Slotting Density / FPA Efficiency
Slotting Density compares picking activity with the space used by each Product. Within each Warehouse, Lane and Merchant population, ShipStream converts the selected density formula into a Slotting Density Rank (SDR) from 0 through 1000. A higher SDR means greater activity per unit of space, and Products with equal density receive the same rank.
The Slotting Density / FPA Efficiency report records the population-level outcomes after each completed calculation, so you can compare changes over time and identify missing geometry before relying on the figures. Select a population to review its individual Product scores.
Configure Slotting Density
Slotting Density settings can be configured independently for each Warehouse:
- Navigate to System -> Configuration.
- Choose the Warehouse under Warehouses in the Current Configuration Scope menu.
- Navigate to Warehouse -> Stock -> Slotting Density.
- Set the fields below and click Save Config.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Rank Formula | The ratio used to rank Products in each population. The default is Slotting Density. |
| Observation Window Days | The number of complete Warehouse-local days included in each calculation. The default is 21, and the allowed range is 1 through 365. The window ends with yesterday, so a partial current day never changes the result. |
| Neutral SDR | The fallback rank used when ShipStream cannot derive an observed rank, including a Product with no pick visits, a singleton population, incomplete committed geometry, or a Product that has been assigned to a Lane but not yet slotted. The default is 500, and the allowed range is 0 through 1000. |
| Unit Cube Guard | The smallest reliable single-unit cube for formulas that use a Product's unit cube. It is displayed in the installation's base volume unit and defaults to the same physical volume as 1 cubic inch. |
Saving these settings does not queue a recalculation. The nightly calculation is the normal refresh mechanism; a super administrator can use Queue Recompute when the next publication is needed sooner.
See Configuration Scope for more information about Warehouse-specific settings.
Choose the rank formula
| Formula | Ratio | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Slotting Density (pick visits ÷ committed cube) | Pick visits divided by the Product's committed forward-pick volume | The default. It rewards activity relative to the space currently assigned to the Product. |
| Burn Efficiency (units ÷ unit cube) | Net units picked divided by one Product unit's cube | Compares physical throughput. Cancel and revert corrections remain attached to the original pick day. |
| Pick Density (pick visits ÷ unit cube) | Pick visits divided by one Product unit's cube | Compares how often a Product is visited relative to its physical size. |
Changing the formula does not immediately rebuild the report. Use Queue Recompute when an immediate refresh is needed; otherwise the nightly rebuild uses the new setting.
Unit cube and guard
Burn Efficiency and Pick Density require a reliable single-unit cube. ShipStream looks for it in this order:
- The Product's Storage Dimensions, but only when all three fields are filled with valid positive values. An incomplete set is never mixed with the general dimensions; if any of the three values is missing or not positive, the general Product dimensions are used for all axes instead.
- The Product's general dimensions and volume when no complete Storage Dimensions set applies.
- A confirmed quantity-BOM unit-of-measure cube, divided by its base quantity, only when the Product has no usable dimensions of its own.
Storage Dimensions belong to the Product and are not configured per Warehouse. Enter them in the Storage Dimensions fields under the General tab of the Product page; they use the global base length unit shown beside the fields and are not converted.
The Unit Cube Guard is displayed in the installation's base volume unit. Its default is always the same physical volume as 1 cubic inch, including installations that display cubic centimetres or cubic millimetres. A resolved cube equal to or above the guard is eligible. A missing cube or one below the guard is not clamped; the Product receives the neutral SDR and appears as Excluded: unit cube.
The guard has no effect when Slotting Density is selected.
Open the report
Navigate to Operations -> Slotting Density / FPA Efficiency.
Each row represents one published calculation for a Warehouse, Lane and Merchant. The report retains historical publications for at least 90 days and initially filters Published At to the last 30 days. Change that filter to view an earlier publication.
You can filter and sort the report by any displayed field. Use the Export control to download the current filtered view as CSV or Excel. Volume exports keep the measurement in a numeric column and place its unit in the following column.
Access is controlled by the System -> Operations -> Slotting Density / FPA Efficiency role permission. The report also respects the Warehouses and Merchants available to the administrator.
Read the report
In this report, a face is an eligible forward-pick Location.
- Published At shows when the complete calculation became available. Until another calculation publishes, the previous result remains the current result.
- Warehouse, Lane and Merchant identify the population measured by the row. Merchants are always calculated separately.
- Observation Start and Observation End show the complete Warehouse-local days included in the activity totals.
- FPA Cube is the total physical cube of non-temporary, pickable Locations in the Lane's destination Location Profile, including Locations that are not currently assigned to a Product.
- Committed Cube is the forward cube committed to the Merchant's Products in that Lane. A face remains committed regardless of the quantity currently stored in it.
- FPA Cube Utilization is Committed Cube divided by FPA Cube. It measures how much of the available forward-pick cube has been assigned to this Merchant's Products.
- Pick Visits is the gross number of visits to pickable source Locations during the observation window. It counts visits, not units picked.
- Demand Lines is the number of demand lines recorded over the same observation window.
- Pick Visits per volume and Demand Lines per volume divide the activity totals by Committed Cube, using the volume unit configured for display.
- Geometry Status is Complete only when both the FPA cube and committed cube can be calculated without omitting a Location. Otherwise it is Incomplete.
- Unknown FPA Faces counts eligible forward-pick Locations whose physical cube is unknown.
- Unknown Committed Faces counts Product-assigned faces whose committed cube is unknown.
- Cohort Revision identifies the published calculation. A higher revision for the same Warehouse, Lane and Merchant is a newer calculation.
- Rank Formula identifies the formula used to rank Products in the publication.
When Geometry Status is Incomplete, ShipStream leaves any affected cube, utilization and activity-per-volume values blank rather than presenting a partial figure as complete. Use the unknown-face counts to determine whether the missing geometry belongs to the Lane generally, to assigned Product faces, or both. Review the affected Locations and ensure their Slot Types have valid physical dimensions.
When Committed Cube is zero and geometry is otherwise complete, utilization is 0%. Activity-per-volume values remain blank because there is no committed volume to divide by.
Review Product results
Select a report row to review its Product results. The Product report includes:
- SDR, the percentile score used by directed put-away
- SDS, pick visits divided by committed cube
- BER, signed net units divided by single-unit cube
- the selected Rank Formula
- the reason for neutral or excluded results
The report shows the last completed publication. Formula and guard values are recorded with each publication, so historical results retain the settings that produced them.
Queue a recompute
The recompute controls are available only to super administrators.
- Navigate to Operations -> Slotting Density / FPA Efficiency.
- Under Recompute Slotting Density, choose a Warehouse.
- Choose one Merchant, or leave All merchants selected.
- Click Queue Recompute.
ShipStream confirms that the recompute request was queued. Discovery and recalculation run in the background; if the selected scope has no eligible active cohort, no new report rows will appear.
Recomputation runs in the background. Existing report rows remain available while it runs, and the new historical row appears only after the complete cohort publishes.