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Full Generate Orders entry
How-to guide

Generate orders from a contracted CPQ quote

The button is a one-click action when the quote is properly configured. The pre-work happens on the quote and the price book before the button ever gets pressed.

By Dipojjal Chakrabarti · Founder & Editor, Salesforce DictionaryLast updated May 21, 2026

The button is a one-click action when the quote is properly configured. The pre-work happens on the quote and the price book before the button ever gets pressed.

  1. Contract the quote

    On the closed-won Opportunity, click Contract on the primary CPQ quote. The action flips Quote.Status to Contracted and creates a Contract record.

  2. Set Order By on the quote

    Edit the quote and pick Single Order, Order by Start Date, or Order by Quote Line Group. The choice decides how many Order records will be generated.

  3. Click Generate Orders

    Open the quote and click the Generate Orders button (custom CPQ-managed button). The action creates the Order, the Order Products, and any Order Schedules. Order.Status defaults to Draft.

  4. Activate the Order

    Edit the Order, set Status to Activated. Activation locks the Order Products against further edits and triggers any downstream automation listening for the status change.

  5. Verify the line items

    Open each Order and spot-check the OrderItem records. Confirm UnitPrice, Quantity, Service Date, and any custom prorated fields match the quote lines.

  6. Hand off to billing or fulfillment

    Downstream automation (Salesforce Billing, an external ERP, fulfillment platform) picks up the activated Order. No further CPQ action is required.

Mandatory fields
Quote.Statusrequired

Must be Contracted before Generate Orders is available.

Quote.Orderedrequired

Must be false; the action will not re-fire on a quote that already generated orders.

Order Byrequired

Decides how lines split across orders.

Pricebookrequired

Order and OrderItem records require a Pricebook2 reference; CPQ copies the quote''s pricebook automatically.

Gotchas
  • Generate Orders fires only once per quote. Regenerating requires manually flipping Quote.Ordered back to false and deleting the existing Order records.
  • Order Activation is one-way; activated Orders cannot be edited without de-activation, which has downstream impact on billing and fulfillment.
  • Subscription proration math depends on the org-level Day Count Method setting. Switching from Actual to 360-day mid-year produces inconsistent pricing across orders.
  • Multi-quote opportunities require careful handling. Only the primary quote can be contracted by default; generating orders from multiple quotes on the same opportunity needs custom CPQ configuration.

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