About Order Entry

Order Entry Concepts

The Order Entry application lets you complete each sale quickly and easily. When placing orders, you can view basic information about the customer, including the customer's name and account number, billing and shipping addresses, and sales history. You can also change customer information, change item pricing, and add order notes, and more. Without leaving your order, you can access information outside of Order Entry with a click. For example, you can access Customer History and check item stock levels.

If a customer does not accept the order immediately, you can place the order on hold and complete the sale at a later date. Because the system is fully integrated, the information used during order entry is automatically supplied to other parts of the software. This means that a small amount of planning can make using the application very simple. Planning to use the Order Entry application involves the following:

Setting Order Entry parameters.
Completing the information in the Customer Order Entry 1 and 2 tabs.
Verifying that your Item database is populated.
Setting order-writer and salesperson numbers in the Salesperson window and assigning them to the correct customer in the Customer Master tab.

The Order Entry application also features the following:

Operational Efficiency: The Order Entry application makes it easy to select a specific customers. For example, you can select a customer by account number, name, or telephone number. You can also use the Customer Query feature to quickly select the customer for the order. You can assign as many shipping addresses, attentions, or credit cards for a customer, as needed, which helps you quickly retrieve the information you need while placing an order. You can also accept or override system defaults, which provides optimum flexibility without sacrificing control.
Managing by Exceptions: We recommend your business philosophy be managing by exceptions. This means you set up the system to handle the normal occurrences, and you handle only the exceptions manually. For example, some orders you create might contain backordered items. To fill these orders quickly, you can use the short-buy process. This process creates purchase orders for backordered items. After you receive these items, you can flush bakcorders. This fills your backorders with received items and replenishes your inventory. When you flush received items, backorders are filled first. Any remaining items can be released to on-hand stock.

To manage by exceptions, we recommend you flush pick tickets to a final-verified status of 8 the night before the merchandise is expected to arrive. Then, when the merchandise arrives, the only items you need to manually final-verify again are those with shorts and misfills from the wholesaler or direct-buy vendor.
Improved Customer Service: Some of your customers may have special policies or needs. Many of the features in Order Entry make it easier for you to provide these services. For example, many companies only allow certain authorized individuals to purchase supplies. Your order-writers may not always know the policies of your customers or the individuals authorized to make purchases. The solution is to create and maintain a list of authorized buyers for each of those customers. When the customer is selected in order entry, a list of authorized buyers displays. By examining the list, you can easily confirm the identity of the buyer and continue with the transaction.

For customers who require purchase order numbers on invoices, you can specify this requirement in the P/O Required box in the Customer Order Entry tab. When an order is placed for this customer, the cursor does not pass the Purchase Order # box until you enter a purchase order number.

If a customer requires a long P/O number, type M or X in this box.
Multiple Tenders: The Order Entry application makes it easy to accept multiple tenders for an order. There are 12 default tender codes that specify the method of payment for the most common types of tender, including cash, checks, and credit cards. Use the default tender codes, create additional codes, delete the default tender codes, or create your own.

In addition, you can set separate parameters for each tender code. These parameters determine the boxes that display when accepting tender. While default parameters are included for the provided tender codes, customize these settings to meet the needs of your business.

Note: Before placing orders, you should verify whether the default tender codes are acceptable for your needs. To view these tender codes, go to the (LG7) Tender Code Master screen. For details, see In the (LG7) Screen.

Efficient Handling of Pick Tickets and Invoices: The system is capable of printing your pick tickets and invoices to your specifications. You can print them online or print them in a batch. This is controlled by your response in the Tickets Only and Invoices Only fields in the (L1) Terminal and Ticket Parameters screen. If you set these fields to Y, pick tickets and invoices print when the order is ended.

Consider printing online if you are a high volume dealer who processes a large number of pick tickets each day or if you use picking manifests to pull your orders. If you set these fields to N, pick tickets and invoices print in a batch when you select the [A] Picking Tickets option in the (TR) Order Entry Reports screen.

Consider batch printing to have the ability to control how pick tickets and invoices sort when they print. Batch printing also lets you print pick tickets together so you can pull all of your orders at one time.

Note: You must batch print your tickets using the [A] Picking Tickets option in the (TR) screen before you print the Short-Buy Report. If you print the Short-Buy Report before you batch print your tickets, the tickets are not included in the short-buy.

Order Entry Reports: Like all applications, Order Entry is completely integrated for maximum efficiency. When you enter an order, all transaction information is automatically archived. In addition, all associated databases, files, and applications are updated, including items and accounts receivable to provide the information necessary for controlling and auditing daily activity.

The system provides a catalog of standard reports with pre-existing formats. In many cases, you may find that these reports meet your needs. If necessary, however, you can easily customize these reports to include the information you need.

Return to:

About Databases and Applications