Managing Exceptions on Fulfillment Requests

Sometimes when fulfilling orders, an unexpected problem might occur with inventory of the ordered items. In NetSuite, you can manage these problems in different ways on the fulfillment request record, depending on the fulfillment request type. For fulfillment requests of type Ship, you can reject lines in the fulfillment request. For fulfillment requests of type Store Pickup, you can enter “exceptions”. Examples of exceptions include out of stock inventory and damaged or spoiled items on the store shelves. Exceptions interrupt the normal store pickup workflow. The usage of exceptions on the fulfillment request record offers the following benefits:

• Enables you to record and track problems with inventory.

• Lets you view orders on hold because of inventory problems.

• Prevents further shipping orders from being assigned to a store automatically. This only applies if the Automatic Location Assignment feature is enabled and configured to assign locations to sales order lines automatically.

A fulfillment exception is a deviation from the expected fulfillment workflow, typically because of inventory problems. Two types of exceptions are available for store pickup orders: Picking and Picking Up. You enter the Picking exception type before or during the picking stage. You enter the Picking Up exception when the customer visits the store to collect the items.

Fulfillment request exceptions can be entered on a fulfillment request for both shipping orders and store pickup orders.

Exception Types and Reasons

To enter an exception on a fulfillment request, you must select an exception type and an exception reason. Exception types are predefined in NetSuite and cannot be changed. Exception reasons are not predefined in the system. You must create a list of fulfillment exception reasons that suit your business requirements prior to entering an exception – see Defining Fulfillment Exception Reasons. Exception types depend on the fulfillment request type. The following table describes each exception type and on which fulfillment request type you can enter it.

Note:

You can enter fulfillment exceptions on fulfillment requests of type Ship, but only as a record of the occurrence of the exception. NetSuite does not perform any additional actions.

Exception Type	Description	Available For These Fulfillment Request Types
Picking	A picking exception is entered when a problem occurs in the picking stage of the fulfillment workflow. You can enter a fulfillment request when it has the status New or In Progress.	Ship Store Pickup
Picking Up	A picking up exception is entered when the customer visits the store to collect the order and decides not to pick up one or more of the items in the order. You can only enter a picking up exception after items have been picked.	Store Pickup
Packing	Packing exceptions are entered when a problem occurs in the packing stage of the fulfillment workflow. You can only enter an exception of type packing after items have been picked (on the item fulfillment).	Ship
Shipping	Shipping exceptions are entered when a problem occurs in the shipping stage of the fulfillment workflow. You can only enter an exception of type shipping after items have been packed (on the item fulfillment).	Ship

Related Topics

• Entering Picking Fulfillment Exceptions
• Resolving Fulfillment Exceptions
• Confirming Fulfillment Exceptions
• Entering Pickup Fulfillment Exceptions
• Defining Fulfillment Exception Reasons

General Notices