Example 2: Best Way at Order Entry Time

A user, such as a CSR, can enter a sales order in PeopleSoft Order Management and then request freight charges from the external third-party freight system. The third-party system responds immediately giving the CSR the freight charges.

Note:

This example assumes that the PeopleSoft system and the third-party freight provider have been properly set up to accomplish this method of freight calculation.

The following diagram illustrates the business process flow of a best way integration using the PeopleSoft external third-party freight feature.

Best way business process flow from PeopleSoft Order Management

  1. The CSR answers the phone and takes the customer's order. The sales order is entered directly into the Order Entry Form component while the customer is on the phone. The CSR saves the component and one or more delivery IDs are automatically created based on the delivery key configuration for the ship-from business unit on the sales order schedules.

  2. The CSR requests freight charges on the Order Entry Form component. The freight request page appears, where the CSR can choose the best-way option to allow the system to find the best freight and assign it to the deliveries for the order. The request is sent to the third-party freight provider by means of the PeopleSoft Integration Broker. The Integration Broker uses a synchronous service operation to send out the deliveries to the third-party freight provider. In this example, least cost was selected as the best way option at the business unit level. The deliveries created for the sales order are sent out on the freight request transaction.

  3. The third-party freight provider responds to the transaction request and returns only one freight choice per delivery ID based on least cost to the customer.

  4. The CSR can optionally view the delivery IDs and the assigned carrier, scheduled ship date, and freight amount for the sales order.

  5. When the freight choices are assigned to the deliveries, the appropriate carrier is assigned to the sales order demand and schedule line and the communicated ship date from the third-party response is used to set the scheduled ship date on the demand and sales order schedules associated with the deliveries.