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OrderFlow Advanced Concepts

OrderFlow Ltd.

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Shipments

Shipments

The Shipment is one of the key entities in OrderFlow, as it used within the system for managing the despatch of orders. Most of the workflow steps for despatch-related processes revolve around shipments.

The entities associated with shipments are shown below:

Shipment Entities

Shipment States

There are several potential states possible for a Shipment as it progresses through OrderFlow, which depend on how the system is configured for a particular client.

One of the most commonly uses set of shipment state transitions is shown below:

Shipment Process Example

The key states used in the diagram above are:

Key Shipment States

Name Description
ready The shipment is ready for processing. This is typically the initial before any processing on the shipment takes place.
released All of the lines of the shipment are in stock. However, the picking locations for these lines still need to be determined.
pickable Picking locations for all lines in the shipment have been determined. The shipment is now ready for picking.
packable If picking is based on paper-based reports rather than handheld terminals, it is not possible to determine exactly when a shipment has been 'picked'. For this reason, the shipment is considered packable as soon as the necessary picking paperwork has been created.
packed Indicates that the shipment has been packed. Packing may involve several sub-processes, from barcode scanning of individual items to be packed, to printing of courier labels and despatch notes. These operations normally occur at a packing desk. In some environments, a slimmed down process that does not involve any packing desk operations can be used.
despatched Typically the last stage in the processing of a shipment. Often involves a notification to a third party system that the despatch of the shipment is complete.

Other commonly used states include:

  • out of stock: one or more of the shipment's lines in out of stock. A line is out of stock if there is insufficient usable stock in the warehouse to meet the line's stock requirement.
  • move pending: picking locations cannot be found for one or more lines in the shipment. Typically, a stock move within the warehouse will need to take place before the line can be fulfilled. For example, lines may need to be put away from incoming locations, or picking locations need to be replenished from stock in non-pickable bulk storage locations.
  • on_hold: processing of the shipment is temporarily suspended.
  • deferred: similar to on hold, but allows for the shipment to automatically become eligible for processing on a particular date, specifically the 'Earliest Ship Date'.
  • manifested: a state which may appy in some environments to indicate that a shipment has appeared on a manifest, that is, a record of a group of shipments being despatched together.

Shipment Courier States

In addition to shipment states, a Shipment has shipment courier states, which are discussed in the Courier Management section below.