Customizable Additional Information in Order Flow

A significant enhancement to our order processing system, aimed at providing a more customizable and informative user experience.

• Admin Configuration: Admin Users now have the power to customize static additional information within the order flow. This includes the ability to configure messages for different languages and specify color codes based on the nature of the information.
• Show/Hide Option:  The configuration also allows Admin Users to choose whether to show or hide the additional information, providing flexibility in tailoring the user interface.
• Strategic Placement:  The configured additional information will be strategically positioned below the pricing summary on various order-related screens. This includes Checkout Order, Review Order, Reorder, Review Reorder, Order History (Detail), and Order Amendment.

When order processes are enabled for an Account (see "Commerce Administration: Order and Inquiry" for more information), its users browsing through products on the Commerce portal may choose to immediately place an order and purchase the products of interest. Items can be easily added to cart with the button: from the product catalogue page or other screens: 

To complete the process of order placement, users will be brought through 3 screens: Cart, Checkout, and Review.

Cart screen

Clicking the floating action button at the right-edge of the screen (see "Process Overview: Commerce Login & Landing Page" for more information) would direct users to the Cart screen, where items added to the cart would be listed. 

By default, the item quantity added to the cart is set to 1. From this screen, users may adjust the quantity to be ordered: 

While reviewing the order, users may take various actions including:

• Selecting the products to checkout from a list of items in the cart
• Editing the quantity of the item to be ordered 
• Removing all items from the cart by using the 'Clear Cart' functionality
• Removing individual items by clicking the ‘x’ icon on each product image, or by setting each quantity to 0 

Total and Sub-Total pricing information is updated accordingly when the products and/or quantities change. 

Upon clicking 'Checkout', the Cart is converted into an early-order state and users will be brought to the Checkout screen.

Available-To-Promise (ATP) Check

Commerce System Administrators (See "Commerce User Management" for more information), can enable the Available-To-Promise (ATP) check. This check allows users to easily see up-to-date information on the estimated delivery schedule. 

By default, the 'Order Requested Date' will be 'Today's date' when creating the order, and the ATP check will be done in relation to it. The estimated delivery schedule is updated when this date is changed, or if the quantity to be ordered is amended:

With the new feature ATP check added into cart as well, it provides the user(s) the availability to make a more informed decision before clicking on Checkout.

Note: If the quantity requested of one product is 2, where 1 can be shipped on 15/01/2022 and the other on 18/01/2022, the later date (18/01/2022) is shown by default for simplicity. This can be customized using groovy script to show both dates with respective quantities.

(See "Commerce Administration: Order and Inquiry" for more information)

Payment Method 

After-sales transactions can be relatively straightforward, without the need to engage a sales representative for drafting of complex proposals and lengthy negotiations. Purchases can even be made immediately on the Commerce portal, with the various payment method options. As set up in the system, users can choose to be invoiced with Purchase Orders, or make Direct Payment on the platform. 

Should Direct Payment be selected as the method of payment, the relevant steps depending on payment gateway must then be taken for the transaction to pass. (See "Commerce Administration: Order and Inquiry" for more information)

 

Payment Gateway enhancement

The latest updates to our Commerce Portal focused on improving your payment gateway experience. Here are the key enhancements in this release:

• Authorization Only Transaction Type: Customers now have the option to set transactions as "Authorization Only,” providing greater flexibility in managing payment processes.
• Surcharges Addition:  Introducing the capability to add surcharges to transactions, allowing for more precise control over pricing and facilitating transparent transactions.
• User Information in Transactions: Introducing the capability to the inclusion of user-specific information in transactions, offering a deeper understanding of the individuals behind each transaction.
• Customizable Language-Specific Information: Enhancements have been made to allow commerce admin to set language-specific additional information in the checkout and other order-related screens.

Flexible setup of order

While essential order information has been included in the Checkout section, there are additional details that may be required for instance shipping information, INCO terms and more. Such fields defer between industries, so flexibility is provided for the appropriate fields to be shown as needed. This feature provides more customization options for users who need more details from customers during order checkout process. User(s) may select options based on the drop-down menu of the IncoTerms below:

Billing and Shipping Address 

Partner Function Determination

Billing and shipping information is read from the customer account that the Commerce portal user is associated with.

By default, if no Bill-to or Ship-to partners are linked to the account, the addresses of the Sold-to account marked as 'Bill-to' or 'Ship-to' will be made available in the checkout process.

This setting is controlled under 'Administration' > 'Master Data Management' > 'SettingBoolean' > 'Append Bill-to / Ship-to Addresses for Commerce Checkout':

If set to 'YES', the addresses under the account's address information flagged as either Bill-to or Ship-to will be appended in addition to the addresses that may get determined using the related Bill-to or Ship-to partners.

Bill-to and Ship-to partners are assigned under Account (select the account that you wish to view) > Role/Function, to allow for orders to be sent straight to ERP. If more than one Bill-to or Ship-to partner is identified for the sales area/org, users can easily place their orders with the right party by selecting the appropriate address on the checkout screen. While one partner may be assigned as Default, all "Ship-To" addresses listed in the system are available options in the dropdown list at Checkout.

The selected partner, not the Default, will be captured in the order details upon check out. 

 

If none of these addresses are correct, the user can select 'Other' and an additional section of fields will be reflected that would allow users to manually enter a one-time address that also includes Google auto-complete function.

 

The Billing and Shipping Address of an order is maintained as a snapshot at the point of order placement. Future changes to Account address details will not affect historic order records. 

 

Defaulting Partner Function Address

The address field in Quotes can be automatically filled with the default/main address when there is only one address available in the system. This improves user experience with fewer clicks as system intuitively selects only option available. Below is an example where the address field is auto populated with the default address:

Review screen

The final screen presented to users before order placement is similar to the earlier Checkout screen, except that it displays all the information in a read-only format for a final review: 

Depending on whether the user has the authorization to place an order, the button will read ‘Send for Review’ which will create the order for a business admin user to review, or ‘Place Order’ (see above figure) which will cause the order to be placed directly. Clicking the button would render the confirmation screen:

 

(See "Process Overview: Post-submission of Order/Inquiry" for more information)

Exporting Order Details to Excel

Introducing enhanced Excel reporting capabilities specifically tailored for orders. This enhancement brings a range of features to streamline reporting experience.

To configure, in the Digital Sales Platform, go to Administration > under 'master data management' tab select 'workbook template' > select 'template dynamic'. User(s) may also navigate between 'Order' or 'Quote' for the primary object as shown below:

• Template in Content Management: Similar to Quote Excel templates, customers can now upload Order Excel templates to the content management system.
• Download: The "Download" button on the Order Details screen empowers users to choose a Workbook Template and effortlessly download Order details in Excel format.

Improvement in Commerce Order Creation

The enhancement to our Commerce Order creation, specifically addressing the user experience and internal transparency for failed ERP order creation.

• Enhanced Communication: In the event of a failed ERP order creation, end users will now receive a user-friendly and informative message indicating success. The message assures users that their order has been successfully placed, and a confirmation email will follow once the order is verified
• Internal Technical Data: Technical information related to order creation failures is now stored separately from the order object. This information is meant for internal use only. It enables our technical teams to efficiently address and resolve any issues.
• Errors Tab in Order Details: Introducing a new "Errors" tab within the Order Details section of the CPQ system. Authorized users can now easily access and review a comprehensive list of errors associated with specific orders. This Errors tab is accessible specifically for orders with a "Completed" status, providing a consolidated view for efficient error resolution.
• Manual Order Creation Marking: Users now can mark an order as created manually. This feature proves invaluable in scenarios where an order creation fails, and it was initiated manually. The system allows for the maintenance of the manually created ERP order ID while applying the "Manually Created" marker.