Auto-Refresh Feature:
The order report automatically refreshes itself every 15 minutes
when first displayed. When you start working with the screen and/or modify any
screen settings, the refresh timer is disabled so it does not interfere with
your work. To re-enable the timer, click
the 'Management->Order' link on the control menu to the left of your screen.
The refresh timer value can be modified using the Admin Center
Wizard.
| Parameter Name | Description |
| Date Range |
Desired date range for the report (required, defaults to 'today'). |
| Status | Select the
transaction status (or 'No filter') for which you want the report
processed. If the 'no filter' option is selected, the report will display the order status in the rightmost column. Order statuses (in the order listed): - No Filter: Select all orders regardless of status. - All Valid Orders: (compound status: see paragraph below). - New: The order has been received. - Posted: The order has been posted and is in the fulfillment process. - Shipped: The order has been shipped. - Return/Refund: The order has been returned. - All 'Recoverable' Orders: (compound status: see paragraph below). - Abandoned: Items selected: The customer selected items but did not complete checkout. - Abandoned: Not sent: The customer completed checkout page but did not place the order. - Gateway Error: A gateway error occurred when processing the order. Either the credit card gateway did not respond or timed out or an unknown connectivity error occurred during transit or final processing. - Abandoned: Denied: The credit card was denied (applicable only when automatic processing is used). - System Error: A system error occurred. Contact your Service Provider for support. - Canceled: The order was canceled by a store administrator or operator. An entry in the system event log will be found with more information about the processing error. Two 'compound' statuses are available: - All Valid Orders: Includes new, posted & shipped orders. - All Recoverable Orders: Includes orders abandoned at final check-out, orders with processing errors, orders denied and orders for which a system error occurred. Caution: Orders currently in process on the web site may be listed as 'Abandoned' until they are finalized. To avoid confusion, do not attempt to recover orders that are too recent (current day, current hour). Recovering orders using the 'All Recoverable Orders' compound status: This filter includes: 1. All orders abandoned at the very last step of the check-out process. These orders are complete but were not submitted by the customer. In some cases, the customer simply forgot to complete the order. In other cases, the shipping costs may have been too high in proportion to the order amount. 2. All orders for which an error occurred during final processing. This include time-outs, users being kicked off-line, payment gateway errors, etc... 3. All orders for which the credit card processor denied the transaction for any reason (insufficient credit, wrong user name and/or address, internal gateway error, etc...). Whereas it is quite unlikely to recover orders denied for insufficient credit, it is quite possible to recover orders that have encountered processing problems or for which the user simply forgot to complete processing. As a matter of fact, customers will be very receptive when contacted as it shows that your company cares. This is a 'win-win' situation where the customer gets the merchandise they wanted and your company makes an additional sale. A good rule of thumb when trying to recover orders is the compare the 'abandoned' order amount to your average order amount. If the order amount is in the ballpark or higher, there is a fair chance that the order can be recovered. Low amount orders are usually abandoned because the shipping overhead would be too high. Important: When running a report listing 'recoverable' orders, make sure you always select a date range not including the current day. If you do so the report may return orders in the process of being placed as the system tracks order progress and marks them as 'abandoned' until they are completed (or really abandoned). Following these simple rules, you can make your e-commerce web site even more profitable and moreover show your customers that 'somebody is at the wheel' of your e-commerce web site. We recommend you run an 'Abandoned Orders' report at least once a week of more often if your order volume is heavy (again, always for a date range not including the current processing day). |
| Search For | In addition to
the date range, you may search the database for a specific order number or
for any order range by customer name, phone, e-mail address, country,
state or postal code. How to search: Select the desired search parameter and enter the desired value in the search field. When a search parameter is selected, the date range automatically expands to 30 days even when date range override is not used. You may also override the date range specified by clicking the 'Override Date Range' check box. In this case, all data available in the system will be searched. Date range override is applicable only when a search parameter is selected. This prevents the report from returning very large and unwieldy data sets. Search strategy: - Order Number: The system will attempt to find the customer corresponding to the order number (automatically overrides date range). - Customer ame: Linguistic approximation is used for name search to better help you find a specific customer, even without having a full name available. For example if you were looking for a customer named 'Holmes', the system will match the following names: 'Helms', 'Halms', 'Holis', etc... Dr Watson will not be found, however, until you specified 'Wat' or 'Wetsen'. ;-) - Customer hone: A 'left match' is performed (for example, '715-677' will locate all numbers starting with '715-677'). - Customer E-Mail: A 'left match' is performed (for example, 'John' will locate all e-mail addresses starting with 'John'). Note: in all searches above, the date range is used except for 'Order Number' search. - Ship-to Country: A 'left match' is performed (for example, 'US' will locate all 'bill-to' country codes starting with 'US'). - Ship-to State/Province: A 'left match' is performed (for example, 'CA' will locate all 'bill-to' state/province codes starting with 'CA'). - Ship-to Postal Code: A 'left match' is performed (for example, '90' will locate all 'bill-to' postal codes starting with '90'). Notes: - When applicable, a message displays the current search parameters above the report listing. - Searches are not case-sensitive. |
| Override Date Range | Check this box if you want the report to override the date range specified and search the entire database. This feature is active only when a search parameter is specified. |
| Screen Size | Use this selection box to select the number of records to display on one screen. Additional pages can be viewed by clicking the '>>' button. Clicking the '<<' button (when displayed) will take you one page back. If you select the 'Display All' option, the report also calculates and displays totals at the bottom of the page (defaults to '10'). The default display can be modified by your VAR to display a different number of rows or all the rows. |
'Data filters' are cumulative, in other words, if you specify a date range (required), a customer name and a status, the system will process only for the records matching ALL specified parameters. An exception to this rule is the 'order number search'. Since all order numbers are unique, the system will disregard all other specified parameters.
| Command Button | Action |
| Run | Runs the report. Click run to refresh the report after modifying report parameters. |
| Report | Generates a detailed order report. This report can be printed with each order appearing on a separate page. The report generated will be displayed in a 'pop-up' window. Each report includes a cover page displaying date/time, user name, batch number and selection parameters. To print the report, click 'File->Print' from the browser menu (or right-click on the document and select 'Print'). Explorer 5.x (and subsequent versions) can also preview the report by selecting 'Print Preview'. |
| Post | Posts the records currently displayed. Posted records will no longer show up in the 'New' order list. |
| >> | Next page. This button is displayed only if more data is available. |
| << | Previous page. This button is not displayed on the report's first page. |
| Cancel | Exit the screen. |
Detail Fields:
| Field Name | Description |
| Look-up Button |
The look-up button (magnifier icon) displayed to the left of the order list is used to drill-down to the order details page. The order details page allows order management actions such as entering shipping tracking numbers, canceling orders and processing returns. |
| Order | The order number. This is a unique order number assigned by the database. The order number sequence may not be continuous if status filters are used, since this number represents the record's sequential number in the database. |
| Customer | The customer
name (from the 'Billing Information' section). Clicking the customer name loads the customer information screen. However, the customer information cannot be modified. You must use the Management->Customer menu item to edit customer information. Note that billing & shipping information from the customer screen may differ from the order billing & shipping information. For example, the 'ship-to' address may be different and/or an alternate credit card number might have been used for a particular order. |
| Phone | The customer phone. |
| Customer e-mail address. | |
| Order Date/Time | Order date and time. Note that the date and time is the Web Server's date and time, not necessarily the user's local time. |
| Ship-to | The 'Ship-To' country and state or province. |
| Order Total | Total amount of the order, including tax, shipping and surcharges, minus discounts. |
Tips:
1. You typically want
to post new records after the detailed report has been reviewed and printed.
This will allow you to see only the orders that have been placed since last
report was processed.
2. Generating reports for 'system' statuses such as abandoned orders or orders
for which an error occurred enables you to estimate the success rate of your
internet transactions and gives you a good indication of the general 'health' of
your web server.
3. The 'batch number' is a unique code created for each report. Each detail page
is 'tagged' with the batch number in order to be easily matched with the
corresponding cover page which displays the report parameters (AKA filters).