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Marketing Information Systems and the Sales Order Process
In such cases, the sales clerk has no knowledge of the terms of the sale
(which are outlined on the quotation) and must ask the customer to repeat
the information. On the other hand, even if the quotation has been faxed, the
data might not have been entered into the customer database, so the
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customer might still need to repeat the order information. This situation can
also lead to a duplicate order.
• The fax received by the sales office is a copy of a handwritten form, and
might not be legible.
When customers place an order, they usually inquire about the delivery date. To get a
shipping date, the sales clerk must contact the warehouse supervisor and ask whether the
customer’s order can be immediately shipped from inventory, or whether shipping will
be delayed until a future production run is delivered to the warehouse. However, because
the warehouse supervisor is generally too busy to get an updated inventory count, total all
the orders waiting to be filled, and find out how many other orders are in process in the
sales office, she can only estimate the shipping date.
Once the sales clerk has the warehouse supervisor’s estimated shipping date, she
determines the shipping method and how long delivery will take. Next, the clerk checks the
customer’s credit status. For new customers, the clerk fills out a paper credit-check form
that includes basic customer data and the amount of the order. The form goes to
Accounting, where accountants perform the credit check and then return the credit-check
form showing the customer’s credit limit. If the order is from an existing customer, the clerk
checks a paper report from Accounting that shows the customer’s current balance, credit
limit, and available balance. However, because the report is generated weekly, it might not
reflect a customer’s most recent payments or orders. If a customer’s available credit is less
than the amount of the current order, assuming there are no other orders outstanding,
the clerk calls the customer to determine what action the customer wants to take
(reduce the amount of the order, prepay, or dispute the amount of credit granted).
Once the order details have been finalized, the sales clerk enters the order into the
order-entry system. The computer program performs four important tasks. First, it stores
the customer’s order data, which are used later to analyze sales performance at the
division level. Second, it prints out a packing list and shipping labels for the warehouse to
use to pick, pack, and ship the customer’s order. Third, it produces a data file of all
current transactions for the Accounting Department to use for preparing invoices (this
file is also used for financial, tax, and managerial accounting, which is discussed in
Chapter 5). And fourth, the data file is copied to a USB key each evening for uploading
into the company’s PC-based accounting system.

Order Filling
Fitter’s process for filling an order is no more efficient than its sales order process. Packing
lists and shipping labels are printed in the sales department twice a day—at noon and at
the end of the day. These are carried by hand to the warehouse, where they are manually
sorted into small orders and large orders.
The Production Department produces and wraps the snack bars and packs them in
display boxes, 24 bars to a box. The display boxes have promotional printing and are
designed to serve as a display case. Fitter packs 12 display boxes together to form a standard
shipping case. The warehouse stores both individual display boxes and shipping cases,
organized by label type (Fitter brand and store brand), so depending on the inventory levels

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