Torchora
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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Order Entry Clerk

💰 $32,000 - $48,000

OperationsCustomer ServiceAdministrationSupply Chain

🎯 Role Definition

The Order Entry Clerk is responsible for accurately receiving, entering, managing, and tracking customer orders in the company’s order management system (ERP/OMS). This role ensures timely processing, correct pricing, proper documentation, and clear communication with sales, warehouse, shipping, and accounting teams. The ideal candidate combines strong data-entry accuracy, problem-solving, customer-focused communication, and familiarity with ERP/EDI workflows to maintain order flow and support fulfillment and billing processes.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Customer Service Representative (Order Support)
  • Data Entry Clerk / Administrative Assistant
  • Warehouse Coordinator / Shipping Clerk

Advancement To:

  • Senior Order Entry Specialist / Order Coordinator
  • Order Management Supervisor / Team Lead
  • Operations Supervisor or Logistics Coordinator
  • Supply Chain Analyst or Order Fulfillment Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • Accounts Receivable Clerk / Billing Specialist
  • Shipping & Receiving Coordinator
  • Inside Sales Support / Sales Operations Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Receive, review and accurately enter all customer purchase orders, sales orders, and contract orders into the company’s ERP/order management system (e.g., NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics), ensuring correct part numbers, quantities, pricing, and delivery instructions.
  • Verify pricing, discounts, and contract terms against approved price lists or sales agreements and escalate pricing discrepancies to sales or pricing administrators for resolution prior to fulfillment.
  • Validate customer account information, tax status, billing addresses, credit limits, and PO numbers; place holds or request credit approvals when orders exceed established thresholds.
  • Translate customer purchase orders received by email, fax, phone, EDI, or portal into accurate electronic orders and confirm receipt with the customer via email or system-generated confirmation.
  • Process EDI transactions (850/810/856/855 or equivalent) including mapping, acknowledgement, and reconciliation; work with IT or EDI vendors to resolve transmission or mapping errors.
  • Coordinate order scheduling and delivery dates with production planning, warehouse, and carriers to meet customer requested ship dates while optimizing inventory availability.
  • Manage order changes, cancellations, backorders, and split shipments; update systems and notify customers and internal stakeholders of impacts to delivery schedules or pricing.
  • Prepare and generate order confirmations, pick tickets, packing lists, and shipping documentation; ensure all required regulatory or compliance documentation (e.g., MSDS, export documents) accompanies shipments.
  • Create and maintain accurate records for special orders, rush orders, drop-ships, consignment orders, and sample requests; ensure sales rep and customer communications are documented in CRM.
  • Monitor order status from entry through to shipment and invoicing; proactively follow-up on exceptions and expedite actions to minimize delays or customer disruption.
  • Work closely with sales representatives to clarify ambiguous order details, obtain missing information, apply credit memos, and ensure seamless customer service handoffs.
  • Reconcile shipping and invoicing discrepancies by researching order history, shipment records, and carrier documentation; initiate claims or credits as required with logistics or accounting teams.
  • Prepare and provide daily/weekly order volume and status reports, backorder reports, and KPI metrics (e.g., order accuracy, days to ship) to management and continuous improvement teams.
  • Ensure compliance with internal order-entry standard operating procedures (SOPs), data-entry quality standards, and audit requirements for traceability and record retention.
  • Maintain product master data accuracy by validating part numbers, SKUs, descriptions and units of measure, and flagging discrepancies to inventory or product data stewards for correction.
  • Assist in month-end and quarter-end order reconciliation tasks, supporting accounts receivable with order-to-invoice matching and aging report investigations.
  • Manage returns, credit authorizations, and RMA processing including updating system records, coordinating return shipments, and initiating credit memos or adjustments in collaboration with customer service and accounting.
  • Support cross-functional projects to streamline order workflows, implement automation (e.g., EDI expansion, API integrations), and reduce manual intervention and data entry error rates.
  • Respond promptly and professionally to customer inquiries regarding order status, product availability, lead times, and billing questions, achieving high customer satisfaction and first-contact resolution where possible.
  • Train and mentor new order-entry staff on best practices, system navigation, error prevention methods, and escalation procedures to uphold team performance standards.
  • Maintain confidentiality of customer and pricing data, ensuring data security best practices and compliance with company policies and relevant regulations.
  • Audit entered orders periodically for accuracy and completeness, identify recurring error patterns, and recommend process or system changes to improve order quality.
  • Facilitate special invoicing requests, project-based billing, or billing-to instructions when required by contract, coordinating with finance to ensure proper revenue recognition.
  • Liaise with procurement or vendor relations for drop-ship vendors, third-party logistics providers (3PL), and supplier confirmations to ensure fulfillment alignment with customer commitments.

Secondary Functions

  • Assist Sales Operations and Supply Chain teams with ad-hoc reports, data pulls, and order history analysis to support forecasting and demand planning.
  • Participate in continuous improvement initiatives and cross-functional meetings to identify bottlenecks in the order-to-cash cycle and propose scalable solutions.
  • Help coordinate inventory adjustments and cycle-count outcomes with warehouse teams to reduce order holding times due to inaccurate stock records.
  • Support onboarding of new EDI trading partners and validate test order flows in development and production environments.
  • Contribute to training materials, process maps, and knowledge base articles to streamline onboarding and reduce repeat errors in order entry.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Proficient in ERP and Order Management Systems (NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, or equivalent).
  • Experience with EDI transaction sets (850, 810, 856, 855) and EDI exception handling.
  • Strong Microsoft Excel skills including VLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, PivotTables, data validation, and basic macros for data reconciliation.
  • Experience with CRM systems (Salesforce, HubSpot) and integration between CRM and ERP for order handoffs.
  • Familiarity with shipping/carrier systems (UPS WorldShip, FedEx Ship Manager, carrier portals) and generating shipping labels and tracking.
  • Basic accounting/billing knowledge: invoicing processes, credit memos, sales tax, and order-to-cash workflow.
  • Data entry accuracy and high-volume transaction processing with strong attention to detail and minimal error rates.
  • Ability to interpret purchase orders, contracts, pricing schedules, and sales agreements.
  • Comfortable using ticketing or support tools (Zendesk, ServiceNow) for tracking customer order inquiries and escalations.
  • Knowledge of inventory/warehouse processes (picking, packing, backorder management) and third-party logistics (3PL) coordination.

Soft Skills

  • Excellent verbal and written communication; able to convey order exceptions and delivery impacts professionally to customers and internal teams.
  • Strong problem-solving and investigative skills to research discrepancies across multiple systems and documents.
  • Time management and prioritization in a fast-paced environment handling multiple concurrent orders and escalations.
  • Customer-service orientation with patience, empathy, and a drive to achieve first-contact resolution.
  • Team player who collaborates with sales, operations, shipping, and finance to achieve on-time fulfillment and accurate billing.
  • High level of integrity and discretion when handling confidential customer and pricing information.
  • Adaptability to change processes, learn new tools quickly, and support continuous process improvement.
  • Detail-oriented mindset with a focus on producing error-free work and maintaining clean data.
  • Initiative and accountability for meeting SLA targets, KPIs, and productivity expectations.
  • Resilience under pressure with the ability to handle high-volume peak periods (e.g., promotions, month-end, seasonality).

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • High school diploma or equivalent.

Preferred Education:

  • Associate degree or some college coursework in Business Administration, Supply Chain, Logistics, or related field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Supply Chain Management or Logistics
  • Accounting or Finance

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 1–3 years of order entry, customer service, or administrative data-entry experience in a distribution, manufacturing, or retail environment.

Preferred:

  • 2–5 years experience with ERP systems and EDI transactions; prior exposure to B2B order processing, high-volume order environments, or experience supporting sales and operations teams.
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