Extended Inventory ScenariosLesson 2

Warehouse Locations and Single-Step Transfers

Back to D200: Inventory Order Management Extended Scenarios

Lesson 2: Warehouse Locations and Single-Step Transfers

Part 1: Extended Inventory Scenarios

This lesson explains how you can create warehouse locations and perform a single-step transfer between warehouse locations.

Warehouse Locations and Single-Step Transfers: General Information

In Acumatica ERP, you can create multiple locations in each warehouse and configure them to best fit the logistics that have been established in your company. You can reserve specific locations for sales, receipts, transfers, goods to be returned to vendors, and goods returned by customers. You can assign different pick priorities to locations, to empty certain locations more quickly while using others less frequently. The functionality of multiple locations is available in the system if the Multiple Warehouse Locations feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form. When you have multiple locations, you can register and process single-step transfers in the system, which involve moving items between locations of the same warehouse. (In Acumatica ERP, you can also register and process two-step transfers, which are transfers between locations in different warehouses; see Two-Step Transfers: General Information for details.)

Learning Objectives

In this lesson, you will do the following:

  • Create and configure warehouse locations
  • Perform a single-step transfer between warehouse locations
  • View item availability by location

Applicable Scenarios

You create warehouse locations in either of the following cases:

  • You are initially configuring inventory entities and settings.
  • You reorganize the physical locations within an existing warehouse and would like to track items in these places. You create single-step transfers when you need to move items from one location to another location within the same warehouse and to track this movement in the system.

Default Warehouse Location

If the Multiple Warehouse Locations feature is disabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form and a warehouse is created in the system on the Warehouses (IN204000) form, the system automatically creates a default location with the MAIN ID. Goods will be received to and issued from this location. The MAIN location has the following settings:

Table: Settings of the default location

Setting                        State                           Description

Active                         Selected                        The location is active.

Include in Qty. Available      Selected                        The system adds the number of items stored in the
                                                               location to the available quantity.

Cost Separately                Cleared                         The default cost is used for items in this location.

Sales Allowed                  Selected                        Users can sell items from this location.

Receipts Allowed               Selected                        New items can be received to this location.

Transfers Allowed              Selected                        Users can move items to and from this location.


          These location settings are displayed on the Locations tab of the Warehouses form only if the Multiple
          Warehouse Locations feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features form; if it is not enabled, the
          tab is not shown on the form, but the settings listed above are used internally.

When you create a warehouse in the system where the Multiple Warehouse Locations feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features form, the default location is not created automatically, and you need to create at least one location for the warehouse.

Configuration of Warehouse Locations

You can define multiple locations for each warehouse on the Warehouses (IN204000) form. You can also view and change existing locations of the warehouse and their settings, including the default location. You do the following to create and configure the locations of a particular warehouse in Acumatica ERP:

  1. Optional: On the Segmented Keys (CS202000) form, you review the structure of the INLOCATION segmented key, which defines the identifiers for warehouse locations. If you want to create a hierarchy of locations (site, aisle, pallet, bin, and so forth), you can configure location identifiers that consist of multiple segments, with each segment denoting a specific level in this hierarchy. For example, suppose that you have three racks, each with four shelves, in a warehouse. A location identifier can have the Rn-SHm format, where Rn is the number of the rack (such as R2) and SHm is the number of the shelf in the rack (such as SH4). For more information about segmented keys, see Segmented Identifiers.
  2. On the Locations tab of the Warehouses form, you add the needed locations to the table and specify the settings of each. To create a similar configuration of locations in multiple warehouses, you can export the location table of one of these warehouses to an Excel file and then import the settings from the file to another warehouse, changing the settings as needed. For details on importing the settings from an Excel file, see Integration with Excel.
  3. Optional: In the boxes above the table of locations, you select the following default locations for inventory operations (which simplify data entry on purchase receipts and sales orders):
  • Receiving Location: The default receiving location for stock items in the warehouse.
                       If you plan to process putaway transfers from the receiving location, we recommend that
                   you disable sales from this location. That is, the Sales Allowed check box should be cleared
                   on the Locations tab of the Warehouses (IN204000) form for the receiving location.
  • Shipping Location: The default shipping location for the warehouse.
  • RMA Location: The location used for all operations involving return merchandise authorization (RMA). The returned goods will be delivered to the location specified in this box, regardless of the warehouse location selected by default for the receipt of these goods.
  • Drop-Ship Location: The location used for drop-ship orders and inventory issues that are automatically generated for drop-ship orders. This box is displayed only if the Drop Shipment feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form.
  1. Optional: In the Location Entry box in the Summary area, you specify the option that indicates whether you want to allow users to add new locations on the fly when they are entering inventory documents. If an option that allows these additions is selected, user-added locations can be viewed (and edited, if needed) along with other locations on the Locations tab of the form.

Priorities of Warehouse Locations

If any inventory items with the same inventory ID in the system are stored in multiple locations of the same warehouse, the system has to find the appropriate warehouse location from which to issue the items when a user creates a shipment for a sales order. Thus, for each location, on the Locations tab of the Warehouses (IN204000) form, in the Pick Priority column, you can specify the pick priority. If the system finds multiple locations that have the item, the system selects the location with the highest pick priority. For example, suppose that you store a dairy product that can be kept for one week. You purchase this dairy product every day and store it in two locations of the warehouse: A and B. In Location A, you store a variant of the dairy product that can be kept from five to seven days. In Location B, you store a variant of the dairy product that can be kept from two to four days. You can assign the highest pick priority to Location B so that dairy products with an earlier expiration date are shipped first. If for the majority of stock items, you specify a warehouse location in the Default Issue From box on the General tab of the Stock Items (IN202500) form for an item, you can include this location in search for appropriate locations by selecting the Use Item Default Location for Picking check box on the Locations tab of the Warehouses form. When this check box is selected, the system treats the location specified in the Default Issue From box as having a higher priority than the location with the highest possible pick priority. That is, the system searches for locations in the following order until it finds a match:

  1. The warehouse location specified for the item in the Default Issue From box.
  2. The warehouse location with the highest pick priority specified on the Locations tab of the Warehouses form. (The value 0 indicates the highest priority, 1 the next highest, and so forth to the lowest priority; only integer values are supported.) Single-Step Transfers Your organization can use single-step inventory transfers to record stock item movements between locations within the same warehouse. For a single-step transfer, you should specify the following information on the Transfers (IN304000) form:
  • The source warehouse (in the Warehouse ID box).
  • The destination warehouse (in the To Warehouse ID box). For a single-step transfer, select the same warehouse as the source warehouse.
  • Transaction details of the stock item to be moved: the source location, the destination location, inventory ID, UOM, and quantity. You can release a particular inventory transfer by clicking Release on the More menu of the Transfers form. Also, you can release multiple transfers at the same time by using the Release IN Documents (IN501000) form. No GL transactions are generated for a single-step transfer that records item movement from one location to another within the same warehouse. When a transfer performed between locations within the same warehouse is released, the system updates the allocations and the availability data for the transferred items but does not change the item costs.

Warehouse Locations and Single-Step Transfers: Implementation Activity

In the following implementation activity, you will learn how to create warehouse locations.

Story

Suppose that the SweetLife Fruits & Jams company has organized separate storage areas for spices and write- off items (such as items that are damaged or past their sell-by dates) in the retail warehouse and needs to track these items by warehouse locations. Further suppose that you are an implementation manager. You will create two warehouse locations for spices and write-off items.

          A third location of the warehouse is the default location, MAIN, which is where items are initially
          received and items not stored in the other areas are stored.

Process Overview

In this activity, as you create locations for spices and write-off items for the retail warehouse by using the Warehouses (IN204000) form, you will specify a location identifier and appropriate settings for each location.

Step: Creating Warehouse Locations You will leave the settings of the MAIN location as they are because MAIN is a default location for all stock items in the retail warehouse. To create locations for spices and write-off items, do the following:

  1. On the Warehouses (IN204000) form, open the RETAIL record.
  2. On the Locations tab, create a location for spices as follows: a. On the toolbar of the Locations table, click Add Row. b. In the Location ID column, type SPICES. c. In the Description column, type Location for spices.
  3. Create a location for write-off items as follows: a. On the toolbar of the Locations table, click Add Row. b. In the Location ID column, type WRITEOFF. c. In the Description column, type Location for write-off items. d. In the Include in Qty. Available column, clear the check box, because items stored in this location will not be sold (thus should not be considered available). e. In the Sales Allowed column, clear the check box.
  4. On the form toolbar, click Save.
    Now that you have created warehouse locations, you can transfer items between locations in the retail warehouse, as described in Warehouse Locations and Single-Step Transfers: Process Activity.

Warehouse Locations and Single-Step Transfers: Process Activity

In the following activity, you will learn how to move stock items between warehouse locations within the same warehouse by using a single-step transfer.

Story

Suppose that the SweetLife Fruits & Jams company has decided to move cinnamon and ginger from the default location of the retail warehouse (to which the items have been received) to the location of this warehouse that is dedicated to spices. You need to reflect these changes in inventory. Acting as a warehouse manager, you will create a single-step inventory transfer.

Configuration Overview

In the U100 dataset, for the purposes of this activity, the following tasks have been performed:

  • On the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form, the following features have been enabled:
  • Inventory and Order Management, which provides the standard functionality of inventory and order management
  • Inventory, which gives you the ability to maintain stock items by using forms related to the inventory functionality and to create and process sales and purchase documents that include stock items
  • Multiple Warehouse Locations, which gives you the ability to configure multiple locations for each warehouse
  • On the Warehouses (IN204000) form, the RETAIL warehouse and the MAIN location in this warehouse have been created.
  • On the Stock Items (IN202500) form, the CINNAMON and GINGER stock items have been created.

Process Overview

In this activity, you will do the following:

  1. On the Inventory Summary (IN401000) form, view the item availability in the source and destination locations.
  2. On the Transfers (IN304000) form, create a single-step transfer.
  3. On the Inventory Summary form, make sure that the items are available in the destination locations.

System Preparation

Before you start processing transfers between warehouse locations, you should do the following:
  1. Launch the Acumatica ERP website with the U100 dataset preloaded, and sign in as warehouse manager Edith Carver by using the carver username and the 123 password.
  2. On the Warehouses (IN204000) form, make sure that the SPICES and WRITEOFF warehouse locations have been created in the RETAIL warehouse, as described in Warehouse Locations and Single-Step Transfers: Implementation Activity.

Step 1: Viewing Item Availability To check the availability of cinnamon and ginger in the default (MAIN) location, do the following:

  1. Open the Inventory Summary (IN401000) form.
  2. In the Inventory ID box, select CINNAMON.
  3. In the Warehouse box, select RETAIL.
  4. In the On Hand table column, make sure that the on-hand quantity in the MAIN location is positive. Notice that the SPICES location is not displayed in the table, which means that it does not contain any cinnamon.
  5. In the Inventory ID box, select GINGER.
  6. In the On Hand table column, make sure that the on-hand quantity in the MAIN location is positive. Notice that the SPICES location is not displayed in the table, which means that it does not contain any ginger.

Step 2: Transferring Items Between Warehouse Locations Suppose that you have moved the cinnamon and ginger to the SPICES location. Further suppose that when you were moving the packages with cinnamon, you realized that two packages were broken and you moved these packages to the WRITEOFF location. The rest of the cinnamon packages were moved to the SPICES location. To record the movement of the items between these locations within the retail warehouse, do the following:

  1. On the Transfers (IN304000) form, add a new record.
  2. In the Transfer Type box of the Summary area, make sure that 1-Step is selected.
  3. In the Warehouse ID box, select RETAIL.
  4. In the To Warehouse ID box, select RETAIL.
  5. In the Description box, type Moving ginger and cinnamon to the SPICES and WRITEOFF locations.
  6. Add the items to be transferred between the MAIN and SPICES locations as follows: a. On the table toolbar of the Details tab, click Add Items. The Inventory Lookup dialog box opens. b. In the Inventory box, type GINGER. The system searches for items with this string in the inventory ID and lists in the table the one item it finds with this ID. c. In the row with the GINGER item, select the check box in the unlabeled column. d. In the Qty. Selected column of this row, make sure that the same value that is in the Qty. On Hand column is specified. e. In the Inventory box, type CINNAMON. The system again searches for items with this string in the inventory ID and lists the item with this ID in the table. f. In the row with the CINNAMON item, select the check box in the unlabeled column. g. In the Qty. Selected column of the CINNAMON row, type the value of the Qty. On Hand column minus 2 to account for the damaged packages. h. Click the Add & Close button to add the selected items to the transfer and close the dialog box. j. In the To Location ID column, in each line, select SPICES.
  7. Add the items to be transferred between the MAIN and WRITEOFF locations as follows: a. On the table toolbar, click Add Row. b. In the Inventory ID column of the new row, select CINNAMON. c. In the Location column, select MAIN. d. In the To Location ID column, select WRITEOFF. e. In the Quantity column, type 2.
  8. On the form toolbar, click Save.
  9. On the form toolbar, click Release to release the transfer.

Step 3: Viewing the Availability of Moved Items Now that you have moved items to the appropriate locations, you will make sure that cinnamon and ginger are available in the appropriate locations. Do the following:

  1. Open the Inventory Summary (IN401000) form.
  2. In the Inventory ID box, select GINGER.
  3. In the Warehouse box, select RETAIL.
  4. In the table, make sure that the on-hand quantity in the SPICES location is positive. Notice that the MAIN location is not displayed in the table, which means that it does not contain any ginger.
  5. In the Inventory ID box, select CINNAMON.
  6. In the On Hand table column, make sure that the on-hand quantity in the SPICES and WRITEOFF locations is positive. Notice that the MAIN location is not displayed in the table, which means that it does not contain any cinnamon.
    You have successfully recorded movement of the items to appropriate locations.