Sales overview
What the Sales module is for, who uses it, and how a sale moves from an offer to cash.
What Sales is for
Sales is where your company prepares offers for customers, turns accepted offers into orders, and sees each order through delivery, invoicing and any later return. It keeps prices, discounts, credit limits and approvals under control while the sale is still open, so that problems are caught before goods leave the warehouse or an invoice is issued.
Who uses it
- Salespeople prepare quotations, send them and record the customer's acceptance.
- Sales managers confirm orders, approve price exceptions asked for by others, and review reports.
- Warehouse staff validate deliveries in Inventory.
- Accounts staff raise, post and collect invoices and credit notes.
- Finance credit controllers approve credit overrides when a customer is over the limit.
- Administrators set up the module: invoicing policy, validity, discount limits, templates, reasons and commission plans.
The key ideas
- One record, two names. A quotation and a sales order are the same record. It is called a quotation while it is a draft and a sales order once you confirm it. The number (for example
SO-0001) does not change. - Stages. Quotation, Confirmed, Delivered, Closed. A record can also be Cancelled.
- Versions. When you send a quotation the system freezes that version. If you change it afterwards, a new version is made and the old link stops accepting.
- Delivery status and invoice status. Every order shows how much has been delivered (Nothing to deliver, To deliver, Partially delivered, Fully delivered) and how much has been invoiced (Nothing to invoice, To invoice, Partially, Fully, Over-invoiced).
- The order and its invoice are separate documents. The order is the promise; the invoice is the legal document that posts to the books. They are linked line by line.
- Second-person approval. Price exceptions, change orders that raise the value, and blanket agreement activation must be approved by someone other than the person who asked. Nobody approves their own work.
- Currency and tax. Sales documents are in AED. VAT is taken from each product, normally 5%.
How the sale flows
- Create and send a quotation (Create a quotation).
- The customer accepts by link, or you record the acceptance (Send a quotation and record acceptance).
- Prices are checked and exceptions approved (Price approvals).
- You confirm the order; the credit check runs (Confirm an order and handle credit holds).
- A draft delivery order is raised in Inventory and validated by the warehouse (Deliver an order).
- You invoice the order (Invoice an order). Posting, receipts and credit notes are covered in the Billing documentation.
How it connects to other modules
| Module | What Sales reads | What Sales creates |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts and Catalogue | Customers, products, VAT rates, prices, cost | New customers through quick create |
| Pricing | Price lists and quantity breaks | None |
| Inventory | Stock on hand, warehouses, delivery results | Delivery orders, return requests |
| Finance | Credit limits, credit overrides, payment terms | Customer invoices and credit notes (journals post when they are posted) |
| Administration | Companies, branches, roles, field settings | Audit entries for every change |
For invoices, receipts and recurring contracts see Billing overview.