This demo mainly focuses on the prompt delivery by means of the workflow-supported integration of Sales and Distribution (SD) and Production Planning (PP). We therefore kept all process steps beforehand and afterwards as easy as possible. The assembly processing, cost control, billing etc are described in detail within other process chains in IDES, see e.g. core processes, production planning and sales processing.

A short time of delivery is a critical factor for success for companies involved in make-to-order production. Next to an integrated and always up-to-date data basis, a seamless co-operation of all employees in sales, shipment and in production is necessary as well. Especially at times of changes in the production dates, the sales employees responsible have to be quickly informed to react in real-time. If a product, e. g. has been completed earlier than planned it could probably be immediately shipped to the customer even if the delivery had been planned originally for a later date. If, however, the production has been delayed, the sales person responsible should be informed to be able to give the customer an up-to date information about the order status.

In conventional order processing, however, a prompt delivery after completion of the production or a quick reaction to changes in date is usually not possible, as all employees involved in sales and shipment are not notified automatically about the respective occurrence in the production process. A fundamental problem is the relatively loose coupling of the production and sales orders that belong together: Even if the production has been completed earlier than planned, normally the delivery can only be created as soon as the original material staging date (= order finish date of the production order) has been reached. This is due to the fact that the sales order is not updated automatically if the production dates are changed. An update only takes place if the sales order availability of the sales order is once again determined manually or automatically. This is, however, very lavish in general.

To implement a closer integration between sales and production, the system triggers a workflow-event in the production order when the status changes to "goods produced for individual customer delivered to warehouse". This event starts the process "prompt delivery for make-to-order production" in the IDES system (workflow sample WS 95100003) that supports all employees involved in the make-to-order production in sales and production as follows: Immediately after completing the production the system notifies the sales person responsible who will then decide whether the shipment is to be processed directly. The delivery priority of the order is mirrored in the priority of the workitem created: A high delivery priority triggers an express work item. If the order is to be delivered immediately, the employees of the respective shipping point receive a work item, with the help of which one can create a delivery for exactly this order. The workflow system then calls the necessary transactions and the entry of all known data such as order number etc. In contrast to the traditional order processing the shipping department does not have to become active themselves and periodically retrieve the sales orders to be delivered, to be able to create a delivery. Thus the delivery time can be shortened about one day or even more.