipment Rules run against the full backorder queue — not only the shipments newly affected by the triggering event — to re-rank all backorders against the revised inventory position. Shipments that match higher-priority rules are released first; shipments that cannot be fulfilled remain on backorder until the next run. Backorder Shipment Rules follow the same composable rule structure used across Kibo for other rule types, using expression-based conditions across Account, Product, and Shipment dimensions. They are independently configurable from Future Shipment Rules — a tenant may apply different prioritization logic to the backorder queue than to future shipments. In addition to the UI detailed here, you can create and manage Backorder Shipment Rules using the Backorder Shipment Rules API endpoints. The Product Rules , Customer Rules and Shipment Rules APIs can also be used to manage supporting product, customer and Shipment rules.

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Prerequisites

Before configuring Backorder Shipment Rules, ensure the following:

• The B2B Wholesale OMS feature is enabled for your tenant. Contact Kibo Support to enable this capability.
• You have Admin or SuperAdmin role permissions, or a role with the following behaviors assigned:
  • Product Rule: Read, Create, Update, Delete
  • Customer Rule: Read, Create, Update, Delete
  • Backorder Shipment Rule: Read, Create, Update, Delete
• The Allocation Rebalancer is configured and enabled at the site level. See Allocation Rebalancer.

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How Backorder Shipment Rules Work

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When They Run

Backorder Shipment Rules run as part of the Allocation Rebalancer’s sequential flow — specifically as the backorder prioritization step (Step 5). They run every time the rebalancer is triggered, regardless of whether the triggering event was a supply decrease (which also processes future shipments) or a demand decrease (which goes directly to backorder processing). The rules run against the entire backorder queue, not just the shipments affected by the triggering event. This ensures all backorders are sequenced correctly against the revised available inventory after every run.

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Rule Evaluation

All enabled Backorder Shipment Rules run together in ascending rank order. Each backorder shipment is evaluated against each rule in sequence. When a shipment matches a rule’s criteria, that rule assigns a priority rank to the shipment. A shipment is only evaluated once — once it matches a rule, it is not re-evaluated against subsequent rules. Shipments that do not match any enabled rule will be considered by Catch All Rule, which is treated as the lowest possible priority during reallocation.

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Release Processing

After prioritization, the rebalancer releases backorder shipments in priority order — highest-priority shipments are released first. Inventory sourcing during backorder release is governed by the Backorder Inventory Settings configured at the site level (whether to use current inventory, future inventory, or both, and in what order).

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Sort

Each Backorder Shipment Rule includes a primary and optional secondary sort criterion. For shipments that match the same rule, the sort determines their relative release order within that priority tier. You can sort on any numeric or date field available on the shipment, such as requestedShipDate or lastCancellationDate.

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Rule Criteria

A Backorder Shipment Rule supports up to three criteria types:

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Rule Attributes

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Configure Backorder Shipment Rules

To create a new Backorder Shipment Rule:

1. Go to Main > Fulfillment > Rules > Backorder Shipment Rules.
   
2. Click Create Backorder Shipment Rule.
3. Enter a Code. If left blank, the system generates one automatically.
4. Enter a Name and an optional Description.
5. Enter a Rank value. The lower the number, the higher the priority.
6. Enter a Time Fence Days value. The rebalancer searches for inventory within this symmetric window around the shipment’s requested ship date when releasing the backorder.
7. Toggle the rule Enabled to activate it.
   
8. Configure Sort Criteria:
   • Under Primary Sort, select a numeric or date field and choose Ascending or Descending.
9. Optionally, add Account / Customer Criteria:
   • Click Add Customer Rule and use the expression editor to define account-level conditions.
10. Optionally, add Product Criteria:
    • Click Add Product Rule and use the expression editor to define product-level conditions.
11. Optionally, add Shipment Criteria:
    • Click Add Shipment Rule and use the expression editor to define shipment-level conditions.
12. Click Save.

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Manage Backorder Shipment Rules

Access the Backorder Shipment Rules dashboard at Main > Fulfillment > Rules > Backorder Shipment Rules to manage your configured rules:

• Toggle the Status icon on a rule to activate or deactivate it without deleting it.
• Expand the actions menu on a rule to Edit or Delete it.
• Check multiple rules and use the Actions menu to enable, disable, or delete in bulk.
• Edit the Rank of a rule directly in the table, or click and drag to reorder.

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Example Rule Configurations

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Release Strategic Account Backorders First

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Combined Account and Product Priority