Receipt tasks

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Receipt Tasks

    Receipt tasks are automatically generated when goods receipt is necessary for a purchase line. They are linked to a specific purchase order and organized by recipient and the month of expected delivery. A receipt task is created only within the month of the expected delivery date, and remains open until all deliveries for that recipient within the calendar month are confirmed using the Create Receiving Task scheduled job.

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    Key Features

    • Task Creation: Receipt tasks are created based on the expected delivery dates of purchase order lines for the current month.
    • Task Management: Users can view all receipt tasks in the Receipt Acknowledgment sub-module under the Sourcing and Purchasing Automation module.
    • Key Fields: Important fields include:
      • Number: Unique identifier of the receipt task.
      • Assigned to: Responsible person for the task.
      • Primary contact: Procurement team member for inquiries.
      • Short description: Brief overview of the task.
      • Description: Detailed information about the task.
      • State: Current status of the task (e.g., Open, Shipped).
      • Due date: Expected completion date.
      • Duration: Time required to complete the task.
    • Related Lists:
      • Purchase order lines: Lists all related purchase order lines.
      • Receipts: Displays all receipts linked to the task.
      • Shipment details: Tracks shipment numbers associated with the task.

    Key Outcomes

    By utilizing receipt tasks, ServiceNow customers can efficiently manage and track goods receipts related to their purchase orders, ensuring that all expected deliveries are confirmed and properly accounted for. This enhances procurement processes and improves accountability within the purchasing team.

    Receipt tasks are created when goods receipt is required for the purchase line.

    A receipt task references a purchase order and is grouped by the recipient and the calendar month of the product's expected delivery date. A receipt task is created only during the month of the expected delivery date, irrespective of the purchase order creation date, and remains open until all the expected deliveries for the recipient in a calendar month are confirmed. This is done using the [PSM] Create Receiving Task scheduled job.

    Consider the following example:

    The current month is September 2020, and for a purchase order, there are five purchase order lines:

    Table 1. Purchase order lines referenced in receipt task
    Purchase order line Expected delivery date Recipient
    1 September 10, 2020 John
    2 September 20, 2020 John
    3 October 22, 2020 John
    4 September 12, 2020 Peter
    5 October 5, 2020 John
    On the purchase order, three receipt tasks are created as follows:
    • Receipt task 1, associated to purchase order line 1 and 2, is created on September 1, 2020, with the state Open.
    • Receipt task 2, associated to purchase order line 3 and 5, is created on October 1, 2020, with the state Open.
    • Receipt task 3, associated to purchase order line 4, is created on September 1, 2020, with the state Open.

    You can view all receipt tasks from the Receipt Acknowledgment sub-module under the Sourcing and Purchasing Automation module. The following are the key fields of a receipt task:

    Table 2. Receipt task fields
    Field Description
    Number System-generated unique identifier of the receipt task.
    Assigned to Person primarily responsible for this receipt task.
    Primary contact Person within the procurement team who can be contacted with questions about receipts, milestones, invoices, or other activities related to acknowledgment. This field is populated or updated with the same user in the Assigned to field of the parent task record, as follows: For a receipt or acknowledgment task, from the referenced purchase order.
    Short description Brief description of the receipt task.

    This description is dynamically populated based on whether there are one or multiple products to be received from the supplier.
    Description Detailed description of the receipt task.
    State Status of the receipt task. For example, Open, Shipped, Partially Complete, and so on.
    Due date Expected due date from the person to whom this task is assigned.
    Summary Details
    Expected start Expected start date of the receipt task.
    Actual start Actual start date of the receipt task.
    Actual end Actual end date of the receipt task.
    Duration Duration to complete this receipt task.

    The following are the related lists of a receipt task:

    Table 3. Receipt task related lists
    Related list Description
    Purchase order lines List of all the related purchase order lines for this receipt task.
    Receipts List of all the receipts for this task.

    This list is populated when the shipment of the product is partially or fully complete.

    For more details, see Receipts
    Shipment details List of all the shipment tracking numbers for this receipt task.

    For more details, see Shipment details.