Overview
- Order in Progress provides a way to handle non "cash and carry" transactions such as phone orders, special orders and catalog sales.
- Orders are organised into 'hold for pick up', 'ship' and 'deliver' categories.
- Full or partial payments can be collected at any point once the order is saved.
- Orders can be printed as invoices,estimates and quotes.
* Note: Ship Method 'Ship' is not available in the first release.
Creating a New Order in Progress
- Add a customer - Orders require a customer attached and you cannot use the 'walk in' customer.
- Select Ship Method: Pick up in store, deliver, ship.
- Enter pick up or delivery date if you know it. You can also set a service window such as afternoon between 2PM and 4PM.
- Add items to Order - you can scan, type or use Quick Pick buttons.
- Save the Order.
- If you are taking a deposit or the full payment click 'Collect Payment' the order will be added to a Front Register Receipt - you can sell other cash and carry items or finalize the receipt and take the payment.
Taking Payments
- Payments are not made directly on orders - likewise refunds and cancellations are handled by the Front Register.
- Start on the order screen and click collect payment.
- Select Pay in Full or Take Deposit - if a minimum deposit rule applies you will not be able to enter less than the minimum discount.
- You will switch toe the register screen and your order will be listed as a line item on your receipt. Notice the order line item is a link - clicking on it will abandon the receipt and return you to the order. You can add additional items to the receipt or simply 'Pay' using all the normal methods.
- The customer receipt will show information about the order they are making a payment on.
Complete the Order (Record as Sale)
- Change the Order Status to Complete - if there is a balance due you will be asked to make the payment - this will take you to the Front Register to make the final payment. If there is no balance due or you have made the final payment you will be asked if you want a receipt with the order details - you have print and email options as well as 'none'.
- Save and the order is marked as complete - it will now show up as a sale in reports.
- The register close out will show a deposit credit for whatever deposits have already been made on the order.
Cancel the Order (Refund the Deposit)
- Change the Order Status to Canceled - if there is a deposit on the order you will be asked to refund the payment.
- You can refund the entire deposit refund a partial amount and keep the difference as a cancellation fee collect the cancellation fee if no deposit was made
- The Pay/Refund button will take you to the Front Register to generate the refund.
- Save and the order is marked as cancelled.
- The register close out will show a deposit refund for whatever deposits have been refunded.
Special Orders & Layaway
Special Orders are easily accommodated by Order in Progress - follow the normal process of entering the delivery method usually in store pickup, add a customer and add items and take deposits. You can collect as many or few payments as you like.
Back Ordered Items
When you place orders for out of stock items you will be warned. And you cannot mark an order complete of the items are out of stock. Once the merchandise has arrived at the store and is 'in stock' you need to update the order.
- From the order lines tab select the back ordered items that are now in stock
- From the action menu choose items >> Check Available Stock - the line status will be changed and you can now complete the order.
Shipping Methods & Workflows
Each delivery method has its own set of status designations as it moves through your business. In general only complete/shipped has a real function in that it marks the order as a sale. The other steps are optional and you can use them as you wish to track your work.
| Pick Up In Store | New - Order Created |
| | Ready - Marked Ready for pickup by staff |
| | Complete - customer has picked up order (becomes sale) |
| | Cancelled - order cancelled |
| Deliver | New - Order Created |
| | Ready - Marked ready to deliver by staff |
| | Complete - marked delivered by staff (becomes sale) |
| | Cancelled - order cancelled |
| | Out for Delivery - Marked out for delivery by staff |
| | Unable to Deliver - Marked as unable to deliver by staff |
| Ship | New - Order Created |
| | Pick - Marked as Picked by staff. |
| | Pack - Marked as Packed by staff |
| | Shipped (Complete becomes sale) |
| | Cancelled - order cancelled |
The customer panel on the order changes in response to the delivery clearly marking the necessary actions for the order. For delivery and shipment the address shown in the panel is the delivery or shipment recipient and address. In store pickup shows the purchasers information.
Service Windows
All systems have 2 service windows predefined - the 'None Specified' window which is active Monday through Saturday by default - you can change it if you like.
| | Service Windows - are an optional feature - they come in 2 types - delivery windows and pick up windows - in both cases they are the designated day and time when the customer expects to pick up their order or have their order delivered. This is not a scheduling feature but it does allow your customer to specify afternoon delivery or evening pickup which may be helpful to your staff in managing their tasks. if you enable delivery windows in your Magento configuration they also connect to your Magento site so web customers can indicate a pickup or delivery time. |
Creating a Service Window is straightforward
- Indicate whether this is a pick up or delivery window.
- Give it a name people will understand like 'Weekday Mornings'
- Select what days the window is active
- Select which stores the window applies to (individual stores can have different windows)
- Set window begin and end times
- If you wish in the settings tab set holiday exceptions - days on which this window may not be assigned such as New Years day ..
- Save. You can now assign this window to pickup
Delivery Zones
Delivery Zones will automatically add delivery fees to Delivery Orders - but you are not required to use this feature - you can also just add a delivery non-inventory' item to the order. Delivery Zones are meant to help you integrate deliveries to your web site (future feature).
Setting up delivery zones and charges takes 2 steps
- Create a non-inventory item for the delivery fee
- Define the Delivery Zone
- Give the Zone a Name people will understand like a town name, neighborhood or district
- Attach the delivery fee SKU the price will autopopulate
- Define the State,Town and Zipcodes the delivery zone includes. Note you only have to fill in the state if the zone covers the whole state - like wise you can enter just the state and town or you can enter specific zip codes.
Single Zip 94107 Only 94107 Wild Card 9410* 94100,94101,94102,94103,94104,94105,94106,94107,94108,94109 List 94122,94132,94142 94122,94132,94142
Web Orders
If you define your web site as a Virtual Store/Sales Channel in MicroBiz >> Manage Stores, your web orders appear in the Order in Progress order queue. Both new and complete web orders will be listed in the queue and completed web orders will be reported as sales for the web store in reports.
*Web Orders cannot be changed in MicroBiz only viewed at this time.