Update 20D

Revision History

This document will continue to evolve as existing sections change and new information is added. All updates appear in the following table:

Overview

This guide outlines the information you need to know about new or improved functionality in this update.

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Functional Enhancements

Drive Putaway Rules to Search for Locations with Same Item

Putaway Priorities now supports a new flag "Search Location with Matching SKU".  This supports putaway strategies that reduce product fragmentation in your warehousing operations.  This is particularly helpful for facilities that have limited space capacity and boosts overall warehouse productivity. 

Support Overshipment and Undershipment Tolerances with Back Ordering

In certain circumstances, your organization may need to ship more than or less than the ordered quantity on an order line. You can now allow overshipping or undershipping using shipment tolerances. By defining shipment tolerances, you can specify the percentage over, or under, the ordered quantity that can ship for an item on an order line. For example, if an item with order quantity of 100 has an overshipment tolerance of 10% and an undershipment tolerance of 20%, you can now ship a maximum of 110, or a minimum of 80, and consider the order line fulfilled.

Ship and close shipments within shipment tolerance levels. For order lines you can now specify percentages for overshipment and undershipment tolerances. Based on the specified tolerance behavior, the shipment automatically closes as soon as the undershipment tolerance is met, or the shipment is kept open until you ship between the requested quantity and overshipment tolerance. This allows you more flexibility to determine when the line should close in cases of multiple shipments.

Shipping Tolerances are now supported in Oracle WMS Cloud Order Header / Order Detail and Manual Wave screens.  You can also create and modify Shipping Tolerances using the Order Input Interface or the Order API.

When an order cannot be fully shipped, Oracle WMS Cloud communicates to the host system (ERP or ordering system) the unfulfilled quantities.  Based on that information, the host system accepts the backorder message from Oracle WMS Cloud.

Enhanced Purchase Order Based Receiving

Purchase Orders in Oracle Purchasing Cloud allow multiple shipments on a purchase order line for an item from a supplier.  This may take place if a given item is scheduled to be shipped on different dates or to different locations.  Oracle WMS Cloud now optionally supports specifying the purchase order line number and shipment number during receiving.  This improves matching the Oracle WMS Cloud purchase order receipts to the correct purchase order line number and shipment number.  This is important for streamlined and accurate supply chain planning and payables operations.  This feature is available in Oracle WMS Cloud to be used with any host ERP that supports a purchase order having multiple lines with the same item or multiple shipments for a purchase order line.  Companies using Oracle WMS Cloud together with Oracle SCM Cloud should set the parameter "prompt_po-seq-link" screen parameter to be "PO Line Schedule."

Now when purchase orders are received, only the received quantity gets transferred onto the inbound shipment details.  This allows purchase orders that have been partially received to be updated.  For example, supply chain planning may send a recommended change for a purchase order when the supplier was not able to ship the full expected quantity.

Scheduled Job to Verify Shipment

The verification process in Oracle WMS Cloud allows for a post-receiving correction to purchase order receipts.  The Auto Verify Inbound Shipment job now allows manual verification of purchase order receipts to be an optional step.  The job can be configured to specify when the inbound shipment is considered closed.  After verification, no further changes to the inbound shipment can be made.  This enhancement streamlines the productivity of higher volume facilities that have a high level of accuracy in their receiving operations.

Allow Receiving of QC Rejected LPNs and Return to Vendor

When inbound material is QC checked, you can now apply a lock code (unallocatable) to the rejected LPN and it can be received into the warehouse and retain a material status of rejected.   Users can now manually allocate and pick rejected material to return it.  Both of these enhancements used in combination allow for these shipments to be communicated back to the Host ERP as a Return To Vendor which improves financial reconciliation with suppliers regarding the purchase order quantities that have been returned.

Enhanced Configurability on Post-Pick Order Consolidation and Loading

In order to streamline throughput in a warehouse, Oracle Cloud WMS has added new logic for managing outbound LPN dispatch. This new dispatch functionality is included in the 20D update and you are now able to determine whether you want your LPN to be located, staged, or loaded.

This makes your time to market faster and reduces user clicks and screen time – ultimately reducing bottlenecks within the warehouse.

User Experience and Usability Enhancements

Enhancements to Single Item LPN Receipt

RF Single SKU Receiving mobile screens have been enhanced to more easily receive LPNs that contain only a single item.  Some of the specific enhancements include auto-generating LPN numbers, palletizing inbound LPNs upfront, specifying case and pack quantities at receipt, prompting for lot number and/or expiry date, and printing inbound LPN labels.

Call Putaway from Receiving

When inventory arrives at the warehouse, the LPNs or Pallets are received at the receiving station. Normally, on completing the receiving process, users call for putaway of the LPN or pallet to the location based on the putaway type. This two-step process of receiving and then performing putaway can take more time. In order to simplify the process of receiving and moving the LPN/Pallet directly to its location as soon as the inventory is received,  enhancements are made in Directed Putaway transaction.

As part of 20D, users can now invoke Putaway transactions from RF Receiving and locate the inventory to the respective destination, if the putaway type is defined on the LPN/Pallet. This functionality is made available when performing the RF Receive by shipment and RF Receive by Load  transactions.

Alert User During LPN Substitution

When performing LPN substitution during the packing process, the system does not necessarily alert users on any transactional updates. Sometimes, due to the close proximity of inventory placed in the warehouse, users may scan and pick an unanticipated Inbound LPN instead of the originally allocated LPN. This leads to the de-allocation of LPNs and may also break the picking sequence during the transaction.

In 20D, Oracle WMS Cloud has introduced new messages/alerts in the system that triggers when users perform LPN substitution. This provides users with the flexibility to control substitution from the same or different locations. This enhancement also provides an ability for the user to restrict such substitution by configuring these messages as an error message.

Link to WMS Cloud Application Pages Using Deep Links

In this update, Oracle WMS Cloud delivers new deep links that provide the ability to more easily navigate directly to specific Oracle WMS Cloud screens without using the menu structure. For example, you can use these links to link to Oracle WMS Cloud screens from third-party application pages.

Default Redwood Theme for WMS Application Pages and Mobile App

This feature provides a new Redwood Color Scheme theme for Oracle WMS Cloud and the WMS Cloud Mobile App. The new Redwood Color Scheme is a warmer, more human color palette.

Updates to WMS Cloud to SCM Cloud Integrator

Support for WMS Cloud Lock Code to ERP Inventory Summary Bucket Alignment on Purchase Order Receipt Confirmation and Inventory Transactions

When using Oracle WMS Cloud with Oracle SCM Cloud, Oracle Inventory Management Cloud virtually tracks and has visibility to the inventory in each Oracle WMS Cloud facility.  You define a Subinventory in Oracle Inventory Management Cloud for each Inventory Summary Bucket to track on-hand and available inventory levels (e.g. Receiving, Stores).

The pre-built OIC-based integrations between Oracle WMS Cloud and Oracle Inventory Management Cloud use the ability to associate a WMS Cloud Lock Code to an ERP Inventory Summary Bucket and the ability to assign a Lock Code Priority.  Lock Code Priority is used to establish precedence in cases when inventory is locked with more than one lock code. Please see the Oracle WMS Cloud Lock Code to ERP Inventory Summary Alignment feature description for more information.

When Lock Codes are added or removed on the inventory, it can have impacts on the corresponding Inventory Buckets maintained in the ERP system.  On the Inventory History Transaction records, the Previous ERP Inventory Bucket and the Current ERP Inventory Bucket are used to move the inventory into the appropriate sub-inventory in Oracle Inventory Management Cloud.  This enhancement improves the ability to align and reconcile on-hand inventory balances between Oracle Inventory Management Cloud and Oracle WMS Cloud.

Support Shipping Tolerances for Sales Orders

The pre-built OIC-based integrations between Oracle WMS Cloud and Oracle Inventory Management Cloud now accept the over shipment and under shipment tolerance percentages on shipment requests for sales orders.  Based on the specified tolerance behavior, the shipment automatically closes as soon as the under shipment tolerance is met, or the shipment is kept open until you ship between the requested quantity and over shipment tolerance.  This allows you more flexibility to determine when the line should close in cases of multiple shipments.

Communicate Backordering for Sales Orders

When a sales order cannot be fully shipped, Oracle WMS Cloud can now signal Oracle Inventory Management Cloud that all shipping has been completed. This will cancel the remaining quantity in Oracle WMS Cloud and signal Oracle Inventory Management Cloud to backorder the remaining quantity. This allows the remaining quantity to be re-released by Oracle Inventory Management Cloud at a later time or allows the sales order to be updated to reduce or cancel the remaining quantity.

Provide Transaction Reference on Purchase Order Receipt Confirmation, Inventory Transactions, and Sales Order Shipment Confirmation

There’s always a small chance that some transactions aren’t properly interfaced and on-hand balances can get out of sync. If this happens, you need an easy way to find which transactions weren’t interfaced. The pre-built OIC-based integrations between Oracle WMS Cloud and Oracle Inventory Management Cloud now leverage Oracle Inventory Management Cloud’s ability to Link Transactions from an External WMS for Reconciliation.  To make identifying problem transactions more efficient, the pre-built OIC-based integrations to Oracle Inventory Management Cloud now includes a transaction reference identifier for every transaction that Oracle WMS Cloud sends to Oracle Inventory Management Cloud.

Integration Properties Support in SCM Cloud Integrator

The SCM Cloud Integrator now supports the Oracle Integration Cloud (OIC) Integration Properties feature.  Previously, the pre-built OIC-based integrations included several hard-coded values that needed to match your product configuration (e.g. Oracle WMS Cloud Order Type for sales orders).  Now during the SCM Cloud Integrator configuration process, you can specify some of these values and using Integration Properties inject them into the pre-built OIC-based integration mappings so that the correct values for your operations are passed.  The SCM Cloud Integration Wizard makes the process seamless and eliminates the need to manually update these values directly within the OIC integration mappings.

Integration Enhancements

WMS Cloud Lock Code to ERP Inventory Summary Alignment

When integrating Oracle WMS Cloud to ERP systems, the ERP’s inventory system virtually tracks and has visibility to the the inventory in each Oracle WMS Cloud facility.  The ERP System creates Inventory Summary Buckets to track on-hand and available inventory levels; the ERP System should not track the specific stock location of the material or the details of how the material is packed into containers (LPNs/Pallets).

Oracle WMS Cloud only needs to send transactions to the ERP when the item is received into or issued out of inventory or has changed from one ERP Inventory Bucket to another.  For example, when WMS Cloud performs operational moves of material that doesn’t result in a change in ERP Inventory Bucket, there is no need to send that transaction to the ERP.

Lock Codes in Oracle WMS Cloud are used to control whether material is available to put away or allocate and whether specific transactions can be performed on the material (e.g. loading, shipping…).  Material without a Lock Code is considered fully Available without any restrictions. When Lock Codes are added or removed on the inventory, it can have impacts on the corresponding Inventory Buckets maintained in the ERP system. Lock Codes can be applied to LPNs, Active Locations, and Lots.  When multiple LPN-level lock codes are applied, inventory in Oracle WMS Cloud can be locked with more than one lock code. When inventory is mapped with multiple lock codes, it was not easy to determine in which Inventory Bucket the inventory should be positioned.

This enhancement includes the following changes to improve the alignment of Oracle WMS Cloud Lock Codes to ERP Inventory Summary Buckets:

• Associate a WMS Cloud Lock Code to an ERP Inventory Summary Bucket.

• Assign the Lock Code a Priority.  This is used to establish precedence in cases when inventory is locked with more than one lock code.  You should prioritize the lock codes from most restrictive (Priority 1) to least restrictive.

• On the Inventory History Transaction records, the Previous ERP Inventory Bucket and the Current ERP Inventory Bucket are sent which the ERP uses to transfer the inventory between Inventory Summary Buckets.

Expand Custom Fields in Inbound Shipment Interface and Inbound Shipment Verification Output

The integration capabilities for Inbound Shipments / Details Interface and Shipment Verification output have been extended to support several custom fields.

Update Location Counted to Be Counted Flag Using a REST API

There are some warehouse scenarios where an external system such as a slotting or inventory management system can request counting for a certain location. To facilitate triggering of inventory count in a location by external systems, the Location REST API has been enhanced to update cycle count related fields.

Locate LPN or Pallet to Location Using a REST API

You can now locate a LPN/ Pallet to its respective destination location with the Locate LPN/Pallet API. This applies to both inbound and outbound LPNs.

GET Available Warehouse Location for Putaway Using a REST API

Previously, you were only able to perform putaway using RF Putaway.  The Directed Putaway Location API now allows you to determine the putaway location for a given Inbound LPN or Pallet, so that you can locate the LPN/Pallet to its respective destination.

Update Active Inventory for Serialized Product Using a REST API

The Update Active Inventory API allows you to adjust the quantity in an active location for a serialized item. Only a single location and item may be updated per request. In update 20D, this API has been enhanced to accept serial numbers to cater to serial number tracked items.  As part of this update, you can now either do positive or negative adjustments for serial number tracked items. You can send adjustment or actual quantity in the request to update the location’s inventory.

Support ISO-8601 Format Date/Time Values

A new company parameter Enable_ISO_8601_Output_Date_Time_Format is available in Oracle WMS Cloud that gives users the ability to control the output format of date/time values in Inventory History and Shipped Load output. This will allow for all date/time output to be in the widely accepted and used ISO-8601 standard. This standard will not only give date, time, and date/time consistency across the output data, but it will provide the time zone offset from UTC as part of the date/time format. The addition of the time zone context into the date/time value will allow external systems to know the actual time zone value and will remove any ambiguity.