Order Management Business Features

Feature / Process	Description

Feature / Process	Description
Orders	Orders can be placed by B2C or B2B contacts to purchase physical goods and services offered by the business, its merchants, or its B2B merchants within the Business Network. CRM.COM enables the seamless deployment of multiple co-existing order processes, supporting a wide range of business scenarios: Create multiple order queues, each with its own stages and invoicing model, including milestone-based payments. Define fulfilment policies, including fulfilment channels, supply and delivery methods, coverage rules, and event-based charges. Configure automations and notifications to achieve a fully ‘lights-out’ operation. Order Fulfilment Fulfillment is the process whereby an Organisation (Business, Merchant or B2B Merchant) defines how they fulfill orders placed by contacts by either delivering them or having contacts picking them up. The fulfillment behaviour is defined via a Fulfillment policy that may include coverage, the available supply and delivery methods and possible delivery charges. Each organisation has maximum one fulfillment policy and is reversely hierarchical, meaning that the policy of a merchant takes precedent over that of the organisation (the business). Supply Methods An order may be fulfilled by the business or by a merchant/venue using one of the following supply methods: Delivery Pick Up Direct Sale Delivery Methods An order with Delivery supply method may have one of the following Delivery Methods that determine the way the items will be delivered to the contact: Direct Delivery Courier Service Pick-up Point Order Queues Each order follows a specific Queue, which defines: The sequence of stages the order progresses through until completion. Optional milestone invoicing, triggered at one or more stages. An optional Point of No Return, after which changes cannot be made and invoicing is triggered. Whether the Order Queue will be used as a Device Plan, i.e specified as the Device plan when contacts order traceable physical goods to be paid off partially in a number of milestone invoices. Order Completion Criteria An order is considered ‘Complete’ when: All physical goods and/or services have been delivered to the contact. All activities for the order have been completed. All ordered items have been invoiced. Users can follow the Order Setup Wizard to configure all aspects of order management, including order processes, financial settings, fulfilment options, and automation rules.
Order Fulfilment Estimatation	The order fulfilment estimate indicates whether and which organisation (merchant or venue) will fulfil a contact’s delivery or pick-up order before they reach the checkout screen.
Order Estimates	Order estimates provide a full preview of whether, when, and how an order will be fulfiled, as well as which merchant or venue will handle the fulfilment. They also include a detailed breakdown of the order’s financial amounts, such as: Total cost (before discounts) Net amount Tax Discounts (excluding tax) Account credit Wallet funds Order estimate amounts can also be used to issue a quotation to the contact.
Milestone-based vs. Progress-based	An Order can be settled using several invoicing models: Upfront Invoicing - The full amount is invoiced at the time the order is placed. Milestone Invoicing - The order is invoiced in multiple milestone invoices, with the stages and percentages defined per Queue stage. Point-of-No-Return Invoicing - The order is invoiced when it reaches the defined Point of No Return. Progress-Based Invoicing - Invoices are issued progressively as ordered items are delivered to the contact (e.g. an invoice per delivery). Final Invoice - Issued upon order completion. Any previously issued milestone invoices are credited in this final invoice.
Placing an Order	Order Information Provided by Contacts When placing an order, contacts specify the following core information: Supply method - delivery, pick-up, or direct sale Delivery method - if contact requested a delivery supply method Fulfilment location - delivery address or pick-up point Ordered items and quantities - for termed services, the applicable price terms are also provided Payment method Preferred fulfilment time - which may be scheduled for a future date Order Estimation Web APIs Order Estimation APIs are used throughout the ordering flow to: Determine if and which merchant or venue will fulfil the order Present a complete quotation, including full cost breakdown Apply any ad hoc discounts to the order’s total cost Placing an order is driven by the estimation_id, which encapsulates all order details and remains valid for 2 hours. Order Payments Orders can be paid using multiple payment methods, such a combination of the CRM.COM Wallet and Card. The payment distribution is calculated based on available account credit and wallet balance.
Subscription Orders	Subscribing to New Services Contacts who wish to subscribe to new services follow the standard ordering flow, where they can: View the list of services available for subscription Review each service’s price terms Order Estimation for Services In the case of service subscriptions, the order estimation additionally provides: Service delivery estimation: if the service can be ordered by the contact Billing estimation: specifies the next billing date, the amount the subscriber will be charged, and when the payment is due Order Placement and Subscription Activation When the order is completed: All ordered services are added to the contact New subscriptions are created and/or existing subscriptions are updated with the newly ordered services The Service Delivery process is responsible for billing the subscriber for the newly ordered services
B2B Marketplace Orders	The business aggregates products from its B2B Merchants and enables its contacts to place orders through the business’s marketplace. A single shopping experience can include products from multiple B2B Merchants. When an order is placed, CRM.COM automatically creates separate orders, one for each B2B Merchant responsible for fulfilling its portion of the order. Splitting the Order is based on the product’s owner, so each owner - i.e. B2B Merchant - is responsible for fulfilling the order.
Milestones	Contacts can pay off an Order in multiple payments throughout its life cycle. This is achieved through milestones, which are linked to specific stages within the Order’s queue. Certain queue stages include milestone settings, defining a percentage (or amount) of the order’s total cost that must be invoiced when the order reaches that stage. Milestones for a queue can be defined at the time of ordering or dynamically during the order’s progression (percentage-based or amount-based). Ad hoc milestones allow the business to record additional payments received at any point during the order’s progression. When a milestone is reached, an invoice is automatically issued for the milestone amount. This amount is then credited in the final invoice upon order completion.
Point of No Return	The Point of No Return (PoNR) is the stage in an order’s processing after which the contact is still allowed to request the order’s cancellation, but they cannot returned the items delivered to them: Before the PoNR: Contacts may cancel their order and return any delivered items without incurring charges. At or after the PoNR: Delivered items cannot be returned, and the contact is responsible for payment. Optionally, an invoice can be issued automatically when the order reaches the PoNR. The PoNR for an order is defined as part of a specific stage within the order’s Queue.
Modifying or Cancelling an Order	An order can be changed or cancelled at any time, subject to certain restrictions: Milestones: Milestones can be added or removed only if they have not yet been reached. The total of milestone invoice amounts cannot exceed the order’s total cost. Point or No Return Contacts can cancel an order and return any delivered items without incurring charges prior to reaching the PoNR. Ordered Items and Quantities: Items can be modified, including adding, removing, or updating quantities, as long as they comply with fulfilment policies and stage restrictions.
Automations	Automations for Orders can be created based on he following events: Events New Order Initiate Order Prior to Order Stage Update Estimate Order Prior Order Creation Complete Order Cancel Order Update Order Stage Approval on Order Stage Change Update Order Available actions depending on the selected event: Actions CRM.COM Communications Communicate Contacts: notify the contacts of their order’s progression Communicate Users: notify users responsible for managing a contact’s order CRM.COM Orders Provisioning Twinsoft & Aloha Provisioning of Orders Activity Scheduling Approval Requests (users and/or contacts) CRM.COM Webhooks
Approvals	Approvals can be configured using the automation trigger event 'Approval on Order Stage Change'. This ensures that an order can progress to the next stage only after the required approval has been granted by the contact and/or an authorised user.
Event-based Charges	Event-based charges can be configured to apply when an order is placed. These charges can be set up in different ways, such as: Apply a fixed expense with a price retrieved from the Product Catalogue. Distance-Based Fee: An expense whose final price is calculated based on the distance between the fulfiling organisation and the contact’s delivery address.
Order Catalogues	Order Catalogues allow items from the product catalogue to be grouped or categorised for easier presentation to contacts. Items can be organised based on: Time of ordering Supply method (e.g., delivery, pick-up, direct sale) Fulfilling organisation (the business or merchant responsible for the order)
Analytics	Advanced business intelligence through: Dashboards Home Commerce Overview Reports Contacts Orders Analysis - A list of orders placed by Contacts with an analysis of each Contact’s ordering preferences, including average order amount, preferred organisation, and products ordered. Order Details - View a list of completed Orders with order totals, and wallet funding information (if applicable). Orders Summary - View order basic information, their queues, stages and any fulfilment details. Insights: Ability to perform Insights on completed Orders
Custom Fields	Extend an Order’s information based on Custom Fields defined by the business.
Custom Forms	Configure your own custom data screen for Orders. This is an external implementation designed using CRM.COM’s Back-Office APIs and hosted outside of CRM.COM, which can be loaded and used via the back-end system.