Understanding the Shipping Business Process

Once you have completed the picking stage of order fulfillment, and (optionally) the packing stage, then you can move forward to the shipping stage. Keep in mind that you only need to complete the shipping stage if it is required by your environment. If you do not require a separate shipping step, then use the auto-processing options or direct processing to ship and deplete orders from any previous fulfillment state.

In the shipping business process, you:

  1. Move demand lines from the unfulfilled, releasable, released, or confirmed state to the shipped state to confirm orders for shipment by assigning demand lines to a shipping ID, entering or changing shipping information, generating backorders, and creating the necessary shipping documents.

  2. Move demand lines from the shipped state to the depleted state by running the Deplete On Hand Qty process directly or from another process or page.

    The depleted state indicates that you have physically shipped the orders and the system adjusts on-hand inventory quantity balances to reflect the shipment.

To move orders to the shipped and depleted states, you can use any of the following methods:

  • Shipping/Issues component: Use this online component to manually assign demand lines to shipping IDs, enter or change shipping information, and set the demand lines to the shipped state.

    When you save the Shipping/Issues component, your entries are applied directly to the inventory demand tables. Any needed backorders are created at save time. Also, you can launch the Deplete On Hand Qty process from this component to set the demand lines to the depleted state. When a shipment is canceled, this component can also be used to unship demand lines, that have not yet been depleted.

  • Ship and Invoice process page: Use this process page to select demand lines that have been picked, process them to the depleted state, and create invoices in PeopleSoft Billing for the shipped stock.

    This process is only available for intercompany transfers and sales orders from PeopleSoft Order Management.

  • Fulfillment Workbench: Use this online component to enter requests to move the selected demand lines from one fulfillment state to another; for example, to move demand lines from the confirmed state to the shipped or depleted states, or to move demand lines in the shipped state to the depleted state. On the Fulfillment Workbench, you can enter or change shipping information for the demand lines.

    The fulfillment transaction requests generated by the Fulfillment Workbench are placed in the staging tables where they are processed by the Fulfillment Requests process and applied to the inventory demand tables. If the auto-process options is turned on for the Fulfillment Workbench, then the fulfillment request is kicked off automatically without going to the Fulfillment Requests process page.

  • Front End Shipping Request process page Use this process page to move the selected demand lines from the unfulfilled and releasable states to the shipped state. This process page enables you to enter or change shipping information before confirming the orders for shipment. In addition, you can use the auto-processing option to process the demand lines passed the shipped state to the depleted state.

  • Shipping Request process page Use this process page to move the selected demand lines from the unfulfilled, releasable, released, and confirmed states to the shipped state. The process page enables you to enter or change shipping information before confirming the orders for shipment. In addition, you can use the auto-processing option to process the demand lines passed the shipped state to the depleted state.

  • Inventory Front End Shipping EIP: Use this service operation to move the selected demand lines from the unfulfilled and releasable states to the shipped state. This service operation enables you to enter or change shipping information before confirming the orders for shipment. In addition, you can use this EIP to create a new material stock request in the shipped state or to create new demand lines for an existing MSR in the shipped state.

  • Inventory Shipping EIP: Use this service operation to move the selected demand lines from the unfulfilled, releasable, released, and confirmed states to the shipped state. This service operation enables you to enter or change shipping information before confirming the orders for shipment. In addition, you can use this EIP to create a new material stock request in the shipped state or to create new demand lines for an existing MSR in the shipped state.

Note:

Both the process pages and the EIPs are useful when dealing with a large number of orders. The fulfillment transaction requests generated by the process pages are applied directly to the inventory demand tables, the staging tables are not used. The fulfillment transaction requests generated by the EIPs are processed into PeopleSoft using the PeopleSoft Integration Broker and then placed in the staging tables where they are processed by the Fulfillment Requests process and applied to the inventory demand tables.

Occasionally, an order or demand line is not eligible for shipping. Depending upon the situation, the system responds in one of these ways:

  • Creates a backorder or cancels the demand line if a demand line is short shipped.

    The create or cancel backorder decision is based on the backorder rule for shipping or the Cancel Backorder check box on the demand line.

  • Excludes the order from the search results of the pages and processes, if:

    • All order lines have been canceled.

    • All order lines have been shipped.

    • All order lines are on hold.

    • (Shipping/Issues component only) The order does not allow partial shipments and not all order lines have been selected.

    • (Shipping/Issues component only) The order is a single shipment order and not all order lines are being shipped together.

  • Issues an error message when you attempt to ship the order from the Shipping/Issues component, if:

    • All scheduled and earliest allowable shipment dates are in the future and you have selected the Verify Ship Date and Verify Ship Time check boxes on the Setup Fulfillment component.

      If the Ship Prior to Schedule Date check box is selected on the order, then the early ship date and early ship time would also be used to determine when shipping was allowed.

    • The order is for a product kit but does not contain a complete kit.

    • The order is packed into a shipping container and not all lines in the shipping container have been included in the shipping ID.

Printing Shipping Documents

PeopleSoft Inventory gives you the ability to add the Shipping ID to a demand line in any fulfillment state except for Pending or Cancelled. This enables you to print shipping documents at any time in the fulfillment cycle, including prior to shipment. You can review your shipping documents before the material actually leaves your premises.

See Generating Shipping Documents Before Shipment.

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