Renewal of order management and invoicing processes in a global project-based firm
Roitto, Julia (2018)
2018
Tuotantotalous
Talouden ja rakentamisen tiedekunta - Faculty of Business and Built Environment
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2018-08-15
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tty-201808142102
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tty-201808142102
Tiivistelmä
Order management and invoicing is an important part of order fulfillment process. This is because customer order is recognized as one of the main ways to transfer information between functions and organizations within a supply chain. In order to manage the orders and invoicing efficiently, organization must know special requirements of all order types. The objective of this study is to introduce all different order management and invoicing processes in a global project-based firm and present various ways to improve the processes. The renewal of processes is made to overcome current challenges in the processes and to serve the customers better.
This thesis was conducted as a single case study in a global project-based firm that develops and delivers automation systems, products and services to pulp, paper and energy industries. The qualitative data was collected by interviewing 12 order processors and by observing the work of project order management and invoicing team. The data analysis was performed by drawing process graphs, comparing different order types in a summary table and generalizing differences into general process.
Based on the current state analysis, a project-based firm can have truly diverse and varying order management and invoicing processes depending on the order type. These processes cannot be merged together, but all of them include four phases (receiving, entering, invoicing and closing) from which order entry is the most significant one. The main challenges a global project-based firm faces in order management and invoicing relate to the complexity and variety of different global orders. This thesis provides a road map for the target company to address these challenges with suggestions for improvement relating to enterprise resource management systems but also beyond it. The organization can improve its processes by re-categorizing order types, standardizing processes and centralizing order management and invoicing tasks, and by improving the coordination with functions. In addition, the company should provide new and updated instructions that match also the conducted improvements.
This thesis was conducted as a single case study in a global project-based firm that develops and delivers automation systems, products and services to pulp, paper and energy industries. The qualitative data was collected by interviewing 12 order processors and by observing the work of project order management and invoicing team. The data analysis was performed by drawing process graphs, comparing different order types in a summary table and generalizing differences into general process.
Based on the current state analysis, a project-based firm can have truly diverse and varying order management and invoicing processes depending on the order type. These processes cannot be merged together, but all of them include four phases (receiving, entering, invoicing and closing) from which order entry is the most significant one. The main challenges a global project-based firm faces in order management and invoicing relate to the complexity and variety of different global orders. This thesis provides a road map for the target company to address these challenges with suggestions for improvement relating to enterprise resource management systems but also beyond it. The organization can improve its processes by re-categorizing order types, standardizing processes and centralizing order management and invoicing tasks, and by improving the coordination with functions. In addition, the company should provide new and updated instructions that match also the conducted improvements.