Customer order

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A sales order is an order from an external client ( customer ) with a company to manufacture and deliver a specific product or to provide a service .

General

The client can be an end consumer , a retailer , an importer or any legally independent company. The manufacturer of the product or the provider of the service is often referred to as the contractor or supplier , which is why this is also called the customer-supplier relationship .

Depending on the type and complexity of the product or service, the specification and processing of a customer order can be very simple or very extensive. A contract can cover several services or trades ; Likewise, the order fulfillment, acceptance and invoicing can take place in several stages according to the progress of the order. There is at least one working day between the customer order and delivery ; years can pass for complex orders ( construction industry ).

In the context of order fulfillment, the production industry also speaks of contract manufacturing .

Order management and order processing

Sales order management is part of the sales process . It deals with the development and provision of suitable procedures and processes, software and resources for the fulfillment of customer orders and with the operational processing of customer orders. A customer order can be fulfilled immediately or it can go through a multi-stage processing process that can contain several of the following processing steps:

To track a customer order, each order must be assigned a unique order number. Corresponding status messages, which are also identified as order status, are issued for the individual process steps . The smooth processing and the complete and satisfactory fulfillment of a customer order is also of great importance for customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Basically, one can differentiate between three order scenarios that are particularly important for order processing:

  • The customer places an order for an already manufactured product or a fixed service
  • The customer configures the product or service from a predefined range of products / services
  • The customer specifies the product or service in whole or in part on an order-specific basis

Depending on the scenario, the order processes are correspondingly simple or complex.

Content of the sales order

A sales order contains:

  • Order number, order date
  • Customer data (customer name, address, ...)
  • Specification of the order
    • Order item (s)
      • Order description (possibly with attachments)
      • Order quantity
      • Price of the order line
  • Supplies
  • Total price (possibly with terms of payment )
  • Handover agreements (handover location, handover date, acceptance modalities, ...)
  • Signature (s)

An order can contain several items, each of which must then be described and specified individually.

Customer orders in the service sector

The specification of customer orders in the service sector is often very time-consuming, especially when it comes to a new service. The specification for creating software or complex administrative processes can be hundreds of pages. The fulfillment of an order can often only take place with the accompaniment and cooperation of the client.

Customer orders in the industrial sector

The specification of customer orders in an industrial environment or between companies can be very time-consuming when it comes to a new or one-off product. For example, the specification for the creation of a complex technical system, a building or a specific machine can include extensive documents with thousands of pages, with additional references to certain laws, standards and guidelines to be complied with. Accordingly, the individual process steps, such as order clarification or acceptance, can also be very time-consuming and tedious.

Customer orders in the consumer sector

The specification of customer orders in the consumer sector is easy when it comes to products that are already known to the customer, e.g. B. can choose from a catalog. It is sufficient to specify an article number or order number. In the case of products with a large number of variants, especially technical consumer goods, a simple article number is no longer sufficient to determine the product variant; Here the customer must specify the product variant he wants more precisely by specifying features. That is why many companies now offer a product configurator on the Internet . Specifying vehicles is particularly complex, as it may be necessary to specify up to one hundred characteristics.

Customer orders in the craft sector

The specification of customer orders in the trade is often difficult if the client cannot describe his wishes exactly or if - as with repairs - the scope of the order cannot be precisely defined in advance. For certain orders there are also services that are classified and paid for or remunerated using a service catalog. There are extensive guidelines with checklists for the construction industry in order to systematize the order process and make order processing transparent.

See also

Web links

literature

  • G. Girmscheid: Offer and execution management - guidelines for construction companies - success- oriented company management from offer to execution. (= VDI book ). Springer Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-642-14360-1 .
  • A. Grimm: Process-oriented handling of requirements for customer-specific order processing. Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-8349-2883-2 .
  • W. Herlyn: PPS in automobile construction - production program planning and control of vehicles and assemblies. Hanser Verlag, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-446-41370-2 .
  • T. Saleck: Order clarification in IT projects - recognize the customer's goals and realize them precisely. Vieweg Verlag, Braunschweig 2003, ISBN 3-528-05803-X .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ W. Herlyn: PPS in automobile construction - production program planning and control of vehicles and assemblies. Hanser Verlag, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-446-41370-2 , p. 76 ff.
  2. ↑ G. Girmscheid: Offer and Execution Management - Guidelines for Construction Companies . Springer Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-642-14360-1 .