From YourSITE.com

MDF Goes Beyond
Integrating Ordering with Shipping and Inventory
By
Dec 6, 2005, 09:15

MDF integrates our order system with our inventory and shipping systems, which means that it functions as one unit. It is a seamless operation, all interacting with each other. This interaction is real-time and immediate. What does that really mean to you and those who order through you?

Benefits to the Orderer

  • They know immediately if an item is in stock as they are placing an order through the shopping cart system, because the availability of each item can be shown on the order screen. Once that order is placed, the item is reserved in the inventory for that order and is not available for ordering by anyone else.
  • If the order is changed or cancelled or the credit card is not acceptable, the items immediately go back into the inventory to be made available to others.
  • Once that order is shipped, all of the items in that order that were reserved are now deducted from the inventory.
  • They know that their order has been placed, and the status of that order because an order number is immediately generated. When the order is processed, they receive an e-mail confirmation, with a link into the system, which updates the status of the order as it goes through the system. If a piece is on backorder, an e-mail notice is sent. When that item has been replenished in the warehouse, the system automatically generates any backorders for that product before new orders are processed.
  • They get peace of mind that their package is en route. As soon as the order is shipped, the system automatically sends an e-mail confirmation to the orderer with the shipping information and a link right to the package status (if an express carrier is used).

    Benefits to your Administrators
  • You have immediate access to the order, shipping, and inventory systems, and can query reports and check data any time of day, to fit into your busy schedule. You can check on the status of your inventory any time with a 24/7 view into the system. You and the system administrators have on-demand status of orders, inventory, and activity, and can check on trends, non-activity, material movement, and history in a real-time mode (see the Spotlight article for the standard report offerings)
  • You can have the data pretty much any way you want: you can query the system for a single instance, you can create reports in PDF, Excel, or Word to print out, e-mail to others, or to put into other programs and manipulate.
  • You can follow your thought train without going in and out of menus, because of the integration of all facets of the fulfillment process. You can get summary information and then drill down to get specifics on product detail, order history, material movement, etc.
  • You no longer have to constantly monitor your inventory levels to check if the material you are expecting has arrived, or if you are running out of stock. The system sends an automatic notification when a shipment of material arrives at our warehouse or an item has reached a certain threshold to remind you that you are getting low.



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