Versa Cloud ERP allows different workflows in our program. We will go over what a basic sales workflow could look like, so you can get an idea of how things can work in the system.
We are going to go through the entire selling process in Versa. We are going to talk about how to create a sales order, ship a sales order, create an invoice, as well as record payment. We will also show you how you can give your customer access to a portal, and how that customer can log into a portal, and place a sales order themselves.
Creating Sales Order
The first thing we do is click on orders, then new sales orders. You will type in the name of the customer. You will then specify where the inventory would be shipped from (our main warehouse). If you have multiple inventory locations, you can indicate which facility would be used to ship the order.
If the customer has PO number, you enter the PO number in the PO Number field. We can store the sales order against a sale channel. This is used for reporting purposes. You can see the sales generated from different channels. We can also associate the order with a sales agent. This way you can see the performance of the sales agent, and then potentially calculate commissions based on that. So then we click on create a sales order.
Adding Products
Now we’re going to put some products on the sales order screen. So, this customer is going to get a golf driver. The sales invoice is populated automatically based on what we entered earlier. The system shows that we have one unit on hand, so for this driver, we can sell the customer one unit.
Additional Notes
There are some additional fields. You can use delivery date and ship date, to specify the ship dates. Note A and note B can create notes for additional notes. If the customer needs to pay taxes, typically you will set up the customers profile to charge the appropriate taxes. We can also set up taxes based on the ship-to locations of the customers. If the customer has multiple ship-to locations, the sales tax can be applied whichever location it needs to.
For now, we will manually choose the tax. We’re going to add one more product to the sales order.
Inventory
Since we don’t have a selling price stored in the system for this product, I can manually type in the price. At the bottom, it shows that we have 98 units available from our main facility. It also shows you inventory availability for this product. So what this shows you, is that your current inventory plus any outstanding sales orders, or outstanding purchase orders. This gives you a view into the future, of what your inventory would look like, based on the outstanding sales orders and purchase orders.
If I were a sales person, I could use this to determine if I’m currently short on stock, and when the stock will be replenished. Then I can give the customers an approximate date on when their sales order can be fulfilled, based on the PO that we have in the system.
Record Payment
Once a sales order is created, you can take a payment on the sales order. If the customer needs to make a deposit on the sales order, then you can record payment against the sales order. This way, once the final invoice is created based on the shipments, you can apply the deposit that’s on the sales order to the invoice. The customer would just need to pay the amount that remains on the invoice.
The sales order can be printed. The printed version is fully customizable in Versa. It can also be emailed. You can email the sales order as a PDF as well.
Shipping Process
There are different ways to ship a sales order. We support different processes. The simplest way would be to just ship the order directly from the sales order. We also support shipping from a pick list.
Clicking on the shipment button, takes us to the shipment screen. If you are shipping everything in full, then we can just click on the ship all available items button.
We have the ability to integrate with different shipping carriers. We can integrate with carriers like FedEx, UPS, and USPS. So the integration gives you the ability to contact the shipping carrier, schedule a shipment, obtain a tracking number, and also obtain a shipping label, and store that in the system.
So for this example we are using FedEx, then we have to enter the dimensions of the product in order to get a shipping quote. Once that is done you click on the shipping rate button. This will give us all the shipping options available. This also gives the options of adding the shipping charge back to the customers. You then choose the shipping option,and then apply the amount that we are paying back to the customer order. The system will give you a tracking number and also the label you can print.
Posting Shipments
So when we are done with this, we can post the shipments. You have the options of creating an invoice based on the shipment. In some businesses, they don’t really want to create an invoice at this point, you then have the option of just posting the shipments, and create the invoice later. But for now we are going to post the shipment with the invoice created. You will then have a button to create a packing list. The packing list is fully customizable.
Posting Invoice and Payment
You can click on the invoice number to get to an invoice. This shows the two products that we shipped, plus a shipping charge that was applied to the order. So, if the customer is going to pay later, we can just post an invoice. We can send the invoice out for collections, and then record the payment later. For now, we’re going to just say, customer’s going to pay right away, so we can record payment here. So let’s say the customer pays by check, then I’m going to say it’s paid by check. So now post the invoice, and it also posts the payment. Now we have posted the invoice, and also the payment. This transaction is now finished.
Customers’ Access Portal
In our system, there’s another way you can create a sales order. That can be done by giving our customer access to the portal. The portal allows a customer to log in, and then check out your catalog and then place an order themselves. We have to start this process by giving our customers access to our portal.
Procedures for Customer Access
This needs to be done by going to the customer list. Look for the particular customer, and go into their customer profile. This takes you to the customer page. On the left-hand side, it shows the address and the contact information of the customers. On the right-hand side, it shows all the transactions you have with this customer. Things like quotes, orders, part of the purchase, invoices.
Customer Log-in
Now you can give this customer access to your portal by creating a username for them. You can give multiple people in the company access to the portal. You just type in their username, and then their email address. Then, click on the button, to email the login details to the user. There’s a message you can specify anything you like, and it will include the link to log into the portal as well as their username and password.
Features
There’s a login page. You can customize the login page with your logos and your own banners.
From the customer portal, they can see recent transactions with the company, invoices and orders. They can also go through the catalog view, to see the products that your company has to offer. The products are grouped by categories on the left. These will be the categories you define yourself. You can choose to hide certain categories in the portal, if you don’t want the customer to be able to buy them.
In this example we will use the food category. If the product has a picture, that system will show the picture. We show the price of the product here as well. This price is customizable to each customer. If you have different prices for different customers, when that customer logs into the portal, they will see their prices, and not other people’s prices. This way, you can vary your prices based on customers, and the customer can come in and always see their prices, and not the generic price.
Also as an option, you can choose to show the quantity you have available to the customers, and also show what is called quantity available later. This will include any quantities on outstanding purchase orders. Maybe you’re currently low on inventory, but you have a large purchase order that’s coming in the next week. You can make that information available to your customers. Then they can make an informed decision whether they want to place this order.
Customer’s Sales Order Placement
So as a customer, I can place and confirm the order here. It then takes you to the confirmation page. Customers also have the option of adding additional shipping addresses, if the order is going to be shipped to an address that’s not on file. You can configure the portal to allow customers to either confirm orders without payment, and then you will charge them later based on their terms. You can also force a payment depending on the customer. So in this example, this portal has been configured to allow both. So, if I were a customer, I can just confirm the order.
When an order is confirmed, the customer will get an email copy of the order. Your company as well, will also get an email about this new order. The customer can also download the order they want. When you go back to Versa and look at the orders list, you are going to see that the first order is the order that was just placed. These sales orders, even though it’s created by the customer themselves, look like just any other sales order in the system. You can then follow your current process to fulfill the sales order.
Keep in mind that this is an example workflow, and your company needs may be different, but thats ok with us! We can help you customize Versa and tailor it to your needs. We realize not everyone is one size fits all. Click below to sign up for a personal product tour with us, so we can understand the needs of your company, and show you how Versa can simplify your tasks and take your company to new heights.
Click here to get your FREE Personalized Product Tour.
https://www.versaclouderp.com/versa-cloud-erp-tour