Frequently asked questions

Click Get started, then use Proto to configure E-commerce Order Management for your business. Begin with your channels, SKU units, warehouses, stock authority and decision policies. Choose an initial channel and define how the team handles shortages, split shipments, cancellations and returns.

Keep location-specific reservations and fulfilment instructions under the same customer order. Each shipment retains its original line identity and actual quantity. Remaining demand stays visible until it ships or is validly cancelled, and external warehouse acceptance is recorded separately from local release.

A stock observation alone cannot guarantee that another system will not sell the same units. Automatic available-to-promise requires current sellable stock and a reservation protocol shared by all competing writers. Otherwise the system must show unconfirmed availability and require review instead of making an unsupported promise.

A backorder records uncovered demand, an owner, supply evidence and a next review date. Its expected replenishment date can remain uncertain. A customer promise is a separately accepted commitment, with the original date and subsequent customer responses retained for follow-up and reporting.

The refund remains Unknown while its capacity stays reserved. The original immutable command and provider key are retained. Reconcile the provider object before creating a different attempt or releasing the amount; a timeout alone is not evidence that the provider did nothing.

Configure connections for the order channels, stock authorities, warehouses, carriers, payment providers and accounting systems your business uses. Agree each provider’s supported actions, account permissions and record mappings during setup.

Channel plus external order identity identifies the canonical purchase. Channel plus event identity identifies each intake delivery. An unchanged repeated event returns its previous result; a changed payload under the same identity becomes a conflict. These requirements must be enforced atomically and tested against the actual channel adapter.

The order desk submits a revision-bound change. Once a warehouse has accepted the work, cancellation waits for its actual response and stock remains committed. A refusal or dispatch race leaves the affected quantity on the shipped or outstanding path; goods already dispatched may require a return.

No. Return authorisation, inspection, stock disposition and refund approval are separate actions. Finance Reviewer approves another requester’s exact refund revision within verified captured value and refundable components. The external provider result establishes whether money was actually refunded.

Product substitutions require explicit customer consent to the proposed SKU, quantity and price difference, plus independent commercial approval. A short pick cannot silently substitute another variant. The approved replacement remains traceable to the original line and must pass its own availability check.

Proto can help propose and configure changes on a branch for review. Changes that affect quantity rules, approval scope or provider behavior must update the specification and acceptance cases together. Existing source identities and audit history remain intact, and machine work follows the applicable usage pricing.