Access to the Order Management page is granted using the Security Groups Management feature.  See the Security Features Chapter for more information.

 

Using Order Management, authorized administrators can create, edit and delete the various different Order Types, including Quotes, Orders, Recurring Orders, and Returns.  There is an additional Order Type, Backorders, which are automatically created by PORTALPRODIGY when an order is partially shipped.  When customers place an order using the visitor user interface, the order type is not accessible to them and is always set to “Order”.

 

Permitted Administrators may also use the visitor user interface  option to create orders on behalf of customers.  This option will display the Find Contacts page for finding and selecting the customer or optionally creating a new contact record for the customer.  Once a contact/customer has been selected, PORTALPRODIGY will return to the customer order entry process within the visitor user interface, allowing the administrator to complete the process on behalf of the client.  It is often desirable to use the visitor user interface, especially when registering people for events because the visitor user interface makes it easy to select registration options.

 

For greater control and flexibility, the Order Management page provides an administrative backdoor into the transaction process where the administrator can access advanced features.  For example, quotes, refunds and recurring orders can only be created and edited from Order Management, not from the visitor user interface.

 

Before you can begin to utilize the Order Management and Shopping components, you need to first configure the following options in Features Administration:

§         Orders Features

§         Shipping Carriers

§         Taxes

§         Payment Features

§         Terms

§         Order Policies

§         Product & Inventory Features

§         GL Features (Only required when you elect to use GL Journal Transaction feature)

§         Quick Registration (Optional, but highly recommended)

§         Thanks You & Order Confirmation Notification

 

Once you have configured the options in Features Administration, your next step is to create an Items record for each Product you sell.  You do this using Items Management.  If you plan to track inventory, you need to also enter your current inventory quantities.  This may be done for each Item, directly from Item Management as you are creating the Item records, or you may create your Item records first then use the Inventory Entry feature to enter initial inventory quantities.

 

The final step to Your product catalog is automatically published on your website if have not enabled the Advance Catalog feature.

 

If you did not enable the Advanced Product Catalog option (found in Product & Inventory Features Management), once you have created Items records, you are ready to start taking orders.  If you enabled the Advanced Product Catalog option, the next step is to use the Product Catalog feature component to set up your online storefront.