Order to Cash
Executing the order, invoicing it, and collecting the cash.
Workflow
- 01Order to Fulfil
- 02Fulfil to Invoice
- 03Invoice to Cash
If you change this
It implies 6 topics across 3 modules, including Customer Relationship Management and Supply Chain Management which you might not expect.
See the path ahead →Why it matters
Order to Cash is where a sale becomes revenue. It runs mostly outside CRM — in supply chain, billing and receivables — which is precisely why it gets neglected by projects scoped as CRM implementations.
The three sub-stages
- 01
Order to Fulfil
Order entry, availability, allocation, picking and packing, shipping and delivery.
- 02
Fulfil to Invoice
Delivery confirmation, billing document creation, invoice generation and revenue recording.
- 03
Invoice to Cash
Invoice transmission, payment tracking, receipt application, collections and clearing.
Each boundary between these three is a place where a document can exist in one system and not the other. Delivered but not invoiced, and invoiced but not collected, are the two balances worth watching weekly.
What you need in place
- One order record: The order the customer placed, visible to sales, warehouse and finance alike.
- Clean handovers: Defined triggers between sub-stages, so nothing waits on someone noticing.
- Revenue recognition policy: When revenue is recognised, agreed with finance and configured accordingly.
- Exception handling: Short shipments, returns and disputes have a defined path rather than an email chain.
Metrics and KPIs to track
Order-to-cash cycle time
Elapsed time from order to cash received.
Perfect order rate
Orders delivered complete, on time, undamaged and correctly invoiced.
Delivered not invoiced
Value delivered but not yet billed.
Days sales outstanding
Average days to collect after invoicing.
Covers
Alongside this