Order Entry

Processing customer orders is one of the most critical functions in any distribution and manufacturing business. Order entry and fulfillment must be done in a streamlined fashion, accuracy must be high, and the goods must be delivered where and when requested. Your customer service function needs the power and flexibility of Progression's Order Entry (O/E) module. When you run O/E with the Accounts Receivable (A/R) and Inventory Management (I/M) modules, you'll streamline every step of your order process, increasing customer service levels and reducing inventory.

O/E supports the three primary phases of order processing. It facilitates the order entry process by accepting orders and quotes, validating credit, and calculating pricing. The Return Materials Authorization (RMA) module may be used in conjunction with O/E to track and more easily process customer returns. O/E supports the picking and shipping process by recommending order lines, serial/lot/bins to be picked, and generating shipping documents such as labels, packing slips, and bills of lading. Finally, it supports the billing process, closing the loop between customer service, the warehouse, and accounting.

O/E accommodates numerous types of orders, feature/option bills (configured items), kit items, stocked items, and noninventory service charges. And O/E's “on-the-fly” feature enables you to add or change customer and inventory information for streamlined entry and increased productivity during the order process.

Flexible Pricing and Discounts

Set up your own pricing system in O/E by specifying price break tables. You can construct an unlimited number of tables based on eight categories including combinations of customer number, item number, customer type, and product category. Use these price tables to maintain special negotiated prices for one or more customers or items. Or, set different price breaks for individual product lines. Also, provide contract pricing with beginning and ending effectivity dating on any pricing table. You'll also find in O/E that you can enter a discounted unit price during line item entry or view price breaks specific to a line item.

Shipping Control

If a customer has several ship-to addresses where merchandise is delivered, even though billing is sent to one central office, O/E will maintain those multiple addresses for each customer. You also have the flexibility to assign tax schedules and/or tax codes for each customer at the ship-to level. And the Shipping Lead Time function will ensure that the product is picked and shipped to guarantee timely delivery based on where it is being shipped to, where it is being shipped from, and how it is being shipped.

Flexibility in Entering Orders

With six different order classifications available, Regular Orders, Invoice Orders, Master Orders, Credit Memos, Blanket Orders, and Quotes, you have great flexibility in handling customer requirements.

During the order entry process, Progression defaults information from the Customer File. This default information can be changed, if necessary to help make for a more streamlined order entry process. O/E's entry system is flexible. It can be highly automated based on certain system assumptions, or you can include certain options requiring human intervention. You can also process miscellaneous line items by allowing manual entry of the description, unit price, and unit cost.

Easy access to account numbers, customers, and inventory parts by description or number is available through O/E's popup windows. You can also quickly check customer credit history, a crucial feature when customer service is making fulfillment decisions. A very powerful feature of Progression is the hard vs. soft allocation feature. Typically, inventory quantities are soft allocated during the order entry process. A quantity is reserved for the order, but specific units are not identified. During the billing process, serial, lot, and bin numbers that were picked are assigned to the order. With hard allocation, you commit specific serial, lot, and/or bin numbers to an order during the order entry process. Multiple automatic allocation methods are available, including user-defined priority, FIFO, and earliest expiration date. This feature allows for very tight control over inventory movement.

Another very powerful feature of Progression is the ability for the user to determine when inventory will be updated during the order fulfillment process. O/E automatically allocates inventory once the order has been entered. The user defines whether inventory will be relieved at picking, shipping, or billing. No longer must the user manually reconcile physical or cycle counts against what has been picked or shipped, but not yet billed and posted. Not only can the user determine when inventory is updated, but the system also includes a Picked Not Shipped Report and a Shipped Not Billed Report.

And, to ensure reconciliation at month end, there is the option to post to separate General Ledger (G/L) accounts at each step in the process. The system will also check for sufficient stock and allows you to override, cancel, backorder, or use substitute items. The quantity on-hand and allocated fields will correctly reflect shipments and open order changes. To eliminate tedious and unnecessary paperwork, you have the ability to consolidate multiple open orders by customer.

Fill Backorders

When you need to locate customers who have been placed on backorder for out-of-stock items, O/E's Fill Backorders feature displays all the necessary information. You can fill existing backorders once the item is available with the touch of a key. You can also selectively allocate the available inventory to certain customers.

Maintaining Serial/Lot Control

Ensure you have the power and resources to effectively utilize serial/lot control by activating it within I/M. The Serial/Lot feature allows you to track, record sales, and maintain full control over finished goods and their components. O/E requests serial/lot numbers on picking tickets and invoices.

O/E to Purchase

Selectively item by item, you can designate items that are special purchases and automatically generate a Purchase Order for those items in Progression Purchasing/Receiving. This allows you to minimize the manual processing of special items' sales to your customers.