Trying to control process flow - any suggestions

We're trying to eliminate some of the excessive amount of paper we're using in handling Sales Orders. POs are usually received by CSRs who pcheck things and enter into NS. Then they pass to Logistics who set up the trucking, warehousing, customs, etc on it.

I'm trying to find a way to signal which stage of the process the order is in and act as a tickler for the group that needs to do something with it. I tried using a saved search, keying on the order status change, but there are too many exceptions to make this worthwhile or usable. CSRs may take back or hold orders for various reasons.