One of the most detailed modules in the DATASCOPE software is the sales order wave release. This module is designed to act as the “drum” of the warehouse. In the average warehouse operation, customers would place orders with their ideal ship date and you would take those orders and push them onto the warehouse floor as they come in. Depending on order volume, this can potentially overload or underload the warehouse.
The wave release module looks at all the orders coming in from SYSPRO and gives you the necessary tools to group the orders logically and push them into the warehouse in an optimal flow. In addition to making it easier to manage what is going out onto the floor, it also gives you the ability to more accurately prioritize your customers’ orders.
WHERE DOES THE SALES ORDER WAVE RELEASE FIT IN?
In a typical process flow, a sales order comes in via SYSPRO, either loaded manually or through an imported EDI file, and drops into the warehouse for picking, packing and shipping. Within SYSPRO, a “reserve” function is used to make the order available for the sales order wave release. (Note: If the Transportation Management System (TMS) module is turned on while using the wave release screen, from the time the sales order goes into reserve, the TMS system will grab that order, validate the address, do the initial rate shopping to find the best carrier to ship with, and complete any other necessary checks. In the wave release software demo, we’ve turned the TMS module off, instead focusing on sales orders that are ready to be released to the warehouse.)
From the releasing process, the output will be picking tickets or picking slips that go out onto the warehouse floor, either as single picking slips or multiple slips that are broken up based on different areas of the warehouse. From picking, the order will enter the packing and checkout process, then be sent to the shipping department. There, an invoice/dispatch note or bill of lading will be printed and, finally, an EDI file created.
PRIMARY SALES ORDER WAVE RELEASE FILTERS
- Sales order number range
- Customer code
- Customer branch
- Ship via code and instruction description (in SYSPRO)
- Order type (SYSPRO Ordered By options)
- Order priority (SYSPRO Custom Form field against Sales Order Query)
- Geographical areas (SYSPRO geographical areas are E, N, O, S, SW)
- Customer short name (SYSPRO Customer Setup Short Name) for grouping clients together
- Ship date range (SYSPRO MLineShipDate on SorDetail, not SorMaster.RequireShipDate)
- Route selection (SYSPRO Delivery Route in Sales Order Header)
- Product class (SYSPRO’s InvMaster.ProductClass)
- Include/exclude supply chain transfers or inter-branch transfers
ADDITIONAL FILTERING FEATURES AND ENHANCEMENTS
With several brand new features added in the most recent software version, you can now filter your data even further.
ADD CUSTOM FORM FIELD COLUMNS
AUTO-RESERVE RULES
Another big change to the software is the addition of the auto-reserve rule feature. You can now build multiple reservation rules for different priorities and different customers, selecting them as you would a batch of products.
Reservation rules can be changed using one of DATASCOPE’s 13 standard inventory reservation rules, or you can develop your own reservation rules. In the past, you were able to create your own default reservation rule but, over time, we allowed you to have your own reservation rule and apply it at a warehouse level. We’ve now taken this a step further and allowed you to have multiple reservation rules that you can select from the front end. More often than not, clients are now building their own reservation rules, with the help of the DATASCOPE Solution Partners (DSPs) who are generating the custom rules for them.
MSN PICKING
Typically, if you release groupings of orders, each individual sales order would be equal to an MSN. To join them into a single, master shipment number (MSN), this new feature allows you to group them together and release them as a group so they all get the same MSN. When you pick them, they’ll be picked as an MSN with all of the picking slips grouped together as if they were one item.
AVAILABLE WAVE RELEASE SYSTEM SETTINGS
To briefly touch on the different settings related to the wave release screen, these are some of the most commonly used system settings you can adjust in the DATASCOPE software:
- Picking sales allocation: Relates to how stock is allocated
- Allocation warning percentage: Percentage allowed to under- or over-allocate stock based on required quantity per line
- Allowed sales order statuses in SYSPRO: Allows status 1, 2 and 3; not generally applicable to suspended orders
- Allow duplicate order entry: Allows more than one user to access the same sales order
- Over-credit allocation: Blocks a user from allocating a pick slip if the customer linked to that order is already over their SYSPRO credit limit
- Allow pick face overallocation: Can reserve from pick face even if there is insufficient stock (triggering a replenishment of pick faces is vital and should be maintained carefully when this setting is turned on)
- Allow reservation on suspended orders
- Allow stock codes on multi-line: Can prevent duplicate stock codes from displaying on sales orders
- Auto-reservation rule: Either set to an actual rule or to a warehouse-specific rule
- Cancel sales order line reason code: SYSPRO reason code provided automatically when you replace a stock code on a sales order
- Checking sales order changes: Makes the software perform one more sales order check before creating the pick slip to see if any quantity changes have taken place on the order
- Check for zero-volume mass: To warn a user that a line has no volume against it and needs to be fixed before release
- Credit check recipient operator and template ID: Performs a credit check against the customer before releasing the order and notifies the operator
- Days before expiry allowed: Number of days before the stock code expires
- Default routes for sales order: Used for truck loading and load planning if a route hasn’t been selected in SYSPRO for your sales order
- Default sort order: How the data grid sorts its information, either by stock code, line or ship date
- Force exact reservations: Force a pick slip to exactly match a quantity in reserve, or use partial pick slips to be sent out onto the floor
- Grid allow: Relates to how the data grid is displayed, either “swapping”, “fixed headers” and “summaries” (normally won’t adjust these)
- Hard on-hold tracking IDs: Used to show or hide tracking IDs
- Custom form field for mass limit warnings: Limit how much mass is applied to each pick slip
- Pick slip release rule: Related to the release of pick slips to the floor. As soon as all orders have been released, they’re given a pick slip number that can either be pushed out onto the warehouse floor as a printed document, or allocated to a picker without any paperwork involved.
There are a number of additional settings for the different pre-configured system rules, as well as warehouse settings for optimizing loading, pick slip release rules and printing of pick slips.
ALTERNATIVE RELEASE METHODS
The majority of releasing is done through the front end of the software but there are other ways to release orders into the warehouse. Using a feature called SYSPRO Panes/Panels, you can put panels into the SYSPRO sales order entry screen that completes this process but does it embedded within SYSPRO itself. We will do a webinar demo of this functionality in the near future.
Some clients are also developing custom applications that do this release process in the background. Analyzing all the new orders coming in, it applies the reservation rule automatically, in the background. Be careful before using this method because automating the flow of orders into the warehouse can quickly overload the floor.
We hope you found this article useful. If you would like to see a demo of sales order wave release software, please watch our full webinar. The goal of our webinars is to demonstrate key features and specific details of the DATASCOPE WMS software so that all of our customers and partners understand what each function does and how you can implement them in your own operation. Schedule your free demo today to try it for yourself!