There are three primary methods to initiate a customer order:
With regular order placement, you enter the customer order manually. With the other two methods, the system generates the order or order lines automatically. A specific component handles the complexity of using plans and overlapping call-offs, that continuously need to be updated.
This description of the sales process will focus on the first alternative, i.e., regular order placement by phone, fax, mail, or similar means. There are three optional methods to do this:
If you receive a request for a sales quotation from a customer, you can enter the sales quotation and send it to the customer. If the customer later approves the sales quotation, you can easily convert it into a customer order. This follows the standard order flow. If the customer does not approve the sales quotation you can close it and note it as lost.
You start by entering a sales quotation header, which includes such information as the customer's identity and the wanted delivery date. Then you continue to the quotation lines, where you enter the requested parts and quantities. You can choose not to enter any quantities and instead use price breaks, i.e. different prices for different quantities. You can also enter detailed information about complementary parts, competitors, charges, taxes, as well as notes and document texts. At this stage, however, you do not need, and may not want, to specify all the information that may eventually be needed for a customer order. For example, when you enter a sales quotation for a prospective customer, it is possible to enter only basic customer information. This prospective customer will later be entered as an existing customer if the sales quotation, or any of its lines, is accepted and converted into a customer order. When the sales quotation is released, you can print the quotation and send it to the customer.
When you are working in a Configure to Order (CTO) environment, entering a sales quotation works much in the same way as described above, but in this process you can also create and handle configurations and interim orders.
If the customer approves the sales quotation, you can easily convert it a customer order by using the Operations menu. You must enter the reason for winning the order and desired order type. For a prospective customer you must enter additional customer information. The sales quotation will then be converted into a released customer order and be ready to follow the order flow. If the customer's credit account is suspended because he or she has exceeded the credit limit, the sales quotation requires a special attention when it is converted into a customer order.
If the customer declines the sales quotation, you can easily close it by using the Operations menu. You must enter the reason why the sales quotation was declined and optionally, to which competitor the deal went.
As you enter the customer order, specify any detailed information about pre-posting, complementary parts, charges, taxes, milestones, or staged billing. Also enter any notes and document text.
When you are working in a CTO environment, entering a customer order works much in the same way as described above, but in this process you can also create and handle configurations and interim orders.
When the order is released, demands are created, in both IFS/Manufacturing and IFS/Purchasing.
If necessary, you can create transport loads and print pro forma invoices. If staged billing and/or milestones are used, they can be continuously handled. Once you have converted the sales quotation into an order and, if necessary, removed the credit block, you can choose whether to send the order confirmation electronically or by mail.
If the order is prioritized, you do not need to reserve the parts. They were already reserved when the sales quotation was converted into the order.
If the order is not prioritized, the ordered parts must be reserved. You can reserve them manually or in batch. If there are not enough parts and you use the batch method, not all order lines will be reserved. Instead, they will appear in the shortage window. In the same window you can also calculate the optimal time of delivery, simulate what will happen if the delivery date is prolonged or partial deliveries take place, or issue a booking proposal to a forwarding agent.
If you receive a customer order by fax, mail, phone, or similar means, you can enter a customer order directly and release it to continue in the order flow. If the ordered parts are stored, you must reserve them either manually or in batch before they can be picked and delivered in the next process step. You can also use stored parts, non-stored parts and package parts, which are regularly used for including several different stored or non-stored sales parts in a single part, e.g., a PC package.
Depending on how the parts will be acquired, the release of the customer order can result in the creation of a purchase requisition, purchase order, shop order requisition, or DOP header.
First, enter a customer order header. This includes such information as the customer's identity and the wanted delivery date. Then enter the requested parts and quantities for the customer order lines. If desired, add (or change) delivery information for either the entire order or each order line individually. This information might include the delivery mode or a delivery address other than the customer's default address. You can also determine whether or not it is possible to send the parts on the desired date, and whether you will need to reserve them manually to ensure their timely arrival. You can enter detailed information about pre-posting, complementary parts, charges, taxes, milestones, or staged billing. You can also enter notes and document text.
If you are working in a Configure to Order (CTO) environment, entering a customer order works in the same way as described above, but now you can also create and handle configurations and interim orders.
When the order is released, demands are created both in IFS/Manufacturing and in IFS/Purchasing. If the customer has exceeded the credit limit, or credit has been stopped for any other reason, the customer order will be credit blocked as soon as it is released.
When you release a customer order that is not credit blocked you can choose whether to send the order confirmation to the customer electronically or by mail. You can also issue a pro forma invoice.
If required, you can create transport loads and print pro forma invoices. If staged billing and/or milestones are used they can be continuously handled. You can choose whether to send the order confirmation to the customer electronically or by mail.
If the order is prioritized, you do not need to prioritize the parts. They were already reserved when the customer order was released.
If the order is not prioritized, the ordered parts must be reserved. You can do this either manually or in batch. If there are not enough parts and you use the batch method, not all order lines will be reserved. Instead, they will appear in the shortage window. In the same window you can also calculate the optimal time of delivery, simulate what will happen if the delivery date is prolonged or partial deliveries take place,
Finally, you can issue a booking proposal to a forwarding agent.
The user has two options: create a configured customer order or sales quotation either in IFS Sales Configurator (this process) or via the process Enter Customer Order directly, described above. This is made possible by maintaining and distributing a so-called Version to the user of the IFS Sales Configurator client tool.
The added feature enables end users, such as sales representatives, to create configured orders and quotations in an offline mode—for example, together with the customer at the customer’s site—without having to be connected to IFS Applications. While doing so, the user will be able to construct complicated configured structures of a product even if he or she is not very familiar with it. Not only does this eliminate the tedious work of verifying a configuration structure. It also significantly reduces the time spent on exchanging configuration information with the customer while greatly improving the accuracy of that information—a circumstance that is of benefit to both the customer and the production site.
An added benefit is the option of automatically creating a configuration in IFS Applications without having to re-enter the information into the system. Instead, the customer order or sales quotation can be transferred via an XML interface to IFS Applications back office and into IFS/Customer Orders, where the data will be processed in the normal manner
The process of creating a Version is described in the Define CTO Basics process while Versions per se are generated in the IFS Sales Configurator Workshop module. A Version contains sales parts and their characteristics along with applied rules and pricing information taken from IFS Applications when the Version is created. Administrators may also have incorporated pictures, product information, and other pertinent documents available when running the IFS Sales Configurator client in stand-alone mode.
Once created, a customer order is transferred using XML (through IFS Connect) via the IFS Connectivity in-message box to IFS Incoming Customer Order, where the administrator may either have it create a customer order directly or stop for manual checking and releasing. When it is released from the incoming customer order inbox, the customer order assumes Planned status if it passes a check by the system (this mechanism applies to both sales quotations and customer orders). Erroneous orders or quotations generally have to be cancelled and resent, but this may differ depending on the specific error type. The remaining flow does not differ from the standard IFS CTO process.
Changing a customer order or sales quotation in the IFS Sales Configurator client is possible if either one has not yet gone beyond Planned status. If the customer order or sales quotation has left this status and a change is made and sent to IFS Applications, that message will stop in the inbox. To let the message create a customer order anyway, the first customer order has to be cancelled in IFS. A changed customer order from IFS Sales Configurator will cancel the first one before actually creating a new customer order. Therefore, only ORDERS message is used for these matters.
If you receive a request for a sales quotation from a customer, you can enter the sales quotation and send it to the customer. If the customer later approves the sales quotation, you can easily convert it into a customer order. This follows the standard order flow. If the customer does not approve the sales quotation you can close it and note it as lost.
When you are working in an Offline Sales Configuration and Configure to Order (CTO) environment, you can also create and handle configurations and interim orders as usual but you may also receive a Sales Quotation from the IFS Sales Configurator. If the latter is the case You can modify the incoming sales quotation, both on header and lines level, but one must be aware of that there is a backwards traceability to the Sales Configurator and this side will not be affected by changes made in IFS Applications. It is advised to make such changes at the source, i.e. in IFS Sales Configurator. At this stage, however, you do not have, and may not want, to specify all the information that may eventually be needed for a customer order. For example, when you receive a sales quotation for a prospective (Sales Configurator dummy-) customer, it is possible to enter only basic customer information. This prospective customer will later be entered as an existing customer if the sales quotation, or any of its lines, is accepted and converted into a customer order. When the sales quotation is released, you can print the quotation and send it to the customer.
If the customer approves the sales quotation, you can easily convert it a customer order by using the Operations menu. You must enter the reason for winning the order and desired order type. For a prospective customer you must enter additional customer information. The sales quotation will then be converted into a released customer order and be ready to follow the order flow. If the customer's credit account is suspended because he or she has exceeded the credit limit, the sales quotation requires a special attention when it is converted into a customer order.
If the customer declines the sales quotation, you can easily close it by using the Operations menu. You must enter the reason why the sales quotation was declined and optionally, to which competitor the deal went.
When you are working in an Offline Sales Configuration and Configure to Order (CTO) environment, you can also create and handle configurations and interim orders as usual but you may also receive a Customer Order from the IFS Sales Configurator. If the latter is the case You can modify the incoming Customer Order, both on header and lines level, but one must be aware of that there is a backwards traceability to the Sales Configurator and this side will not be affected by changes made in IFS Applications. It is advised to make such changes at the source, i.e. in IFS Sales Configurator. Changes can be made while the Customer order still is in Planned status.
When the order is released, demands are created, in both IFS/Manufacturing and IFS/Purchasing.
If necessary, you can create transport loads and print pro forma invoices. If staged billing and/or milestones are used, they can be continuously handled. Once you have converted the sales quotation into an order and, if necessary, removed the credit block, you can choose whether to send the order confirmation electronically or by mail.
If the order is prioritized, you do not need to reserve the parts. They were already reserved when the sales quotation was converted into the order.
If the order is not prioritized, the ordered parts must be reserved. You can reserve them manually or in batch. If there are not enough parts and you use the batch method, not all order lines will be reserved. Instead, they will appear in the shortage window. In the same window you can also calculate the optimal time of delivery, simulate what will happen if the delivery date is prolonged or partial deliveries take place, or issue a booking proposal to a forwarding agent.