Global Warehouse Management System Overview

The Global Warehouse Management System (WMS) centralizes and customizes item receipt and fulfillment functions throughout Traverse into one application, tailoring them for the warehouse environment. In traditional item receipt functions (such as those in Purchase Order, for example), you need to navigate through several steps in a transaction before you can access receiving commands. Likewise, order fulfillments (such as those in Sales Order) also require several steps to pick items, print a packing list, and get the order out the door. While such functions perform well in the office, they are not really practical for the warehouse.

The global Warehouse Management System redesigns Traverse's order and inventory functions to streamline receiving, order fulfillment, physical inventory, and item movement for the warehouse. To receive items, fill orders, or move production items into inventory, simply scan a barcode or enter an item ID, then select the order to which to apply the items and enter the quantity received or shipped. Inventory location transfers become a true, three-step process to fully account for the decrease and increase at each location and to correctly track costs during transit. The Warehouse Management System also extends the bin and container concept in Inventory by allowing you to place containers in bins and move all items in entire bins or container from one location to another easily.

Note: Bins are required for inventory update functions in Global WMS. It is recommended that you set up location default bins.

WMS is available on both desktop and mobile platforms, and records transactions in real-time after the function is performed. You can use WMS to handle many of the processes that take place in the warehouse, including:

• Picking: record picking by item out of bins and/or containers.
• Packing: bring picked items to a staging area where they are packed (a two-step process) OR pick items from zones, bins, and/or containers and mark them as 'Packed' (removed from inventory) at the same time (a one-step process).
• Receiving: record receiving into bins and/or containers as the receipt is occurring and then put them into stock (a two-step process) OR receive items and put them directly into bins and/or containers (a one-step process).
• Put Away: put items from a receiving bin away into stock.
• Physical Inventory: full physical inventory processing, enhanced from the Inventory application for better performance.
• Receive All: receive an entire order (quick receipt) and then edit as needed, which speeds up transacting.
• Label Generation (Item, Bin, and Container): design and print item, bin, and container labels.
• Containers Combine: merge multiple containers for easy warehouse movement.
• Scanning and Lookup: lookup or scan items, orders, bins, and containers whether using the desktop or mobile platform.
• User Defaults: you can set user defaults at the location, bin, and batch code levels.

In summary, WMS provides real-time visibility into the warehouse and allows users to see exactly where an order is in the process. Most fields are scan-friendly and lookup-capable, providing a reduced chance of error when scanning is utilized and transacting is real-time. WMS on the desktop and mobile platforms can be used interchangeably depending on a user's role. The mobile application can be accessed on a handheld scanner, phone, tablet, or any connected device which allows flexibility in device and deployment. The processes are flexible: by offering the user the option to pick/pack in one or two steps, as well as receive/put away in one or two steps, the user is able to choose the method that fits the work that they are actually doing, rather than the system dictating how they should manage the recording of inventory. Defaults such as location and bin are available at the user level.

This topic walks through examples of various tasks using WMS.

For information on printing labels as part of WMS, see the Label Overview topic.

Application Interaction

WMS requires the Traverse Inventory application. In addition, you can optionally interface WMS with other Traverse applications:

• Interface WMS with Purchase Order to access purchase orders information to identify the orders you receive. When you receive those items in WMS, receipt information is written back to Purchase Order and order status is updated automatically.
• Use the Sales Order interface to access item information for the orders you need to fulfill. As with Purchase Order, WMS writes fulfilled item quantities and updates order status in Sales Order when you ship items.
• Interface WMS with Production to access work order information needed to pull components from inventory, receive assembled items and by-products, and place them into inventory.
• Interface WMS with Service Director to access the estimated part quantities needed for work orders so that you can pull those items from inventory in preparation for dispatches.
• Use the Project Costing interface to access project information so that you can enter material requisitions for specific projects, track this item's movements, and write these costs to the project for accurate billing.

It’s important to remember that while WMS works closely with the Traverse Inventory application, it also is a separate application. That is, while it contains transfer and adjustment functions that are related to those in Inventory, these functions are not interchangeable between the two applications. While WMS does update Inventory history when you post for inquiry and reporting needs, it stores unposted transaction information in different locations. For example, you cannot access WMS transfer information in Inventory and vice versa.

Keep in mind that when you use WMS to record picked and received items, you should not also use the functions in the interfaced applications to enter shipped or received quantities or production activity. Because WMS pushes the quantity information you enter to the appropriate transactions in other Traverse applications, entering quantity information in these applications and picking or receiving items in WMS can lead to duplicate records and incorrect item quantities.

For example, when you pick items for sales orders in WMS, it automatically enters the quantity shipped and backordered into the appropriate transactions in Sales Order. However, if you enter shipped and backordered quantities into the Sales Order transactions, and record picking activity in WMS and confirm your selections, the system updates the quantities in the Sales Order transactions a second time, duplicating your previous entries and incorrectly updating inventory item quantities.