> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.garmentflow.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Your first order

> A complete walkthrough — from creating a style to shipping and invoicing — following one jacket order end to end.

This is the end-to-end walkthrough: one order, from the first product record to the
shipped goods and the invoice. We'll follow a single example all the way through — a
women's quilted jacket your customer wants for the autumn season — so each step builds
on the last exactly as it will in your own workspace.

Every step links to the module guide that covers it in depth. Follow those links when
you want the detail; this page keeps to the through-line.

<Frame caption="Watch one style trace the whole chain — from your material library through BOM, cost sheet, and quotation to a purchase order.">
  <iframe className="w-full aspect-video rounded-xl" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xe0DCd2zBhQ" title="GarmentFlow: one style, from your library to a purchase order" frameBorder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowFullScreen />
</Frame>

## Step 1 — Set up your masters

*Every order draws on shared reference data, so this goes in first.*

Your customers, vendors, fabrics, trims, colors, and units are the building blocks the
rest of the system references. If you're an administrator on a fresh workspace, work
through [setting up your tenant](/admin/setting-up-your-tenant) and, to load lists in
bulk, [importing master data](/admin/importing-master-data). If you've joined an
existing workspace, this is already done — pick up at step 2. For our jacket you'll
need the customer on file, the shell fabric and the zip in your material catalogs, and
at least one color.

## Step 2 — Create the style

*The style is the reusable product record everything else hangs off.*

The jacket becomes a
<Tooltip tip="The reusable product record that owns the BOM, cost sheet, and manufacturing orders.">[style](/reference/glossary#style)</Tooltip>
once and is reused every season it returns. In the **Styles** module, choose "Create
style". The style number is generated for you. Fill in the jacket's details — the
`Brand`, the `Customer style no.` and name your buyer uses, the `Season`, and `Gender`
— and save. The style opens on its detail page, with tabs for the BOM, cost sheet,
sample history, and the rest of the design's artifacts. See the
[Styles module guide](/modules/styles).

## Step 3 — Build the BOM

*The BOM lists what the jacket is made from — everything downstream reads it.*

Open the **BOM** tab. Add a fabric line for the shell and a trim line for the zip,
record each line's supplier and details, and assign the vendor. Save. Saving captures
the
<Tooltip tip="The bill of materials — the list of fabrics and trims a style is made from.">[BOM](/reference/glossary#bom-bill-of-materials)</Tooltip>
as its first
<Tooltip tip="A saved, numbered revision of a style document such as a BOM or cost sheet.">[artifact version](/reference/glossary#artifact-version)</Tooltip>,
so later changes never overwrite this one. More in the [Styles guide](/modules/styles).

## Step 4 — Complete the cost sheet

*The cost sheet turns the BOM into a costed price — what you'll quote from.*

On the **Cost Sheet** tab, use "Copy from BOM" to seed the cost lines, then set each
unit cost. Set the customer multiplier and GarmentFlow derives the customer price and
shows your margin, so you quote on real numbers. The
<Tooltip tip="The costing breakdown for a style, used for quoting and margin analysis.">[cost sheet](/reference/glossary#cost-sheet)</Tooltip>
is the costing tool you'll keep open when you quote. See
[BOM, cost sheet, and artifact versions](/concepts/bom-cost-sheet-artifact-versions).

## Step 5 — Validate the jacket through fitting

*Fitting proves the jacket is right before any bulk commitment.*

In the **Fitting** module, start a record for the jacket and work it through its
stages, recording comments, measurements, and photos at each. Each
<Tooltip tip="The per-style validation record that takes a style from first prototype to a bulk-approved sample across seven fixed stages.">[fitting](/reference/glossary#fitting)</Tooltip>
round refines the
<Tooltip tip="A physical prototype of a style, developed and validated through fitting before bulk production.">[sample](/reference/glossary#sample)</Tooltip>
until it's right. When the pre-production sample is signed off, the style is validated
and ready to commit to an order. See [samples and fitting](/modules/samples-and-fitting).

## Step 6 — Create the quotation

*The quotation puts a price in front of the customer.*

In the **Quotations** module, choose "Create quotation", pick the customer, and add a
line for the jacket — its
<Tooltip tip="A specific color or color combination that a style is produced in.">[colorways](/reference/glossary#colorway)</Tooltip>,
sizes, quantities, and the unit price from your cost sheet. Export the
<Tooltip tip="A price offer sent to a customer before an order is placed.">[quotation](/reference/glossary#quotation)</Tooltip>
as a PDF, branded as your own document, and send the quotation. When the customer
accepts, mark it approved — the quotation moves Draft → Sent → Approved. See
[Create a quotation](/modules/create-a-quotation).

## Step 7 — Convert to a PI, then to an order

*The accepted quote carries forward, so nothing is retyped.*

From the accepted quotation, generate a
<Tooltip tip="A preliminary invoice confirming price, quantity, and terms before shipment.">[proforma invoice](/reference/glossary#pi-proforma-invoice)</Tooltip>
for the customer to arrange payment — a step your administrator enables — then convert
the quotation into an
<Tooltip tip="A customer's commitment to buy specific styles, colorways, and quantities to ship by a given date.">[order](/reference/glossary#order)</Tooltip>.
Both conversions carry the line items, colorways, quantities, and prices forward. On
the new order, set the `Ship date`, `Trade term`, and `Destination`. See the
[Orders module guide](/modules/orders) and the
[documents and conversion chain](/concepts/documents-and-conversion-chain).

## Step 8 — Read the backward schedule

*Once the ship date is set, every milestone gets a deadline.*

Open the order's schedule. GarmentFlow works backward from your ship date — through
inspection, materials received, documents issued, fabric shipped, and order confirmed
— and shows each milestone with its target date on a schedule timeline. The
<Tooltip tip="The capability that tracks an order's production readiness and surfaces risks early.">[readiness engine](/reference/glossary#readiness-engine)</Tooltip>
compares progress against those targets and flags anything slipping. See
[the readiness engine](/concepts/readiness-engine-and-ai).

Confirm the order on the commercial side so the rest of the team can plan against a
real deal, and approve the jacket's BOM for this order so production can read it as
final. Production starts as a separate step in the next section.

## Step 9 — Outsource production and buy materials

*The jacket is made at a factory from purchased materials — and production shouldn't
start until those materials arrive.*

In the **Production** hub, raise a
<Tooltip tip="The outsourcing document covering work sent to a factory; one factory order can span several orders and styles.">[factory order](/reference/glossary#factory-order)</Tooltip>
on the **Subcontracting** tab for the factory making the jacket, then raise
<Tooltip tip="A purchase order sent to a supplier for fabric or trims.">[purchase orders](/reference/glossary#po-purchase-order)</Tooltip>
on the **Purchasing** tab for the shell fabric and the zip. As materials arrive, record
each <Tooltip tip="Recording materials received against a purchase order into inventory.">[receipt](/reference/glossary#receipt)</Tooltip>
against its purchase order. Issuing the factory order also auto-seeds the per-leg
outbound shipment skeleton you'll work in step 11. If your administrator has enabled the
material-arrival check, production start is held back until coverage is met — with the
per-line shortfall shown in red and an override-with-reason path when you need to proceed
anyway. See the [Production module guide](/modules/production).

## Step 10 — Issue the manufacturing order

*With the BOM approved and materials in, the factory needs one frozen production
document.*

On the jacket's **MO** tab, issue the
<Tooltip tip="The production document issued for a specific order's version of a style; its content is frozen when it is issued.">[manufacturing order](/reference/glossary#mo-manufacturing-order)</Tooltip>.
The MO is a multi-tab factory workbook — the order quantities, the approved BOM's
per-colorway color-spec, the finalised grading grid, the sample-stage measurement
comparison, and the customer's brand-tab library attachments (packing, production
notes, sample review, style detail) — rendered from one of the workspace's
[PMS templates](/admin/pms-templates). Issuing freezes the content so production
always works from a stable copy, even if a source record changes later. See
[Build a manufacturing order (MO)](/modules/build-an-mo).

## Step 11 — Ship and invoice

*The finished jackets go to the customer, and the sale is billed and tracked to
payment.*

The team works two shipment records together. The **outbound shipment** is the per-leg
operational record on the order — auto-seeded in step 9 — and marking it shipped to the
order's
<Tooltip tip="The customer-specified destination for a shipment, which depends on the order's trade term.">[shipping destination](/reference/glossary#shipping-destination-出貨地)</Tooltip>
draws the finished-goods record down. The **commercial shipment** is the customer-facing
document for the batch — vessel or flight, bill of lading or air waybill, and the link to
the commercial invoice — created by hand when you're ready to book the carrier. See
[Shipments](/modules/shipments).

Then raise the customer invoice and track the receipt of payment against the order. If
your administrator has enabled receipts tracking, the order's Overview tab shows a
payment-progress bar that fills as money comes in. The jacket order is complete. See
[Finance](/modules/finance).

## What's next

You've taken one jacket from a product record to a paid, shipped order. Each step has a
module guide with the full detail: [Styles](/modules/styles),
[Quotations](/modules/quotations), [Orders](/modules/orders),
[Samples and fitting](/modules/samples-and-fitting),
[Production](/modules/production), [Shipments](/modules/shipments), and
[Finance](/modules/finance). The next time this jacket comes back, you start at step 6
— the style is already built.

## Related pages

* [Styles module guide](/modules/styles)
* [Orders module guide](/modules/orders)
* [Quotations](/modules/quotations)
* [Production module guide](/modules/production)
* [The readiness engine and AI](/concepts/readiness-engine-and-ai)