What are Orders?

Sales orders allow your sales team to create purchases on behalf of customers and issue invoices for pay-later transactions. When you create and send a sales order, the system immediately generates an invoice, enrols participants (with access blocked until payment), and sends the invoice to the customer for payment.

Sales orders are particularly useful for:

• Corporate sales with multiple participants across different programs
• Transactions where the customer has already agreed to purchase and you're issuing an invoice
• Adding purchase order numbers and custom billing details
• Team enrolments where one purchaser pays for multiple participants
• B2B sales where pay later invoicing is standard practice

Sales orders streamline the process of creating invoices for customers without requiring them to go through the entire checkout process.

Note: to create and manage orders, you must have access to the Sales or Sales Admin role. 

This is managed via the user profile, under the Finance & Sales tab. For more information, visit our help article on Managing Sales and Finance Permissions. 

Understanding Purchase Types

Academy supports three ways to process purchases, each suited to different sales scenarios:

Self-Serve Purchases

Customers browse your programs and purchase directly through the standard checkout process. They select programs, add participants, choose payment methods, and complete payment immediately. These are common for individual learners or small teams buying single seats without sales team involvement.

Sales Orders

Created by your sales team and confirmed internally before being sent to customers. Sales orders are used when:

• You want to create a quote and send an invoice for pay-later
• The sale is straightforward and doesn't require customer approval before invoicing
• You're processing a transaction on behalf of a customer who has already agreed to the purchase

Once a sales order is sent, an invoice is issued immediately and participants are enrolled (with access blocked until payment is received).

Sales Proposals

Created by your sales team and sent to customers for review, confirmation, and payment. Proposals are used when:

• You need the customer to review and approve terms before any commitments are made
• The customer wants to see full details before accepting
• Multiple stakeholders need to review before approval
• You're presenting options for the customer to consider

Proposals don't create enrolments or invoices until the customer reviews, approves, and completes payment. This gives customers control over the final approval step.

Creating a New Order

Navigate to Sales & Finance > Sales Orders & Proposals, then select New Order.

Note: to create and manage orders and proposals, you must have access to Sales. 

This is managed via the user profile, under the Finance & Sales tab. 

Select the Purchaser

Search for an existing customer or create a new one. If the customer doesn't have an Academy account yet, you can create one as part of the order process. They'll receive an invitation email to set up their account and access the order.

Add Programs

Search for and select the programs you want to include in the order. You can add multiple programs in a single order. If a program has multiple purchase plans, you will be prompted to select which one applies to the program in this order. 

Add Learners

For each program in the order, add participant details:

• If the purchaser is also a participant, click Enrol Purchaser
• If purchasing for others, add each participant's name and email
• Participants will receive invitation emails to set up their Academy accounts

For team enrolments, you can add multiple participants to a single program within the order by clicking Add Learner.

Apply Discounts

If applicable, enter discount codes or apply manual discounts to the order. The system automatically applies team discounts based on the number of participants if your purchase plans include team pricing.

Add Billing Details

Add billing details, including the organisation details and billing address. The invoice and receipt will be sent to the purchaser, but you can add additional recipients at the bottom of the screen. 

Terms

This screen explains the purchase terms that apply to the order. If there are any special conditions that apply to the order, you can add these by toggling on Add Special Conditions. 

The Confirm Terms confirmation is required before you can proceed. It ensures the customer understands the policies before the order is sent.

Save the order as a draft to review internally or refine details before sending to the customer. Draft orders aren't visible to customers and don't create any transactions or enrolments.

Order Summary

Review the order details before sending the invoice. Add the invoice due date and select which payment methods the customer can use to pay the invoice:

• Credit Card - Customer can pay by card when they're ready
• EFT - Customer can pay by bank transfer

When you click Send Invoice, an invoice is generated and sent to the customer. The learners are enrolled and will receive an enrolment email. Depending on the program settings, program access will open once payment is received. 

Change to Proposal

If you decide this should be a proposal instead of an order, click Change to Proposal. Remember that proposals require customer review and approval before creating enrolments and invoices, whilst orders create enrolments and invoices immediately.

Click Send Invoice to complete the order.

Managing Orders

You can view the status of all orders via the Order Management screen.

Navigate to Sales & Finance > Sales Orders & Proposals to access your order management dashboard and view all orders by status.