After you have closed an online order, it's time to place the order with a vendor. In years past, a sizeable seasonal sale like this done with pen and paper would be a cumbersome and time-consuming task to manage.
However, the Online Order Forms feature utilizes the Special Order Dashboard to enter, track and manage all member, guest and player orders through a condensed purchase order. This makes it easy to see all orders placed in one centralized location without overwhelming your Special Order Dashboard (as shown below).
This feature has been designed to streamline the order process, making entering, placing, tracking, and finalizing your orders with a vendor easier.
In this article, we will highlight the key differences between the flow when managing online order forms versus special orders.
Entering Order:
Typically the first step in the special order process is to enter the order on the Special Order Dashboard. However, since these orders are taken online, a slightly different procedure has been used for online order form special orders.
When taking online orders and an individual places an order, this creates a special order for each unique item in their order. The following information can be populated in the special order if we capture the following details with the online order form:
Vendor
Member and Guest Information (i.e., first and last name, email, phone)
Special Order #
SKU#
Product Category
Product Details
Wholesale Price
Selling Price (Note: A selling price will only be displayed if a balance is due)
Quantity
Then each unique item is placed in a purchase order for the vendor on the Special Order Dashboard. If you create an online order form with multiple vendors, a purchase order will be created for each vendor as a "bucket" for any item placed for that vendor.
To view the vendor purchase order for an Online Order Form, go to Orders > Special Orders > Dashboard. In the orders to place column, you will find a purchase order with the same name as your Online Order Form. To further make these orders easy to find, when the online order is in the "Orders to Place" stage, it will have a tag "Online Form" to signify that the purchase order is part of an Online Order Form (as shown below).
If multiple vendors are included in the Online Order Form, a purchase order will be created for each vendor. In the example above, this particular online order had two vendors, Adidas and Ahead.
When looking at the purchase order tiles, you will see the following information:
Name of the Online Order Form.
How many items are ordered per vendor.
How many members and guests placed an order for that vendor.
The status of the online order form, open or closed.
Days in the stage.
Further, you can view and edit the special order details and print the purchase order. These two options will be discussed in further detail below.
Viewing and Editing Individual Special Orders:
In some instances, you may need to view and edit individual special orders part of the Online Order Form. To do so, click “View Order Details” on the Purchase Order number in the Special Order Dashboard. This will apply an Advanced Filter where all items part of that purchase order will be shown in a list view. The list view will further allow you to search, sort, and edit each special order part of the online order (as shown below). Click on any special order number to edit the special order.
Once done viewing the list, click "Return to Dashboard" to be taken back to the Special Order Dashboard.
Alternatively, you can also view the Purchase Order to be placed with the vendor. For more details about viewing purchase orders, Click Here.
Placing Order:
Once members, guests, and players submit online order(s), you can place the entire purchase order or a portion of the purchase order with your vendor. To do this, follow these instructions:
Go to Orders > Special Orders > Dashboard.
Find the online order form purchase order you would like to place, and click "Next All" (regardless if you are only placing a portion of the order).
Select the order(s) you would like to place. You can leave all the special orders checked to place an order for all or select only the specific orders you want to place. Note: By unchecking or checking "Select All," all orders will be unselected or selected.
If you have selected specific orders to be placed, a new purchase order will be created for the selected orders. You can update the new PO# if needed (as shown below).
Click "Next."
You can place the Order by Phone, Website, or Email. While you can use each method, placing your order by email might be best, as this generates an easy-to-read table of order details for the vendor to read and input into their system.
When placing an order by phone or website, fill in additional details for the expected ship date, delivery date, and shipping company (if available).
Review the Order Summary and Notification Settings and update (if necessary).
Note: You should turn off notifications to customers in this step as they had already received a notice that their order was placed when they made the order online.After verifying the order details and making the necessary adjustments, click "Place Order" (as shown below).
The purchase order (along with all special orders) will be moved to the "order placed" stage.
For more details on this step, Click Here.
Receiving Order:
Once an online order is delivered or a portion of the order is delivered, you can receive the delivered items from your vendor as a bulk action. To receive delivered special orders in the purchase order, click "Next All" (as shown below).
You will be taken to the received confirmation page. On the left side of the page, enter the delivery date, final delivery destination (i.e., locker room, golf shop, etc.), and select which items should be received. On the right-hand side, you can see the order summary of the selected items to be received and update notifications (as shown below).
If you need to adjust customer notifications, you can do that in the notifications tab. It should also be noted that if a customer receives multiple items, they will only receive one notification for all items.
Once you click "Confirm," all selected items will be moved to the "Delivered" stage.
Finalizing Order:
With Online orders, finalizing them together as a bulk action is best. To finalize all items at once, click "Next All" (as shown below).
You will be taken to the "Mark Special Order Completed" page. Check the options to finalize the order (e.g., Vendor Invoice Received, Special Order Charged or Received by Customer, etc.) (as shown below). You will also see a summary of the items on the right.
Once saved and all finalize steps have been completed, the purchase order on the special order dashboard will be marked "Finalized" (as shown below).
For more details about finalizing special orders, Click Here.