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If you're brand-new to Orderbot, you might be tempted to jump straight into features such as ordering. But if you have not completed your setup, you'll come across roadblocks: for example, if you have not yet set up your products, there will be nothing available to order. You also cannot set up customers until you have an order guide template to assign to them.

Follow along with the steps of this guide to set up everything so that you can get started using Orderbot. Each section contains links to guides that cover these topics in more detail.

If you still find yourself lost, please email support@orderbot.com with any questions.

Products Setup

Step 1 - Product Classes - Go to Products > Product Management > Product Classes and set up your Sales Class, Inventory Class, and/or Assembly Class, depending on your needs.

Step 2 - Product Structure - Go to Products > Product Management > Product Structure and set up the categories and groups that your products will belong to.

Step 3 - Product Tags - Go to Prefs > Product Setup > Product Tags if you wish to set up 'tags' that you can use to filter your products when placing orders. This step is optional, but recommended if you have a large number of products.

Step 4 - Product Variables - If you are going to set up parent-child products, go to Prefs > Product Setup > Manage Product Variables. Once you have set these up, you can create child products on the profile of any product set to 'parent.'

Optional Step 4b - Add Custom Units of Measurement - Orderbot is pre-populated with units of measurement such as 'each, package, and Lbs.' If none of our current options meet your needs, add your own custom units.

Step 5 - Setting Up 1 to 1 Products - If your sales unit is the same as your inventory unit, use these resources to guide you through creating a 1:1 Bill of Material. If you're planning to use a purchase unit, you'll need to set up your purchase categories as well.

Step 6 - Setting Up 1 to Many Products - If your selling unit consists of multiple inventory units, use this resource to guide you through creating your products:

Step 7 - Product Pricing - Once you've set up your products, you will need to give them pricing in an Order Guide before they'll show up on the orderpad. Go to Products > Product Management > Order Guide Templates to create a new order guide or to edit an existing one.

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Sales Rep Setup

Step 1 - Sales Reps - Go to Prefs > Customer Setup > Manage Sales Rep to add or edit sales reps and groups.

Step 2 - Sales Rep Commission - Set up sales rep commissions on multiple levels: individual sales reps, customer, or product.

Step 3 - Assigning Sales Reps to Territories - Go to Prefs > Customer Setup > Sales Territories. Assign a sales rep to a specific state or country, so that any orders placed in those territories will be assigned to this rep by default. This step is optional.

Step 4 - Reassigning Sales Reps - Go to Prefs > Customer Setup > Manage SalesRep Customers to re-assign a sales rep from one customer to another.

Step 5 - Creating Users - Go to Prefs > Users to set up your sales rep as a new user within Orderbot. Note that if you're on the per-user model, this page will not be available to you.

Step 6 - CRM Setup - Go to Prefs > CRM Settings to set up CRM statuses, actions, and variables. Go to Customers > CRM Notes for other CRM functions.

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Shipping and Tax Settings

Step 1 - Distribution Centers - Go to Prefs > System Setup > Shipping and Tax Settings > Distribution Centers and add at least one distribution centre.

Step 2 - Shipping Methods - Go to Prefs > System Setup > Shipping and Tax Settings > Shipping Methodsand activate your shipping methods for the new distribution center you created. Select a default shipping method. Check that you have methods available for domestic/international customers or for front-end/back-end uses, depending on your needs.

Step 3 - Shipping Boxes - Go to Prefs > System Setup > Shipping Box to set up your default shipping boxes.

Step 4 - Shipping Charges - Go to Prefs > System Setup > Shipping and Tax Settings > Shipping Chargesand create a shipping charge for each sales channel and distribution center that you plan to use.

Step 5 - Shipping Destinations - Go to Prefs > System Setup > Shipping and Tax Settings > Shipping Destinations to activate the distribution centers and shipping charges that you added in previous steps. (Do this for each country that you plan to ship to.)

Step 6 - Shipping Tab - Go to Customers > Manage Customers, search for a customer that you created earlier and click Order. You will see the results of your settings on the 'Shipping Tab.'

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Customer Setup

Step 1 - Customer Setup - Go to Customers > New Customer to create a new account (bill to address) and customer (ship to address).

Step 2 - Add Customers to an Existing Account - Go to Customers > New Customer and use the 'existing account' link to search for the account you would like to use.

Step 3 - Customer Search - Once you've entered your customers, go to Customers > Manage Customers find them. Click the 'order' button beside them to place orders.

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Preferences

Preferences - Go to Prefs > System Setup > Site Settings. There are a couple settings that will need to be completed (e.g. Company info, currency, and invoice settings) We recommending watching both of the training videos, as well as reading the relevant guides, before changing any of these settings.

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Order Management

Step 1 - Placing an Order - Go to Customers > Manage Customers, do a search, and click on the Orderbutton next to your customer.

Step 2 - Managing Orders - Go to Orders > View Orders or Fulfillment > Manage Shipping. On this page, you can search for orders or send them to your warehouse, if you already have an integration.

Step 3 - Coupons - Go to Prefs > Order Setup > Coupon Codes to set up discount coupons to be used on orders.

Step 4 - Returns and Credits - Go to Orders > View Orders and search for your order. Click its order ID to bring up the order detail page, where you can click the return option. This option will only appear for shipped orders.

Step 5 - Applying Payments - Go to Customers > Manage Customers, search for your customer, and click on their account name. Click on the 'Accounting' tab on the account (billing) profile–not the 'accounting' link on your top menu. On this page, you can apply payments by ticking the checkbox next to an order and clicking the Apply Payment button.

Step 6 - Overpayments - If you ever overpay an order or edit a paid order so that the order total is less than the original payment on it, it will create an overpayment credit for the difference. This credit can be applied to an order or cleared to the customer.

Step 7 - Direct Credits - Go to Customers > Manage Customers, search for your customer, and click on their account name. Click on the 'Accounting' tab on the account (billing) profile–not the 'accounting' link on your top menu. Click on the 'Credits' tab and click 'Add Credit' to create one.

Step 8 - Refunds - Go to Customers > Manage Customers, search for your customer, and click on their account name. Click on the 'Accounting' tab of the account (billing) profile–not the 'accounting' link on your top menu. Find the order you would like to refund and click the red + sign.

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Purchase Orders

This section will not be applicable to you if you aren't using purchase orders (POs) to receive inventory from a vendor. For other options, please see our How To Guide on inventory management. You can also use Inventory Adjust or Count from CSV,which allows you to export and import inventory in the same format.

Step 1 - Creating Vendors - Go to Purchasing > Manage Vendors > Add Vendor and set up at least one vendor.

Step 2 - Creating Purchase Units - Check that you've already created your purchase categories at Purchasing > Manage Purchase Category. Once that step is done, go to Purchasing > Add Purchase Unit. You can also do this step while creating a 1:1 Bill of Material. See 'Products - Step 5' for more information.

Step 3 - Creating Purchase Orders - Go to Purchasing > Manage Vendors > View Vendors or Purchasing > Purchase Orders > New Purchase Order and search for one of the vendors you created in step 1. Click the Order button next to that vendor to open up the PO orderpad.

Step 4 - Receiving Purchase Orders - Go to Purchasing > Purchase Orders > View Purchase Orders to search for a PO that you created in step 3. Click box icon to open the receiving page.

Step 5 - Returning Goods to Vendor - Go to Purchasing > Purchase Order > New Purchase Order, search for your vendor, and click the Order button. You will make this PO in the same way as Step 3, except that your quantities will be negative.

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Accounting

Most accounting functions cannot be used until there are shipped orders in the system and information is available for exporting. Depending on the needs of your company, your internal process may also vary from the one we outline below. If you have any questions, please email support@orderbot.com.

Step 1 - Setting up Account Codes - Go to Prefs > Customer Setup > Daily Batch Code Setting.

Step 2 - Exporting the Daily Batch - Go to Accounting > Daily Batch and close the days you would like to export.

Step 3 - Cash Reconciliation with Daily Payments Report - Go to Accounting > Accounting Reports > Daily Payments

Step 4 - Cash Reconciliation between Orderbot and Authorize.net - Go to Accounting > Credit Card Reconciliation.

Step 5 - Monthly AR Report and Statements - Go to Accounting > Aged Accounts Receivables and search 'as of' a specific date.

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