Order Manager
Version 8
Order Manager
Version 8
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Stone Edge Version 8 is a multiple warehouse solution, which splits the processes of order management and order fulfillment between the Stone Edge Order Manager (OM) and the Stone Edge Fulfillment Manager (FM) applications. The Order Manager and the Fulfillment Manager communicate with each other through a new component known as the Synchronization Manager (SYM). The Order Manager and the Fulfillment Manager each contain Sync Manager-code which generates and processes messages flowing between the two applications. Messaging can be configured to use a basic UNC folder path if both applications reside on the same LAN, but do not use mapped drives. Alternately, you can configure the system to send messages through a third-party application which uses FTPS (File Transfer Protocol Security Extensions), such as Filezilla. A file synchronization application, such as Dropbox, could also be used to exchange messages between the Sync Managers.
The main office runs the Order Manager application, and the Fulfillment Manager application is installed at each warehouse location. The Order Manager has a global view of orders and inventory, while each installation of the Fulfillment Manager is only aware of the orders and inventory for which it is responsible. Warehouses have no knowledge of other warehouses, and warehouses can only be associated with a single Order Manager store at this time.
Orders from any number of channels are created, reviewed, and approved in the Order Manager, which routes the entire order, or individual line items, to one or more warehouses based on product availability and warehouse ranking. This solution can improve throughput by its ability to dynamically direct orders/items to the warehouse best equipped to fill and ship them in a timely fashion.
For more details, see the Summary of Changes section of this topic.
ATP: (Available to Promise) the units of a given catalog item that can be listed for sale through the Order Manager (the sum of each warehouse’s QOH for a given item)
Catalog: list of all items the merchant offers for sale
Item –Source record: maps items in the catalog to a given warehouse so Stone Edge can track and maintain a record of the items a warehouse has in stock.
Fulfillment Manager: the Stone Edge component responsible for packing and sending shipments, as well as managing quantity on hand counts for all products
Order Manager: the Stone Edge component responsible for order creation, approval and routing, customer management, and management reporting
Payment Module: the Stone Edge component (Monsoon Commerce Payment Module) used to process electronic payments
Quantity on Hand: physical inventory of an item at a given warehouse (not the same as ATP)
Reroute/Optimize: the manual process of changing the warehouse route from one warehouse to another
Route State: the systematic management of the warehouse route (in version 8.0, “Allocated” to “Committed” to “Shipped”)
Routing System:the Stone Edge component that determines the warehouse or warehouses, to which an order, or parts of the order, should be sent for fulfillment
Sync Manager: a background component of the Order Manager and the Fulfillment Manager which manages the communication between the applications
Warehouse: a place that stores inventory and ships inventory to customers to fulfill orders
Warehouse association: the process of mapping products to warehouses in the Order Manager, all warehouses do not need to stock the same products
Warehouse rank: determines the order in which the order routing system searches warehouses to determine if they have stock to fill an order
Warehouse routing: the resulting determination made by the routing system as to which warehouse or warehouses fill the order, or parts of the order
The hardware and software requirements for Monsoon Order Manager Version 8 are found here.
Installing OM and FM on the same workstation is not supported at this time.
Store data files must be SQL databases. SQL Server and SQL Express are supported.
Presently there is no utility to migrate data from a previous version's store file to a version 8 store file.
Both the Order Manager and Fulfillment Managers use SQL databases to store order and product information. Product definition data is loaded into the Order Manager and sent to the Fulfillment Managers through the Sync Manager. Product QOH is loaded into the Fulfillment Manager and sent to the Order Manager through the Sync Manager. There is a provisioning feature to facilitate the exchange of bulk data when initializing the system. Once the system is up and running on a normal daily basis, any new or updated product information is processed through the normal synchronization message types. Each warehouse is responsible for maintaining an accurate QOH count, which is used to calculate the product ATP in the Order Manager.
System Parameters must also be configured manually.
The security system must be enabled and groups and users must be defined.
Cross-selling of products
Change SKUs
DAZzle Batch
Fulfillment Centers
Point of Sale
Postal Package Partner
Road Trips and Trade Shows
Shipping Export Templates
ShipWire Fulfillment Service
UPS Online Tools – this is only used for rate shopping in version 8 (print labels through ShipRush for UPS)
USPS Web Tools
Avalara AvaTax integration
Auto Order Import
FIFO
Rate shopping in the Order Manager
Reorder point and reorder quantities by warehouse
Receive returns and exchanges in the Order Manager
Cart-specific packing slips in the Fulfillment Manager
Custom reports in the Fulfillment Manager
For a complete list of changes, please see the Release Notes found on the download gateway or in the program installation folder on your computer.
Both the Order Manager and the Fulfillment Manager have batch printing capabilities, however, the Order Manager is only able to print invoices, credit slips and mailing labels in batch mode. Pick lists, packing slips, and shipping labels are printed through the Fulfillment Manager’s batch print feature at a given warehouse.
Since the Order Manager’s store data file can no longer be a Microsoft Access database, the Archive Data, Backup Data File, Compact Data File, Convert to SQL Server, and Re-import Archived Orders functions are no longer supported.
It is no longer possible to import data from an MS Access database, only .txt and .csv text files are supported..
The Global Editor and Multi-Record Editor cannot be used to edit ATP (formerly QOH).
It is no longer possible to send purchase order information to suppliers in text file format, as the Fulfillment Center feature is no longer available.
All email from Stone Edge is sent by the Order Manager. The Fulfillment Manager does not send any email at this time.
Inventory must be tracked, you do not have the option of turning it off. System parameter CheckInventory is removed. If you have items is removed.=False)
Warehouses must be defined. All items (other than drop-ship items) are associated with all warehouses.
Product reorder points and reorder quantities are specified by warehouse.
Fulfillment Center support is removed.
The Don't do fulfillment check box is removed from the Inventory form since Fulfillment Center support is removed.
FIFO is now supported.
Most tasks related to the management of the inventory catalog take place in the Order Manager, such as defining SKUs, kits, assemblies, and warehouses. Lots and assemblies are built or broken through the Fulfillment Manager.
Kits can have their parts ship from different warehouses.
The Order Manager calculates ATP of products by the sum of the QOH values from each warehouse, less any orders for the item. You cannot manually adjust an item's ATP.
Product QOH is maintained at each warehouse, and is updated by receiving purchase orders, shipping orders, or manual cycle counts.
Purchase orders are created in the Order Manager and are received in the Fulfillment Manager.
RMAs are created in the Order Manager and are received in the Fulfillment Manager.
Simple returns and exchanges can be created and received in the Order Manager.
Unsolicited returns are created in the Fulfillment Manager and processed in the Order Manager.
Product images must reside on the web at this time, they cannot be located on a local network.
Ctrl+Shift+E (clear tracking table), Ctrl+Shift+D (open database) and Ctrl+Shift+Z (zip data file) are removed from the program.
Based on warehouse associations and ranking, the Order Manager routes the entire order, or individual line items, to one or more warehouses for fulfillment.
Once an order is routed to a warehouse, the order must be unapproved in the Order Manager before any changes can be made, such as adding or deleting a line item, changing the routing, etc. The warehouse must be contacted and instructed to place the order on Hold so it is not shipped before the order is unapproved and the changes are made in the Order Manager. The original order is cancelled and a new order is created with the changes.
Pick lists, packing slips and shipping labels are no longer printed by the Order Manager, so it is no longer possible to print these documents when an order is approved.
The Multi-Order Processor cannot add shipping labels to the Order Manager’s batch printing queue as they are printed through the Fulfillment Manager at the warehouse from which the order is shipped.
When placing a manual order, you cannot add a kit to the order without also listing the kit parts at this time.
Notes and tasks are not supported in the Fulfillment Manager.
It is no longer possible to capture payment for orders at the Pack & Ship screen, which now resides in the Fulfillment Manager.
The Purchase Orders system now has components in both the Order Manager and the Fulfillment Manager.
Purchase order creation and invoicing takes place in the Order Manager, while purchase order receiving takes place in the Fulfillment Manager.
It is no longer possible to receive multiple purchase orders at once.
Communique Lite is no longer distributed with Stone Edge, but if you have the full version you can still use it through Main Menu>Run My Reports>Open External Reports.
Returns and exchanges with RMAs can only be created in the Order Manager and they are received into the Fulfillment Manager at the warehouse. FM notifies the Order Manager when the products arrive.
Returning/exchanging items shipped from multiple warehouses requires a separate RMA for each warehouse.
Once an item is received by the Fulfillment Manager, it cannot be Unreturned. Up until that time, you can change or cancel the return or exchange in the Order Manager.
Returns and exchanges without RMAs can be created and received in the Order Manager.
Unsolicited returns are created in the Fulfillment Manager when a customer returns an item directly to the warehouse instead of contacting the front office.
Entering an order number is optional, but if one is entered it should be the Order Manager order number, not the Fulfillment Manager number or the Web Order Number.
The Order Manager is notified when an Unsolicited return is created and the front office staff can match it to an customer existing order if no order number is provided at the Fulfillment Manager.
All functions related to picking, packing and shipping warehouse stock now takes place in the Fulfillment Manager and have been removed from the Order Manager.
It is no longer possible to collect payment for orders at the Pack & Ship screen. All payments are collected through the Order Manager.
QuickShip is now available through a button on the Pack & Ship screen if system parameter PackingAllowQuickShip = True
Packing records are created for all shipments regardless of the screen from which they are shipped.
Some shipping integrations or features have been dropped from Stone Edge Version 8:
DAZzle Batch
Postal Package Partner
ShipWire
Shipping Export Templates
UPS Online Tools – this is only used for rate shopping in version 8
USPS Web Tools
The Shipping Setup in Order Manager has changed dramatically. It is now used to define shipping method names (labels) in the Order Manager which match those used in your shopping carts. Eventually, those method names must be mapped to the shipping carrier’s method name in the Fulfillment Manager.
It is no longer possible to have the program process DAZzle tracking numbers immediately after the labels are printed. They are only processed when the Process Tracking Number function is executed. System parameter DazzleProcessTrackingNumbers is removed.
Shipping carrier information must be supplied when importing tracking data. The program no longer attempts to determine the shipping carrier from the tracking number.
Created: 3/6/15
Revised: 5/26/15
Published: 08/19/15