A customer e-mails their order form, the rep enters a reorder during a visit and a partner drops a file. The sales admin team has to find the same products, apply the right terms and avoid duplicates. B2B order-taking software has to connect those entry points to a workflow you can check all the way to delivery.
Which kind of order taking are we talking about?
A till system handles sales over the counter. A purchasing tool lets you issue orders to your own suppliers. Here we mean the orders your business customers place with your brand, with their prices, their addresses and their delivery terms.
The scope can cover entry in the field, a customer portal and imported partner files. Not every channel can be automated to the same degree: a structured file is not the same thing as a photo of a handwritten order. Ask for a description of the checks planned for each of them.
Measuring the sales admin workload
For one week, follow a representative sample. Separate active entry time, looking for information, correcting and waiting for an answer. Classify the errors by cause: customer identity, product reference, pack size, price or duplicate.
For the error rate, define what you are counting. “20 orders corrected out of 100” does not mean that 20% of the lines are wrong. Separate a missing detail fixed before sending from an error that led to a credit note or a reshipment.
Describing each entry channel
- →Field and portal: a shared catalogue, an identified account and the rules that apply at the moment of approval.
- →E-mail and telephone: a named person responsible for qualifying the order, and a trace of the original document or agreement.
- →Files: format, drop location, frequency, line checks and behaviour if the file arrives twice.
- →EDI and API: identifiers, product mappings, acknowledgements and recovery after an error.
An order has to keep the identifier of its source. When a partner resends a file, the software should recognise a repeat rather than create a second sale. Changing an order needs a rule too: replace the draft, create a new version, or correct after approval.
Applying terms that stay explainable
Document the price excl. VAT, the units, the discounts, the thresholds, the free goods and the charges. State the validity dates and the rules for combining them. The sales admin team should be able to explain the total without rebuilding the calculation in a spreadsheet. A commercial exception has to name who approved it.
Today’s catalogue price must not silently rewrite an order already placed. Keep the terms applied at approval, and set out how you treat an offline order whose price changed before it synced.
Checking what happens after the order
Into invoicing
The approved order has to pass on the right customer and the right lines. It does not necessarily become an invoice straight away: delivery, a deposit or a check may come first, depending on your process. Decide which system is authoritative for customers, products and prices; not every connection works in both directions.
Into logistics
The picker needs identifiable product references, quantities, an address and instructions they can act on. In return, the sales admin team needs to know about acceptance, dispatch or a hold. Stock availability shown with a delay is not a reservation: have that difference spelled out.
When something is rejected
Simulate an unknown customer or a product the receiving system does not recognise. Check the alert, the owner, the correction and the retry. The workflow has to prevent a second transmission after a timeout or a network error.
- Entry
Receive the request from the field, the portal or a partner.
- Checks
Verify customer, product references, quantities and terms.
- Transmission
Pass the approved order to the invoicing and logistics tools.
- Status back
Track acceptance, dispatch, back orders and corrections.
Whether a connector exists, and what it actually exchanges, has to be confirmed.
Telling an available connection from a project to plan
Salesia has connections to Sellsy and Pennylane for invoicing and to eLogik for logistics, among others. The exact scope for your own flow has to be confirmed against your data and your versions. A partner having an API does not mean a complete integration already exists.
For each link, ask: the direction of the exchange, the objects transmitted, the frequency, the limits and the error handling. Get the development work written into the quote and the schedule. A roadmap stays an intention until the flow has been tested.
The link with electronic invoicing
Order data feeds the invoice, but a sales tool is not an approved platform. Checks and corrections before issuing remain possible. The reform makes it particularly useful to separate the company being invoiced, the establishment being delivered and the terms of the transaction.
The DGFiP, the French tax authority, sets out the timetable for entry into force (French): receiving in 2026, issuing in 2026 for large companies and mid-caps, then in 2027 for the small and micro businesses concerned. Our guide to electronic invoicing sets out the checks in detail.
The test script to ask for in a demonstration
Have them process a simple order, an offer with a threshold, a repeated submission, a lost connection and a partial delivery. Compare the amounts and identifiers at every step. The right outcome is an order that the customer, the rep, the sales admin team and the picker can all understand and trace.
Follow your orders end to end
Bring a few order forms and your commercial terms: we will put together a demonstration covering the checks and the handover to your other tools.
To make that foundation reliable, start with the product catalogue data: units, pack sizes and versions.
Frequently asked questions
- What is B2B order-taking software for?
- It records and checks orders from business customers, with their catalogue, their terms and their addresses. Depending on the scope, it brings several channels together and passes the orders on to invoicing and logistics.
- What should you check in an integration?
- The objects exchanged, the direction of the exchange, the frequency, the code mappings and the recovery after an error. Test a rejection and a retry: an order sent twice must not create two sales.
- Does an approved order become an invoice straight away?
- Not necessarily. Invoicing depends on the process you have chosen, in particular delivery, deposits and checks. An integration has to respect those steps and make the statuses visible.
By Anatole Briant
By Pierre Lerebours
By Pierre Lerebours
COO of Salesia
Pierre Lerebours is COO of Salesia. He is your contact for implementation, training and ongoing support.