With the so-called warehouse traffic lights, Xentral offers you an entirely new way of accessing the latest stock calculations for your sales orders.
In this article, we explain the meaning of the warehouse status indicators that are available as part of the regular Order status indicator. In addition, we describe the settings that you can carry out to achieve an efficient first in - first out approach (FIFO) or an open stock supply for your sales orders in Xentral.
Important
As of now, the features described in this article are available to a small group of users as part of a test phase. Do you want to be a part of this? In that case, contact your Onboarding Manager at Xentral to request access.
First, you should decide how you want Xentral to proceed with stock allocation for sales orders.
There are two possibilities that will be described in more detail in the following.
Caution
Pay attention to the following limitations and notes before activating the new allocation logic:
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Dropshipping warehouse and dropshipping supplier: At the moment, the new stock allocation must not be used in combination with dropshipping suppliers or dropshipping warehouses. Do not activate the new stock allocation yet In case you are using one of those modules!
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Manual reservations: Stock that has already been manually reserved in Xentral is not taken into account.
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Reservations for productions: Are you using the Production module in Xentral? When using the options for improved stock allocation, reservations for productions are not considered. It might happen that stock reserved for production is assigned to sales orders as a result of carrying out the settings described below, resulting in stock not being available for productions any more.
The so-called open supply stock allocation means that the allocation of stock is carried out individually for each order. This means that stock allocation is not blocked or influenced by sales orders that have existed for a longer time in Xentral and are waiting for stock allocation.
In more detail:
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Each sales order can be processed further as soon as enough stock is available for this sales order, without any consideration for other existing sales orders.
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During stock allocation, no prioritization according to criteria like the creation date of the sales order takes place.
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More recent orders can be processed first as soon as the required stock is completely available. Older sales orders that are also waiting for missing items are left behind. Thus, it may happen upon receipt of reordered items that those required items have already been used for more recent sales orders. As a consequence, stock allocation and thus further processing for the older sales orders is delayed.
Carry out the following system settings in Xentral to activate open supply stock allocation.
You can use the First In - First Out (short: FIFO) approach for sales orders in Xentral to achieve the following: The oldest sales orders in the system are allocated the required stock first so that the respective items can then be prepared for shipping and order processing can be continued.
Note
Criteria for stock allocation with the First In - First Out approach for sales orders
If you decide to use this method, several background checks are carried out for a sales order one after another. Based on these checks, the correct order of stock allocation for those sales orders is calculated.
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At first, the following is checked: Is the sales order flagged as Fast lane? Sales orders with the fast lane flag take priority over sales orders without this flag.
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Next, the reservation date available in the sales order is checked. The following principle still applies: The longer ago the reservation date of the sales order, the higher the priority.
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Now, the receipt date of the sales order in Xentral is checked. Sales orders with the oldest receipt dates are considered first.
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Last of all, the order in which sales orders have been created in Xentral is checked.
To determine that stock should be reliably allocated first to the oldest sales orders, you have to carry out the following system settings beforehand in Xentral.
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Use the Smart Search to open the Basic settings module.
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Open the System tab.
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In the Acceleration/limitations section, activate the option Improved stock allocation during traffic light calculation.
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In the drop-down menu Stock allocation approach, select the option FIFO.
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Click on Save.
From now on, the required stock is allocated to sales orders according to the FIFO principle.
As you already know. you can track the status of order processing at a glance in the sales order overview or in an opened sales order with the help of the order status indicator.
Within the order status indicator, you can also find the stock symbol, which is displayed differently depending on the situation. Depending on whether you have decided to use open supply allocation or FIFO as a principle for stock allocation in Xentral, those symbols are displayed in different ways to provide you with a detailed status.
Important
The symbols shown below are part of the new stock allocation logic in Xentral. Thus, you have to register for the test phase to be able to see and use the new symbols. Are you interested? Then contact your Onboarding Manager to request access for your instance.
The following sections provide an overview of all possible symbols in the stock status indicator. Thus, you can see exactly which meanings those symbols have.
If you have decided to use the open supply stock allocation, the stock symbols can be displayed in the following ways within the order status indicator.
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Symbol |
Explanation |
|---|---|
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The stock required for the sales order is partially available, meaning that at least one sales order position can be delivered in the required quantity. As a result, the sales order can be partly delivered. |
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The stock required for the sales order is available considering the stock available in the replenishment warehouse. Thus, the full sales order can be delivered on condition that stock is relocated from the replenishment warehouse. |
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The complete stock required for the sales order is available. Thus, the full sales order can be delivered. |
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The stock required for the sales order is not available. As a result, the sales order cannot be delivered. |
If you have decided to use the FIFO stock allocation, the stock symbols can be displayed in the following ways within the order status indicator.
Tip
With the stock allocation set to First In - First Out, the order status indicator does not contain one, but two stock symbols.
The first symbol shows you if the sales order is next for stock allocation according to the FIFO principle. You can use the second symbol to see if there is enough stock to process the respective sales order sooner than usual, meaning transferring the order to logistics and delivering the items to your customer.
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Symbol |
Explanation |
|---|---|
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The stock allocation for the sales order is currently in progress. |
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The stock required for the sales order is partially available, meaning that at least one sales order position can be delivered in the required quantity. Thus, the sales order can be partially delivered and the sales order is next in line for allocation of available stock. |
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The stock required for the sales order is available considering the stock available in the replenishment warehouse. Thus, the full sales order can be delivered on condition that stock is relocated from the replenishment warehouse. |
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The complete stock required for the sales order is available. Thus, the full sales order can be delivered and the sales order is next in line for allocation of available stock. |
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The stock required for the sales order is not available. As a result, the sales order cannot be delivered. In addition, this symbol is displayed if no stock can be allocated at the moment according to the FIFO principle because other sales orders currently take priority for stock allocation. |
As soon as you have activated open supply stock allocation or First In - First Out (FIFO) for sales orders, you can use additional filter methods in the sales order overview in addition to the previously described stock status indicator symbols. These filters allow you to quickly and easily sort the sales orders in the overview to recognize which sales orders have enough stock and can be processed next.
The following order filters are available:
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Delivery not possible
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Delivery possible with replenishment
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Partial delivery possible
Tip
You can activate multiple filters at the same time. If you do so, the filter criteria are not combined with each other, but the results are all listed together (an OR search takes place instead of AND). For example, you can use the respective filters to list sales orders that can be delivered with stock from the replenishment warehouse along with sales orders for which partial delivery is possible.
Proceed as described below to use the filters in the sales order overview.
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Go to Sell > Sales Orders.
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On the upper left of the table, click on the filter symbol.
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Select one or multiple filters.
The entries in the sales order overview are automatically updated according to your selection.