This article is relevant if you use NetSuite and most of your item fulfillments are shipped complete.
Background
During a recent NetSuite implementation for a wine distributor who had completely manual order management and shipping practices, management sought to ease the operational record practices for the warehouse team. The organization did not need more sophisticated warehouse management systems. NetSuite’s basic pick-pack-ship record structures worked fine.
The challenge was that 98% of the orders shipped complete (all items ordered could be fulfilled; no backorders). For the majority of these cases, a simplified fulfillment flow would help the warehouse team work more quickly and produce fewer mistakes. Thus, the client sought a simple innovation to help drive more efficient shipment practices.
NetSuite Scan to Fulfill Utility
The business would continue with some paper operations to drive the simplified operation: sales orders would be printed and organized in the warehouse for fulfillment. The sales order printouts would supply a barcode to allow for simple scanning equipment to make the sales order lookup easier.
Using NetSuite SuiteLet technology, a Scan to Fulfill utility was conceived to prompt the users to rapidly move through shipments to address the most common situation: orders can be 100% fulfilled (no partials). Thus, the utility offered the following:
- Menu: supply the utility in the standard menu system so that it is easy to find.
- Prompt: ask the user if the order was shipped completely or partially. This would drive the subsequent lookup action.
- Scan: make it easy to look up the sales order that is being shipped. A scanner can easily provide the number and click the default button.
- Complete: if the order is complete, behind the scenes, mark the item fulfillment complete. Using Best Practices for Automating NetSuite Invoice Generation, link the shipment to the invoice. Display the invoice as a PDF on the screen to make it easy to know the process worked right and thus print and supply with the box shipment.
- Partial: if the order is partial, open the item fulfillment record so it can be manually recorded. Automatically default fields, such as status equal to ‘Shipped’, and uncheck the lines so the user can indicate the actual quantity shipped.
Click the images to get a better idea of how the utility works.
NetSuite Platform Innovations Drive Lower Costs
The client was delighted with this utility as it was very easy to use and did not require the purchase and related ongoing costs for third-party add-ins. Like all the algorithms we have created since 2008, we offer this NetSuite utility free of license charge to help drive our clients’ enhanced processing. Naturally, we can refine the algorithm to fit specific situations. I would like to thank Elie C., Senior Technical Analyst, for his great work on this innovation.
If you found this article relevant, feel free to sign up for notifications to new articles as I post them. If you are ready to tackle your NetSuite-driven shipping challenge, let’s have a conversation.
Marty Zigman
Holding all three official certifications, Marty is regarded as the top NetSuite expert and leads a team of senior professionals at Prolecto Resources, Inc. He is a former Deloitte & Touche CPA and has held CTO roles. For over 30 years, Marty has produced leadership in ERP, CRM and eCommerce business systems. Contact Marty to set up a conversation.
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