How Deposit Gating Works

Deposit gating is an automatic safeguard in AccuArk's invoice system that prevents an order from advancing to certain statuses until the required deposit has been collected. It protects your business from committing inventory, labor, and materials to orders that have no financial commitment from the customer. This guide explains the gating rules, which transitions are allowed and blocked, the error messages users encounter, and how to resolve gating so the order can proceed.

What Deposit Gating Is

Deposit gating is a rule enforced by AccuArk's AccuArk's status engine whenever a user attempts to change the order status on an invoice that has DepositRequired set to true. The system checks whether the deposit has been fully collected before allowing the status change. If the deposit is outstanding, certain status transitions are blocked and the user is shown an error message explaining what needs to happen before the transition can proceed.

Deposit gating is not a manual process — it is enforced automatically by the system. Users cannot bypass it unless they collect the outstanding deposit or a system administrator removes the DepositRequired flag from the invoice.

The Gating Rule

The deposit gating rule is straightforward:

If DepositRequired is true AND DepositCollected is less than DepositAmount, the system blocks transitions to any order status that has an inventory action of "reserve" or "subtract."

This means the system evaluates two conditions:

1. Is a deposit required? — The invoice's DepositRequired field must be true. If DepositRequired is false, gating does not apply and all status transitions are allowed regardless of deposit status.
2. Has the deposit been fully collected? — The invoice's DepositCollected must be greater than or equal to DepositAmount. If the collected amount is less than the required amount, gating is active.

When both conditions are met (deposit required and not fully collected), the system inspects the target status to determine whether to block the transition.

Which Transitions Are Blocked

The blocking decision is based on the target status's inventory action setting. Every order status in AccuArk has an associated inventory action that defines what happens to inventory when an invoice enters that status:

• None — No inventory action is taken. The status is purely informational.
• Reserve — Inventory is reserved (earmarked) for this order, reducing available stock but not removing it from total stock.
• Subtract — Inventory is subtracted from stock, permanently reducing the quantity on hand.
• Release — Previously reserved inventory is released back to available stock.

Deposit gating blocks transitions to statuses with reserve or subtract inventory actions. These are the statuses where your business is committing real inventory to the order — reserving stock means other customers cannot buy those items, and subtracting stock means the items are considered consumed.

Deposit gating allows transitions to statuses with none or release inventory actions. These statuses do not commit inventory, so there is no financial risk in allowing the transition without a deposit.

Examples of Allowed Transitions (When Deposit Is Unpaid)

• Moving to Pending (inventory action: none) — Allowed. The invoice is simply waiting and no inventory is committed.
• Moving to Cancelled (inventory action: release) — Allowed. Cancelling the order releases any previously reserved inventory.
• Moving to On Hold (inventory action: none) — Allowed. The order is paused without inventory commitment.

Examples of Blocked Transitions (When Deposit Is Unpaid)

• Moving to In Production (inventory action: reserve) — Blocked. Production requires reserving materials.
• Moving to Ready for Pickup (inventory action: subtract) — Blocked. This status subtracts inventory from stock.
• Moving to Shipped (inventory action: subtract) — Blocked. Shipping consumes inventory.

The Error Message

When a user attempts a blocked status transition, AccuArk displays the following error message:

"Cannot advance to [Status Name]: a deposit of $X.XX is still required. Collect the deposit before changing to this status."

The message includes the name of the target status and the outstanding deposit amount (DepositAmount minus DepositCollected). This tells the user exactly what needs to happen: collect the specified dollar amount as a deposit, then try the status change again.

The error is displayed as a dialog box and the status change is not applied. The invoice remains at its current status until the deposit is collected.

How to Resolve Deposit Gating

To resolve deposit gating and allow the blocked status transition, collect the remaining deposit amount:

1. Note the outstanding deposit amount from the error message.
2. Close the error dialog.
3. Click Receive Payment on the invoice toolbar (or use the deposit collection workflow if the deposit dialog was skipped earlier).
4. Record a payment for at least the outstanding deposit amount.
5. Once DepositCollected equals or exceeds DepositAmount, the gating condition is satisfied.
6. Now change the order status to the desired status — the transition will be allowed.

The deposit does not need to be collected through the FrmCollectDeposit dialog specifically. Any payment recorded on the invoice that brings the DepositCollected value up to or above the DepositAmount will satisfy the gating condition. However, using the deposit dialog is recommended because it properly links the payment to the deposit tracking fields.

Example Workflow

Here is a typical workflow that demonstrates deposit gating in action:

1. Invoice Created — A new invoice is created for $2,000 at a location with a 50% default deposit. The DepositRequired flag is set to true and DepositAmount is $1,000.
2. Deposit Skipped — The user clicks Skip on the FrmCollectDeposit dialog because the customer will pay the deposit later. DepositCollected remains $0.
3. Status Change Attempted — The user tries to move the invoice to "In Production" (which has a reserve inventory action).
4. Gating Blocks the Change — AccuArk displays: "Cannot advance to In Production: a deposit of $1,000.00 is still required. Collect the deposit before changing to this status."
5. Deposit Collected — The customer calls back and pays the $1,000 deposit via credit card. The user records the payment. DepositCollected is now $1,000, which equals DepositAmount.
6. Status Change Succeeds — The user changes the status to "In Production" again. This time, gating is satisfied (DepositCollected >= DepositAmount) and the transition proceeds. Inventory is reserved for the order.

Business Rationale

Deposit gating exists to protect your business from a common and costly problem: committing inventory and resources to orders that have no financial commitment from the customer. Without deposit gating, a customer could place a large order, the order could move into production (reserving or consuming inventory), and the customer could then cancel or fail to pay — leaving your business with allocated inventory that could have been sold to other customers.

By requiring a deposit before inventory-affecting status transitions, deposit gating ensures that:

• Inventory is protected — Stock is only reserved or subtracted for orders where the customer has put money down.
• Cash flow is improved — Deposits provide upfront cash that can be used to purchase materials or cover production costs.
• Customer commitment is verified — A customer who pays a deposit is significantly more likely to follow through with the order than one who has not paid anything.
• Risk is reduced — If a customer does cancel after paying a deposit, the deposit may cover restocking costs or lost opportunity costs depending on your refund policy.

Deposit gating is especially valuable for businesses that deal in custom or made-to-order products, high-value items, or services that require significant upfront resource allocation.

What to Read Next

• Collecting Deposits on Invoices — Review the deposit collection process and the FrmCollectDeposit dialog.
• Order Status Workflow — Understand how order statuses work and how inventory actions are configured for each status.
• Recording Payments on an Invoice — Learn about the standard payment recording process used to satisfy deposit gating.