The four warehouse flows
Lesson 1 of 28 7 min read
Every 3PL or WMS integration is built from the same four flows. Learn what each one carries, which way it goes and which Document type it uses.
When a business hands its stock to a third-party logistics provider (a 3PL) or runs its own warehouse management system (a WMS), the warehouse becomes the place where the truth about despatches, tracking and stock lives. The web shop and the ERP still need that truth, quickly and accurately. Supply Lens carries it between them.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to name the four flows that make up almost every warehouse integration, say which direction each runs in, and pick the right Document type for each.
The warehouse as the operational truth
A warehouse integration is a two-way conversation. Instructions go out to the warehouse, and facts come back from it:
- Out to the warehouse: "please despatch this order" and "these goods are on their way to you".
- Back from the warehouse: "this order has gone, here is the tracking", "we counted these goods in" and "this is the stock we hold".
Flow 1: orders out
An order that is ready to be picked is sent to the warehouse as an instruction. In Supply Lens this is usually the Warehouse Order Document type: "an order or instruction for warehouse operations". Some connectors take the plain Order type instead, for example when orders go straight from a web shop to the warehouse.
The warehouse needs more than products and quantities. It needs a delivery address it can read, a carrier and service it recognises, and often a channel, client or order type of its own. Most of the settings you will meet in this course exist to translate your order into the warehouse's vocabulary.
Flow 2: shipment confirmations back
When the warehouse despatches an order, it records a shipment. Supply Lens imports it as a Shipment or Warehouse Shipment Document, with the tracking details, and passes it on. Typical destinations are the storefront (so the customer gets a despatch email) and the ERP (so the sales order is completed).
Flow 3: goods in
When you buy stock, the warehouse needs to know what is coming. Supply Lens sends a Goods Inbound Document: an advice of goods that will arrive. You will also hear this called an ASN (advance shipping notice) or a goods-in notice. It is often created from a purchase order raised in the ERP.
When the delivery arrives, the warehouse counts it. Supply Lens imports a Goods Inbound Receipt: confirmation of what was actually received. Those counted quantities can then be written back onto the purchase order.
Flow 4: stock levels
The warehouse knows what is physically on its shelves. Supply Lens imports Inventory Documents (point-in-time stock levels) so the ERP or storefront shows the right availability.
Which flows does each connector support?
Not every connector runs all four flows. The settings guides for each connector show which Document types it has settings for: Logiwa, for example, has goods-in, receipt and stock settings, while Flexport has order and stock settings. Each connector module in this course starts with a table of its flows.
Northbank Botanicals goes to a 3PL
Northbank Botanicals sells skincare on Shopify and runs Unleashed as its inventory system. It has outgrown its own stockroom and signed with a 3PL. The implementer sketches the four flows before touching any settings:
- Orders out: Shopify orders go into Unleashed. When Unleashed releases one for fulfilment, Supply Lens sends a Warehouse Order to the 3PL.
- Shipments back: the 3PL's despatch comes back as a Shipment. Supply Lens updates Unleashed and sends tracking to Shopify.
- Goods in: purchase orders raised in Unleashed go to the 3PL as Goods Inbound advices. The 3PL's receipts come back and update the purchase orders.
- Stock: the 3PL's stock levels update Unleashed, and Unleashed remains the source of availability for Shopify.
Four flows, and in the next lesson you will see that each arrow becomes a Mapping.
Recap
- A warehouse integration carries instructions out (orders, goods-in advices) and facts back (shipments, receipts, stock).
- Orders out usually use the Warehouse Order type; despatches come back as Shipment or Warehouse Shipment.
- Goods in is a pair: Goods Inbound (the advice or ASN) out, Goods Inbound Receipt (what was counted) back.
- Inventory Documents carry the warehouse's stock levels back to the ERP or storefront.
- Not every connector runs every flow, so check the connector's settings before you design.
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