Configuring for Order Processing: Order Configuration

The Order Configuration page in Order Management power data should be used to configure the types of orders that will be entered and how Oracle Transportation Management should calculate various fields. For example, this is where you can indicate whether orders will be entered by line or by ship unit. Each order base and order release entered in Oracle Transportation Management must have an order configuration attached.

On the Order Configuration Header tab, the Order Base/Release Creation field indicates whether order release lines or ship units will be entered.

Default Order Configurations

The table below describes the PUBLIC order configurations included with OTM. These can be used as-is, or copied and further configured.

The public order configurations represent a sample way to set up an order configuration entry to model a specific business case in OTM. Based on one of these samples the client can copy this configuration and modify it as needed.

These order configurations are designated as line or ship unit based. All orders in OTM consist of both order lines and ship units. Here the designation of line or ship unit based is on how they are managed and manipulated externally. The line-based orders can be considered as orders that are entered into OTM as an order with lines and the ship units are the associated order entities that are created in OTM. So here the lines are the input and the ship units are the output. The ship unit-based orders can be considered as orders that are entered into OTM already packaged in their ship unit for transport. Here the ship units with the contents are the input and the order release lines are managed within OTM as well for consistency.

The order configurations are used by the order base business object and well as the order release. The order configuration defined on the order base governs how that order base is managed as well as the rules that govern how the order release is generated. The order releases from that order base will inherit the order base configuration. If the business process is starting with the order release then this object will be entered into OTM with an order configuration. These configurations are used for both.

AGGREGATE LINE PREPACK

Line Based.

Same as PREPACK but the Aggregate Lines check box is selected. Lines with the same packaged item category will be aggregated into one order release line.

AUTO_CALC

Line Based.

Oracle Transportation Management determines the number of transport handling units to create.

AUTO_CALC is used when OTM is calculating the ship units for the order release. The order release is a line-centric order and OTM will automatically calculate the number of ship units that are needed based on the ship unit building business logic. This business logic takes the order line quantities and builds transport handling ship units based on the reference data defined in OTM.

The AUTO_CALC order configuration makes use of the ship unit count feature on the order release ship unit. This configuration has the parameter create individual ship units set to false. If based on the quantity defined on the lines the AUTO_CALC ship unit building business logic determines that it needs 4 pallets than a single ship unit record with a count of 4 will be created.

The AUTO_CALC configuration can be used for implementations that take order base lines and release them to order release lines and then use the ship unit building logic to auto calc the number of order release ship units.

The AUTO_CALC configuration can also be used for implementations that do not need the order base but start processing with the order release. Here the order release lines are used in the same manner with the ship unit building logic called to AUTO_CALC the number of order release ship units.

AUTO_CALC_UNIQUE

Line Based

Oracle Transportation Management determines the number of transport handling units to create with each having its own record.

AUTO_CALC_UNIQUE is used when OTM is calculating the ship units for the order release. The order release is a line-centric order and OTM will automatically calculate the number of ship units that are needed based on the ship unit building business logic. This business logic takes the order line quantities and builds transport handling ship units based on the reference data defined in OTM.

The AUTO_CALC_UNIQUE order configuration varies from the AUTO_CALC configuration in that it does not make use of the ship unit count feature on the order release ship unit. If based on the quantity defined on the lines the auto-calc ship unit building business logic determines that it needs 4 pallets than it will build 4 unique ship unit records. This configuration has the parameter create individual ship units set to true.

This configuration is recommended when distinct serial numbers and processing needs to occur for each ship unit.

The AUTO_CALC_UNIQUE configuration is used to support the same types of order base and order release configurations as the AUTO_CALC configuration. The only difference with these two is how the ship unit output is created.

INSTRUCTED PREPACK

Line Based.

Similar to PREPACK, but the ship unit calculation is independent of the lines.

INSTRUCTED PREPACK is the order configuration used to take the order base lines and when forming the order release the method of creating the prepacked ship units is supplied in the release instructions. This configuration is intended for implementations that start with an order base and generate the order release in OTM. The order base is line-centric. When creating the order release this order configuration controls how OTM generates the ship Units. This order base release instruction specifies the details for the ship unit and the lines that are to be packed into it.

Here the business logic of the ship unit building is not auto-calculating the order release ship units, but is looking to the release instructions specified to determine the number and content of the ship units. There are no feasibility logic checks here. This configuration follows the same approach as PREPACK.

Oracle recommends that you do not use OMD (Edit Shipment or Propagate) with INSTRUCTED PREPACK. This configuration currently supports users manually instructing the creation of order release ship units via the Order Base Line Packing action.

ONE_TO_ONE

Line Based.

Each line goes onto a single transport handling unit.

The ONE_TO_ONE order configuration is used to model the business implementation where each order release line is used to generate a distinct ship unit.

The ONE_TO_ONE configuration can be used for implementations that take order base lines and release them to order release lines and then use the ONE_TO_ONE rule to create an order release ship unit for each order release line.

 The ONE_TO_ONE configuration can also be used for implementations that do not need the order base but start processing with the order release. Here the order release lines are used in the same manner with the ONE_TO_ONE rule creating an order release ship unit for each order release line.

ONE_TO_ONE_PACK

Line Based.

Each item goes onto a single transport handling unit.

The ONE_TO_ONE_PACK order configuration is used to model the business implementation where each item on the line is packed into a distinct transport handling unit.

The ONE_TO_ONE_PACK configuration can be used for implementations that take order base lines and release them to order release lines and then use the ONE_TO_ONE_PACK rule to create an order release ship unit for each order release line item.

The ONE_TO_ONE_PACK configuration can also be used for implementations that do not need the order base but start processing with the order release. Here the order release line items are used in the same manner with the ONE_TO_ONE_PACK rule creating an order release ship unit for each order release line item.

PREPACK

Line Based

All lines go onto a single transport handling unit without checking capacity.

The PREPACK order configuration is used to model the business implementation where each all of the order release lines are placed into a single ship unit transport handling record. The transport handling unit to be used can be set on the order configuration record.

The PREPACK configuration can be used for implementations that take order base lines and release them to order release lines and then use the PREPACK rule to create an order release ship unit that contains all of the order release lines.

The PREPACK configuration can also be used for implementations that do not need the order base but start processing with the order release. Here the order release lines are used in the same manner with the PREPACK rule creating an order release ship unit that contains all of the order release lines.

SIMPLE

Line Based.

Special case used by integration to map TransOrder interface to the Release interface.

SHIP_UNITS

Ship Unit Based

You specify ship unit information; Oracle Transportation Management updates a line.

The SHIP_UNITS order configuration is used to model orders within OTM that come into the product already packaged as shipping units for transport. For these orders the ship unit and the ship unit line values are used as input. The ship unit and ship unit line level information that comes into OTM can have varies ways of specifying the associated quantity level information. The SHIP_UNITS configuration specifies this data at the ship unit level.

The SHIP_UNITS configuration can be used for implementations that take order base ship units and create order releases that are ship unit centric from these order base ship units.

The SHIP_UNITS configuration can also be used for implementations that do not need the order base but start processing with the order release. Here the order release ship units are entered in directly.

SHIP_UNIT_LINES

Ship Unit Based

You specify ship unit line information; Oracle Transportation Management calculates ship unit totals.

The SHIP_UNIT_LINES order configuration is used to model orders within OTM that come into the product already packaged as shipping units for transport. For these orders, the ship unit and the ship unit line values are used as input. The ship unit and ship unit line level information that comes into OTM can have varies ways of specifying the associated quantity level information. The SHIP_UNITS_LINES configuration specifies this data at the ship unit line level and it is summed up to the ship unit level.

The SHIP_UNIT_LINES configuration can be used for implementations that take order base ship units and create order releases that are ship unit centric from these order base ship units.

The SHIP_UNIT_LINES configuration can also be used for implementations that do not need the order base but start processing with the order release. Here the order release ship unit lines are entered in directly.

Orders by Line

For orders created by line, the Ship Unit Creation field may be used to configure when ship units will be created. If “On Create” is selected, Oracle Transportation Management will create ship units from the lines when the order is saved. If “User Initiated” is selected, the order may be saved with lines only; however, ship units must still be created before planning these orders into shipments. This can be done via the Order Management > Change Order > Generate Ship Unit action, or by Manually Releasing Orders in the Order Manager. The “User Initiated” option can be useful if it is expected that modifications will come in before the order will be ready for planning.

On the Order Base tab, Releasing Logic will indicate how ship units will be built from lines. The field Aggregate Lines on this tab will indicate that the order base lines should be aggregated. When this check box is selected, the packaged items with the same category will be aggregated when generating order release lines. By aggregating lines with the same packaged item category, fewer order release lines will be generated. This will improve the performance of Bulk Plan and other downstream shipment processing features. This aggregate capability is intended to addresses the orders in OTM that have a large number of order lines. These occur when the order management or purchase orders are entered into OTM with very detailed SKU level data. From a transportation standpoint we need to consider the lines at the shipping commodity level in respect to temperature, hazardous, and freight classification. These are typically only a few different items and not at the detailed SKU level which can be hundreds per order. The aggregate lines capability will be to take the detailed level line information that was entered on the order base line and then aggregate this to the higher level shipping commodity item when creating the order release lines. The aggregated lines on the order release can follow the same rules for creating Ship Units (One Ship Unit for All Lines – PREPACK, One Ship Unit per Line – ONE TO ONE, Determine Number or Ship Units – AUTOCALC) as a non aggregated order release line. These are defined below.

On the Order Release tab, Releasing Logic will indicate how ship units will be built from lines.

1. One Ship Unit for All Lines (PREPACK): All order lines will be placed into a single ship unit. This option will create one ship unit that contains all of the lines on the order release. The ship unit that will be used is either entered in the order release line transaction or specified on the Package Item table. This option is used when the order management system or the integration layer does not specify the ship units thereby having OTM construct them in this simplistic manner. There is an additional use case for this scenario that utilizes the Allow repack and the Initial Transport Handling Unit specified below. This case is when the decision on what ship unit is best for the order release cannot be made at the order management or integration layer because the transportation decision itself impacts the correct ship unit that needs to be used. The decision of mode and cost determine what ship unit is to be used when the ship unit is repacked during the planning phase.
   • Allow Repack: When selected during the One Ship Unit for All Lines configuration option, this will set the Allow Repack check box on the newly created order release ship unit to Yes. This check box tells the planning engine to repack the Shipment Ship Unit potentially differently than the order release ship unit. The Planning engine might pack it differently as it considers the mode the order is being shipped on, the rates returned by the rating engine, or possible consolidations with other shipment lines going to the same destination.
   • Initial Transportation Handling Unit: This field will appear on the Order Configuration screen only if the Allow Repack check box is set to Yes. Since the decision of selecting the appropriate Ship Unit is delayed until the Planning phase, the initial transportation handling unit specified here is used to create the place holder order release ship unit GID. For this field you could set it to the mostly widely-used transport handling unit thus having it match the Shipment Ship Unit ‘s transport handling unit that was selected for many of the orders. Alternatively you could chose to have the initial transport handling unit be a dummy default value and will quickly see if the Shipment Ship Unit transport handling unit was selected correctly.
   • Allow Mixed Freight During Repack: While performing the repack during the planning engine, this check box indicates if mixed ship units may be created. Ship units are considered mixed freight if they do not have the same or “Like” packaged items.
2. One Ship Unit per Line (ONE_TO_ONE): Each order line will be placed into its own ship unit.
   • Splittable: The Splittable field on the configuration screen controls how the splittable check boxes are set on the order release ship unit. The splittable check boxes on the order release ship unit indicate if and how the ship units may be split across multiple pieces of equipment. The order release header first indicates if this order may be split or not. If it is No then all contents of that order must be placed into a single piece of equipment. If the order release indicates that it may be split then we look to the split check boxes on the ship unit to see how to split it. The configuration fields defined here together with this option of One Ship Unit for all Lines work in the following manner:
     • On: If On is specified, the order release split check box will be set to Yes and the bulk split check box on the order release ship unit will be set to Yes. The bulk split check box indicates that the logic to split this order release across the different pieces of equipment will look at the order release line quantity information while splitting.
     • Off: If Off is specified, the order release and all the ship unit split check boxes will be set to No.
     • Leave Alone: If Leave Alone is specified, OTM does not look at the order configuration to get the rules for setting the split check boxes. Instead it looks to the order release itself to determine how the check boxes need to be set.
       • Order Release Header Split: Retains the value that was entered on the order release.
       • Order Release Ship Unit Bulk Split:
         • Yes: If the order release line is split field = Yes
         • No: If the order release line is split field = No
3. Determine Number of Ship Units (AUTO_CALC): Oracle Transportation Management will determine the ship units based on static and transactional information provided on the order that is sent to the packing algorithm. The following options control how these ship units are built:
   • Allow Repack: When selected during the Determine Number of Ship Units configuration option, this will set the Allow Repack check box on the newly created order release ship unit to Yes. This check box tells the planning engine to repack the Shipment Ship Unit potentially differently than the order release ship unit. This field is used together with the Repack Percent Threshold field. The ship unit quantities are first checked against this threshold prior to setting the allow repack check box. If the ship unit is below this threshold then the Allow Repack check box is set to Yes. During this repack the planning engine might pack it differently as it considers the mode the order is being shipped on, the rates returned by the rating engine or possible consolidations with other shipment lines going to the same destination.
   • Repack Percent Threshold: This is the percentage that is checked against before setting the allow repack. There are multiple ways to define the consumption and capacity of the ship unit; weight, volume, package reference units. The most constrained of the ship unit quantities is applied to this threshold.
   • Splittable: The Splittable field here on the configuration screen controls how the splittable check boxes are set on the order release ship unit. The splittable check boxes on the order release ship unit indicate if and how the ship units may be split across multiple pieces of equipment. The order release header first indicates if this order may be split or not. If it is No then all contents of that order must be placed into a single piece of equipment. If the order release indicates that it may be split then we look to the split check boxes on the ship unit to see how to split it. The configuration fields defined here together with this option of Determine Number of Ship Units work in the following manner:
     • On: If On is specified, the Order Release Split check box will be set to Yes and the Count Splittable check box on the order release ship unit will be set to Yes. The Count Splittable check box indicates that the logic to split this order release across the different pieces of equipment will look at the ship unit count field while splitting.
     • Off: If Off is specified, the order release and all the ship unit split check boxes will be set to No.
     • Leave Alone: If Leave Alone is specified OTM does not look at the order configuration to get the rules for setting the split check boxes instead it looks to the order release itself to determine how the check boxes need to be set.
       • Order Release Header Split: Retains the value that was entered on the order release.
       • Order Release Count Splittable:
         • Yes: If all of the Order Release Line is split field = Yes for the lines contained in that ship unit.
         • No: If any one of the Order Release Line is split field = No for the lines contained in that ship unit.
   • Create Individual Ship Units: When selected, if n ship units are needed for this order, n ship units will be built, each with a count of 1. If not selected, all homogeneous ship units will be represented as a single ship unit record with a count n to indicate the quantity.
   • Allow Mixed Freight During Repack: While performing the repack during the planning engine this check box indicates if mixed ship units may be created. Ship Units are considered mixed freight if they do not have the same or ‘Like’ packaged items.

The following formulas are available for calculating the value of each field (Ship Unit Calculation available formulas may change depending on the Ship Unit Calculation selection):

Ship Unit Calculation Section

• Gross Weight:
  • Sum Gross Weight from Lines/Count
  • Total Gross Weight/Count
  • Net Weight per Ship Unit + Tare of THU
  • Same as Net Weight per Ship Unit
• Gross Volume: This will always be the maximum of calculated volume from below formulas and volume by ship unit’s dimension.
  • Sum Gross Volume from Lines/Count
  • Total Gross Volume/Count
  • Calculate Using Line Net Volume Accounting for THU Volume
  • Calculate Using Net Volume per Ship Unit Accounting for THU Volume
  • Calculate Using Ship Unit Dimensions
  • Same as Net Volume per Ship Unit
• Net Weight:
  • Sum Net Weight from Lines/Count
  • Total Gross Weight / Count – Tare of THU
  • Gross Weight per Ship Unit – Tare of THU
  • Sum Gross Weight from Lines/Count
• Net Volume:
  • Sum Net Volume from Lines/Count
  • Gross Volume per Accounting for THU Volume
• Total Gross Weight:
  • Sum Gross Weight from Lines
  • Gross Weight per Ship Unit x Count
• Total Gross Volume:
  • Sum Gross Volume from Lines
  • Gross Volume per Ship Unit x Count

Ship Unit Line Section

• Gross Weight
• Gross Volume
• Total Packaged Count
• Packaging Unit Count

Note: Either the Total Packaged Count or Packaging Unit Count should be provided, so Oracle Transportation Management will be able to calculate the other one.

Orders by Ship Unit

1. To create orders by ship unit, choose Ship Unit for Order Base/Release Creation on the Order Configuration’s Header tab.
2. On the Order Release Tab view the Splittable field:
   • Splittable: The Splittable field on the configuration screen controls how the splittable check boxes are set on the order release ship unit. The splittable check boxes on the order release ship unit indicate if and how the ship units may be split across multiple pieces of equipment. The order release header first indicates if this order may be split or not. If it is No then all contents of that order must be placed into a single piece of equipment. If the order release indicates that it may be split then we look to the split check boxes on the ship unit to see how to split it. The configuration fields defined here together with this By Ship Units Order Configuration Option works in the following manner:
     • On: If On is specified, the Order Release split check box will be set to Yes and the Count Splittable check box on the order release ship unit will be set to Yes. The Count Splittable check box indicates that the logic to split this order release across the different pieces of equipment will look at the ship init count field while splitting.
     • Off: If Off is specified, the order release and all of the ship unit split check boxes will be set to No.
     • Leave Alone: If Leave Alone is specified OTM does not look at the order configuration to get the rules for setting the split check boxes instead it looks to the order release itself to determine how the check boxes need to be set.
       • Order Release Header Split: Retains the value that was entered on the order release.
       • Order Release Count Splittable: Retains the value that was entered on the order release.
3. On the Order Release tab, select a value for Ship Unit Calculation to indicate whether Oracle Transportation Management should sum ship unit line information up to the ship unit, or if ship unit information should be “pushed” down to a line that is kept in sync with the ship unit. The following options are available:
   • Create/Update Single Ship Unit Line for Ship Unit: You enter ship unit details; Oracle Transportation Management will build/update ONE ship unit line for the ship unit.
   • Calculate Ship Unit Metrics from Ship Unit Line: You provide Ship Unit Line details; Oracle Transportation Management will use this info to calculate ship unit gross/net/total weight/volume, width/length/height.
   • Calculate Ship Unit Metrics Within Ship Unit/Ignore Lines: Lines are for information only and will not be used to calculate the ship unit fields, nor will ship unit data be pushed down to the lines.
4. Also on the Order Release tab, select whether or not to calculate the ship unit’s gross weight/volume, net weight/volume, and total weight/volume. You may also select whether or not Oracle Transportation Management should calculate the ship unit line’s gross weight/volume, total package count, and packaging unit count. The options for whether or not to calculate a field are as follows:
   • Always: Oracle Transportation Management should always attempt to calculate the value for this field, regardless of whether or not it is already valued.
   • Only if Null: Oracle Transportation Management should only attempt to calculate the value for this field if it is not already populated.
   • Never: Oracle Transportation Management should leave this field unchanged.
     
     If “Always” or “Only if Null” is selected, Oracle Transportation Management may prompt for a formula if more than one is available. For example, some implementations may require ship unit net weight be calculated by summing the net weight from the lines and dividing by the ship unit count. Others may require the ship unit net weight be simply the gross weight of the ship unit less the tare weight of the transport handling unit.

The following formulas are available for calculating the value of each field (Ship Unit Calculation available formulas may change depending on the Ship Unit Calculation selection):

Ship Unit Calculation Section

• Gross Weight:
  • Sum Gross Weight from Lines/Count
  • Total Gross Weight/Count
  • Net Weight per Ship Unit + Tare of THU
  • Same as Net Weight per Ship Unit
• Gross Volume: This will always be the maximum of calculated volume from below formulas and volume by ship unit’s dimension.
  • Sum Gross Volume from Lines/Count
  • Total Gross Volume/Count
  • Calculate Using Line Net Volume Accounting for THU Volume
  • Calculate Using Net Volume per Ship Unit Accounting for THU Volume
  • Calculate Using Ship Unit Dimensions
  • Same as Net Volume per Ship Unit
• Net Weight:
  • Sum Net Weight from Lines/Count
  • Total Gross Weight / Count – Tare of THU
  • Gross Weight per Ship Unit – Tare of THU
  • Sum Gross Weight from Lines/Count
• Net Volume:
  • Sum Net Volume from Lines/Count
  • Gross Volume per Accounting for THU Volume
• Total Gross Weight:
  • Sum Gross Weight from Lines
  • Gross Weight per Ship Unit x Count
• Total Gross Volume:
  • Sum Gross Volume from Lines
  • Gross Volume per Ship Unit x Count

Ship Unit Line Section

• Gross Weight
• Gross Volume
• Total Packaged Count
• Packaging Unit Count

Note: Either the Total Packaged Count or Packaging Unit Count should be provided, so Oracle Transportation Management will be able to calculate the other one.