Custom Order Management System
Features, Development Steps, Benefits, Cost
In supply chain software development since 2012, ScienceSoft creates high-performing and scalable order management solutions that enable fast, accurate, and cost-effective customer order processing.
Order Management System: the Essence
An order management system (OMS) streamlines the entire order processing cycle, from initial order intake to execution control and return management. Such solutions usually support different order fulfillment scenarios, including backorders, drop shipments, buy-online-pickup-in-store, and more.
A custom order management system helps efficiently handle complex and unique order processing flows and can provide AI-based fulfillment optimization. ScienceSoft’s success stories showcase the value of tailored ordering functionality for various industries, from ecommerce to drug manufacturing.
- Necessary integrations: selling channels, payment gateways, an accounting system, warehouse management software, transport management software, etc.
- Implementation time: 7–12+ months for a custom OMS.
- Development costs: $200,000–$400,000, depending on the solution complexity. Please use our free cost calculator to estimate the budget for your case.
Order Management System: Key Features
Based on ScienceSoft’s experience with OMS projects, we have summarized fundamental features of a robust order management system.
Order processing
- Automated multichannel order capturing (orders from online and offline sales channels are aggregated within a single interface).
- Setup of order processing rules (e.g., automated order approval for shipment if the required number of items is in stock and the order is fully paid).
- Template-based creation of sales orders (e.g., following a customer’s ordering call).
- Bulk order processing (confirmation, cancellation, etc.).
- Support of pre-orders and backorders.
- Notifications on new orders.
Order fulfillment planning
- Rule-based prioritization of customer orders for fulfillment based on customer value, product category, order date, service level, and more.
- AI-based analysis of variables affecting order fulfillment (multi-echelon stock availability, distance to delivery destinations, ordered product type, fulfillment costs, etc.) and suggestions on optimal fulfillment schemes:
- Optimal order fulfillment locations.
- Preferred transportation providers for particular item categories and user locations, and more.
- Optimal orders consolidation or splitting for shipment.
- Template-based creation of order execution schedules with key milestones like order packing, pickup, arrival at particular points, etc.
Order execution
- Order routing to an optimal inventory location for fulfillment.
- Automated inventory reservation for an order (via integration with inventory and warehouse management software).
- Analytics-based assignment of an optimal transportation provider to ship the order (in-house fleet or a third-party carrier).
- Order merging (uniting orders into a single shipment, e.g., when several orders to the same address are placed within a few days).
- Order splitting into several packages (in case it doesn’t fit into one by weight or size).
- Generation of picking and packing slips auto-populated with the details from a related sales order.
- Support of different order delivery methods and types (BOPIS, dropshipping, ship-to-store, ship-from-store, same-day delivery, etc.).
- Support of partial order fulfillment (e.g., in case one of the ordered items is on backorder or items are at different warehouses).
Order tracking and adjustment
- IoT-enabled real-time shipment tracking (the data is shared with customers via digital sales channels, email, and messaging apps).
- Calculating the expected order delivery time based on the lead time specified by a transportation provider and current order shipment status.
- Notifications on goods dispatch, shipment milestones, delays, etc.
- Order modification and cancellation upon a customer’s request (via a selling platform, call center, etc.).
- A complete history of customer orders (to be leveraged for post-sales support and marketing activities).
- Order filtering (by customer, date, status, etc.).
Payment processing
- Real-time payment processing via a custom payment gateway or third-party gateways (PayPal, Stripe, etc.).
- Support of multiple payment options, such as credit and debit cards, bank transfers, paying cash upon delivery, gift certificates, split payments, etc.
- Multi-currency (including cryptocurrency) payments.
- Notifications to sales managers on received payments.
- Automated generation and submission of invoices and receipts to customers.
- Cash refund/chargeback to the customer’s original payment method.
Return management
- Setup of return policies to authorize return, exchange and warranty cases.
- Automated retrieval of related sales order details for return order creation.
- Calculation of the refund amount based on the return policy.
- Return order routing (defining where to ship returns).
- Automated BORIS (buy online return in-store) operations.
- Setup of return shipping rules.
- Return status tracking (can be shared with customers as a link via email or a customer portal).
Analytics and reporting
- Customizable dashboards showing ongoing and pending orders and customer requests, order fulfillment KPIs (e.g., fill rate), essential customer metrics (AOV, CLV, etc.), and more.
- Scheduled and ad hoc sales reports (by product, channel, customer), fulfillment reports, customer behavior reports, etc.
- Trend-based and ML-supported demand forecasting.
Security and compliance
- Intelligent detection of fraudulent orders and order fulfillment fraud.
- Order documentation e-signing.
- End-to-end audit trail for order management activities.
- Order, customer, and payment data encryption.
- Rule-based customer data retention and deletion.
- Compliance with SOX, PCI DSS, CCPA, GDPR, FAR, Peppol, ZATCA, HIPAA, WTO regulations, and other necessary region- and industry-specific regulations.
- Multi-factor user authentication.
- Permission-based access for various user groups, including sales managers, order managers, inventory managers, etc.
Sample Interfaces of Custom OMS ScienceSoft Creates
Important Integrations for Order Management Software
ScienceSoft recommends integrating your OMS with the following systems to establish a cohesive ordering automation environment and speed up order processing and fulfillment:
- Sales channels (a company's ecommerce website, social networks, third-party marketplaces, PoS, etc.) – to automatically aggregate omnichannel customer orders; to share up-to-date information on order status and location with customers.
- Payment gateways (e.g., PayPal, Stripe, Amazon Pay, or a custom payment gateway) – to instantly process online customer payments.
- CRM – to enable centralized recordkeeping of customer information and accurately plan marketing and promo activities taking into account segment-specific demand and customer behavior.
- Accounting software / ERP – to record customer payment and invoice data in the general ledger, streamline debt collection, ensure timely and accurate revenue recognition and reporting.
- Inventory and warehouse management software – to have real-time visibility into inventory levels; to easily expedite order picking, packing, and shipping and track the order execution progress.
- Transportation management software – to accurately plan transport, timely pickup orders at a specified location and deliver them to customer; for facilitated tracking of order shipment progress (for companies relying on in-house order shipping).
- Systems of shipping carriers (DHL, FedEx, UPS, etc.) – to compare shipping rates and track shipments (for companies that outsource order shipping).
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A business intelligence tool – to facilitate the analytics and reporting of sales, customers, and order fulfillment insights.
Custom Order Management System vs. Pre-Built OMS
ScienceSoft’s consultants stress that custom development is not a "one-size-fits-all" option, but in some cases, tailor-made OMS may bring a way higher payback than a ready-made tool. Below, we provide a high-level comparison of the two to help you clearly see their strengths and limitations.
|
|
Off-the-shelf order management tool |
Custom order management system |
|---|---|---|
|
TCO components
|
Initial setup costs + customization and integration costs + licensing/subscription fees that scale with the number of OMS users. |
Upfront investments + the cost of after-launch support and the evolution of the OMS. Lower TCO in the long run. |
|
Functionality
|
Defined by an OMS vendor. Chances to obtain a large share of unnecessary functionality. Additional features are restricted to third-party plugins and extensions. |
Defined by customers and fully tailored to their needs. Can cover features that go beyond a typical OMS scope (e.g., inventory optimization or vendor management), as well as features supported by advanced techs (AI/ML, IoT, blockchain, etc.). |
|
Customization
|
Limited capabilities. |
Unlimited capabilities. New features can be introduced on demand. |
|
Integration
|
API-enabled integration with popular software products. Connection to custom solutions and legacy systems may be complex or impossible. |
Seamless integration with all required corporate and third-party systems, including legacy software. |
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Learning curve
|
May be steep due to complicated, inconvenient UX and UI. |
Short due to convenient UX and intuitive UI tailored to various user roles. |
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Scalability
|
Restricted to the vendor’s platform capabilities. |
Non-restricted. The system scales instantly to accommodate the demand spikes. |
|
Security
|
Fully depends on the vendor’s cybersecurity practices and cannot be controlled by the customer. |
Minimized security risks due to custom code design and the ability to add advanced security features. |
|
Regulatory compliance
|
Typically limited to compliance with global data security standards. |
Compliance with all the required global, regional, and industry-specific regulations. |
|
Maintenance and support
|
Performed by an OMS product vendor. |
Provided by an in-house team or an outsourced dedicated vendor. |
Should You Opt for a Custom Order Management Software?
Answer a few simple questions and find out whether you should opt for a tailor-made OMS.
Do you need an order management system to automate complex fulfillment scenarios, e.g., cross-docking, kitting and assembly, same-day delivery?
Do you need an OMS providing specific features, e.g., order triaging based on custom rules, AI-powered fulfillment optimization, or blockchain-based order processing traceability?
Do you need OMS with functionality typically provided by other supply chain software (inventory software, WMS, TMS, etc.) to manage all aspects of order fulfillment within one solution?
Do you need to integrate your order management software with multiple corporate solutions, supplier systems, or legacy tools?
Do you deal with regulated products (e.g., drugs, military items, regulated commodities) and need to process orders in compliance with case-specific legal standards?
Do you need customizable OMS with various interfaces for different roles in the order management team?
Do you plan to evolve the solution with new functional and non-functional capabilities in order to adjust it to changing business requirements?
Do you have large teams involved in order management processes and look to avoid the software fees associated with the per-user subscription model?
Please tell us a bit more about your needs
Answer at least 3 questions to get results.
You can go with off-the-shelf OMS
Looks like market-available order management solutions are a viable option to meet your needs. Turn to ScienceSoft if you need help with choosing the optimal ready-made tool, its implementation, customization, and integration with your existing systems.
You definitely should consider custom development
A tailor-made OMS will help you reap the unique benefits that market-available software cannot offer. Turn to ScienceSoft to get the detailed assessment of a custom order management system’s feasibility for your business situation.
Custom OMS is your best choice
Looks like market-available order management tools don’t fit your specific requirements and won’t be able to provide the expected operational and economic feasibility. Turn to ScienceSoft to get a consultation on custom OMS development and receive cost and ROI estimates
If you deal with a moderate volume of orders and can go with non-unique UX and UI, consider platform-based development. From our experience, using low-code platforms like Microsoft Power Apps can cut the investments to build an OMS by up to 75%.
How to Develop Order Management Software
Order management software development is a way for companies to obtain a tailored solution that seamlessly automates their unique order aggregation, tracking, and fulfillment workflows. Below, ScienceSoft outlines key steps we take to build a reliable order management system:
1.
Order management system design
We collaborate closely with your stakeholders to elicit functional and non-functional requirements for an order management system and design a clear software concept. In particular, our experts provide an optimal OMS feature set, create role-specific UX and UI prototypes, design a scalable architecture for your ordering solution, and plan its integrations with the required software and hardware.
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2.
OMS implementation planning
3.
Development and testing
We write a server-side code of your OMS (including APIs), create user interfaces for the required roles (sales managers, order processing specialists, etc.), and set up secure and scalable storage for customer and order data. If you want to leverage AI-supported order processing, at this stage, our data scientists design and train ML models for demand planning and fulfillment optimization.
Our QA experts perform all necessary testing procedures in parallel with coding to fix any potential issues before production and prevent costly after-launch OMS changes.
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4.
Integration and data migration
We integrate your order management software with the required systems and conduct integration testing to enable a smooth and secure connection between the solutions. At this stage, we also migrate sales order data from your currently used OMS or spreadsheets.
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5.
Deployment and employee training
We configure OMS infrastructure, establish backup and recovery procedures, implement robust network security mechanisms, and set the ready solution live. Our experts deliver all necessary OMS documentation, including user tutorials and admin guides, to facilitate maintenance and streamline adoption.
Our consultants can also conduct employee training in a remote, in-person, or hybrid format to help your specialists involved in order processing quickly learn how to use the new software.
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Explore ScienceSoft's Featured Success Stories
Costs of OMS Development
OMS development cost factors include:
- For custom OMS: the scope and complexity of functionality modules to implement, OMS automation tech stack.
- For platform-based OMS: the number of users, customization requirements, vendor support terms.
- OMS availability, scalability, performance, security, and compliance requirements.
- Complexity of data migration procedures (to transfer data from currently used spreadsheets and/or software).
- The scope and complexity of integrations (with sales channels, ERP, WMS, etc.).
From ScienceSoft’s experience, the cost of developing custom order management system ranges from $200,000 to $400,000. OMS payback can be expected within 3 months.
Want to know the cost of your custom ordering solution?
Why Trust OMS Implementation to ScienceSoft
- Since 2012 in supply chain software development.
- Practical knowledge of 30+ industries, including retail & ecommerce, manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality, transportation & logistics.
- Proficiency in advanced techs: AI/ML, big data, IoT, blockchain.
- Quick project start (1–2 weeks); established Agile and DevOps cultures to ensure quick delivery.
- Quality-first approach based on an ISO 9001-certified quality management system.
- Robust security management supported by ISO 27001 certification.
What makes ScienceSoft different
We achieve project success no matter what
ScienceSoft does not pass mere project administration off as project management, which, unfortunately, often happens on the market. We practice real project management, achieving project success for our clients no matter what.
Main Benefits of OMS Solutions We Deliver
Platforms We Recommend for Order Management
If you have standardized order management operations and can go with a general-purpose OOTB tool, ScienceSoft can help you implement and customize one of the following market-leading solutions for order management or any other OMS product of your choice.
Adobe Commerce (Magento) Order Management
Description
Recognized among strong-performing order management software by Forrester. Companies leveraging Magento’s OMS are Brown-Forman Corporation, Rural King, Frankfurt Airport Shopping Mall.
- Intuitive UI.
- Support of diverse order fulfillment workflows, including an in-store fulfillment option.
- BI-powered reporting on orders, shipments, returns, and payments.
Note: OMS is a part of the Adobe Commerce platform offer.
Best for
Midsized and upper-midsized businesses looking for an easy-to-adopt solution.
IBM Sterling Order Management
Description
Recognized among leading order management software by Forrester. Renowned clients of IBM’s OMS are Nike, CVS Health, Staples, Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation, and FleetPride, Inc.
- A powerful rules engine for OMS customization.
- Support of the whole order life cycle, including after-sales and returns management.
Best for
Enterprise businesses with complex order fulfillment scenarios.
Oracle NetSuite Order Management
Description
Recognized among strong-performing order management software by Forrester. Among companies using NetSuite OMS are Jimmy Jazz, Guthy-Renker, Lovesac.
- Support of custom system triggers to create business-specific order fulfillment scenarios (can be done directly via UI).
- Basic reporting capabilities (advanced reporting is available within a separate analytics solution).
Note: OMS is available within the NetSuite platform license.
Best for
Midsized businesses without overcomplicated order fulfillment scenarios.
Choose Your Service Option
ScienceSoft leverages 35 years of experience in software development to deliver scalable, easy-to-use order management solutions that streamline order processing and fulfillment. In our OMS projects, we deliver the required functional scope despite time and cost constraints while agilely adapting to feasible changes.
OMS consulting
Our consultants:
- Analyze your business needs and order fulfillment workflows and define an optimal set of OMS features.
- Help decide what is more feasible: platform-based or custom OMS.
- For custom OMS: design a secure and scalable software architecture.
- Prepare an integration roadmap (with ecommerce platforms, ERP, WMS, shipping systems, etc.).
- Prepare UX and UI software prototypes (optional).
- Estimate implementation costs, time budget and expected ROI.
OMS development
Our development team:
- Elicits OMS implementation requirements.
- For custom OMS: designs a secure and scalable software architecture.
- For custom OMS: develops the front end and the back end of OMS.
- For platform-based OMS: customizes software.
- Integrates OMS with other systems (ecommerce platform, ERP, WMS, shipping systems, etc.).
- Covers end-to-end quality assurance of the system.
- Provides support and software evolution (if required).
About ScienceSoft
ScienceSoft is a global IT consulting and software development company headquartered in McKinney, Texas. Since 2012, we deliver custom and platform-based order management systems to help businesses centralize and improve order processing workflows of any complexity. Being ISO 9001- and ISO 27001-certified, we rely on a mature quality management system and guarantee full security of our clients' data.