Introduce Rules-Based Task Prioritization

Task priorities are assigned during task creation using task creation templates or triggers. However, these initial priorities may not reflect changing warehouse conditions, such as surge orders, seasonal demand, or cycle count task prioritization.

In busy warehouse operations, manual task reprioritization based on warehouse conditions is error-prone and time-consuming. We are now introducing configurable rule-based task prioritization to dynamically update task priorities based on real-time operational criteria.

REAL-TIME CASE SCENARIOS

  • Customer Commitments: A customer’s order is delayed due to unforeseen circumstances, and the delivery date is changed. The task priority should be adjusted to reflect the new delivery date.
  • Transportation and Shipping Changes: A carrier appointment is rescheduled, and the task priority needs to be updated to reflect the new appointment time.
  • Business De-Prioritization: A customer places an order on hold, and the task priority should be reduced to reflect the changed business priority.

RULES-BASED TASK PRIORITIZATION

You can now define rules that evaluate task, order, user, and multiple attributes and apply priority adjustments. Once configured, you can execute these rules manually or via a scheduled job to continuously keep priorities aligned with warehouse conditions.

NOTE: This capability reprioritizes existing eligible tasks based on configured rules. It does not change task creation logic or default warehouse flows.

This helps you with the following:

  • Prioritize or deprioritize specific tasks based on configured rules.
  • Reduces manual priority edits, minimizing delays and rework.
  • Improves resource utilization by focusing on time-sensitive tasks.

KEY ENHANCEMENTS

To support rules-based task reprioritization, we have added the following:

  • Task Management Rule View (TaskManagementRuleView) UI to create and execute task prioritization rules.
  • Run Task Priority Manager scheduled job to execute task prioritization rules.
  • The following new group permissions to control multiple activities on the Task Management Rule View:
    • Task Management Rule Detail / Run Rule: Enables Run Rule action button on the Task Management Rule View > Details screen to execute the selected task prioritization rule.
    • Task Management Rule Detail / Can create Task Management Rule: Enables Create action button on the Task Management Rule View UI.
    • Task Management Rule Detail / Can edit Task Management Rule: Enables Edit action button on the Task Management Rule View UI.
    • Task Management Rule Detail / Can delete Task Management Rule: Enables Delete action button on the Task Management Rule View UI.
    • Task Management Rule Detail / Can Configure Selection Criteria Rules: Enables Selection Criteria action button on the Task Management Rule View UI.

You can create a task prioritization rule for a Regular or CC template on the Task Management Rule View UI and in the details screen, you can add multiple sequence rules to set the priority adjustment type. Then, for the created sequence, you can add selection criteria using the Selection Criteria action button. Once you create a rule sequences, you can multi select and execute the rule sequences using Run Rule action button.

You can also run these task prioritization rules in intervals using “Run Task Priority Manager” schedule job. On the Schedule Job UI, you can configure this schedule job using comma-separated task management rules and schedule it. Based on the rule sequence, the system reprioritizes the tasks.

You can export, import, or copy these configurations from the Task Management Rule View UI using configuration action button. For more details on the configuration action button, refer to the Online Help.

POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION

  • Rule Enablement: Only rule details with Enabled are executed.
  • Task Status: The system updates priorities only for tasks in Ready status.
  • 3PL Context: In a 3PL setup, task reprioritization honors the user’s login context to ensure rules apply to the correct facility/company association.
  • UI Availability: Task Management Rule View is available in the Regular Legacy WMS UI. Redwood UI availability is not targeted in this release.

Steps to enable and configure

To configure task management rules, do the following:

  1. Add “TaskManagementRuleView” module to your group menu.
  2. Enable the following group permissions:
  • Task Management Rule Detail / Run Rule
  • Task Management Rule Detail / Can create Task Management Rule
  • Task Management Rule Detail / Can edit Task Management Rule
  • Task Management Rule Detail / Can delete Task Management Rule
  • Task Management Rule Detail / Can Configure Selection Criteria Rules

NOTE: By default, admin users are enabled with these group permissions.

  1. On the Task Management Rule View UI, create a task prioritization rule.
  2. For the created task prioritization rule, on the Task Management Rule View > Details screen, add rule sequence details.

To execute task management rules manually, on the Task Management Rule View > Details screen, select rule sequence lines and click Run Rule action button.

To execute task management rules via scheduled job, do the following:

  1. Open Schedule Job UI.
  2. Create and enable a job with Job Type = Run Task Priority Manager.
  3. Specify the Task Management Rules as a comma-separated list.
  4. Click Save.

For more details, refer to the Online Help.