Glossary
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.
In short
Touchless order processing runs without anyone touching the work. For orders, an incoming order is read, checked against master data and created in the ERP without manual work. Master data are the stored records of customers and articles that the check uses.
The share of such orders is called the Dunkelquote, a German term.
It needs clean master data, customer article numbers mapped to own article numbers, converted units, and clear rules that send exceptions to a person.
Example
A customer sends a purchase order, PO-4711, for 48 pieces as an EDI message. Each line carries the customer's article number, which is mapped to the own article number. The units are converted. All checks pass, so the order is created in the ERP as a sales order without manual work.
A second order names an article number that the system does not know. It fails the check and goes to a person. The same applies to a price deviation or to missing data. An order that arrives as a PDF attached to an email has to be read first, before the checks can run.
Background on order entry is in the guide to sales order automation.
What to watch for
Measure the Dunkelquote separately for each channel: EDI, email PDF and portal.
A wrong automatic order costs more than a wrong manual one, so keep the checks strict. Every error that passes the checks becomes an automatic order, so review the exception rules regularly.
Keep a person for the exceptions.
EDI orders reach touchless processing more easily than email PDFs, which need to be read first.
Not to be confused with
EDI: a channel for sending orders, such as EDIFACT or X12. It describes how an order arrives, not how good the process is.
Batch processing: describes how work is run, not whether a person touches it.
Straight-through processing (STP): the same idea, a term from finance.
In Mercura
If an organisation switches it on, Mercura sends orders that passed all checks to the ERP automatically; everything else goes to a person.
Related 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.
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.
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.
EDIFACT
EDIFACT (UN/EDIFACT) is the international EDI standard of the United Nations, maintained by UN/CEFACT. Its syntax rules are set out in ISO 9735, and it defines messages such as orders and invoices.