Glossary and status reference

Use this reference to compare quantities, identify records and understand which stage a workflow has reached. Each status belongs to its own record. A PO, supplier response, shipment, receipt and invoice can legitimately show different states at the same time.

Materials, units and identifiers

Term	Meaning
Material	The shared item record used for purchasing, inventory and production. It can represent a sellable item or a component that is not sold in Shopify.
Shopify product	A product in a particular Shopify store. A product can contain several variants.
Shopify variant	A specific sellable option in a store, such as one size or color. Its relationship to a material is established through matching/linking.
Shop listing	A material's connection to its representation in a Shopify store. Listing status and the material's inventory settings are different concerns.
SKU	An item code. Check which store, material or supplier owns the code before using it to identify stock.
Supplier SKU	The supplier's code for the item you buy. It can differ from your own SKU.
Barcode	A scannable identifier associated with an item and, where configured, a unit or pack.
Base unit	The unit used to express the material's inventory quantities, such as each, metre or kilogram.
Supplier unit	The unit in which a supplier offers an item, such as a case of 24 each.
Unit multiplier	The conversion from one supplier unit to the material's base units. With a multiplier of 24, three cases represent 72 each.
Minimum order quantity (MOQ)	The supplier's minimum positive order. Check the unit in which it is expressed.
Order multiple	The increment used when rounding an order quantity, such as complete packs or cases.
Catalog group	A way to organize materials for browsing and management.
Equivalence group	A configured relationship between materials considered as alternatives for supported sourcing decisions. It does not mean the records were merged.
Merge	Consolidation of records and their relationships into a surviving identity. Review the consequences before confirming.
Bill of materials (BOM)	The recipe describing the direct components and quantities needed to produce a specified base output quantity.

See Materials, Units and barcodes and Organize and match materials.

Organizations, locations and stock

Term	Meaning
Organization	The workspace shared by its connected shops and operational records.
Payer shop	The shop responsible for the organization's subscription approval and billing relationship.
Linked shop	Another connected shop in the same organization; linking does not itself complete material/location matching.
Physical location	The real place where stock is held, received or moved.
Shopify location	A location record in a particular Shopify store. Different stores may represent the same physical site.
Stock pool	The inventory scope for stock managed together. Review pool membership before treating multiple store quantities as separate stock.
Bin	A position within a stock pool, with configured handling and availability properties.
Unassigned stock	Stock recorded in the pool that has not yet been allocated to a specific bin.
Source of truth / inventory authority	The decision about which system controls inventory for the relevant stock and shop arrangement.
Outbound stock sync	Sending subsequent available-stock changes to Shopify after the required setup and confirmation.
On hand	Stock recorded as physically held in the pool. It is not necessarily all available for new work.
Available	The amount remaining after the applicable reservations, commitments and unavailable-stock deductions.
Reserved	Stock associated with demand such as sales-order work.
Committed	Stock claimed for operational work such as released production or approved transfers.
Incoming / in transit	Expected supply or stock moving between places. It is not already available at the destination.
Held stock	Stock in a hold bin that cannot be consumed as ordinary available stock.
Unreconciled consumption	Reported outflow that could not be assigned to available bin stock when recorded. It reduces availability and needs investigation.
Inventory activity / ledger	The history of stock movements and their associated source records.
Reconciliation	Investigating and resolving a difference between recorded inventory views. Comparing Shopify quantities is distinct from physically counting stock.

For the full availability calculation and adjustment examples, use Stock quantities. For initial setup, use Locations and stock pools and Inventory authority.

Purchasing and money

Term	Meaning
Order plan	A workspace for purchasing or replenishment intent and its proposed resolution. Applying a purchasing proposal creates draft POs.
Required quantity	A quantity you explicitly need to obtain, interpreted using the plan's supported rules.
Target stock	A desired stock level used to calculate a net need after existing and incoming supply.
Procurement terms	Agreed delivery, risk, ownership and trade responsibilities, with the applicable buyer, scope and validity period. Supplier prices and schedules are managed separately.
Purchase order (PO)	The buyer's order record identifying supplier, items, quantities, prices, destination and dates.
Supplier collaboration	The exchange of the PO and subsequent acknowledgements, changes, shipment details and discussion with the supplier.
Receipt	A record of what the warehouse received. Completing it records the supported inventory effects.
Dispute	The process used to discuss or resolve a receiving or purchasing exception with the supplier, or record an internal resolution.
Invoice	The supplier's request for payment. Its quantities, currency and charges need their own review.
Credit	A financial adjustment associated with the supplier agreement or invoice. It is not a physical stock receipt.
Reporting currency	The organization's currency for supported reporting; selected at organization creation and read-only afterward.
PO/invoice currency	The currency attached to that commercial document. It can differ from reporting currency.
Landed-cost estimate	A calculation using the available purchasing, freight and trade inputs. An estimate is not a final supplier/carrier invoice.
Cost layer	Cost information associated with stock received or produced. Available reports and views determine which layer details you can inspect.

A case price and an each price can describe the same agreement: USD 24 per case of 24 each equals USD 1 per each. Changing a displayed currency does not itself convert an agreed price.

Purchase-order status

Status	Meaning and next check
Draft	The PO is being prepared. Review it before using the appropriate submit action.
Submitted	The order has moved beyond draft. Inspect its collaboration state to see whether it was sent through the supplier workflow or recorded as ordered separately.
Acknowledged	Acknowledgement has been recorded. Continue tracking the agreement and delivery.
Partially received	Some of the ordered goods have been received. Review the remaining quantity and any exceptions.
Fully received	Receipt completion has satisfied the receiving requirements. Invoice or dispute work may still remain.
Closed	The PO has been closed. Review any remaining invoice obligations separately.
Cancelled	The PO was cancelled under the available lifecycle rules. Inspect its history for work already performed.

See Send and manage orders and Receive stock. There is no manual “mark fully received” shortcut that replaces receiving.

Supplier-collaboration status

These are the labels on the merchant PO. The Supplier Portal uses some labels from the supplier's perspective.

Merchant label	Meaning
Not sent	There is no currently active sent collaboration state. Inspect history if the supplier previously rejected an order.
Awaiting supplier	The supplier's response is due.
Awaiting your review	The supplier proposed a response or change requiring the buyer's review.
Committed	The commercial agreement is committed for fulfillment.
Partially shipped	A partial shipment has been recorded.
Shipped	Shipment of the committed quantities has been recorded.
Closed	The collaboration is closed.

A supplier's rejection is part of the response history; it does not automatically mean the merchant PO was cancelled. See Supplier changes and Supplier Portal responses.

Shipment and carrier progress

Shipment records can show Shipped, Pre-transit, In transit, Out for delivery, Delivered, Failed or Returned, depending on the recorded information and tracking available.

Milestone	What it establishes
Shipped	The shipment was recorded.
Pre-transit / In transit / Out for delivery	The available tracking describes progress toward delivery.
Delivered	Delivery was reported by the shipment/tracking information. Warehouse receiving still needs its own confirmation.
Failed / Returned	Delivery needs attention. Inspect the shipment and coordinate with the supplier.

A tracking status does not certify line quantities or condition at receipt. See Shipments.

Receipt status

Status	Meaning
Draft	A receipt record has not completed receiving.
In progress	Captured receiving work is still open. Review or resume it; the supported Abandon action discards unfinished work.
Completed	Receiving completed and the corresponding inventory effects were recorded.
Cancelled	The receipt was cancelled or abandoned through the supported workflow. Inspect its history for context.

The desktop Abandon receipt action is for an in-progress receipt. It is not a general undo for completed receiving. Follow the documented procedure for the surface you are using.

Invoice and dispute status

Invoice status	Meaning
Requested	The buyer has requested an invoice.
Submitted	The supplier's invoice is ready for review.
Approved	The invoice was approved. Approval is distinct from recording payment.
Disputed	The invoice requires resolution.
Dispute resolved	The dispute resolution was recorded; inspect the next available review/approval action.
Paid	Payment was marked as recorded in the workflow.
Cancelled	The invoice was cancelled under the available lifecycle rules.

A separate receiving dispute can be Draft, Awaiting supplier, Awaiting you or Resolved on the merchant's resolution page. A draft dispute is not yet sent to the supplier. Receiving replacement goods and resolving their dispute are separate actions.

See Invoices and Disputes and replacements.

Production status

Status	Meaning
Draft	The production order is being prepared.
Released	Component stock is committed to the order and execution work is available.
In progress	The run has started. Review its tasks and actual quantities.
Applying	A requested operation is being applied. Follow the original order before repeating it.
Completed	The supported completion effects have been recorded.
Cancelled	The order was cancelled under its lifecycle restrictions.
Reversed	The permitted reversal was recorded. A new production run needs a new order.

Release, start and completion are separate events. A release can succeed while Start still needs attention. See Production planning and Production corrections.

Transfer status

A transfer request has both an approval state and an execution state.

Status group	Request state	Meaning
Decision	Draft / Submitted	The request is being prepared or awaits a decision.
Decision	Partly approved / Approved	Some or all requested stock has been allocated by the approval process.
Decision	Rejected / Cancelled	The affected request was rejected or cancelled. Check its quantities and any prior work.
Execution	Not started / In progress	Execution has not begun or is underway.
Execution	Partly fulfilled / Fulfilled	Some or all fulfillment has been recorded according to the request's evidence.

The resulting transfer can be Open, In Transit, Completed, Cancelled or Reversed. Its shipment has its own pending, shipped, partially received or received state; some views display these as lowercase values with underscores. Transfer tasks use To do, In progress, Done, Cancelled or Exception.

Completing a task or deciding a shortfall does not necessarily mean the whole transfer has completed or that stock was written off. Check the transfer's actual shipped and received quantities. See Transfer requests and Execute transfers.

Count sessions and captured scanner work

A count session and the commands captured on the device have separate progress indicators.

Count-session state	Meaning
Open / In progress	The session exists or counting is underway. Captured counts have not yet established the final inventory result.
Review	The count requires review. Inspect the available variance information; a review screen does not necessarily offer a decision action.
Committing	The count is being applied. Follow the original session instead of starting another count to force a result.
Committed	The count's committed result is available for verification.
Cancelled	The session was cancelled. Inspect its recorded history for context.

On the device, Captured on this device means work is stored locally. Processing and Waiting for earlier work mean it has not reached a final result. Applied is the confirmed successful outcome. Needs review and Could not apply require inspection of the reason.

Use fresh server confirmation when checking a count's outcome; a cached status alone does not prove that newly captured work was applied. See Count stock and Stock Scan recovery.

Common display states

Unknown, Unavailable and Checking mean that the app has not established the current answer. An em dash is not a quantity of zero. Pending or Applying is not final success.

On Stock Scan, captured or queued work can still require server confirmation. Follow Stock Scan offline recovery and Count stock to verify the actual outcome.