Legacy platform

Converting a quote to an order

Sterling™ Field Sales enables a user to convert a quote to an order after the quote is accepted by a customer. After a user clicks the Convert to Order related task, Sterling Field Sales verifies whether the addresses in the quote are valid or not.

Scenario

After a customer accepts a quote in its current form, a Field Sales Representative may want to convert the quote to an order.

Solution

Sterling Field Sales enables a user to convert a quote to an order after the quote is accepted by a customer. After a user clicks the Convert to Order related task, Sterling Field Sales verifies whether the addresses in the quote are valid or not, as follows:

  • If the IsAddressVerified flag is passed as Y for the Bill To address and the Ship To address in the quote, the getCompleteOrderDetails API is called to retrieve the details of the quote to be displayed in the Convert to Order screen.
  • If the IsAddressVerified flag is passed as N for the Bill To address and the Ship To address in the quote, the verifyAddress API is called to verify whether the address is a valid address or not.
    • If the address verification succeeds, the addresses are saved to the quote and the getCompleteOrderDetails API is called to retrieve the details of the quote to be displayed in the Convert to Order screen.
    • If the address verification fails, the Quote Details screen is displayed. The user must make the required changes to the addresses that have failed verification to proceed with the task of converting the quote to an order. If the status modification rules are configured to not allow modifications to a quote in the Accepted status, the user must rework the quote to make the necessary changes.

Sterling Field Sales also verifies whether the items or the item quantity in the quote is valid for the quote. The validateItemsForOrdering API is called to validate the items in a quote.

A user can either perform the necessary modifications in the Convert to Order screen or proceed with the conversion without making any modifications. If the user clicks Confirm without performing any modifications, the createOrderFromQuote API is called to create an order for the quote based on the attributes defined in the Default From Quote template.

A user can perform the following modifications in the Convert to Order screen:

  • Add a payment method
  • Modify the amount to be charged
  • Delete a payment method
  • Add a note

When converting a quote to an order, a user can specify one or more payment methods to be used to pay for the order and the amount to be charged to the payment methods. In the Payment Method dialog box, the user can either select an existing payment method available for the customer or create a new payment method. The user can also select an existing payment method and modify its details to create a new payment method.

The following APIs are called when a user adds a payment method to a quote:

API Purpose
getCustomerDetails To retrieve the payment methods that are available for the customer for whom the quote has been created. This API is also called to retrieve the list of additional addresses for a customer that are displayed if the user selects a payment method of the Credit Card payment type.
getPaymentTypeList To retrieve the list of payment types available for the enterprise for which the quote has been created. This API is called to retrieve the values to be displayed in the Payment Type drop-down list.
getCommonCodeList To retrieve the common codes for credit card types and credit card expiration months. The credit card types are stored as common codes with CREDIT_CARD_TYPE as the code type. The credit card expiration months are stored as common codes with MONTHS as the code type.
createAccessToken To create the session token that is passed to the payment validation system to process the credit card numbers and stored value card numbers. This API is called only when a user adds a payment method of the Credit Card or Store Value Card payment type.

The payment validation system is any application that integrates with the Sterling Field Sales IBM® Sterling Order Management System to ensure that credit card numbers and stored value card numbers are secure by tokenization. Before the payment validation system processes any credit card number or stored value card number, it validates with the ç Sterling Order Management System whether the session token that has been passed to it is valid. This enables the ç Sterling Order Management System to achieve Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS) compliance.

After adding a payment method to a quote, a user can delete the payment method. Additionally, a user can modify the amount to be charged to a customer's credit card or customer account. A user can also add notes before converting a quote to an order. For more information about adding notes, refer to the topic Adding and viewing a note.

After the user makes the necessary modifications and clicks Confirm in the Payment Method window, the changeOrder API is called to add the payment information to the quote. The createOrderFromQuote API is called to create an order for the quote by copying the information from the quote to the order, based on the attributes defined in the "Default From Quote" template in the Applications Manager. The changeOrder API is then called to associate the reservation records to the newly created order. The application shows the Order ID of the newly created order indicating the successful creation of order and consumption of inventory reservation.

Note: If you want the shipping method to be set automatically on an order when it is converted from a quote, it is recommended that you implement a service that sets the shipping method based on the level of service. This service can be invoked after the order is successfully created.

End-user impact

When a user adds a credit card payment method to a quote, the user can enter the name of the credit card holder in a single box or two boxes based on the configuration.

Implementation

This section explains the configurations for this functionality:

  • You can configure the Use A Single Input Field For When Entering The Name On Card Information On A Credit Card In the User Interface rule to enable users to enter the name of the credit card holder in a single box or two boxes.
  • The payment validation system must be configured to enable a user to add payment methods of the Credit Card and Stored Value Card payment types. For more information, refer to the documentation of your payment validation system.
  • You can define the attributes that should be copied when converting a quote to an order in the Default From Quote template in the Applications Manager.
  • The notes entered when a user converts a quote to an order are saved in the order using the SAA_CONVERTED_TO_ORDER note type.