Order Handling Agent

Handles quoting, credit checks, and order confirmation from inquiry to committed delivery date.

Overview

Handles the quote-to-order workflow across sales and delivery operations: generating customer quotes, assessing credit standing, converting accepted quotes into sales orders, and committing delivery dates based on stock, capacity, and historical order patterns.

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The Order Handling Agent operates across the quote-to-order cycle, covering customer inquiry handling, credit assessment, order creation, and delivery date commitment. It reads current pricing, stock levels, and margin policy to prepare quotes in the standard template and send them to customers. On order receipt, it evaluates payment history, outstanding balances, and external credit data to assign a credit status (Approved, Review, or Hold) to the customer or order record, and routes Review cases to finance with the relevant context. It converts accepted quotes into sales orders in the ERP, then computes commit dates by querying capacity load, long-lead component availability, bill-of-materials structure, and historical project performance, reserving capacity and generating material demand where applicable. Where a requested date cannot be met, it identifies and escalates the specific constraints that would need to change.

KPI it moves

  • +2–5 pts

    OTIF

    More orders ship complete and on time.

  • +50–70 pts

    Order touchless rate

    Half to two-thirds of standard orders are quoted and confirmed without sales involvement.

What it does

  • Generates quotes from customer inquiries

    Looks up current pricing, stock levels, and margin thresholds in the ERP, then prepares the quote in the standard template and sends it to the customer.

  • Checks credit before orders are accepted

    Reads payment history and outstanding balances from accounts receivable, supplements with external bureau data where available, and writes a status of Approved, Review, or Hold to the customer or order record, routing Review cases to finance with supporting context.

  • Converts accepted quotes to sales orders

    Writes the confirmed sales order into the ERP, reserves capacity, and generates material demand against the BOM where applicable.

  • Commits delivery dates against real constraints

    Queries capacity load, long-lead component availability, BOM structure, and comparable past project performance to compute the earliest date the business can meet, then confirms it to the customer.

  • Escalates when requested dates cannot be met

    Identifies the specific capacity or material constraints blocking a requested delivery date and sends those details to the relevant team with enough context to act.

How it works

  1. Trigger 1

    Customer quote request lands in queue

    A customer submits a pricing inquiry via email, EDI, or CRM portal; the request arrives with the items, quantities, and any target delivery date specified.

  2. Trigger 2

    Customer returns an accepted quote

    A customer confirms an open quote, triggering the credit check, order-entry, and delivery-commitment sequence.

  3. Step 1

    Build and issue the customer quote

    Reads current list prices, customer-specific pricing agreements, and margin thresholds from the ERP or pricing tool (e.g. Vendavo, Pricefx), and checks available stock against the requested quantities. Verifies that the proposed price sits within margin policy before preparing the quote in the standard template. Sends the completed quote to the customer via email or integrated CRM.

  4. Step 2

    Assess credit standing and gate order entry

    Reads the customer's payment history and outstanding balances from the accounts-receivable module in the ERP, and supplements with external credit bureau data (e.g. Dun and Bradstreet, Creditsafe) where configured. Writes a credit status of Approved, Review, or Hold to the customer or order record. Routes Review cases to finance with the full supporting context, covering payment history, open balance, and bureau data, so the finance team can decide whether to release the order before any capacity is reserved.

  5. Step 3

    Convert quote to sales order and commit a delivery date

    Writes the confirmed sales order into the ERP and queries capacity load, long-lead component availability, BOM structure, and comparable past project performance to compute the earliest date the business can realistically meet. Where historical demand patterns warrant, treats non-pegged demand as pegged and extends capable-to-promise horizons to additional item classes. Reserves capacity and generates material demand against the BOM, then confirms the commit date to the customer. Where the requested date cannot be met, identifies the specific capacity or material constraints that block it and escalates those details to the relevant planning or operations team with enough context to act.

  6. Step 4

    Validate batch selection and traceability across the fulfillment chain

    For each order line, selects picking batches using the applicable rules: expiry date, customer-specific batch requirements, and regulatory traceability obligations. Checks that picked batches, shipped quantities, and invoiced amounts agree across the distribution and transfer chain, and corrects any misalignments in distribution or transfer orders before they break the committed delivery date.

  7. Resolution

    Order confirmed, capacity reserved, traceability validated

    The sales order is written into the ERP with a committed delivery date, reserved capacity, and generated material demand against the BOM. Batch selection for each line is validated against traceability requirements, and picked, shipped, and invoiced quantities agree across the fulfillment chain.

Why it matters

  • Orders confirmed in minutes, not days

    so that customers get a confirmed date and don't have to start chasing.

  • Delivery dates grounded in real constraints

    so that the date given to the customer reflects actual capacity, material availability, and historical performance rather than a best guess, cutting the late deliveries and customer-service recovery work that follow an overcommitted date.

  • Credit risk contained before capacity is allocated

    so that finance exposure is identified at the point of order entry, not after a production slot has been reserved or goods have shipped.

What it needs

Read/write access to the ERP
Connects to the ERP (e.g. Infor LN/M3/CloudSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365, IFS Cloud, or SAP S/4HANA) to read customer records, open quotes, stock levels, lead times, production constraints, BOM data, and capacity load. Writes back credit status, confirmed sales orders, reserved capacity, and generated material demand. Without this connection the agent cannot convert quotes, set delivery dates, or update order records.
Customer credit and payment data
Reads payment history and outstanding balances from the ERP accounts-receivable module, supplemented by an external credit bureau feed where available (e.g. Dun and Bradstreet, Creditsafe). Used to compute credit status and populate the escalation context sent to finance. Without this data the credit check produces no output and order processing cannot be gated.
Pricing and margin policy access
Reads current list prices, customer-specific pricing agreements, and margin thresholds from the ERP or a dedicated pricing tool (e.g. Vendavo, Pricefx). Required to validate quote margins against policy before a quote is issued. Without it the agent cannot confirm whether a proposed price is within acceptable bounds.
Outbound customer communication channel
Sends quotes and order confirmations to customers via email or an integrated CRM (e.g. Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales). Also routes escalation notifications to finance for credit review cases. Without an outbound channel, completed quotes and confirmations remain internal and customers receive no response.
Order Handling Agent — Riff