Sales Orders

Sales Order Management in Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management allows businesses to manage the entire sales order lifecycle, from creating quotes and orders to invoicing and fulfillment.

Dynamics 365 offers extensive customisation and integration capabilities, enabling businesses to tailor the solution to their specific sales processes and requirements.

1. Sales Order Creation: Users can create sales orders manually or automatically, based on customer requests, quotes, or previous orders. The system captures relevant details such as customer information, product selection, pricing, and shipping preferences.
2. Product Catalog: Dynamics 365 provides a centralised product catalog where you can define and manage your products or services. You can set up pricing, product variants, inventory information, and other relevant details.
3. Pricing and Discounts: The application allows you to define pricing structures, including list prices, volume discounts, special discounts, and promotional offers. Pricing can be based on various factors such as customer type, quantity, or specific agreements.
4. Stock/Inventory Management: Sales orders interact with stock/inventory management, enabling real-time visibility into product availability. The system can reserve or allocate inventory to specific orders and manage backorders or partial shipments.
5. Order Fulfillment: Once the sales order is created, it can be processed for fulfillment. Dynamics 365 supports various fulfillment options, including picking, packing, and shipping. Integration with other systems or warehouse management solutions streamlines the fulfillment process.
6. Order Tracking and Status: Users can track the status of sales orders, monitor progress, and view delivery or shipping information. Customers can also access self-service portals to check their order status and receive notifications.
7. Invoicing and Payment: Dynamics 365 generates invoices based on completed sales orders. It supports flexible invoicing options, including partial or consolidated invoices. Integration with financial management modules allows for seamless payment processing and revenue recognition.
8. Sales Analytics and Reporting: The application provides comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities, allowing businesses to gain insights into their sales performance, order trends, profitability, and customer behavior. Users can create custom reports or leverage pre-built dashboards and analytics tools.

The integration of sales ordering with Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) allows businesses to exchange sales order information and other relevant documents electronically with their trading partners. EDI is a standard format for transmitting business documents, such as purchase orders, invoices, and acknowledgments, in a structured and automated manner between different systems.

Here’s an overview of how the sales ordering integration with EDI works in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management:

1. EDI Setup: The first step is to set up the EDI integration in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management. This involves configuring the necessary EDI agreements, mappings, and communication setups. You define the specific EDI standards and protocols (such as ANSI X12, EDIFACT, or XML) that your trading partners use.
2. Trading Partner Setup: You need to configure trading partner information within Dynamics 365. This includes defining the specific EDI requirements and formats for each trading partner, such as the document types they support (e.g., purchase orders, acknowledgments), field mappings, and communication details (such as FTP, AS2, or VAN).
3. Sales Order Integration: Once the EDI setup is complete, the integration allows for the automatic exchange of sales order information between Dynamics 365 and your trading partners’ systems. When a sales order is created or updated in Dynamics 365, the system generates the corresponding EDI document in the required format based on the configured mappings.
4. Document Translation: The EDI document generated by Dynamics 365 contains the relevant sales order information, such as customer details, product information, quantities, pricing, and any special instructions. The system translates this information into the EDI format specified by the trading partner, ensuring compliance with the agreed-upon EDI standards.
5. Transmission and Receipt: The translated EDI document is then transmitted electronically to the trading partner’s system using the specified communication method. Dynamics 365 handles the transmission process, ensuring secure and reliable data transfer. The trading partner’s system receives the EDI document and processes it according to their own internal systems and workflows.
6. Acknowledgments and Confirmations: After the trading partner processes the sales order, they can send back EDI acknowledgments or confirmations, such as purchase order acknowledgments or shipment notifications. These EDI documents are received by Dynamics 365, which updates the corresponding sales order status and triggers any necessary follow-up actions within the system.
7. Exception Handling: Dynamics 365 provides tools and capabilities to handle any exceptions or errors that may occur during the EDI integration process. For example, if there are discrepancies or validation issues in the received EDI documents, you can review and resolve them within the system to ensure data accuracy and integrity.

By integrating sales ordering with EDI in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, businesses can automate the exchange of sales order information with their trading partners, reducing manual effort, improving data accuracy, and speeding up order processing. It streamlines the order-to-cash cycle and enhances collaboration and efficiency in the supply chain.