Orders and Shipments
An order is the record of a sale, and everything about it hangs off that one row.
Where to find it
Architect Panel → Commercial:
- Carts — the cart itself and its options
Architect Panel → Data:
- Datastores — then View Data on the cart table, and look for the row actions
What the order holds
An order number, the customer, the shipping method and weight band, the net total, discount, shipping, tax and gross total with currency, the delivery and billing addresses with the delivery country, and a status.
Addresses are stored on the order rather than referenced, which is correct — an order should show where it was actually sent, not where the customer lives now.
The row actions are the detail
An order offers Basket Contents, Payments and Refunds. Those three answer nearly every question anybody asks about an order, and they are not visible until you look for them.
Lines carry their own price and tax
And their own status. That is what allows part of an order to be cancelled, refunded or back-ordered without disturbing the rest, and it is why the order total is a record of what was charged rather than a calculation to be re-run.
Payments are separate from the order
An order can have more than one payment, each with its method, reference, amount and result. So a partial payment, a retry after a failure, or a deposit followed by a balance all record properly.
Shipments are separate too
A shipment carries its own shipping method, weight band, delivery address and tracking number, with lines naming which products and which stock records went in it.
That means an order can ship in parts — which happens constantly, and is impossible to record honestly if dispatch is a flag on the order.
Shipment lines reference stock
Not just the product. So you know which batch a customer received, which is what makes a targeted recall possible and what settles a dispute about which version of a product was sent.
Give status a defined meaning
Order status drives what everybody does. Write down what each value means and who moves it, because a status set inconsistently is worse than no status — it looks authoritative and is not.
Keep tracking numbers on the shipment
With the method’s tracking prefix set, they become links. A customer who can see where their parcel is does not contact you.
Worked example
A shop dispatches multi-line orders in whatever parts are ready, recording a shipment per parcel with its tracking number and the stock records used. A customer query about a missing item was answered from the order in under a minute: two shipments, one delivered, one still in transit.
Recommendations
- Look for the row actions — the detail is behind them.
- Record a shipment per parcel, not a flag on the order.
- Reference stock on shipment lines for traceability.
- Define what each status means in writing.