The sales order process is the path a customer's order takes from the moment they agree to the moment the balance is paid, and every small seller has one whether it is written down or not: the customer orders, the seller confirms, the deposit is taken, the goods are made or picked and shipped, the invoice goes out, the balance is paid. The version that goes wrong is the one where the price is typed three times and the deposit is worked out after the customer asks. This guide is the six steps, with the arithmetic worked free on the sales order worksheet on this site and the record kept by Jobcardo Pro.
Steps one and two: the customer orders, the seller confirms
The customer's purchase order, email or call says what they want; the seller replies with the sales order, which confirms the goods, the units, the unit price, the discount, the tax, the shipping and the total. That confirmation is the document the rest of the process reads from. The worksheet on this site works its figures on the page from the seller's own inputs and prints or saves as PDF; in Pro it is raised against the customer with the status confirmed and a date.
Steps three and four: the deposit is taken, the goods ship
The sales order splits the total into the deposit due on confirmation and the balance due on the invoice, so the deposit is asked for as a figure the customer has already seen. As the goods are made or picked the status moves to in progress, and when they leave to shipped, each dated. A short shipment or a changed quantity is a dated line on the same order, not a re-typed total.
Steps five and six: the invoice goes out, the balance is paid
The invoice reads the order's net, tax, shipping and deposit and asks for the balance the order already showed. When the money arrives the status moves to invoiced and paid, then closed, dated. Jobcardo keeps the order and its history and exports the figures for the invoice; it does not raise the invoice, hold stock or book a carrier, and a seller who needs those should buy the products that do them.
Questions people ask about sales order process
What are the steps in the sales order process?
The customer orders; the seller confirms with a sales order; the deposit is taken; the goods ship; the invoice goes out; the balance is paid. Each is a status on one record.
Where does the purchase order fit?
The customer's purchase order is step one, held by the buyer. The sales order is the seller's confirmation of it, held by the seller; this site works the seller's side.
Who should be able to change a sales order?
Whoever confirms and whoever ships, with every change dated against their login. A changed quantity nobody can trace is the dispute the record exists to prevent.