Substitute Items for Transfer Order Lines Interfaced to an External WMS or 3PL

You can substitute an item in place of the original requested item on a transfer order line that's interfaced to an external Warehouse Management System (WMS) or Third-Party Logistics (3PL) if you've enabled a specific organization and set up item substitute relationships. The ability to send substitute items to your external execution system when fulfilling transfer orders provides you greater flexibility to fulfill your internal orders and keeps your business running without unnecessary delays.

Once you enable the feature for an organization, all transfer order and shipment lines with that destination organization default to allow item substitution, represented by an attribute on the line. You can disable this on a line-by-line basis. Likewise, if the organization isn't enabled, you can enable it line by line. Both transfer order and shipment lines show an attribute against the original requested item to indicate the use of a substitute item.

You can define item-substitute relationships in the Product Information Management work area, at the master or destination organization level, by rank. When fulfilling transfer orders, depending on the original requested item’s availability, the functionality cycles through the ranked item relationships, by level in hierarchy and then rank, to determine which substitute items meet the requested quantity. You can define many item-substitute relationships. However, the application stops looking for substitutes after considering three viable items.

Your shipment line may be split for the original item based on the on-hand availability for the substitute item in the source organization and the setting of the Reservation Behavior for Integration to External System parameter on the Manage Shipping Parameters page.

This table describes actions taken based on the setting of the Reservation Behavior for Integration to External System parameter on the Manage Shipping Parameters page. Choices include Partial or Full.

Reservation Behavior for Integration to External System	Actions
Partial	The transfer order line created for the original item is split if the requested quantity for the original item can be partially substituted by substitute items or by a combination of original and substitute items. The Generate Shipment Request process determines the substitute item to meet the transfer order demand for the original item. It splits the shipment lines for the original item based on the availability of the original and substitute items and interfaces the shipment lines for the substitute items to the external systems. The integration status for the shipment lines corresponding to the substitute items for the available quantity changes to Interfaced. The shipment lines for the original item for the unavailable quantity remain in Ready to Interface status. A Non-reserved line not interfaced shipping exception is logged against the shipment line for the original item for the unavailable quantity. Reserves the original item on the transfer order to the available quantity of the original item and substitute items in order of their ranks when the Reservation Behavior for Integration to External System is set to Partial.
Full	The shipment line for the original item is split and interfaced to external systems only when the requested quantity for the original item can be fully substituted with the substitutes or a combination of original and substitute items. The Generate Shipment Request process splits the shipment line for the original item based on the availability of the original and substitute items and interfaces the shipment lines for the substitute items to the external systems. The integration status for the shipment lines corresponding to the substitute items for the available quantity changes to Interfaced. The shipment line for the original item is split for the available quantity when the original item is partially available, and it’s canceled when the original item isn’t available. A Non-reserved line not interfaced shipping exception is logged against the shipment line for the original item when the available quantity of original and substitute items is less than the quantity requested for the original item on the transfer order line. When the substitute items aren’t available in full quantity to fulfill the requested quantity of the original items, the Generate Shipment Request process keeps the shipment line for the original item in the Ready to Release status and logs a shipping exception against the shipment line for the original item for the requested quantity. Fully reserves the original item on the transfer order to the available quantity of the original item and substitute items in order of their ranks when the Reservation Behavior for Integration to External System parameter is set to Full.

Reservation Behavior for Integration to External System

Actions

Partial

The transfer order line created for the original item is split if the requested quantity for the original item can be partially substituted by substitute items or by a combination of original and substitute items.
The Generate Shipment Request process determines the substitute item to meet the transfer order demand for the original item. It splits the shipment lines for the original item based on the availability of the original and substitute items and interfaces the shipment lines for the substitute items to the external systems.
The integration status for the shipment lines corresponding to the substitute items for the available quantity changes to Interfaced.
The shipment lines for the original item for the unavailable quantity remain in Ready to Interface status.
A Non-reserved line not interfaced shipping exception is logged against the shipment line for the original item for the unavailable quantity.
Reserves the original item on the transfer order to the available quantity of the original item and substitute items in order of their ranks when the Reservation Behavior for Integration to External System is set to Partial.

Full

The shipment line for the original item is split and interfaced to external systems only when the requested quantity for the original item can be fully substituted with the substitutes or a combination of original and substitute items.
The Generate Shipment Request process splits the shipment line for the original item based on the availability of the original and substitute items and interfaces the shipment lines for the substitute items to the external systems.
The integration status for the shipment lines corresponding to the substitute items for the available quantity changes to Interfaced.
The shipment line for the original item is split for the available quantity when the original item is partially available, and it’s canceled when the original item isn’t available.
A Non-reserved line not interfaced shipping exception is logged against the shipment line for the original item when the available quantity of original and substitute items is less than the quantity requested for the original item on the transfer order line.
When the substitute items aren’t available in full quantity to fulfill the requested quantity of the original items, the Generate Shipment Request process keeps the shipment line for the original item in the Ready to Release status and logs a shipping exception against the shipment line for the original item for the requested quantity.
Fully reserves the original item on the transfer order to the available quantity of the original item and substitute items in order of their ranks when the Reservation Behavior for Integration to External System parameter is set to Full.

Ship confirmation is processed for the substitute items for the transfer order line using the Shipment Transaction Requests REST resource (shipmentTransactionRequest).

If backorders are necessary, the backorder action for the substitute item uses the Shipment Line Change Requests REST resource (shipmentLineChangeRequests) to cancel the shipment line for the substitute item. This creates a new line for the original item for the backordered quantity.

A partial backorder of the substitute item reduces the requested quantity for the shipment line by the backordered quantity, and the shipment lines for the substitute item stays in the Ready to Release status. This creates a new line for the original item for the backordered quantity.

Important Notes

Here are important notes about using substitute items for transfer orders:

Once the transfer order line has shipped, you can review the substitute items used, but the transfer order line only represents the original item.
Reservations are maintained for the original requested item on the transfer order when the Generate Shipment Request process is run for a transfer order.
Reservations for substitute items are deleted when a backorder action is performed by external systems on a shipment line.
You can’t make changes to the transfer order quantity after the transfer order interfaces to external systems.
You can reset the shipment status for a substitute item in Shipping. This moves the lines to Ready to Interface status. Reduction in the transfer order quantity for the original item after reset of the shipment status cancels the shipment lines for substitute items and relieves the reservations associated to the substitute items.
Item substitution isn't available for return transfer orders, back-to-back sales orders being fulfilled by transfer orders, transfer order lines with budgetary control, or for organizations located in Brazil, India, or Portugal due to tax implications.
Control of item substitution at the transfer order line level is supported by the Manage Transfer Orders pages and through the Inventory Transfer Orders REST resource.
This capability is only available when transferring materials internally, directly through Oracle Shipping.
Substitute items can be for different units of measure than the original item, with standard, interclass, and intraclass conversion required as appropriate, except for dual unit of measure items, which must have the same primary and secondary unit of measure as the original item in the destination organization.
Warning: It’s recommended for the substitute items to have the same unit of measure as the original item. Having different units of measure can lead to fractional quantities left over in certain scenarios.