Glossary
Sales order
A sales order is the record a seller keeps of a customer order in its own ERP system. It is created from the customer’s purchase order or from an accepted quote.
In short
The sales order is the record of a customer order that the seller keeps in its own ERP system.
It can be created from the customer’s purchase order or from an accepted quote.
Picking, delivery and invoicing all run from the sales order. The chain is quote, sales order, delivery and invoice. The process is called order to cash.
Example
A plumbing contractor sends a purchase order to a wholesaler by email, as a PDF. The purchase order lists the contractor’s own item numbers, units of measure that differ from the wholesaler’s, and a requested delivery date. The wholesaler’s staff check each line and create the sales order in the ERP.
The sales order holds the customer, the ship-to address, the wholesaler’s own article numbers, quantities in its own units, prices and conditions from the ERP, and the confirmed dates. Customer item numbers are replaced by the wholesaler’s article numbers, and the quantities are converted into the wholesaler’s units. After the release, picking and delivery follow. The customer receives an order acknowledgement, and the invoice is later created from the same sales order.
The sales order is the point where the customer’s request becomes work for the seller. Everything before it is the quote or the purchase order. Everything after it is picking, delivery and invoicing.
What to watch for
Put the customer’s PO number on the sales order. Without it, the order is hard to match to the customer’s documents.
Map customer part numbers to your own articles before the order is saved. Unit conversion belongs to this step as well.
Credit and availability checks happen at this point. Resolve any failed check before you release the order.
Changes after release are costly. Check every line before the order goes to picking.
If you automate this step, keep a person for exceptions, as described under touchless order processing.
Not to be confused with
Order acknowledgement: in German the Auftragsbestätigung, the message the seller sends to the customer about the sales order.
Purchase order: the buyer’s document. The sales order is created from it in the seller’s ERP.
Quote: the seller’s offer before the order. A sales order can be created from a quote only after the customer has accepted it.
In Mercura
Mercura turns incoming orders into sales orders in the ERP after a person or the automatic checks approve them.
Related terms
Purchase order (PO)
A purchase order (PO) is the buyer's document that orders goods or services from a supplier. It states the PO number, the buyer, the ship-to address, the line items, the requested dates and the terms.
Order acknowledgement
An order acknowledgement (Auftragsbestätigung, AB) is the seller's confirmation of a customer's order. It states the items, quantities, prices, delivery dates and terms.
Touchless order processing
Touchless order processing (German: Dunkelverarbeitung) is a business process that runs fully automatically, without anyone touching it. An incoming order is read, checked against master data and created in the ERP without manual work.
On mercura.ai
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