In a warehouse, you can keep your products and materials available for sale. You can establish a structure for the warehouse, activate and set it up, as well as import storage locations. Additionally, you can stock in, out, and rearrange products, make reservations, and calculate inventory levels. Stocktaking is also possible.
A warehouse in Xentral essentially consists of two levels: warehouse and shelves. Here, you can decide whether a warehouse should represent an area, a room, or a building. The same applies to the second level. A shelf can be an actual shelf, a compartment, or a visible storage bin.
Note
In automated processes and distribution channels, products are often picked from a default warehouse while the exact location for the picking process is determined by the storage location. Your distribution channel accesses the entire warehouse, not individual shelves.
To store products in Xentral, you need a warehouse with at least one shelf.
To create a new warehouse, follow these steps:
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Go to Stock > Warehouse Management and click +NEW.
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Assign a designation without special characters for the new warehouse, for example: Main warehouse, Production warehouse, Hall, Warehouse Berlin, etc.
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Click Save.
To create a new shelf, follow these steps:
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Go to Storage Locations and click on Create new storage location.
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Assign a designation to your storage location (shelf) using contiguous characters/digits, for example: HL001, HL0101A, etc.
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Click Save.
Note
Further information regarding your warehouse structure, different types of warehouse locations such as storage area for blocked stock, supply or consumption as well as features for automated logistics can be found in the article on the Creating a warehouse structure (Xentral Warehouse Management).
You can directly modify or adjust inventory levels for a product. Any changes will be logged, visible in the product and the respective warehouse. The following options are available for in the product view: Store product in a new storage location, storage location movements, remove products from storage (only if inventory is greater than zero), and adding/storing additional quantities to an existing inventory.
Store product in new storage location:
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Click Store product in new storage location.
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Enter the Quantity to be stored and the storage location (shelf). If the product has a default storage location or has been stored in a warehouse, the storage space (shelf) will be suggested in bold, and you can click on the space to fill in the field.
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Click Next to book the product into the storage location.
Remove product from a storage location:
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Click on the minus icon to remove products from the storage location.
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Enter the quantity you want to remove from the storage location (shelf) and click OK.
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Enter a withdrawal reason, for example: Correction entry, goods defect.
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Click OK to book the product out of the storage location.
Move a product from one storage location to another:
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Click on the relocation icon to transfer the product inventory to another storage location.
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Enter the quantity to be removed and transferred from this shelf, then click on OK.
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Enter a reason for the relocation, for example: inventory adjustment, then click OK to book the product out of the storage location.
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Enter the storage location (shelf). If the article has a default storage location or has been stored in a warehouse, the storage location (shelf) will be suggested in bold, and you can click on the location to fill in the field.
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Click Next to book the product into the new storage location.
Add a quantity of a booked product to a product in a storage location:
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Click on the plus icon to add the product to inventory.
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Enter the quantity to be added to the storage location and click OK.
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Enter a reason for the increase, for example: Goods receipt DN12345.
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Click OK to book the product to inventory.
There are various methods you can use to adjust your inventory. These include adjustments via delivery note, purchase order, goods receipt, logistics, point of sale (POS), as well as through stocktaking or import. Each of these processes offers different ways for adjusting inventory. Please use the respective links for detailed information.
The logistics process determines various aspects, such as whether a stock booking takes place or if the delivery note is used for the stock removal. Additionally, it determines whether the retrieval and staging of products for packing (picking) is carried out separately in an upstream work step. Furthermore, when and where the printout of invoices, delivery notes and parcel labels within the logistics process takes place. The automated handover of larger sales order quantities to logistics is managed through a traffic light system. Green lights indicate that your sales order will be picked up and processed automatically. Orange lights, for example, indicate missing stock or payment, and block the sales order for logistics processing.
Note
You can find a quick start guide for logistics process settings and initial steps in the next main section.
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You can complete and finalize sales orders individually by creating an invoice and a delivery note, and book out the products.
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You can individually hand over an order through an automatic logistics process to the dispatch center. This will then go through the process chain as defined in your logistics settings.
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For large sales order quantities, you can control the handover to logistics using batch processing or an automatic process. You can set the process, for example, to run at 12 pm or hourly to automatically process all orders marked as green to be processed at the packing station.
Note
The extensive options for creating logistics processes can be found in the settings of the sales channels. You can find the workflow for picking and packing in the article Dispatch Center. For further information on all logistics topics such as batch and shelf life or drop-shipping, please refer to the Logistics and Fulfillment category overview.
With the Store receipts module, you can flexibly define in manual processes from which shelf quantities should be stored or removed. Multiple stock bookings can also be specified per item. The module enables the storage and removal of items in delivery notes and sales orders. To track movements, a history of all manual storage and removal transactions can be viewed in the product or in the warehouse. You can indicate the shelf from which the product was removed on the delivery note. You can find the setting to print the storage location on the delivery note in the project settings (sales channel).
You can use the Store receipts module not only for delivery notes but also for purchase orders and production. If you want to send purchase orders from Xentral, you can use a customized document type for this purpose. For order proposals, you can view the Order Proposal Overview, and for more complex B2B scenarios, you can use the Extended Order Proposal.
Xentral offers various options for goods receipt. The Fast Goods Receipt enables rapid capture of large quantities with less intensive step-by-step checking. Additionally, delivered goods can be booked into a goods receipt document. The Standard Parcel Acceptance captures product number, quantity, and other information and suggests a storage location. With the Large Parcel Acceptance (setting in system settings), documentation of weight and damages can be utilized.
The stocktaking (Mobile Inventory App) offers various advantages. With it, stocktaking data can be quickly and easily captured. Products can be conveniently scanned via barcode. After completing the counts, operational processes can be resumed immediately. Additionally, the app provides complete transparency regarding progress and all inventory adjustments during the inventory count.
Setting up and using Shopify POS with Xentral (New Xentral Connect interface beta status)
POS-Funktionen und Bedienung (Old Xentral POS until the end of 2023)
The Import of master data and company data (data import) in Xentral allows for importing data from other systems. For example, if you're collaborating with a fulfillment partner who provides you with stock figures, or if you want to import stock from third-party systems such as B2B retailer platforms.
Caution
Stock changes and integrations with third-party systems (outside of Xentral's standard shop and marketplace integrations) and their synchronization fall under the advanced topic section. Please note, that for this you will need the corresponding interfaces or IT support from your partner.
Information on this can be found at:
The logistics process coordinates various decisions, such as stock booking, the use of delivery notes for removal from storage, and the separate picking and staging of products for packaging. The process also determines when and where invoices, delivery notes, and parcel labels are printed. Selecting the right logistics process depends on factors such as the size of your warehouse, the number of different products in stock, and the volume of daily shipments. Additionally, the type, size, and weight of products, as well as the number of employees in your team, play a role.
Tip
You can choose from various logistics processes and control shipping handover with different levels of automation:
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Individually per order manually,
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Manually as a whole batch,
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All completed and green orders by time or interval, for example, every hour.
Note
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The described logistics processes are only available for sales orders that have successfully passed the auto-shipment process. It's important to note that in the warehouse, only products marked as stock products can be booked from the inventory.
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Bill of materials (bundle of products): Just-In-Time bill of materials (special Xentral bill of materials type) with stock products do not require any additional special marking. It is sufficient if this type of bill of material has individual stock products as child products. You can find the distinction of bill of materials in the Onboarding article First Steps and in the article Using (Just in time) bill of materials .
Xentral offers various picking processes in the logistics domain, which can also be used in combination. This includes everything from completing a sales order without further processing to picking and packing goods using mobile interfaces and devices, including the allocation of employees to their own packing stations and printers.
You can find an overview of the logistics processes here: Selection and settings of the logistics process
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Select the process that best suits you and your company currently.
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You can also define different processes per sales channel (project), for example, if you want to pack B2B sales orders or pallets differently than your B2C e-commerce sales orders from Shopify, Shopware.
Note
You can adjust and switch the picking processes at any time, even during ongoing operations. At this point, Xentral grows with you and offers you various extensive options.
Selection of the logistics process:
Standard Pick+Pack processes: If you only need stock booking during shipping handover and the parcel label + delivery note at the packing station, you can use the logistics process "Simple stock booking + scanning in the dispatch center". You can alternatively choose another pre-configured process and further adjust it.
Individual Pick + Pack processes: If you have special requirements or more complex process steps for larger volumes, you can select and configure the basic process.
Note
For individual logistics settings and process steps, we recommend the following articles:
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Automation via process starter (Dispatch Center, calculate auto-shipment)
You can create a logistics process for a new sales channel (= project) in the projects module. You will find the logistics settings per project in the settings section under warehouse.
Note
In older versions of Xentral, you can find the logistics settings under Projects > Settings > Logistics/Shipping.
Steps to set up a new logistics process:
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Click on Settings > Stock > Logistic settings per project and select the appropriate project using the pen icon, for example, you can choose the project STANDARD. This is automatically created in every Xentral system.
(Alternatively, you can create a new project by clicking + Add Project, for example, SHOP)
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Select a logistics process using the Quick selection buttons at the top, for example, One-stage: individual picking with parcel label.
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Click Activate picking procedure now.
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The new settings will be applied.
Caution
Existing project settings will be overwritten with the new picking procedure.
If you are already live, you should never change the logistics settings during operations. It's best to create a new project to test.
You can select the following logistics processes via the quick selection buttons:
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One-stage: individual picking with parcel label |
This is a process where you hand over each sales order individually for picking. During handover, the sales order products are booked in the warehouse, and both the delivery note and parcel label are printed. There is no additional stage offered in the system for packaging the shipment. |
Requirements:
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Two-stage: Pick list with dispatch center |
This is a two-stage process. In the first step, a pick list is generated for batch picking. The picked goods can then be individually assigned to the respective delivery notes in the dispatch center in the second step. Parcel labels and invoices are also created there. |
Requirements:
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Two-stage: Multi-order picking with a dispatch center |
This is also a two-stage process. In the first step, picking is done without physical paper. Instead a mobile device (e.g., handheld) is being used. As the name suggests, batch picking can be performed here. However, during shipping handover, a larger B2B sales order can also be handed over to picking individually. In the following step, the picked goods are individually assigned to the delivery notes, packed, and labeled. |
Requirements:
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Fulfiller or external producer |
This is a simple process where in Xentral, as part of the shipping handover, a stock booking is made. All other settings must be made per transfer account. There, you can define whether
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Requirements:
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You receive sales orders in the system through various channels such as shops, marketplaces, email sales orders, large telephone sales orders, or custom sales orders. You can decide whether sales orders should be processed manually, with a single click, or as batch transfers to logistics. If a sales order has a green traffic light indicator, it can be handed over to automatic process chains. Missing information, inventory, or checkpoints controlled by you can block the sales order and prevent premature handover to your logistics department. Even with large sales orders, you can ensure that the correct checks have been carried out. You can assign sales orders to different projects (= sales channels) and define a separate process chain for each channel.
Tip
Time saving:
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You can configure logistics processes to complete sales orders individually and print them at your desk or receive a PDF for download. This saves you many clicks and eliminates the need to process and approve each sales order separately as an invoice and delivery note. Additionally, stock bookings do not need to be carried out individually per product or delivery note.
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Alternatively, you can also control the entire logistics for your team and process all sales orders from your shops and marketplaces in the morning or every hour. If you are not at the location at that time, you can also send the sales orders to your logistics department with a mouse click or automatically, and have them handed over at a fixed time controlled by the process.
Hand over a sales order to logistics (dispatch center):
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Requirements: The sales order has all order indicators on green, for example, you have stocked the product, released the sales order for shipping, and marked it as paid.
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Click on a sales order in the sales order overview.
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Select Auto-dispatch: hand over to dispatch center from the action menu. Note: depending on the logistics process, the sales order may also list Auto-dispatch: create invoice and delivery note for another process, for example. Auto-dispatch means that there is an automatic processing process behind this function.
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Approve with OK to proceed with handing over the sales order for dispatch or to complete the sales order.
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The sales order will now go through the process you have set up. For example, a warehouse reduction will be made, a delivery note and an invoice will be created within the number range, and the sales order may be handed over to a logistics table that can be processed.
Note
Pick & Pack: The processing of goods in the warehouse, as well as the picking process and optional scanning at the packing station or packing station setup and picking runs, can be found in the product on picking and packing in the stock out area.
To print receipts in your workflows or have them printed automatically, you need a printing option. You can print in Xentral in the following ways:
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PDF print: The document is saved as a PDF file on your computer. PDF printing is quickly set up and is suitable if you want to only process a few sales orders a day. You can also use the PDF printer if you occasionally want to print out a sales order or document from your workstation parallel to the packing table process.
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Physical printing: The document is printed by a physical printer. This is the typical printing process for logistics processes and a larger number of sales orders. Spooler printing can process a large number of dispatch orders and process projects (sales channels) in parallel. Batch transfers or automatic process transfers in the background of Xentral can be printed out particularly easily via the logistics processes.
Tip
You can of course also send documents by email. Both individually and manually, as well as in batch prints and automatic processes. You can also configure the settings differently for each sales channel (= project). For example, you can send invoices for your shop systems and marketplaces by email and place the delivery note in the parcel. For B2B container shipping, you can attach the delivery note with the relevant B2B data to the outside of the parcel. You can include the invoice in the parcel and/or also send it by email or EDI.
To connect a printer, go to Settings > Administration > Printers > Set up printers (NextGen) and click +Add printer. In the printer wizard, you can configure which documents and shipping labels you want to use the printer for, and whether you need it only for specific projects or users. Finally, choose the printing format (PDF, email, physical). If you opt for the physical printer, you'll need the printer spooler app.
You can download the app either during setup or from our GitHub-Repository. Make sure to choose the correct version for your operating system and processor (Mac with Intel or Mac with Apple chips (M1, M2, etc.).
Note
To print, the device the printer spooler is installed on, must be turned on!
For large order volumes, you should set up a separate device that is permanently switched on.
In the spooler app, you can connect new printers to your instance and view a list of your connected printers. There you can also check whether there are any issues with any of the printing processes.
You can print in the following ways:
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You can print individual documents via the action menu of the respective document (Action: Send document > via printer).
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You can print multiple documents via batch processing below the overview table of the document.
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Automatic printing takes place in various logistics processes. You can set the print and dispatch stages in the project (= sales channel).
You configure the printer for automatic printing during setup in the printer wizard. Here you determine which documents or shipping labels are to be printed and whether there are any restrictions regarding the project or shipping method.
You can also control the use of the printer in many other places:
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Type of printer |
Changeable in module |
Affects these documents |
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Standard printer |
System settings, User |
Default setting, gets picked if no other setting has priority |
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Label printer |
System settings, User |
Storage labels |
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Printer Dispatch |
Project, User |
Shipping documents (e.g., invoice) |
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Printer shipping label |
Shipping method, User |
Shipping label |
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Printer Commissioning |
Project |
Storage documents (e.g., picking list) |
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Printer Export |
Shipping method |
Printer for export |
The priority of the settings is as follows: System settings < Shipping method = Project < User.
Tip
You can create the labels for your items or the labelling of your warehouse in the Labels module. You can print the labels themselves in the following modules:
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Item labels: Product > Tab: Label. You can print item labels in the product itself or in the goods receipt. You can set the label types in the Label Printer module. You can obtain item labels via the label type "item_small".
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Warehouse labels: Warehouse management > Tab: Warehouse labels. You can print out warehouse labels in the warehouse management. You can set the label types in the Label Printer module. Warehouse labels have the label type "lager_klein".
Effective returns management can reduce your workload while significantly increasing customer satisfaction. In Xentral, you can easily handle returns from your customers, although returns from suppliers are only possible to a limited extent.
The simplest way to facilitate returns is through the Xentral Returns Portal. This is a customizable website where your customers can submit their returns and receive an automated response immediately. For example, customers can automatically receive a return label from a shipping service provider of your choice, initiating the returns process directly. The return is then created directly in your Xentral system.
The returns portal offers you many customization options:
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Usage of custom text templates for automatic emails and informational texts
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Return conditions allow certain products to be excluded from shipping or to be shipped only with a specific shipping service provider. These conditions can be customized to suit various situations.
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Customize the returns portal to your corporate identity by selecting a logo and your own colors.
Further processing of returns takes place in the module Returns receipts. Here, you can also create manual returns that have been announced to you by phone or email. You can do this entirely manually, but we recommend creating the return from an existing document (sales order, invoice, delivery note), as this is faster and less error-prone.
The processing of returns takes place on the right side in the Action menu. Here, you can create a return label if it has not already been done in the returns portal. You can also create a goods receipt document and store the goods, create a credit note or cancellation invoice, or initiate a free replacement delivery. When storing goods, you can also specify a serial number, a best before date, or a batch.
Note
You can easily assign a return in the goods receipt by scanning the return number on the return document or the number of a linked document (sales order, invoice, delivery note) in the Scan section using a barcode scanner or by manual entry.