Orders Workflow

The following notes apply to the "order system", i.e. customer/special/case orders - not purchase orders (although they may be involved).

Also see the "orders" extension docs for its API, and notes on the orders schema design.

Life Cycle

The order process can differ wildly between organizations. The following is to be considered a rough list of events which will probably occur throughout the life of a given order.

Initiation - All orders must start somewhere
Buyer Claim - Somehow it must be determined that a buyer will be purchasing product to fulfill the order (if needed).
Receiving - Somehow the product will arrive from the vendor.
Delivery - Somehow the product and the customer will be united.

Deviations

Things can always go unexpectedly. Below are some of the various ways in which an order might deviate from the normal life cycle:

Manual Updates - Sometimes you simply must override the workflow.
Purging - Sometimes orders may become stale and need to be purged.