Order management software
Order management ranges from purchasing through to delivery to the customer. Order management software ensures that data is entered once, at the time of the order, and that each subsequent document carries over the previous one without being transcribed.
In brief
What order management software does for you
Single entry
The data is entered at the time of order. The quote, the note, the invoice and the credit note pull through what already exists, without anyone having to recopy a reference or an address.
The following stock
The dispatch note and the delivery note update the stock as soon as they are recorded. The stock is no longer just a reflection of the previous day.
The weights and the tare
The number of orders, the number of items and the weight of the products are kept, along with the gross and net weights and the calculation of the tare.
Both directions
Purchase orders are automated on both the purchasing and sales sides. What you order from your suppliers follows the same path as what your customers order from you.
The real cost
The cost of an order re-entered three times
An order rarely involves just a single document. There is the quote, the purchase order, the dispatch note, the delivery note, the invoice. When these documents live in separate files, the same reference is typed out five times, and it only takes a single mistake for the entire chain to be wrong.
The error isn't noticed at the time of entry. It's noticed at delivery, when the customer receives three parts instead of four. It's noticed on the invoice, when the amount doesn't match the signed quote. It's noticed at stock-take, when the displayed inventory doesn't match the warehouse.
The time spent re-entering data is never the real cost. The real cost is the time spent finding out which of the five versions is telling the truth.
No re-entry required
The documents that the software produces
In order management software, each document carries over the previous one. Data is entered only once, at the order stage.
Estimates, invoices and credit notes
Contact simplifies the creation of quotes, invoices and credit notes. An accepted quote becomes an invoice without anything needing to be copied out, meaning there is no possible discrepancy between what was promised and what is billed.
Purchase orders
Purchase orders are automated from existing documents, on both the buying and selling sides. The order incorporates the references, quantities and terms already recorded.
Gate passes and delivery notes
Goods issue and delivery are generated from the software and update the stock at the time they are recorded. No carry-forward needs to be done elsewhere.
Lesson plans
The automatic creation of picking slips avoids having to rebuild the list by hand before each dispatch. The warehouse worker works from an accurate list.
From quote to delivery, the complete chain
The value of order management software lies in the linking of documents, not in each one taken in isolation. A request arrives; it becomes a quote. The accepted quote becomes an order. The order generates a picking list, then a dispatch note, then a delivery note, then an invoice. At no point does anyone have to retype a reference.
This is what enables a team to stay in control of the entire supply chain rather than outsourcing it. You keep management in-house, and the time saved is reinvested into what generates value: quality, customer tracking and after-sales service.
What an invoice must contain
The content of an invoice is fixed by regulations, and the list is changing. Since 1st September 2026, four new mandatory details apply, including the customer's Siren number and the delivery address for goods when it differs from the billing address, as published by the Ministry of Economy. This is something to review with us regarding your setup rather than discovering it on an invoice that has already been sent.
Orders and stock move forward together
Stock management and order management are two views of the same movement. A recorded dispatch is both an order line fulfilled and one fewer part in the warehouse. As long as the two live in separate tools, one of the two is always wrong. This is why order management software keeps the stock in the same database.
Contact aligns the two. The inventory is automated, and the software calculates actual and theoretical stock levels. You therefore know what is available for the next order without having to go and count the shelves. The details of this section are on the page of the inventory management software.
The weight and the remnants
The software manages the entry of the number of orders and items ordered, as well as product weights, including gross and net weights and tare calculation. The tracking of site deliveries, dispatches and backorders makes it possible to know what remains outstanding on an ongoing project, item by item.
This is the point that determines the accuracy of a lengthy file. As long as the remainder is not followed up, the gap between what the screen shows and what was actually delivered grows from one order to the next. The page of construction equipment rental software Detail the case of construction sites.
Purchasing side: supplier orders and replenishment
An order management software that only looks at sales is only doing half the job. Contact automates purchase orders on both the buying and selling sides, and the purchasing module is part of the range just like the sales, rental and file modules.
Automatic stock updating prevents you from having surpluses compared to your actual needs, since your purchases align with stock changes rather than an estimate made from memory. Replenishment ceases to be a guesswork decision and becomes a matter of interpretation.
Suppliers live in the same database as customers, in Contact CRM. A purchase order, a notified delivery time and an observed delay are therefore recorded on the supplier's file, rather than in the inbox of the person who placed the order.
Depending on your activity
Contact is fully customisable according to your business. What the order management software needs to produce changes depending on what you sell, hire out or prepare.
Trading
Purchasing, sales, stock and barcodes in the same chain. The Trade Contact module covers sales, purchasing, stock and barcode management, along with import and export.
Equipment hire
The order becomes a reservation, and the issue slip becomes a scheduled departure. Contact Location manages the booking right through to invoicing, and the page of the equipment rental software Detail the schedule.
Events management
Equipment leaves in batches and has to be checked piece by piece, which gives preparation sheets and backorders a particular importance. The case is dealt with on the page of the event equipment rental management software.
Frequently asked questions about order management
Do you really have to re-enter it for every document?
No, and that is the main benefit of order management software. Each document follows on from the previous one: data is entered just once, at the order stage. The accepted quote becomes an invoice without anything having to be copied out again, and purchase orders are automated from existing documents.
Does the stock update automatically?
Yes. The goods issue slip and the delivery note update the stock at the time they are recorded, and that is what separates an order management software from a receipt book. The inventory is automated, and the software calculates actual and theoretical stock levels.
Does the software also manage supplier orders?
Yes. Purchase orders are automated on both the purchasing and sales sides, and the purchasing module is part of the range. Your purchases align with stock changes, which avoids surpluses relative to actual needs.
How do I know what is still owed on an order?
By monitoring inputs, outputs and site remainders. It shows, reference by reference, what has been delivered and what is still missing for an ongoing project.
Our products are billed by weight. Is that catered for?
The software manages product weights with gross and net weights and tare calculation, in addition to the number of orders and the number of pieces ordered. The figure follows the reference through to the delivery note.
Who prepares the list before dispatch?
Order preparation slips are created automatically. The list is not manually recompiled before each dispatch, which removes the most common source of error at this stage.
Mandatory invoice details are changing. What should you do?
The content of an invoice is determined by regulations, and the list changed on 1st September 2026. The best approach is to review together what your system currently produces, rather than discovering it on an invoice that has already been sent.
We have outsourced order management. Should we reverse it?
It’s a trade-off, not a rule. By taking management back in-house with dedicated software, you keep control over the entire supply chain and save on the service provider’s fees. How much time it requires depends on your volume, and that’s what needs to be costed out before making a decision.
Talk about your orders
The choice of an order management software is based on real-life cases, not on a list of features. Tell us how many orders you process per month, whether you sell, rent or both, and which documents you currently produce by hand. The full range is presented on the Contact software solutions.