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Order-to-Cash (O2C) process

Sample document

Written to show how I document an end-to-end business process across integrated enterprise applications. It mirrors the structure of my real process documentation at Nutanix, with company-specific details made generic for confidentiality.

Item Details
Process owner Finance Operations
Systems CRM (Salesforce), Integration platform (Boomi), ERP (NetSuite), Billing (Zuora)
Audience Business analysts, developers, finance users, new joiners
Version 2.1 · Published
Approvers Process owner, lead business analyst
Last reviewed Quarterly

Overview

Order-to-Cash covers everything from the moment a customer's order is booked to the moment payment is received and applied. At Acme Corp, the process spans four systems. This document explains each stage, who owns it, which system holds the record of truth, and how data moves between systems.

Scope

In scope: booked orders for subscription and one-time products, invoicing, payment collection and cash application.

Out of scope: quoting and approvals (see Campaign-to-Order), returns and credit memos (see Issue-to-Resolution).

Process flow

flowchart TD
    A[Order booked<br/>CRM] --> B[Order sync<br/>Integration platform]
    B --> C[Sales order created<br/>ERP]
    C --> D{Product type?}
    D -- Subscription --> E[Subscription created<br/>Billing]
    D -- One-time --> F[Fulfilment<br/>ERP]
    E --> G[Invoice generated]
    F --> G
    G --> H[Invoice sent to customer]
    H --> I[Payment received]
    I --> J[Cash applied<br/>ERP]
    J --> K[Order closed]

Roles and responsibilities

Role Responsibility
Sales operations Books the order in CRM and confirms customer, pricing and billing details
Integration support Monitors order sync jobs and resolves failed transactions
Order management Validates the sales order in ERP and releases it for fulfilment
Billing team Creates subscriptions, generates and sends invoices
Accounts receivable Records payments, applies cash and follows up on overdue invoices

RACI

Activity Sales ops Integration support Order management Billing Accounts receivable Finance controller
Book order in CRM R/A I I I
Monitor and fix order sync C R/A I
Validate and release sales order C R/A I
Create subscription and invoice C R/A I
Apply cash and chase overdue invoices I C R A

R Responsible · A Accountable · C Consulted · I Informed – see the glossary.

Process stages

1. Order booking

  1. Sales operations marks the opportunity as Closed Won in CRM.
  2. CRM validates that the account has a billing contact, payment terms and a tax ID.
  3. The order is set to Ready to Sync.

Common issue

Orders without a billing contact fail validation and stay in Draft. Ask the account owner to add the contact before resubmitting.

2. Order sync

  1. The integration platform picks up Ready to Sync orders every 15 minutes.
  2. It maps CRM fields to ERP fields (see Field mapping).
  3. On success, the CRM order shows the ERP sales order number. On failure, an alert goes to the integration support queue.

3. Sales order and fulfilment

  1. Order management reviews the sales order in ERP.
  2. One-time products are released for fulfilment; subscription products are sent to the billing system.

4. Invoicing

  1. The billing system generates invoices on the billing schedule (monthly, quarterly or annual).
  2. Invoices are emailed to the billing contact and posted to ERP.

5. Payment and cash application

  1. Accounts receivable records incoming payments in ERP.
  2. Payments are matched to open invoices. Unmatched payments go to the Unapplied Cash queue for review.
  3. When all invoices are paid, the order status changes to Closed.

Field mapping

CRM field ERP field Notes
Account Name Customer Must match an existing customer record
Order Number External ID Used to prevent duplicate orders
Billing Contact Bill-To Contact Required
Payment Terms Terms Net 30 by default
Order Line – Product Code Item Must exist in the ERP item master

Controls and KPIs

  • Order sync success rate – target 99% of orders synced on first attempt
  • Invoice accuracy – no manual corrections after sending
  • Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) – tracked monthly by accounts receivable