Order Manager
Version 8
Order Manager
Version 8
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The purpose of this article is to provide some guidance on the subject of "order processing' or the basic work flow when using Monsoon Order Manager The program is very flexible and can be configured to behave in many different ways based on the setting of system parameters, so the examples outlined here may differ slightly from the way the Monsoon Order Manager is used in your environment.
The examples that are outlined below assume that:
System parameter ReviewAllOrders is set to TRUE
Orders can be entered several ways:
directly via the Internet from a Monsoon Order Manager - licensed shopping cart system (depends on the shopping cart, refer to the Shopping Cart Matrix)
imported via a text file, using a properly formatted file from a Monsoon Order Manager - licensed shopping cart system
imported via a text file using the Generic Import Template feature (requires a Generic Shopping Cart license from Stone Edge; other functionality requires the user to create and install an integration script according to the specifications found in the Developer's Guide. )
order data is typed in via the Manual Orders screen (used for mail or telephone orders)
Orders, especially those that have been imported, should be reviewed for certain conditions before they are marked as Approved and sent to a warehouse to be fulfilled. Examples of things that should be reviewed are outlined below.
Orders that appear to be fraudulent should not be Approved, in fact it may be advisable to Cancel and possibly Delete those orders.
use the Validate button next to the Bill To and Ship To address fields found on the Customer tab of the Process Orders screen
select the Address Verification Response ( AVS ) from the credit card gateway, or the CVV and CVV2 codes, all of which can be seen in the Existing Transactions section of the Payment tab of the Process Orders screen
merchants should carefully review orders that originate in locations known for a high rate of fraud and also be on the lookout for suspicious email addresses; to facilitate the identification of fraudulent orders, obtain a subscription to MaxMind Fraud Prevention services and view an order's Fraud Score on the Customer tab of the Process Orders screen
Orders containing items that are out of stock are potential candidates to remain temporarily Unapproved. Consider the following:
A customer wants two widgets and Monsoon Order Manager shows 2 Qty, 1 Shipped, 1 BO, 0 On Hand on the Process Orders screen. Why is this important and what does it mean? By looking at the Shipped, BO and On Hand columns, the merchant can see that one widget has been allocated (Shipped) to the order, but there are no more left in stock to complete the order. Therefore, the program determines that an additional unit must be backordered (BO).
The merchant has the choice of shipping the single available widget now (partial shipment) or waiting until more widgets have been received from the supplier so that both widgets can be shipped to the customer at the same time (complete shipment).
If the merchant chooses not to ship the partial order, he can return the allocated widget to inventory by selecting the Force button, which will alter the value in the Shipped column to 0 and the BO column to 2. Do not Approve this order until the shipment of widgets arrive from the supplier, and are received into the Monsoon Order Manager inventory. At that time, the merchant can then Fill the order that was waiting for two widgets and mark it as Approved. If he has another order that reflects a backorder for a single widget, he can then use the widget that was previously returned to inventory to fill this request by selecting the Fill button.
If the merchant chooses to ship the one available widget and Approves the order, the program will still know to backorder the additional widget, which will be processed (filled) in a new or subsequent order placed by the same customer when the widget becomes available.
Drop-shipping is name given to the practice of shipping products directly from a supplier rather than from the merchant's in-house inventory. If there is a drop-ship item in the order, the WARNING tab appears at the bottom of the accordion. If this practice will never be employed, skip this section.
Before marking an order as Approved, check the Process Orders > Shipping > Drop-Shipments tab or select the WARNING tab and select Drop-Ships. Create and send the drop-ship purchase order to the supplier from either of these locations.
When system parameter DropShipCheckATP is set to TRUE, the program prompts you to decide if the order should be filled from existing stock rather than as a drop-ship order. This parameter was introduced in V5.929.
Some merchants capture payment for orders at the shopping cart, while others may choose to perform that function via Monsoon Order Manager . In either case, it is a good practice to review the payment status of an order before Approving it.
If traditional PayPal accounts or traditional checks are used to pay for the order, confirm that the funds have been received prior to Approving the order.
If Monsoon Order Manager is used to perform real-time authorization and capture of credit card payments, eChecks, or debit card transactions, select the Payment tab of the Process Orders screen. This is also the place to process other online transactions or record payment information, including the logging of Purchase Order terms, Cash and C.O.D payments.
Some shopping cart systems allow the customer to enter special order instructions or gift messages with the order. The merchant can also record internal comments or notes when placing or reviewing an order.
When there is data in these fields, the WARNING tab appears at the bottom of the accordion.
The information in these fields can be seen either by selecting WARNING > Comments & Instructions tab or Process Orders > Orders > Comments & Instructions.
Approving an order in Monsoon Order Manager terms basically means that the order has been reviewed to rule out fraud, full payment has been received, the items are in stock and the order can be packed and shipped. In the case of orders containing items that are drop-shipped from a supplier rather than filled from stock, approving an order implies that a drop-ship purchase order has been created and sent to the supplier.
If any of the conditions mentioned in the previous paragraph are not satisfied, it is acceptable for the order to remain unapproved until such time as they are satisfied.
The program provides system parameters that allow your to automatically mark manually-placed orders as Approved, which in most cases can be a safe assumption since the order is created by a staff member rather than an invisible customer, as is the case with imported orders.
It is also possible to automatically approve orders upon import by using the Approval Rules feature, however, it is recommended that you manually review all orders until they have become very familiar with the program. At that point in time, using Approval Rules and the Multi-Order Processor can greatly increase the number of orders that can be processed in a day.
To manually approve an order, select Approve on the Process Orders screen. When you are comfortable with the program you might want to start using the Multi-Order Processor to process orders in batch mode.
In Monsoon Order Manager terminology, paperwork refers to the reports that are printed when orders are processed. There are several categories of order-related reports, one of which can be printed when an order is imported, while others can be added to a batch print queue or printed on an order by order basis. The order paperwork categories are:
Sales Receipts, also commonly known as Invoices
Mailing Labels
Credit Slips
Standard reports are provided with the program, many of which also have various formats or templates, which provide different kinds of data. You or a third party can also create custom reports for situations that are not covered by the standard reports.
System parameters are used to store the user's report template preference and the number of copies of each that should be printed.
When an order is approved by selecting Approve on the Process Orders screen, you have the opportunity to print the paperwork immediately, print it later (add it to the batch printing queue) or choose not to print any of the paperwork at that time. It is possible to print the paperwork at a later time by selecting Print on the Process Orders screen.
Orders are now packed and shipped through the Monsoon Fulfillment Manager, which sends packing and shipping information back to the Monsoon Order Manager. Monsoon Order ManagerMonsoon Order Manager Monsoon Order Manager
Created:
Revised: 1/16/14
Published: 08/19/15