ERP Internals/Modules/Order Entry
Customers place orders for products and/or services with the enterprise. Orders can be placed in person, via telephone, mail, fax, e-mail or electronically (see below). If there is a delay between the placing of the order and its fulfillment (for example, if the ordered items have to be picked from Inventory and shipped), Order Entry/Invoicing creates a sales order. Otherwise, the record of this is an invoice. Invoices can be given to the customer at the time of purchase, or mailed, faxed, e-mailed or sent electronically after the goods have been picked, packaged and shipped. Order Entry/Invoicing is usually high-volume and mission-critical in for-profit enterprises. Every ERP package has an Order Entry/Invoicing module. Often, this module has custom processing.
EDI/XML
[edit | edit source]Orders can be received electronically through EDI or XML. (I will get back to explaining this)
Web Store
[edit | edit source]Many companies allow customers to order directly from their website. This creates an invoice automatically.
Point of Sale (POS)
[edit | edit source]Most retail companies use POS in which a scanner reads a Universal Product Code (UPC) attached to the item to create a line on the order invoice.
Configuration
[edit | edit source]Some enterprises have products or services that are highly configurable or routinely customized to meet customer needs. Using user-defined rules, Configurator conducts a dialog with the user and generates literature, drawings, and bills of material. Order Entry/Invoicing and Quotation/Estimate use Configurator. Inventory items can be flagged as configurable. The details of the options selected are recorded in the invoice often for use by manufacturing.
Tables
[edit | edit source]Order Entry/Invoicing shares the Customer and Invoice groups of tables with Accounts Receivable. It alone controls the Sales Order tables.
Data Exchange
[edit | edit source]Order Entry/Invoicing sends transactions to Inventory, General Ledger and Accounts Receivable. It can use Quotation/Estimation data to create invoices.