Revenue Cycle
ABE’s sales department consists of seventeen full-time
and part-time employees. They receive orders via traditional
mail, e-mail, telephone, and the occasional walk-in.
Because ABE is a wholesaler, the vast majority of its business
is conducted on a credit basis. The process begins in
the sales department, where the sales clerk enters the customer’s
order into the centralized computer sales order
system. The computer and file server is housed in ABE’s
small data processing department.
If the customer has done business with ABE in the
past, his or her data are already on file. If the customer is
a first-time buyer, however, the clerk creates a new record in the customer file. The system then creates a record of
the transaction in the open sales order file. When the
order is entered, an electronic copy of it is sent to the
customer’s e-mail address as confirmation.