Process family
Order-to-cash process: six templates from credit approval to bank reconciliation
The order-to-cash chain as six linked flowcharts: customer credit approval, order fulfillment, proof of delivery, invoice-to-cash, accounts receivable and bank reconciliation, with the O2C and quote-to-cash overviews and the refund path.
Order-to-cash is the commercial cycle a company runs on every order it accepts: decide whether the customer may owe you money, fulfill and deliver the order, prove it arrived, invoice it, collect the cash and apply it, then prove the bank agrees with the ledger. This family orders six templates in the sequence the documents hand off, and adds the end-to-end overviews, the customer refund path and the 3PL billing variant.
The chain opens before any order exists: customer credit approval sets the limit and terms every later order is checked against. Order fulfillment validates the order, runs that credit check, allocates stock, picks, packs and dispatches, and ends at the invoice; proof of delivery captures the signature, PIN or photograph that lets billing release it. Then receivables takes over: invoice-to-cash monitors due dates, handles disputes and applies the cash, accounts receivable carries the dunning ladder, payment plans, escalation and write-off, and bank reconciliation closes the loop at the bank statement.
The cycle usually breaks at the seams: an order shipped while still on credit hold; an invoice raised before the POD is in, so it is disputed; a short payment applied to the wrong invoice; a dunning letter for cash that arrived but was never applied. Billing, cash application and collections have no standalone flowchart here: they are stages inside invoice-to-cash and accounts receivable; the six-lane overview separates a short payment from a non-payment so a deduction is investigated rather than chased. Customer refunds, with eligibility window and chargeback screening, are the reversal path.
The front half of the same revenue cycle, from discount approval to the issued quote and the booked order, is the sales pipeline, and the quote-to-cash overview joins the two. Picking, packing and shipping in detail belong to warehouse outbound. At the back, bank reconciliation and the AR balance certification are also close controls, so the family hands off to the financial close. For a third-party warehouse the invoice is built from a rate card and warehouse events rather than order lines; that is the 3PL billing template.
The sequence
Step 1: Customer credit approval process flowchart (limit and terms)
Customer credit approval process flowchart: application and entity checks, bureau report and trade references, scoring, the delegated authority ladder, security, the ERP limit, and periodic review.
Step 2: Order fulfillment process flowchart template
A five-lane order fulfillment process flowchart: validation, credit check, stock allocation, picking and packing, dispatch, delivery, invoice and closure.
Step 3: Proof of delivery process flowchart (ePOD capture to invoice)
Proof of delivery process flowchart template: delivery attempt, signature or PIN capture, damage annotated on the receipt, POD upload and match, portal release, invoicing on the POD, disputes and retention.
Step 4: Invoice-to-cash process flowchart
Invoice-to-cash process flowchart for invoice issue, due-date monitoring, customer disputes, collections, cash application and receivables reconciliation.
Step 5: Accounts receivable process flowchart (invoice to cash)
A five-lane accounts receivable process flowchart: credit check, invoice issue, payment terms, dunning, disputes, payment plans, cash application, write-off.
Step 6: Bank reconciliation process flowchart
Bank reconciliation process flowchart for matching bank statements to the general ledger, resolving timing and error differences, and independent sign-off.
Also part of this family
- Order-to-cash process flowchart (order received to cash applied) — A six-lane order-to-cash process flowchart: order and master data check, credit hold and release, dispatch, proof of delivery, invoicing, cash application, short-payment deductions, dunning and write-off.
- Quote-to-cash process flowchart (opportunity to cash collected) — Quote-to-cash (Q2C) process flowchart: configure and price the quote, clear the discount ladder and the legal review of non-standard terms, issue the quote, book the order, invoice the milestone and collect the cash.
- Customer refund process flowchart (request to money returned) — Customer refund process flowchart: policy and window eligibility, manager goodwill approval, payment verification, refund to the original method, chargebacks.
- 3PL Billing Process — 3PL billing process template: validate warehouse events and client rates, review and issue invoices, resolve disputes with corrections or credits, then report and close the period.
Used in these industries
Related guides
- How to create a cross-functional flowchart — How to create a cross-functional flowchart: choose the functions that genuinely hold the work, draw every crossing as a handoff, and show where the process leaves the company. Live example included.
- How to create a process flow from Excel data — How to read a process flow out of the spreadsheet you already maintain: which existing column is the boxes, which is the arrows, which is the branch labels, and which one is a swimlane diagram.