General WMS Integration Issues

This section discusses system-wide assumptions about WMS integration.

Integrating PeopleSoft with a third-party WMS enables you to streamline the order-to-cash and procure-to-pay business processes. This streamlining enables you to reduce costs, improve service levels, and generate more revenue.

You can integrate the following products with a WMS:

  • PeopleSoft Purchasing.

  • PeopleSoft Payables.

  • PeopleSoft Order Management.

  • PeopleSoft Inventory.

The integration consists of generic EIPs using service operations in PeopleSoft Integration Broker to exchange transactional and static data between the PeopleSoft system and the WMS. Transactional data relates to order processing and material management. Static data relates to customers, items, carriers, and locations.

The WMS integration works as designed only if you understand certain system-wide assumptions and your system complies with them. The following sections discuss these assumptions.

Business Units

One WMS installation corresponds to one PeopleSoft Inventory business unit. When defining the PeopleSoft Inventory business unit in the PeopleSoft system, you specify that the business unit is under external warehouse control on the Inventory Definition - Business Unit Options page.

Static Information

All static information, such as customer, supplier, carrier, and item information, is maintained in the PeopleSoft system. Updates are sent to the WMS when new information is added or changes are made to existing information. Changes made to this information within the WMS are not sent back to the PeopleSoft system.

Quantity Balance Data

The WMS drives all inventory balances. The WMS sends material movement transactions to the PeopleSoft system. Any material movement transactions initiated in the system are not sent to the WMS. If the WMS is not manually updated to reflect a material movement transaction performed in the PeopleSoft system, quantity balance data between the two systems will not agree.

Open and Hold Stock Status Attributes

The PeopleSoft system does not need to track on-hand quantity balances at the material storage location level because all material movement transactions occur within the WMS. In most cases, quantity balances in the PeopleSoft system can be maintained at the business-unit level by using the Open or Hold stock status attributes to determine which stock is available to fulfill orders. In this balance structure, you can use the PeopleSoft material storage location balance record, PHYSICAL_INV, to maintain the Open and Hold quantity balances. Two storage location balance records are created in PHYSICAL_INV: one for stock quantity with an Open status and another for stock quantity with a Hold status.

When determining whether to use this structure or a more detailed balance structure, take the following considerations into account:

  • Material storage locations can have a status of only Open or Hold.

    Inventory status values of Restricted and Rejected are not used in a WMS integration. You should always initiate status updates in the WMS. Status changes made using the Inventory Status page or the Lot Control Information page in PeopleSoft Inventory are not reflected in the WMS and may cause discrepancies between the available (that is, Open) and unavailable (or Hold) quantity balances in the two systems.

  • The status update data that the WMS sends to the PeopleSoft system does not directly change the status of stock.

    Instead, the WMS reports a material storage location stock transfer in which the stock is moved to a location with the appropriate status, Open or Hold. The Inventory Transfer EIP (the EIP used to send status update data to PeopleSoft) is designed with the assumption that the Open or Hold status of a material storage location is handled in the WMS mapping logic to support the status update transaction. If the WMS implementation uses the material storage location fields in PeopleSoft Inventory for purposes other than tracking Open and Hold balances, these fields must be accounted for in the mapping logic.

  • All key fields related to item definition in the PeopleSoft Inventory material storage location balance table, PHYSICAL_INV, are supported for transactions that allow entry of the item ID.

    These fields include the business unit, item, staged date, lot ID, serial ID, container ID, and unit of measure. If you want to maintain a breakdown of balances at a lower level than the item ID (for example, at the lot ID or serial ID level), all transactions entered against these balances must contain all item definition keys.

  • Modifications to the check boxes on the Material Storage Locations page in PeopleSoft Inventory can affect available balances for items in that location.

    Changes made to these settings are not reflected in the WMS and may cause discrepancies in the available and unavailable quantity balances between the two systems.