Accurately recording upfront payment and recognizing revenue as shipped

The way it works in accounting is that the sale is made as of the date of the invoice or sales receipt.

That determines when you reduce inventory according to the item used on the invoice, and when income is posted. You received payment in full, as a result you have income as of that date.

Then you ship the items

accidental duplicate post

@Rustler thanks for taking the time to reply, but that doesn't really answer my question. This is a more complex requirement then that. 

We need something along the lines of:

A sales receipt that just debits a deferred revenue current liability account and credits a revenue account. This will record the cash deposit to the correct payment account to be reconciled.

Then an invoice that represents each fulfillment against that order and in turn reduce that inventory as well as credit deferred revenue.

Create a service item for the deposit which links to the deferred income account and use that to record the deposit.
That will allow for a deposit to the bank

Issue each invoice for the parts shipped, as the last item on each invoice use the deposit item, qty is negative one, and the partial amount. That pays for the items using the amount in the deferred income account, posts the sales amount to income from the parts sold, reduces inventory and posts inventory costs