An Order Management System (OMS) is software used by many industries to enter and manage the order processing. The OMS normally would be an integrated system supporting the order entry, order management and order delivery. Preferably this should be a centralized system with on-line updates, so that customers, sales representative, delivery agents are all accessing and updating a single system and up-to-date information is available to all.

The orders could come from multiple sources, viz. customer call, fax, e-mail, EDI, mobile device (salesmen carrying a mobile device), internet etc. Order Management would involve: Order search, customer search, order modification, approval, cancellation, order copy, product search, product substitutes etc.

There could be multiple delivery mechanism viz. Door to Sales, 3PL, External Carrier, Customer Pick-up etc.

Another common use of order management software is by eCommerce and Catalog companies. This software facilitates entering of an order, whether via a web-site shopping cart or a data entry system (for orders received via phone and mail). It typically captures Customer Proprietary Information and Account Level information. Credit Verification or Payment processing is done to check for validity and/or availability of funds. Once entered, valid orders are processed for warehouse fulfillment, such as picking / packing / shipping.

Typical Features of an Order Management System

1. Marketing Information (Catalogs, promotions, pricing)
2. Prospects
3. Vendors (Purchasing and Receiving)
4. Customer Information & Search (Names, addresses, order history, preferences, product catalog, pricing, taxing, credits, promotions, customer bill-to, ship-to, alternate ship-to, support for customer hierarchy etc.)
5. Product Information & Search (description, attributes detail, inventory information (local warehouse / remote warehouse locations, quantities, product substitutions, complimentary items, product kits/ groupings)
6. Pricing (rules based: list, cost-up, list-down, specific and general contract, discount, promotion, best price comparison and item/group column/volume)
7. Taxing (Order level or line level jurisdictional sales tax)
8. Billing Terms
9. Credit limit management
10. Order Entry (Sales Order, Quotes, Credit Memos, Special Orders, through EDI)
11. Customer Order History
12. Customer Order Rules and Preferences
13. Order Processing (Selection, Printing, Picking, Packing)
14. Order Delivery (Multiple shipping methods: external carrier, customer pick up, 3PL etc.)
15. Customer Service (Returns & Refunds)
16. Ability to mass update, duplicate orders etc.
17. Data Analysis and Reporting
18. Integration with other required systems like Finance Systems for GL / AP / AR, Warehouse systems for inventory, Logistics Systems for Delivery, Sales Force Automation systems etc.
19. Integration with mobile devices / internet

Typical Non-Functional Features of an Order Management System

1. User friendly interfaces
2. Adequate security features
3. Adequate Help and documentation