TABLE OF CONTENTS

Allocation refers to the act of assigning a Pick Location to an Order Line. Before a user can be directed to pick an order, the location where the order line should be picked needs to be determined.


Note: An inventory location can have a positive on hand value and not be available for allocation if all of the items in that location have already been assigned to order lines.
The Edit Item screen is the quickest way to see all inventory locations and all orders allocated against that item

Unknown Location

When an order is allocated, if there is no inventory available to be allocated, the Pick Location on the order line will be assigned to the UNKNOWN location. This assignment is considered Allocated and additional attempts to allocate the order line are not made until the order is again sent through the allocation process.


Note: Some location types don't allow order lines to be allocated against it. Order lines can show as UNKNOWN even if there is inventory in these types of locations as long as there is no more inventory available in the pick or other locations that can be allocated against.

Timing of Allocation

Orders can be allocated at different times during the process.  Most of these events are not automated and will require a user to trigger the allocation process.

On Order Import

  • A field on the order "Do Allocate Now" will set the order to be allocated soon after import
  • The order will be flagged for allocation and the allocation service will pick up these orders at a system-defined interval (usually every 5 minutes)
  • With this flag set in the integration for when orders are created, this will happen automatically.

Bulk allocation through Batches page

  • After an order is batched, the batch can be allocated and the orders on the batch can be allocated at this time
  • In the Batches grid, find the batches that need to be allocated and select the Allocation action
  • The order will be flagged for allocation and the allocation service will pick up these orders at a system-defined interval (usually every 5 minutes)

Individual Batches on the Batch Edit page

  • After an order is batched, the batch can be allocated and the orders on the batch can be allocated at this time
  • On the Edit Batch page for a specific Batch, click the Allocate or Reallocate button
  • All orders on the batch will be immediately allocated.

During the Pick Operation

  • The WOS Operations pick screen has a Reallocate button. Clicking this button will reallocate all of the open order lines that have been pulled to the tablet
  • The order will be immediately allocated

Bulk allocation through the Orders page

  • In the Orders grid, filter for and select the orders that need to be allocated and select the Allocate action 
  • The order will be flagged for allocation and the allocation service will pick up these orders at a system-defined interval (usually every 5 minutes)

Individually allocated on the Edit Order page

  • On the Edit Order page for a specific order, click the Allocate or Reallocate button
  • The order will be immediately allocated

Alternate timing based on specific approaches

  • Full Order Zones - Batching to a Full Order Zone will reallocate the order to the specified Zone automatically as the batch is created.  Reallocating this batch at a later time will follow the system's assigned Allocation Rule
  • Cell Picking - Cell Pick batches allocate the order as the batch is pulled to the Cell.  This allows a more dynamic approach to multiple cells possibly picking the same items.

Available Allocation Rules

The selected Allocation Rule will be displayed in Admin -> Settings. To change your allocation rule, contact [email protected].

The available allocation rules include:

Host Defined

  • No allocation is required. The Pick Location is provided on order creation and WOS will not attempt to override the provided location

Home Location

  • Items are designated with a Home Location and that same location is always replenished with the same item
  • The Item's Home Location is assigned to the order line's Pick Location regardless of the location's inventory level.
  • If the Home Location becomes empty, orders will still allocate to that empty location and it will need to be replenished to continue picking orders

Inventory (recommended)

  • The location with the lowest Allocation Sequence that has available inventory will be assigned to the order line's Pick Location
    • If Multiple locations have the same Allocation Sequence, the location with the oldest Creation Date of the inventory will be used first
    • If a large group of orders are being allocated at once, they will allocate oldest Ship Date first.  Unless specifically set, Ship Date is set to be the same as the order's Create Date.  By using Ship Date , it allows for orders intended to go out the door first be allocated first.
  • If the lowest allocation sequence has only part of the order quantity available, the order lines will be split so it can allocate the order lines against multiple pick locations, allocating against the lowest allocation sequence until the entire order quantity is allocated
  • A variation of this rule is available where the Location's Pick Sequence is used instead of the Location's Allocation Sequence

Minimum Grabs

  • This algorithm is designed to minimize the number of picks required to satisfy an order line request.
  • Rules for allocation follow the following sequence
    1. Minimum Grab
      • Locations are sorted by Allocation Sequence in ascending order
      • Search for the location with the oldest inventory with a quantity greater than or equal to the order line's quantity
      • Ignore "Pick Last" locations
      • If order line can't be assigned (because a single location does not have the full quantity), move on to number 2
    2. Larges Partial Grab - happens within the Allocation Sequence (ascending order)
      • Locations are sorted by Allocation Sequence in ascending order
      • If the lowest allocation sequence has only part of the order quantity available, the order lines will be split so it can allocate the order lines against multiple pick locations, allocating against the lowest allocation sequence until the entire order quantity is allocated
      • Ignore "Pick Last" locations
      • If order line can't be assigned, move on to number 3
    3. Last Pass Rule
      • Repeat step 2 but include "Pick Last" locations
      • If order line can't be assigned, move on to number 4
    4. Unknown
      • Inventory can't be found and the order line will be assigned as UNKNOWN

Area 

  • Similar to Inventory allocation, but limits the available locations to those that match the Area of the order
  • System must be configured with Areas
  • Locations must be assigned an Area
  • Orders must be created with the Allocation Area assigned in the Order Header
  • A variation to this rule is available where the Location's Pick Sequence is used instead of the Location's Allocation Sequence

Case/Each

  • Similar to the Inventory algorithm, but it takes into account Case vs Each quantity as configured on the items and the order lines
  • System must be configured and licensed for Case/Each processing
  • All items must be configured with a Case Qty
  • Both an Inventory and Area version of this algorithm exist