Executive Summary

Sales orders capture demands for the firm s products and services, and comprise a key element in the larger contexts of customer relationship management and the S&OP process. In addition to sales orders for stocked material, sales order variations include drop shipments, special orders, kit items, and make-to-order manufactured items. Sales order considerations include order- related text, making delivery promises, reserving material, and item substitutions. Other types of sales documents include sales quotes, blanket sales orders, and sales returns; these can be used to create a sales order. A Biztalk document can also create a sales order. Sales analysis provides critical management information, and multidimensional analysis can be based on customer, product, salesperson, campaign, area, and other factors. The case studies highlight variations in sales order processing, including customer schedules, mobile order entry, and rules-based product configurators.

[2] See www.Foqus-ict.com\econ for additional information about a rules-based configurator.