Order fulfillment process map
A swimlane map of an order from intake to delivery and closure, across the customer, sales and customer service, finance, the warehouse and logistics. Seven decisions, and every one of them is a place an order can stop moving without anyone being told.
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What is in this map
20 steps across 5 swimlanes and 5 phases, with 7 decision points.
- Swimlanes (who does the work)
- Customer, Sales / customer service, Finance, Warehouse and Logistics
- Phases (left to right)
- Order intake, Validation, Picking and packing, Dispatch and delivery and Invoice and closure
Why map this process
Fulfilment is a relay. Sales takes the order, finance clears the credit, the warehouse picks it, logistics ships it, and the customer experiences the sum, including the gaps. Most of the complaints a fulfilment team gets are about an order that sat somewhere between two lanes, which is precisely the region a departmental process document does not cover because it belongs to neither department.
The validation phase is where the map earns its keep. Stock availability and credit clearance are two independent checks that can each fail, and what happens next differs: a stock shortfall might part-ship or backorder, a credit hold stops everything. Drawing them as separate decisions with separate downstream paths is what stops 'the order is on hold' from being one undifferentiated status.
Every step in the map
This is the spreadsheet behind the diagram. The numbers in “Goes to” are row numbers, which is exactly what the editor’s “Line to” column holds — so you can read the flow here and retype any part of it.
| # | Step | Shape | Swimlane | Phase | Goes to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Customer places order | Start | Customer | Order intake | 2 |
| 2 | Log order in the order book | Registry | Sales / customer service | Order intake | 3 |
| 3 | Order details **valid?** | Decision | Sales / customer service | Validation | 5 (Yes), 4 (No) |
| 4 | Supply the missing details | Process | Customer | Validation | 3 (Corrected) |
| 5 | **Credit check** passed? | Decision | Finance | Validation | 7 (Pass), 6 (Fail) |
| 6 | Order held pending prepayment | Reject | Finance | Validation | End |
| 7 | Stock available? | Decision | Warehouse | Picking and packing | 8 (In full), 9 (Partial), 10 (None) |
| 8 | Allocate stock to the order | Process | Warehouse | Picking and packing | 11 |
| 9 | Ship partial or wait? | Decision | Sales / customer service | Picking and packing | 8 (Ship partial), 10 (Wait) |
| 10 | Raise backorder or works order | Process | Warehouse | Picking and packing | 7 (Replenished) |
| 11 | Pick and pack the order | Process | Warehouse | Picking and packing | 12 |
| 12 | Packing quality check **passed?** | Decision | Warehouse | Picking and packing | 13 (Pass), 11 (Repack) |
| 13 | Produce the **shipping documents** | File | Logistics | Dispatch and delivery | 14 |
| 14 | Hand over to the carrier | Process | Logistics | Dispatch and delivery | 15 |
| 15 | Delivery confirmed? | Decision | Logistics | Dispatch and delivery | 17 (Delivered), 16 (Failed) |
| 16 | Arrange redelivery with the customer | Process | Logistics | Dispatch and delivery | 15 (Retry) |
| 17 | Confirm receipt of goods | Process | Customer | Dispatch and delivery | 18 |
| 18 | Raise and issue the **invoice** | Document | Finance | Invoice and closure | 19 |
| 19 | All order lines **shipped?** | Decision | Sales / customer service | Invoice and closure | 20 (Yes), 7 (Backorder) |
| 20 | Order closed | Success | Sales / customer service | Invoice and closure | End |
The decision points
Every branch in the map, with the label on each outgoing line. These are the questions the process has to be able to answer.
-
3. Order details **valid?**
Owned by Sales / customer service · Validation
- Yes → step 5
- No → step 4
-
5. **Credit check** passed?
Owned by Finance · Validation
- Pass → step 7
- Fail → step 6
-
7. Stock available?
Owned by Warehouse · Picking and packing
- In full → step 8
- Partial → step 9
- None → step 10
-
9. Ship partial or wait?
Owned by Sales / customer service · Picking and packing
- Ship partial → step 8
- Wait → step 10
-
12. Packing quality check **passed?**
Owned by Warehouse · Picking and packing
- Pass → step 13
- Repack → step 11
-
15. Delivery confirmed?
Owned by Logistics · Dispatch and delivery
- Delivered → step 17
- Failed → step 16
-
19. All order lines **shipped?**
Owned by Sales / customer service · Invoice and closure
- Yes → step 20
- Backorder → step 7
Notes on specific steps
These notes travel with the map. In the editor they live in the Notes column and appear when you open a box.
- 5. **Credit check** passed?
- Check the credit limit against **open orders and undelivered value**, not just the posted ledger balance, or a customer can pass three times in a week and breach the limit on the third.
- 9. Ship partial or wait?
- Splitting an order adds a second delivery and a second freight charge, so ask the customer first and record the answer on the order. The unshipped lines come back round to the stock check at the closure gate.
- 13. Produce the **shipping documents**
- Packing list, delivery note and carrier label as a minimum. Cross-border shipments also need the commercial invoice, commodity codes and any export licence before the carrier will accept the consignment.
- 19. All order lines **shipped?**
- A part-shipped order stays open until the backorder ships. Invoice the delivered lines now if your terms allow it, but do not close the order, or the remainder disappears from everyone's view.
Making it yours
Adapt the picking and packing phase to your own warehouse first: the number of steps between a pick list and a packed carton is the thing that varies most, and it is where your real cycle time lives. Then check the customer lane: if your customers can amend or cancel after the order is placed, that is an interrupt into the middle of the map and needs a row, not an assumption.
What to watch out for
- Partial shipments need a loop, not a note. If an order can ship in two deliveries, the map has to return to the picking phase after the first, or it will imply that fulfilment completes on the first dispatch.
- Do not let 'shipped' and 'delivered' be one box. Everything about a failed delivery (the retry, the return to depot, the customer contact) hangs off the difference between them.
- Invoicing is downstream of dispatch on this map, which is one of two common designs. If you invoice on order rather than on shipment, move the step and check what that does to the cancellation branch, because it now involves a credit note.
Frequently asked questions
Should the customer be a swimlane?
On this map, yes: the customer places the order, can amend or cancel it, and receives the delivery, so they take actions the process waits on. The test is whether the party does something the process depends on; if they only receive outputs, they are not a lane.
How do I map a drop-ship order that never touches my warehouse?
As a branch out of the validation phase into a supplier lane, rejoining at the delivery-confirmation step. It shares the intake, the checks and the closure; what it skips is picking and packing, which is exactly what a branch is for.
Where does the returns process connect to this one?
After delivery, as a separate map rather than a continuation. Fulfilment ends when the order is delivered and invoiced; a return is a new request with its own authorisation and its own decisions. Link the two by ending this map at closure and starting the returns map at the customer's request.
Open the map and start editing
The editor loads this chart with the spreadsheet underneath it. Change a cell and the diagram redraws — no drawing, no signup.