Tutorial: Update product receipts for loads and how to handle items missing from ASN

In my post about the ability of receiving a mixed pallet through the License plate receiving method on the mobile device, I mentioned that once the receiving and put away is complete, the next step would be to update the product receipt document. With that, the purchase order status is updated to Received and all relevant GL postings are done.

Posting a product receipt for a load can be done from two places in the new warehouse management module:

• For a selected load, whether that is from the All loads list page, Load details or from the Load planning workbench. This will execute the posting right away
• For 1 or more loads, running as a batch job in the background, using the periodic operation "Update product receipts"

The actual business flow is more or less the same regardless of where you launch the update from, and I am going to describe it below, also doing a small demonstration of the forms and data that are relevant.

One thing that I specifically want to call out in this blog post is a piece of functionality related to receiving ASN documents, namely the receiving exceptions for items missing from ASN.

Preparation

So, i guess it's clear that the first step for us to look into the product receipt process is to get a load created and corresponding work created/executed for it. This is described in my post about importing an ASN and using License plate receiving to register their arrival and complete the put-away, so I will start here by just briefly listing the data I am going to work with in this demo:

• A load with 2 purchase orders on it, with shipping carrier specified as JB Hunt:
• PO #1 with 1 line for item 000148_202, qty = 2 PL (150 ea), WH = 42
• PO #2 with 1 line for item 000147_202, qty = 1 PL (100 ea), WH = 42
• A packing structure for this load (based on ASN received from the vendor)
• 1 pallet with License plate LP2POs006
• 75 ea of 000148_202
• 100 ea of 000147_202
• 1 pallet with License plate LPMissASN001
• 75 ea of 000148_202
• Work is created and executed for LP2POs006 through License plate receiving. 
• LPMissASN001 has not been received, as it did not actually arrive on the truck.

What the last line essentially means is that the vendor planned to and believes he sent us the entire order (thus it is in the ASN document), but in reality, one of the pallets is missing. So somebody needs to get notified about this exceptional situation and act on it, ensuring we do not get billed for the missing goods.

In order to showcase the receiving exception related to items missing from load as compared to the ASN I have also specified the corresponding work exception code in the Warehouse management parameters, as shown below:

Flow description

Warehouse management parameters

The "Update product receipts" menu item is located under Warehouse management \ Periodic, and opens into a dialog, where you can select the loads you want to post product receipts for. The criteria could be, for example, the shipping carrier bringing in the loads. If you know that "JB Hunt" delivers before lunch, we can try posting product receipts for their deliveries at, say, 2 pm.

Note

The batch job flow is per my understanding going to be used more often, so this is what I am going to describe in this post. Manual posting is pretty much identical, with 1 difference mentioned below.

Once you confirm the processing, the job will be added to the queue on the batch server, and will be executed based on the recurrence you have selected on the Batch tab page.
For this demo I have not enabled it to run in the batch, so the execution happens right away.

Here's an attempt at capturing what is going to happen with the selected loads when you schedule the product receipt update for them:

• Loop through all the selected loads
• If Load has not yet been Received
• check if the load has been ship confirmed, or the state of the related route (TMS functionality) if a load is part of a route. If it is not confirmed
• ship confirm the load and all related loads that need to be confirmed at the same time (because they are on the same route)
• if at least one of these loads cannot be ship confirmed, none of the loads will be confirmed. A number of things are checked here, but they are part of the transportation management flow, which is not the focus of this post, so I will omit describing them
• As a result, the status of the load changes to Shipped 
• check the document status of the purchase orders related to the load
• if the purchase order is not confirmed, confirm it.
• This entire step is executed within 1 transaction, while the below steps are part of another transaction. So if you for example cancel the actual product receipt, your loads would stay ship confirmed.
• Loop through the load lines
• Compare the load line to the related ASN item lines, finding discrepancies between the "planned" receiving quantity on the load line and the quantity work was actually created for based on the ASN packing structure. To rephrase, we compare, how much we ask the vendor to deliver in the selected load and how much he actually delivered.
• If a discrepancy is found, create a receiving work exception with exception code selected in Warehouse management parameters \ Code for missing items from ASN

Note: We currently do not record the actual quantity discrepancies, just that there was a difference, as well as the load and order line information

• For each purchase order linked, prepare the order for posting product receipt. All load lines will be posted as part of 1 large update, so if multiple orders exist they will be posted in 1 go, with the same ParmId.
• Actually post the product receipt for all relevant orders. 
• Display the Posting product receipt dialog. Note the product receipt IDs are generated as _#, so you should be able to later identify all product receipt documents posted for a load based on such a condition (if you do not override the number with the actual vendor IDs)
• Select to update only the Registered quantity, as that is what we have received according to the warehouse
• As a result, the status of corresponding purchase orders is updated to Received, or stays Open if some of the quantity was not received in full. 
• Update the load, removing load lines that were not received at all and decreasing quantity on those that were only received partially.
• Update load status to Received
• Update status of all shipments that are part of the load to Received

Manual posting difference

When posting the product receipt manually, the button to post is actually disabled until the purchase orders in the load are all in Confirmed status.

Demonstration

Navigate to Warehouse management \ Periodic \ Update product receipts, and configure the criteria for updating all loads delivered by JB Hunt that have not been Received yet. 

Update product receipt selection criteria

When you confirm the update, the above flow is going to execute, confirming the inbound shipment and displaying the product receipt posting dialog with both purchases shown. Notice the product receipt numbers assigned, and that only the registered quantity is updated. Confirm the processing.

Product receipt posting dialog

Once the update is complete, we can go back and check on the load. As you can see, the Load Status has changed to Received, and the quantity on the first load line has been decreased to match what we actually received.

Received load information

At the same time a receiving work exception has been logged in the system, pointing to a discrepancy of type "Missing item from ASN", as shown below:

Work exceptions log

If you now take a look at the purchase orders from the All Purchase orders list page, you will see that one of them was fully updated and thus has a status of Received, while the other is still Open and has an expected delivery for the quantity that was missing from the ASN. We'll now need to contact the vendor/carrier and figure out what went wrong with this shipment.

Youtube video walkthrough

As an experiment, I have also recorded the above flow in a screen cast and uploaded it to my Youtube channel. Take a look and let me know what you think. Is that helpful at all? (I take any kind of feedback very well :))

Summary

This post was trying to address two main goals:

• Explain and demonstrate, what happens behind the scenes when posting a product receipt for loads
• Show, how you can set up a receiving exception, that will allow more easily tracking cases where something went wrong and we did not get the goods we were supposed to.

I hope it's more clear now and you'll be able to use AX to the full extent when it comes to inbound ASNs.

Tutorial: Generating shipping labels using the GS1 SSCC-18 barcode format

As a follow up to my previous post about printing labels using the new WHS solution, I wanted to describe an extra feature that is available out of the box in the new Warehouse management solution and allows to generate the license plate shipping label in the format of an 18-digit serial shipping container code (SSCC), which is "used by many companies to identify a logistics unit, which can be any combination of trade items packaged together for storage and/or transport purposes; for example, a case, a pallet or parcel.", as quoted from GS1.

Here is an example of an SSCC-18 barcode (description of each of its components is provided here):

Configuring the SSCC in Dynamics AX

Let's take each part of the code above and see where we set it up in Dynamics AX:

• Application Identifier for SSCC is always 00 and is therefore also hard-coded in the X++ code
• Extension Digit in AX is used to specify the type of the logistics unit - pallet, case, etc. This is set up in the Unit sequence groups by specifying a digit 1-9 in the field License plate packing type, and is during work execution retrieved based on the item being processed. If no item is specified, Extension Digit will be set to 0.

Note

There is currently no validation implemented for this field, meaning you can type in any integer. Typing in a value that is more than 1 digit will obviously compromise your SSCC integrity

Here is how I have set up my Unit sequence group "Ea PL" for this demonstration:

• GS1 company prefix is set up in the Warehouse management parameters and thus will be unique per company in Dynamics AX.

Note

There is currently no validation implemented for this field, meaning you can type in any string with a length of 8 or less characters. The requirement is of course that you only type in numerical data. Note also that according to the standard, the company prefix can be as large as 10 digits, which is not supported in AX right now, but is rather easy to customize if necessary.

Here is how I have set up the GS1 company prefix for this demonstration:

• Serial reference is currently only set up to be generated based on a number sequence for License plate IDs. Many people request that the Container ID (used as part of manual packing or containerization flows) is used instead, but that's as of right now not possible and requires a customization. 

Note

There is currently no validation implemented to ensure the length of the generated number is within the required 6-9 digits, or that the generated string actually only consists of digits. It is therefore your responsibility to ensure the corresponding number sequence segments are set up correctly, ensuring that the combined length of GS1 company prefix and generated license plate ID is always 16 digits.

Here is how I have set up the License Plate ID number sequence for this demonstration:

• The check digit is calculated automatically based on the generated ID and appended as the last symbol. No extra setup is required for this.

Mobile device menu item configuration

In order for all of the above to work, we need to make sure that the license plate is generated automatically by selecting the "Generate LP" check-box on the corresponding mobile device menu item.

Here is how I have set up the menu item for executing sales picking work for this demonstration:

OK, that's pretty much it. Now every time that a new target license plate is generated as part of picking sales orders, it will be in the format of a serial shipping container code. All you need to do is actually configure the work template to print the license plates, as shown in the above-mentioned post about printing labels.

The same will apply not only to sales picking work, but to many other types of mobile device flows, which as part of the flow generate a new license plate, both inbound and outbound.

Actual demonstration

To start off, I have configured the work template for sales orders to include an additional step to print the label, as shown on the screenshot below:

Next, I created a new sales order for 75 ea of item 000148_202, where a unit conversion is set up so that 1 PL = 75 ea. The order line is to be dispatched from warehouse 42, as shown below:

I reserve the line (you need to ensure there is sufficient on-hand inventory available for item 000148_202, and it is in a location, which is part of your location directives setup for Sales order picking), and release the order to warehouse, which, in turn, based on my wave template, creates a new wave and processes it, resulting in the creation of picking work that is shown on the image below:

As you can see, the Print steps is there, and the work lines are for 1 PL, which means that when printing the label, PL will be used to determine the value of the Extension digit.

Since the actual printing is already described in my previous post, I will use a different approach this time and will not setup the document routing at all. This will generate the label for me, but won't actually print it.

OK, so now let's proceed and actually execute the work. At the Pick screen, you will see the generated license plate ID, and can confirm that the format is right.

Note

The field is currently editable, so the work user can accidentally overwrite the generated value. This might improve in future AX releases to prevent human error.

Hotfix

I am afraid the contents of the generated ID are a bit off at the moment. If you type in the below SSCC code into a check digit calculator (e.g., here), you will see that the calculator produces a different check digit as compared to Dynamics AX. This is a product issue Microsoft is aware of, and it has been hot-fixed since RTM. The KB article number is 3001157 (should be available on LCS soon).

Once the Pick line is executed, the printing itself will happen, and will create a record in the License plate labels table. Go ahead and complete the Put, and let's review the label information that was persisted by navigating to Warehouse management \ Inquiries \ License plate labels. I took the liberty of hiding the uninteresting fields from the view.

As you can see, all the vital information about the license plate label, as well as the context in which this label was generated are stored, and can be used in the future.

You can, for example, reprint the label, if necessary, using a mobile device menu item with an Activity Code = Reprint label. 

That's it for today! Stay tuned for more.

Printing labels with the new Warehouse management solution

Hi all,

This blog post is based on a document I got from Boštjan Golob, a solution architect working with Dynamics AX. You can connect with Boštjan through LinkedIn.

I really enjoyed the information he provided and therefore wanted to share it publicly so all the AX community can learn how to configure and print labels with the new warehouse management solution. So here it is, enjoy:

Step 1: Understanding

How does AX actually print the labels? It is important to know that most label printers currently in use (such as Zebra brand printers) include some sort of a programming language interpreter and that the print job sent to a label printer is actually a small program. This is no different than with larger printers that use Postscript (there are web servers written in Postscript). In label printing, the feature set of a command language is usually quite rich: you can control the cutting of labels, the printer itself knows how to draw barcodes, you can select fonts that it has loaded in its memory and so on. This is an example of a ZPL (Zebra Programming Language) program:

CT~~CD,~CC^~CT~
^XA~TA000~JSN^LT0^MNW^MTD^PON^PMN^LH0,0^JMA^PR2,2~SD15^JUS^LRN^CI0^XZ
^XA
^MMT
^PW320
^LL0160
^LS0
^FT20,58^A0N,28,28^FH\^FDNalepka:^FS
^FT20,81^AAN,18,10^FH\^FD$LicensePlateId$^FS
^BY1,3,17^FT20,106^BCN,,Y,N,N,A
^FD$LicensePlateId$^FS
^PQ1,,,Y^XZ

AX can print a very sophisticated label by sending such a »program« to the label printer, while at the same time knowing absolutely nothing about label layouting. The labels stored in AX are command snippets like above. These are stored in Document routing layouts (Warehouse management – Setup – Document routing – Document routing layouts).
Knowing when to print a label is the job of configuration of menu items and work templates. AX can initiate printing of labels at work creation (for example in receiving scenarios), or during work execution. Which label to print is the job of document routing setup, where we tell the system, based on what we are currently doing, which label to pick and which label to send it to. We well get to configuration later.

Step 2: Getting the label in a text format

In order for this walk-through to be as comprehensive as possible (and as easy to click through without any annoying »this is left as an exercise to the reader« parts), the process of creating a small demo label will be demonstrated. I will use the NiceLabel labeling software (Made in Slovenia).

First, get the NiceLabel Designer Pro from the web site (www.nicelabel.com) and install the 30-day trial. Also download the NiceLabel Label Printer Drivers, as we will need them to create a dummy printer for NiceLabel to adapt the label to. This is important – label designs can be printer dependent and if you use multiple types of printers, it's best to export the labels with NiceLabel set to every different printer you will use the label with!

Before creating the label, follow these steps to create a dummy printer:

1. Open the »Devices and Printers« in Control Panel, click on any printer and from the toolbar, select Print Server Properties.
2. In the next form, select the Ports tab.
3. Click Add Port…
4. Select Local port and click New Port…
5. For the port name, enter a file name (I use C:\_TEMP for misc. crap, so I put in C:\_TEMP\ZEBRAPRINT.TXT)
6. OK out of everything.
7. Run the installation program for the NiceLabel Printer Drivers and select a printer you would like to use (I have chosen a pretty basic »ZEBRA GC420d ZPL« printer).
8. Select the port you have just created.
9. Finish the installation.
10. Rejoice!

After the printer is ready, open NiceLabel Designer and create a new label, selecting the printer you have just installed. You will get a blank canvas and you can start drawing. I have created the following layout using the Text and Bar code tools:

Label designer

The second text field is a variable field with the variable name LicensePlateId and the same variable is used for the bar code as well. You can design the label with fixed values, but you will then need to change the text in AX. NiceLabel also comes with plenty of out of the box sample labels, including GS1 SSCC label and so on, which can also be used as a starting point.

To get the text version of the label, you can use several options. NiceLabel Designer Pro supports export of templates for use in external systems. First, let's configure the AX specifics for export. Select File – Export – Printer Template Export Configuration and Add a new system. Give it a name (Dynamics AX WHS) and an extension (txt) and in the Variables tab page, enter $[Name]$ in Variables field like so:

NiceLabel Printer Template Export Configuration

This will cause variables used in the label to be exported in the generated file as $VariableName$, which is the format expected by AX when it does its own substitution of variable contents.

After you are done with this definition, click File – Export – Dynamics AX WHS and NiceLabel will create a nice text file which you then copy and paste into AX:

Document routing layouts

Step 3: Configuring document routing

We will use this label as part of the receiving put-away process 24 PO Direct, so we need to configure the document routing record. In the Document routing form, create a record similar to this one:

Document routing

I have used my dummy printer that I have installed on the AOS. Feel free to experiment with other filter values, which you will probably use in production, at least to differentiate to which printer you want to print the label (note to Microsoft: some web browsers can print to locally attached printers that people carry around with them, so printing could also be done via the web interface). Again – to use the printers, AOS will need to be able to print to them. I would strongly suggest using networked printers, not printers connected locally to computers in the warehouse and then shared, at least from experience. It is best to log on locally to the AOS as the AOS service account and check if you can print to the printers.

Lastly, we need to configure the work templates to print the label as part of the process. To do this, insert a Print step in the Work Template. In our example, 24 PO Direct gets another work step:

Work templates

 

The same approach can be used in the Sales order scenario as well, to create shipping labels for the picked license plates.

In case you would like to print your own labels as a part of receiving goods, you can use the "Print label" check-box on Mobile device menu items for several Work creation processes (PO receiving, Report as finished, Load receiving, TO receiving, Kanban). There is also an indirect activity "Reprint label" for later printing of LP labels.

Step 4: Demo

Create a purchase order for some goods and receive it using the mobile device (web or AX form). There will be no visible change from the user perspective, but, if all goes well, the file you set up for the dummy printer should appear and under Inquires – License plate labels, you should be able to see the newly created label. If you open the file using Notepad, it should contain ZPL with LicensePlateId substituted for the actual license plate number:

CT~~CD,~CC^~CT~

^XA~TA000~JSN^LT0^MNW^MTD^PON^PMN^LH0,0^JMA^PR2,2~SD15^JUS^LRN^CI0^XZ

^XA

^MMT

^PW320

^LL0160

^LS0

^FT20,58^A0N,28,28^FH\^FDNalepka:^FS

^FT20,81^AAN,18,10^FH\^FDTESTLP00001^FS

^BY1,3,17^FT20,106^BCN,,Y,N,N,A

^FDTESTLP00001^FS

^PQ1,,,Y^XZ

To see how the label would be printed out, you can use for example the Labelary service. The above example can be rendered using this URL.

Giving a nice result like this:

Printed label

That's it, you are all set to explore this on your own further, and thanks to Boštjan again for providing this comprehensive description of the process.