Order Management
The Order Management process covers the business processes required for the creation of a quotation for a prospect or customer, sales order management, invoicing and the receipt of cash. The functionality is tightly integrated with Materials Management and Customer Relationship Management.
Ecious is preconfigured to handle a number of sales order scenarios. System administrators can add new sales order types or change the rules associated with existing orders to match specific requirements.
Sales Orders
A Sales Order is the "fulfillment control document" that is the foundation for generating Sales Order, shipment and invoicing documentation. In addition, Vendor Purchase Orders may be created automatically for the items specified on a sales order and directly shipped to the customer if appropriate.
Different types of sales orders cause different business process behavior in System. For example, a "Prepaid Order" will not allow shipments until payment occurs. A "Point of Sale" order assumes the customer is at the counter with the goods in hand and generates all transactions including stock decrement, invoicing, and payment through the entry of a single document. A "Standard Order" by comparison, will check availability before accepting the order then queue the order for fulfillment by the warehouse and then generate an invoice in the next invoice run or otherwise in accordance with the invoice rules for that customer.
Shipments
Based upon the details captured on the Sales Order, one or more shipments can be generated immediately or automatically when inventory subsequently becomes available. System automatically back orders unavailable items. Ecious can be configured to allow shipments to be effected from the shipment documentation or alternatively provide for a more disciplined warehouse approach by requiring explicit confirmation of picking and/or shipment prior to the generation of invoice documentation. Confirmations can be used to manage movements of inventory from, say, a receiving area to 'put away' areas from which it then becomes available for further processing.
Customer Invoices
Generate invoices according to general business rules or based on specific arrangements in place with the customer. Generate invoices:
Immediately after each shipment.
When the order is completely shipped.
Based on a predefined invoice schedule specific to the customer.
For example, an invoice schedule could be established to arrange for the creation of a summary invoice including all shipments to the customer over the previous day, week, or month.
