Order Management Introduction

WarehouseOS is excited to present an updated offering for order management practices! This updated version brings an increase of customization and versatility for processing different order types, while continuing to make an effort to keep processes streamlined and simple. 

This introduction will outline the new components, how they work together, and provide links to more detailed information.

• Order Types
• Order Structures
• Order Processes
• Facilities

Order Types

WOS will now have different order types to help segment processes through the warehouse. Currently only Sales Orders are fully built out and functional, but Transfer and Work orders are coming soon.

• Sales Orders: outbound orders that will need to be picked, packed, and shipped 
• Transfer Orders: tasks designed to move inventory between facilities, transferring from one location to another. Shipping is optional (coming soon)
• Work Orders: kitting and assembly workflows 

Order Structures

The order structure inside of WOS has been broken out to multiple objects: Order Records, Pick Tickets, Consolidations, and Fulfillments. These are all visible in the Order Edit page.

1. Order Records: represents the order at the highest level, containing the customer and shipping details, all order lines, and linking all pick tickets and fulfillments generated and processed against it. Order Records will match up the order object in sales channels and host systems.
2. Pick Tickets: represent the picking tasks created against an Order Record that will be batch or single picked. There can be multiple Pick Tickets assigned to a single order. 
3. Consolidations: represent the packing task or object against an Order Record. They will be associated with at least one Pick Ticket, a Pick Ticket Consolidation (PTC) can be made up of multiple Pick Tickets combined at the packing step.
4. Fulfillments: represent shipments created for an Order Record. Fulfillments will be associated with a Consolidation. They can be made up of multiple packages (multi-parcel shipments) or single packages. Fulfillments are only created for fulfillable order types (Sales and Transfer orders).

Order Processes

Orders will be assigned to processes that will determine how the order is handled from creation to completion. There are 5 new processes that direct orders through the system:

1. Order Process: this will typically be assigned to orders when created to determine if fulfillable or not, and waterfalls an assignment of Picking, Packing, and Fulfillment Routing processes.
2. Picking Process: this process determines the pick method used to process a Pick Ticket, as well as assigned an Allocation Process. It will most commonly be assigned via the Order Process or in the Batch Build grid during batching.
3. Packing Process: this process determines packing settings or requirements specific to the order Fulfillment. This is currently a limited process but will be expanded in the future for other updates like cartonization.
4. Allocation Process: this process determines how orders will allocate to inventory, a variety of configurable options makes it possible to have different order types prioritize different inventory locations or orders.
5. Fulfillment Routing Process: this process determines how to assign orders across facilities. If an operation has only a single warehouse, all orders will be assigned to that facility. If there are multiple warehouses, determining how orders are assigned to each facility can depend on different overall priorities.

Facilities

Multiple warehouse locations will now be supported inside of a single instance of WOS. A warehouse is considered a facility inside of the system. Facilities will represent individual buildings or separate locations, including retail locations if tracked. See Facilities for more detail.

Facilities will replace Areas. Any segmentation of inventory inside a facility will be done by Zone. Zone functionality and restrictions have been expanded to allow for full usage and separation of inventory if needed. See updated Zones for more detail.