Enter Orders Manually (commonly referred to as "Manual Orders")

Use this option to enter orders manually instead of importing them from your Web store. This is useful for orders that come in via phone, fax, email or regular mail.

Note: To enter orders for walk-in customers, use the Point of Sale system.

Because the Order Manager is highly customize-able, the exact steps you go through to enter an order manually may differ slightly from the steps outlined below. For more information, please refer to the Entering Orders Manually section in Chapter 7 of The Order Manager User Guide.

This document covers the following topics. Click a link to jump to that section.

• Entering a Manual Order

• System Parameters Relevant to Manual Orders

• Placing a Drop Ship Order After Entering a Manual Order

Entering a Manual Order

1. Open the Enter Orders Manually dialog box several ways:

1. • Main Menu> Enter Orders Manually

   • Main Menu> View Orders> Add Orders

   • Main Menu> View Customers> New Order

2. The Enter Orders Manually dialog box opens:

3. Enter a salesperson by clicking on the Sales Person drop down list and then on the appropriate name.

Note: This step is optional if the ManualOrdersRequireSalesPerson system parameter (in the Manual Orders group) is set to False. If the ManualOrdersSetToCurrentUser system parameter (in the Manual Orders group) is set to True, the salesperson will default to the current Order Manager user.

4. On the Addresses tab, type the Bill To information or access an existing customer record one of two ways:

   1. Enter an email address, ID, or phone number in the Bill To section and press Tab or Enter. If the program finds a match, it completes the Bill To information and displays a message box asking if it is the correct person. Click Yes or No. If the program finds multiple possible matches, it displays the list of matching records from which you can make the appropriate selection. After you select a customer, the program completes the Bill To information and displays the Current Customer Info & Options box.

Note: The Current Customer Info & Options window was added in the Order Manager 5.8XX Beta series.

Choose Yes (default) or No to carry forward the credit card account info and Ship To address from the existing customer's previous orders and click the Continue button.

4. 2. Click the Search button. The Search for a Customer dialog box opens.

Enter your search criteria and click Begin Search or click Begin Search without entering any search criteria to see a list of all customer records. Click on the appropriate customer and click OK. After you select a customer, the program completes the Bill To information and displays the Current Customer Info & Options box. (Note: The Current Customer Info & Options window was added in the Order Manager 5.8XX Beta series.) Choose Yes (default) or No to carry forward the credit card account info and Ship To address from the existing customer's previous orders and click the Continue button.

Note: If the ManualOrdersViewCustomerNotes system parameter (in the Manual Order group) is True, the View Notes dialog box opens to display any internal notes about the customer.

5. If it's a new customer, complete the Ship To information. If the Ship To information is the same as the Bill To information, click the Copy from Bill To button.

6. Add line items to the order one of two ways:

   1. If it is an existing customer with a repeat order, click the Order History button. (Note: This button, which appears for repeat customers only, was added in the Order Manager 5.8XX Beta series.) The RFM (recency, frequency, monetary value) Data for Selected Customer dialog box opens. In the Show: section, you can view the customer’s most recent order by clicking the Most Recent Order radio button or all of the customer’s orders by clicking the All Orders radio button. Navigate to the appropriate record. To copy only the Ship To address to the new order, click Copy Ship To. To copy only the line item(s) to the new order, click Copy Details. Or, click Copy Both to copy the line item(s) and the Ship To address to the new order. If you wish to view this customer's record in the View Customers screen, click the View Customers button. (Note: This button, which appears for repeat customers only, was added in the Order Manager 5.8XX Beta series.)

   2. To manually add items, click the Line Items tab.

Add line items to the order by entering a SKU in the SKU field. You can Search for SKUs, Add a New SKU, use the Multi-Select feature, or select a SKU from the drop-down list.

7. 1. To search for SKUs, click the Search SKUs button. Enter your search criteria and then press Enter on the keyboard. Click on the item you wish to add to the order and click the OK-Use Selected Item button. Note: You can only add one item at a time using this method.

   2.  To add a completely new SKU to the Order Manager and sell it on the current order, click the Add New SKU button. Complete the Add New Product form and click Save. Click the Add Line Item button to add the new SKU to the order.

   3.  To add many items at once, click the Multi-Select button. Filter the list using the fields at the top of the form or sort the list using the sort buttons above the item list. To add a SKU to the order, enter the number of pieces the customer wishes to purchase in the Qty to Order column. Once you have entered the quantities to order for each item the customer is ordering, click OK. The item or items are added to the order automatically. You DO NOT have to click the Add Line Item button. Note: If an item is on sale, the On Sale checkbox is checked and the sale price appears in the Sale Price column. Beginning in version 6, items with attributes will no longer be included in the list provided by the Multi-Select screen, as they must be added individually.

   4. Select the product from the SKU drop-down list.

If the system parameters ManualOrdersBuildSubSKU and BuildSubSKUs are set to FALSE, the SKU drop-down list on the Line Items tab of the Enter Orders Manually screen will contain all expanded SKUs, which can be cumbersome to scroll through if there are a large number of items in the inventory. Type in the beginning characters of the SKU to jump to that point in the list and speed the search. Select the desired entry and click the Add Line Item button. The expanded SKU is added to the SKU field on the order and nothing is added to the Option1 and Option2 fields of the order, as shown in the figure below:

If the system parameter ManualOrdersBuildSubSKU is set to TRUE and BuildSubSKUs is False, the SKU drop-down list on the Line Items tab of the Manual Orders screen will only display parent SKUs in the SKU drop-down box. All SubSKUs will be hidden. Select the parent sku from the list and then select any options (color, size, etc.) for the item from the options drop-down lists. Click the Add Line Item button and the program will add the parent SKU to the order in the SKU field and the options will be seen in the Option1, Option2.., etc. fields on the order as shown in the figure below:

If the system parameters ManualOrdersBuildSubSKUs and BuildSubSKUs are both set to TRUE, the SKU drop-down list on the Line Items tab of the Enter Orders Manually screen (Manual Orders) will only display parent SKUs in the SKU drop-down box. All SubSKUs will be hidden. Select the parent SKU from the SKU drop-down list and select the options from the options drop-down lists. The program will match the item being ordered to an existing inventory record, which will be displayed in the SubSKU field, beneath the Discount Type. When the Add Line Item button is clicked, the matching SubSKU is entered into the SKU field on the order and the options are also listed in the Option1, Option 2...etc. fields as shown in the figure below:  

If an option is typed into the option drop-down list and the program does not find a match, it will warn the user and add the parent SKU to the SKU field on the order and the options will be added to Option1, Option2,...etc. fields.

Note: The ManualOrderSKUFieldType system parameter (in the Manual Order group) determines whether the SKU field is a text box or a combo box (i.e. drop-down list). For stores with thousands and thousands of SKUs, a drop down list is not practical; it takes a long time for the program to build the list. In this case, set the parameter to TextBox.

7. Set the appropriate options, quantities and pricing for the SKU (detailed below) then click the Add Line Item button.

1. • Qty to Order: Adjust the quantity to order by hand keying the quantity or using the up/down arrows. In versions 4.2 and above of the Order Manager, this field returns to a quantity of 1 after a line item is added. Note: If you use an older version of the Order Manager, be sure to check the value in the Qty to Order field before adding more line items to avoid ordering an incorrect quantity.

   • Product Options: If the SKU has product options (size, color, etc.) they are displayed below the SKU field.

   • Multipricing: If you use Multi Level Pricing, select the price level to apply to the line item from the drop-down list below the Sale Price field. If a repeat customer is placing the order, the price level is set to the price level assigned to the customer or to the default price level defined by the DefaultManualOrdersPriceLevel parameter in the Pricing group. If you enter a price level different from the one assigned to the customer or from the default, the program prompts you to revise the customer's price level when you save the order.

   • Discounts: If the program is set up to allow discounts, you can define the discount as either a percentage off of the item’s price or the item’s cost plus a percentage in the Discount Type section.  You can also key the price per unit in the Sell at field. If you are placing an order for an existing customer, their record may contain a discount percent or a cost plus percent in which case the discount information is displayed automatically.

   • Ship Dates: If you wish, set the Expected or Actual Ship Dates or put an item on backorder by clicking in the Backorder it checkbox. By default, the Order Manager backorders drop-ship items until you set the actual ship date. Set the Actual Ship Date here to mark the drop-ship items as shipped in the new order record.

8. Click on the Custom Fields tab and enter any required information. Note: The Custom Fields tab is not visible if parameter ShowCustomSortFields (in the Custom group) is set to False.

9. Click on the Messages & Notes tab and enter any required information, e.g. gift message, note for receipt, or miscellaneous internal notes.

10. Click on the $ Payment tab. This is where you enter payment for a manual order.

11. Select whether you want the order to appear as received from POS or Web/Mail. If you select POS, the order will be taxed based on the system parameter POSTaxRate.

12. If you want to attribute the manual order to one of your Internet stores, select it from the Shop. Cart drop-down list. By associating a manual order with a shopping cart you can use store-specific credit card gateways, print store-specific invoices and reports, and use store-specific email addresses, etc. Important Note: The shopping cart assignment cannot be changed after running the credit card pre-authorization under any circumstances.

Following are system parameters that control this function:

1. • Set the ManualOrdersDefaultCart system parameter (in the Manual Orders group) to set the Shopping Cart drop down list to the default shopping cart.

   • To require users to select a shopping cart before saving the order, set the ManualOrdersRequireCart system parameter (in the Manual Orders group) to True.

   • To retain the shopping cart selected in the previous order, set the ManualOrdersRememberLastCart system parameter (in the Manual Orders group) to True. This setting is helpful if you enter multiple orders against the same cart at one time.

   • If you want the program to use the default credit card gateway established in the normal system parameters, instead of the credit card gateway used by the cart to which you assigned an order, then set the ManualOrdersUseCartProcessor parameter to false.

13. If you wish, click on the Shipping Method drop down list and select the shipping method for this order. Note: If you entered an Expected or Actual Ship Date on the Line Items tab, you will have to go back and re-enter the date if you select a shipping method on the Payment $ tab.

14. You can also click Show Shipping Rates button to calculate shipping charges for the order.

15. Select a Payment Method from the drop-down list.

16. Select the type of payment to process. These options only apply to payments that are processed automatically by the Order Manager (for example, credit cards or e-checks). The options are:

1. Sale - Captures funds immediately. Fill in credit card information and click Transmit to process payment.

2. Authorization - Also known as a Pre-Authorization, this function checks to see if funds are available but does not capture them; the funds however, are then unavailable to the customer. Fill in credit card information and click Transmit to process payment.

3. Delayed Capture/Post - Captures the funds from a previous Authorization. Select the transaction line (highlight it in the window below the Transmit button) and click Transmit to process payment.

4. Credit - Applies a credit to the customer’s account. The Balance Due field must show a negative amount for a Credit to be applied.

5. Void - Voids a previously processed payment. Only available with some credit card gateways. Select the transaction line (highlight it in the window below the Transmit button) and click Transmit to process payment.

Note: Choose In Stock or Full Amt. from the Amount to use columns to apply payment method only for the items in stock, or for the full amount.

17. Click Save. Depending on how the following system parameters in the Manual Orders parameter group are set, the Order Approval Options dialog box may open to allow you to approve the order, print a copy of the invoice for your records, send email confirmations, and capture or charge a credit card payment.

Parameter Combinations and Resulting Action

System Parameters Relevant to Manual Orders

The Order Manager includes hundreds of "System Parameters" divided into "Parameter Groups" of related functions that can be used to configure the program the way you want it to work. Most of the parameters pertaining to Manual Orders can be found in Maintenance Menu> Set System Parameters> Manual Orders.  Below are just a few of the relevant parameters in the Manual Orders group and other Parameter Groups.
 

Note: The AllowChargeAtManualApproval, AlwaysChargeAtManualApproval, and CaptureAtManualApproval parameters have been disabled with the Order Manager, version 5.0 and higher where the full credit card terminal is available on the Manual Orders screen.

Placing a Drop Ship Order After Entering a Manual Order

If you need to place drop-ship orders to complete this order:

1. Click View Orders. You see a message box asking if you want to go to the last manual order. Click Yes.

2. The order you just entered opens in the View Orders screen.

3. If you need to place a drop ship order with one of your suppliers, click on the DROP-SHIPS tab. Note: If an order contains one or more drop-ship items, the tab label appears in upper-case letters.

4. Use the Order: buttons to place an order for the item(s) listed. A purchase order is issued and the All drop-ship orders sent is checked.

5. If you have not done so already, set either the Expected or Actual ship date as appropriate on the Ship Dates & Status tab. Select the appropriate order or item status.

6. Complete and approve the order as you would normally.

7. You can proceed one of two ways:

   1. Click Close to exit the View Orders screen.

   2. Click the Add Orders button to return to the Enter Orders Manually dialog box. You see a message box asking if you wish to create a new order for the current customer. Click Yes for the program to complete the Bill To and Ship To information automatically. Click No to open a blank record and enter a new order for a different customer.

See Also

Main Menu  

Point of Sale Form

View Orders Form

Updated 5/29/09

Modified 8/6/10