If an address format includes 'County' (for example, for UK addresses), the address maintenance form allows a county name to be specified, but also allows addresses to be created with a blank county name - this fits the UK well, as county is traditionally included in postal addresses, but is no longer required by the post office.

However, if the county is included as a field in the address format, when an order is released to the warehouse for picking (using advanced warehousing/transport management), the address is re-validated, and an error reported if the county is blank (the release to warehouse treats the County field as mandatory). This is inconsistent with the way the validation of addresses works, and means that orders fail to be sent to the warehouse for picking, even though there are apparently no problems when the order is first recorded.

If the address maintenance form considers the county field to be optional (which would suit us in the UK), shouldn't the release to warehouse process also consider it to be optional?