Table of Contents
Deliveries (ASNs, RMAs, etc.)
ShipStream implements multiple types of entities related to receiving inventory using a common entity type known as a Delivery. These entities are:
- ASNs - Advanced Shipping Notifications
- RMAs - Return Merchandise Authorizations
- Other Deliveries - Any other user-created delivery that isn't an ASN or RMA
- Cancellations - Inventory that was picked and needs to be re-stocked
- Work Order Outputs - The result of a Work Order that needs to be re-stocked
These deliveries can all be managed under the Receiving menu in ShipStream. They also all use the same API methods under the "delivery" namespace. However, there are a few notable differences in how these different types are processed.
Workflow
The delivery workflow is Accepting, Processing, Put-Away, and Commit. The Work Order Output type skips the Accepting and Processing steps.
New | Accepting | Processing | Put-Away | Commit | |
ASN | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
RMA | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Other Delivery | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Cancellation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Work Order Output | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
New
A delivery that has been created but is not yet accepted is in the "New" status.
Accepting
Accepting a delivery involves identifying the delivery that corresponds to the physical shipment received and recording some basic information about the delivery.
- Number of containers
- The type and weight of each container
- The date received
Upon completion of the above steps the status will advance to either "Accepted" if the delivery is empty and waiting for line items to be added, or "Ready To Process".
Additionally upon acceptance you can print a "delivery label" for each container received to uniquely identify it. If using the Scanner UI, this label will be automatiacally printed upon receiving each container and then later scanned during Processing.
Processing
Processing a delivery involves verifying that the line items received match what was expected or else recording Exceptions with details about the discrepancies. These exceptions are either Shortages or Overages and denote items that are missing or damaged in the delivery or items that were received but not expected to be received.
Processing Exception / Processed
Upon completion of the Processing step the status will advance to either "Processed" if there were no exceptions recorded or "Processing Exception". In the latter case in the Admin UI, the exceptions must all be either accepted or rejected, and then when a user clicks "Finish Processing" the status will finally advance to "Processed".
Put-Away
The Put-Away process is relocating the varified inventory from the receiving stage to shelf locations.
Commit
The final step is one that can be performed automatically or manually by a user. This step is what moves the inventory from the "Put-Away" status to "Available". When the inventory is committed it will be automatically allocated to existing backorders and made available for new orders.
Before it is committed the inventory that was put-away is not available for sale. This may be desirable, for example, to give the merchant an opportunity to update their pricing before the inventory is made available for sale.
Status Diagram
The following diagram shows the complete progression through each status excluding Cancel/Void.
ASN Special Fields
ASNs have three additional fields: Shipment Type, BOL, and SCAC. The latter two may be configured at System > Configuration > Warehouse > ASNs > General to be either Disabled, Optional or Required.
Shipment Type
The Shipment Type helps determine which other fields should be optional or required. The options are:
- International Maritime Freight
- International Air Freight
- FTL Freight
- LTL Freight
- Parcel
- Other/Unknown
Bill of Lading
The Bill of Lading is a legal document commonly used in freight shipping and issued by the carrier to detail the goods being shipped and the destination. This field is not displayed for Parcel or Other/Unknown shipment types.
SCAC
The SCAC (Standard Carrier Alpha Code) is typically, clearly marked on a shipper's containers and can be useful for identifying the carrier for International Maritime Freight type shipments. This field accepts 2 to 4 characters as these codes are assigned by a central authority. A list of common SCACs is provided but the user may provide any 2-4 character code.
