Add Locations and their identifiers
Lesson 20 of 24 8 min read
Create a Location, give it the codes each system knows it by, and narrow a code to one Integration or one customer.
In this lesson you will add a Location, give it identifiers for each system that refers to it, and learn how to handle the common case where every customer has its own code for the same place.
Add a Location
- Open Settings → Reference data → Locations.
- Click + ADD to open the Add new location window.
- Fill in the details.
- Click CREATE to create the Location, or CREATE AND EDIT to create it and go straight on to add identifiers, such as a GLN or warehouse IDs for different systems.
| Sharing | Only available to Supply Lens system administrators, for creating global Locations. For everyone else the Location is available to the current organisation only. |
|---|---|
| Name | The name of the Location. Mandatory. |
| Owning Party | The Party that owns this Location. Mandatory. |
| Description | A description of the Location. |
| Type | The Location type. Can be left as None for most Locations. |
| Address | Lines 1 to 3, city, region, postcode and country. |
Location identifier types
| Family | Examples |
|---|---|
| Global standard | GLN |
| Assigned by partners | Customer Assigned Location, Supplier Assigned Location |
| ERP | Unleashed Warehouse Code, Enterpryze Warehouse Code, Enterpryze Ship to Code |
| Commerce platforms | Shopify Location Id, Mirakl Warehouse Id, Cin7 Omni Branch Id |
| Warehouses and 3PLs | Mintsoft Warehouse Id, Logiwa Warehouse Code, Manhattan Warehouse Code, Generic Warehouse Code, Pesto Depot Code |
Add an identifier
- On the Locations screen, open the Location you want to add an identifier to.
- Click + in the Identifiers section.
- Fill in the form: the identifier type and value, and any Advanced settings.
- Click Save Identifier.
Advanced: one Integration or one customer
Two Advanced settings narrow when a Location identifier applies:
- Integration: the identifier only applies when that Integration sends or receives.
- Customer: the identifier only applies on Documents for that customer. The identifiers list on a Location shows a Customer column.
The Customer setting is what lets one Location carry a different ship-to code for each customer. On the way out, a code scoped to another customer is filtered out and never sent.
When several identifiers apply
For Locations, Supply Lens ranks matching identifiers in this order:
- Your organisation's own identifier beats a shared one.
- An identifier scoped to the Integration beats one that isn't.
- An identifier scoped to the customer beats one that isn't.
Notice that Integration comes before customer here, the reverse of Products.
Setting up Brookside Warehouse
Priya clicks + ADD, names the Location Brookside Warehouse, chooses Brookside Fulfilment as the owning party, enters the address and clicks CREATE AND EDIT. She adds:
| Type | Value | Advanced | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unleashed Warehouse Code | BROOKSIDE | (none) | Unleashed needs the warehouse code on sales orders |
| Mintsoft Warehouse Id | 3 | Integration: Brookside (Mintsoft) | The ID Brookside's warehouse system uses |
| GLN | 5098765000013 | (none) | Greenleaf's despatch advices name the ship-from by GLN |
Then she opens each coffee Product and sets Default fulfilment location to Brookside Warehouse, so orders without a Location ship from there.
For Greenleaf North Depot, she adds the depot's GLN and the code Greenleaf uses for it as a Customer Assigned Location, linked to the customer Greenleaf Wholesale.
Use the Location on Mappings
Once Locations exist, you can filter a Mapping by Ship from location or Ship to location. For example, a business with two warehouses can send warehouse orders to the right 3PL based on where each order ships from.
Watch out
If a Location's identifier refers to an Integration that can no longer be found, for example one that has been removed, the Integration shows as Unknown. Review those identifiers and replace or remove them so your Location codes stay tidy.
Recap
- Add Locations from Settings → Reference data → Locations → + ADD; a name and owning party are required.
- Add identifiers with + in the Location's Identifiers section.
- Narrow an identifier to one Integration, or link it to one customer for customer-specific codes.
- For Locations: your own identifier first, then Integration scope, then customer scope.
- Set Products' default fulfilment Location once your Locations exist.
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