[Tutorial] Warehouse management app detours

Feature overview

Warehouse management app detours is a feature we have shipped recently, available as part of 10.0.23, which enables a warehouse worker to park a task they are currently executing, perform another mobile device operation, and then come back to exactly where they left off, once the detour is complete. 

This is feedback we have heard way too often from workers in the warehouse, saying they are afraid to navigate away from their current step for risk of losing their progress, the lock on the work they were performing, etc. 

The detours help reduce that fear, and, what is great about the feature, is that pretty much any mobile device menu item can serve as a detour in another mobile app flow.

Enable feature

Feature management

In order to enable the detours feature, you first need to enable the "Warehouse app step instructions" feature, both shown in the image above. This is what really drives the configuration options for detours, so that you can be flexible in where the various detours show up in a mobile flow.

In addition to enabling the feature, you should also make sure to regenerate the default setup / update the Warehouse app field names configuration, as we've significantly expanded the metadata associated with the fields (aka steps in a flow).

Configuring mobile device steps

You configure detours through the Mobile device steps screen. 

Mobile device steps

First, you need to identify the step in the flow where you would like to show a new detour menu item, and then add configuration for this step for a selected mobile device menu item.

In my examples today, I have decided to show detours on the "Scan a license plate" step as part of the Sales picking flow, as well as in the Item Inquiry screen from each of the cards. 

Adding specific step configuration allows to configure an alternative set of instructions for the user, in case they should be different from the default for the selected menu item, as well as choose (if you enable the corresponding feature) the information that should be prominently shown to the user in the details section, so they don't need to click into the details to view it. And, which is what we are going to do now, it allows to add one or more detours to this step. 

Detour configuration for Scan a License Plate step of Sales picking flow

Detour configuration for Item inquiry list screen

Above is how I have configured detours for Sales picking and Item inquiry flows.

Note

It's not just about invoking another flow. You can actually also pass information back and forth between the main flow and the detour. In the examples above, I'm passing in the Location from the main flow into the detours, and in the Location inquiry detour, I'm also passing back the license plate. Which allows me to select the license plate from a list instead of entering it manually, if I for some reason is not able to scan the value in at the location.

The options with detours are almost limitless, especially when you take custom flows into consideration. Some of the examples could be allowing to do an ad hoc movement of inventory from the receiving flow, or even from a picking flow, so that the worker can clean up the aisle to get past some block. You could do ad hoc replenishments, or perform counting on the spot, if you notice something is off while picking goods. I'd love to hear what you come up with in your warehouse!

Sales picking with location inquiry detour demo

To demonstrate how detours behave on the mobile device, I've created a simple sales order picking work order with 1 line, picking 10 pcs of A0001 from FL-001 location, which is license plate controlled.

After scanning in the work ID created above, we arrive at the step, where the worker needs to specify the license plate to pick from in location FL-001. 

Detour menu items visible for Scan a license plate step

You can clearly see which menu items are detours because of the additional icon (return arrow) shown above the main icon. This signals to the worker that when they are done with the detour, they will be returned to their current step in the current flow.

If we select Location inquiry, we are directed to the first step in the location inquiry flow, and you can see that Location is already pre-populated for us with the value coming from the sales picking flow. I can of course go and change the value to another location if needed.

First step in Location inquiry detour

After I confirm the location, I am presented with the list of license plates and products in the selected location. 

Location inquiry detour - list

Now, because I am in a detour, I can actually select one of the cards displayed, and when clicking back, the selected context is carried back to the main flow, including not only the card header (in this case, Item number), but all/most of the other related information. In this case, I'm interested in the license plate, which is how I have configured the detour above.

Note, also, that when selecting to go back, the first step (for scanning the location) is "skipped", and we go out all the way back to the main flow. 

License plate populated from detour

As you can see, the license plate was transferred back and I can simply go ahead and confirm the entry to proceed. Nice!

Item inquiry flow with spot counting detour demo

Now, I'd like to go into an item inquiry flow and view the on hand available for A0001. You can see I have four locations where this product is available. And let's say I actually want to re-count this location, as upon visual inspection something seems off (or maybe I noticed something fell and broke, for example). That is now possible with detours. 

All I need to do is long-press the card for the specific location I would like to count, and a list of available actions will pop up.

Detours available for BULK-001 card

Selecting one of the detours will pass the current card context into the detour, thus when the spot counting opens, for example, the location to count will already be pre-populated, as shown below:

Spot Counting detour with pre-populated value and step instructions

Note that the step instructions are also displayed, as this is the first time I open this particular flow. I can dismiss the instructions until next time, or for good by selecting the "Don't show again" check box.

In summary, not only do you have detours available in your typical page by page flows, but also on inquiry screens like location or item inquiry, providing even more flexibility.

And, I guess, it makes sense to explicitly call out that both ProcessGuide-based flows as well as WHSWorkExecuteDisplay-based flows are supported.

Want your feedback

Currently, when a detour is opened, we do not automatically confirm the value, even if it's populated based on the main flow. One of the reasons we discussed was that workers might get confused, expecting a particular and familiar step, but instead getting something else. Another is that it would be slower, as we'd still be going step by step on the backend, so the worker might perceive a longer wait time for the detour screen.

I'd like to ask for feedback on this!

• What detours do you find relevant for your business? 
• Do workers find it convenient?
• Is an auto-submit feature necessary?

Leave comments here, in the below Youtube video, or reach out directly!

YouTube video

[Development tutorial] Extending the work list and work pick line overview flow fields

 Introduction

Whenever we talk about the work list, and recently also the work pick line overview feature, customers think this could be a great optimization for their warehouse, but frequently, they want to display some business-specific information on the cards, that would help drive the decisions, but that information is not available out of the box on the work list.

In this post I'd like to cover the simple steps needed for extending the out of the box functionality, adding fields displayed on the work list / work pick line overview. This in turn automatically means you get sorting capabilities on these fields on the mobile device, enabling faster navigation.

If you are not familiar with these features, I'd like to refer you to the following links:

• Work list feature
• Work pick line overview feature

Customization walkthrough

For this demo, I've made the following extensions (in a new model/package):

• Added a new string field, MyOwnField, to WHSWorkTable.
• I also extended the form to display this field, so a user can modify it for an existing work order
• Added a new display method, requiresForklift, to WHSWorkTable. 
• This is a common requirement we hear from customers - being able to quickly identify if special equipment is required for performing a work order.
• Note. I use a string as a return type instead of an enum, as the base logic does not handle enums "the right way" for display methods, thus presenting their integer representation on the mobile device, instead of the corresponding label.
• I also needed to extend the populateWorkDisplayMethods method on table WHSTmpFieldName, so my newly added display method shows up in the list, when configuring the mobile device menu item.
• Added a new integer field, MyOwnField, to WHSWorkLine.
• Added a new display method, crushabilityWeightPerUnit, to WHSWorkLine
• This allows to stack the items on the pallet (Target LP) so that the top layers do not crush the bottom ones.
• No need to modify the lookup logic here for configuration, as it's already generic.

All of my implementations are super simple, just to demonstrate the concepts and the process. You can download the full code on GitHub.

Alternatively, watch the below YouTube video, where I walk through each customization in detail.

Result screenshots

After making, building and synchronizing those changes, I can open the mobile device and would have the following view. (I won't go over the demo data setup here)

Work list, sorted to show work that needs a forklift first. My field is also populated for some orders:

Work list with custom fields

Work pick line overview, ordered to show the items that should be placed on the bottom of the pallet first:

Work pick line overview

Question to you

What type of information are you using on the work list / work pick line overview?

Should it be available out of the box?

Let us know!

Thanks

[Tutorial] Work pick line overview

Introduction

Work pick line overview is a feature that is currently in Public preview, and will become generally available in one of the upcoming Dynamics 365 SCM releases.

It provides the flexibility to experienced warehouse workers to change the work picking route on the spot, based on the current situation the system is unaware of. 

For example:

• some of the goods on the order might need to be rushed out the door, to make the delivery truck departure time
• system is not configured to suggest an optimal picking route that takes into account item dimensions, weight, etc.
• worker is inhibited in some way, for example, cannot carry larger items right now, so would like to pick the smaller ones first, and then come back for the larger ones with a forklift, etc.

Using the work pick line overview feature, the worker can get all of the work lines to show up in a list on the mobile device, allowing the worker to order them based on the data displayed. This way, he can quickly choose the work line that he will pick next. 

This is a lot more convenient compared to the existing Skip button functionality, where the worker could skip one line after another until he reaches the one he would like to pick next.

Configuration

As I mentioned, the feature is in Public Preview as of writing this post, so you need to first enable it through the Feature management dashboard, as shown below:

Work pick line overview feature

Enabling the feature adds a new option to the Mobile device menu items of type "Work - use existing work", like shown below. 

Mobile device menu item configuration

The 4 options available for selection in the Show work list list option are described nicely in our article about the feature on docs.microsoft.com:

• Show only upon request – Workers can choose to view the pick line list by selecting the Skip to button in the warehouse app.
• Show at the start of every pick – Workers see the list every time that they start or finish a pick line. They can also view the list again by selecting the Skip to button in the warehouse app.
• Show at the start of the first pick only – Workers see the list every time that they start new picking work, but not after each line. They can also view the list again by selecting the Skip to button in the warehouse app.
• Never show – The standard Skip button appears in the warehouse app, and display of the work line list is turned off. The Skip button lets workers cycle through the lines one at a time, in a fixed order. They can also cycle through the list as many times as they require, until all lines have been processed.

Selecting one of these options also make the Field list configuration button available. In the form that opens the superuser can configure the work list fields that should be visible on the mobile device. 

Note You can configure to display not only table fields, but also display methods, allowing for a much more flexible setup

Work pick line overview field list configuration

Demo

To demonstrate, how the work pick line overview can be used, I've create a small sales order with 4 lines, as shown below:

Sales order lines

Upon releasing this order to the warehouse, the following work order was created:

Work order lines

Using the new Warehouse management app (you can read more about it in my previous post), we can now navigate to this work order, using the newly created mobile device menu item, as shown below:

Work picking flow, step 1

In my example, I have configured not to trigger the pick line overview to appear automatically, meaning that the worker would need to manually select the Skip to button from the ribbon

Select Skip to button in the ribbon

This will bring up the work pick line overview screen, where the worker can see all the work lines in one or more columns, depending on the device form factor. 
All the selected fields and their respective values are shown on the cards, and tapping either of them will take the worker to start performing the pick actions for that work line.

Work pick line overview

To speed up the selection process, especially in cases where many work lines are displayed at the same time, the worker can use the ordering options available above the cards, for example, to show the heaviest items first, as shown below.

The ordering selections will also be preserved for whenever the pick line overview is opened next time, simplifying the picking process further.

Work pick line overview showing heavy item first

Demo recording

If you prefer watching demos with voice-over over reading, please check out the YouTube video I made for this feature:

View on YouTube

Conclusion

As you can hopefully see by now, the Work pick line overview is a powerful feature than can help your business find further cost reductions in the warehouse by allowing more flexibility on the floor.

We love feedback, so don't be shy and let us know if you have issues with the feature, or have further ideas on how this can be improved!

[Tutorial] Piece by piece picking process with Advanced Warehouse Management in Dynamics 365 SCM

Introduction

We are often asked - is it possible to configure the system to require the workers on the floor to scan each item they are picking, to ensure a more accurate picking operation where multiple same/similar items need to be picked. This is, for example, very common in the Retail industry, or in smaller distribution centers dealing with apparel or footwear. In this blog post I will demonstrate exactly that, so read on.

Let's quickly go over the setup required.

Setup

In this walkthrough, I will be picking a single sales order (This works just as well for Transfer orders), which has 4 sales lines, each for a different quantity of a product variant varying by size and color. For this example, I've chosen to use a product, which represents a box of shoes. Here is how the order looks:

Sales order with 4 lines

DemoShoe is a product master with Size and Color product dimensions, which has the different product variants defined, and is configured to use Advanced warehouse management.

It has sufficient inventory, some in BULK locations, and some in FLOOR locations. The only difference for this example is whether or not the locations are license plate controlled, and does not have any impact on the core scenario.

On-hand availability for DemoShoe

Now, the important bit - since we plan to be scanning in the products one by one, we need to properly define the bar codes for the different product variants. This is shown below:

Product variant bar code setup for DemoShoe

Obviously, you want to define a different bar code for each product variant.

You also need to set the Quantity/Unit pair according to the picking process - in our case, since we want to be picking one box of shoes with each scan, it will be 1 ea. 

And, very important, you need to enable this bar code for scanning, so that it'll get used when we scan in the value on the mobile device. 

Note. The Scanning field is usually shown on the General tab, I've personalized the page to show it in the grid just for convenience of the screenshot.

After we release the sales order to warehouse (the configuration for this is not relevant for the demo), we get the following work order generated.

Work order for DemoShoes

For processing this work, we will use a standard User directed mobile device menu item. It is configured to generate the target license plate, but that's irrelevant for the demo. 

Mobile device menu item for sales order picking

What is important however is to configure the work confirmation for this menu item, enabling the Piece picking option, as shown below.

Here, I have specified that a maximum of 4 piece picking scans will be required, but if I need to pick more, I can just enter the remaining quantity in full instead. 

I have also enabled location confirmation, and product confirmation is enabled automatically with piece picking (the product confirmation field is the one used to scan in each product variant bar code).

Work confirmation for Pick operation

Flow

1. We start by scanning in the ID of the work order

1. Work ID

2. We are asked to pick the first work line, and start by confirming we have indeed reached the needed location, FL-015

2. Location confirmation

3. As FL-015 is a License plate tracked location, we need to scan in the license plate we are picking from, in this case, LP_Demo_01

3. License plate scan

4. Now is when we reach the product confirmation screen, and where the magic starts. 

We scan in the bar code for the correct variant, 38 Black

4. Picking first shoe box

5. We are brought back to the same screen again, asking us to scan in the product. 

However, if we go to the details tab, we can see something has changed. 

We have now 1 of 2.00 confirmed

That means our input was in fact registered, and we just need to keep scanning the next variant of the 2 required.

5. Piece picking in action - qty confirmed

6. We scan in the second box of 38 Black shoes, and are directed to specify the Target LP we are going to move the items on. In this case, it's automatically generated based on menu item setup, so we just confirm.

6. Target LP

Now, you might have noticed, that the data shown on the main screen wasn't super helpful for us, as we did not immediately at a glance see how many items we have already scan-confirmed. Maybe not an issue, but for the purpose of the demo, let's adjust it, so that the piece picking quantity confirmation is more prominent. 

We can do this by modifying the display priority of the corresponding fields in the Warehouse app field priority form. An example is shown below

Mobile app field priority higher for piece pick qty

I have kept the item description and product dimensions high enough to help visually confirm the size and color of the product being picked.

7. With that out of the way, let's re-enter the picking flow and observe the updated main screen information, when picking the second work line. I've skipped location and license plate confirmation screens

7. New visual for piece picking

8. Now we've reached picking from a non license plate tracked BULK location. The process is exactly the same, minus the scan of the license plate to pick from.

8. Piece picking from a BULK location

9. You might have noticed that the last work line was for a total quantity of 5 pairs of 41 White shoes. 

This exceeds the maximum set during work confirmation, meaning that I am redirected to a different screen after scanning 4 pairs, where I need to enter the remaining quantity using a standard quantity field instead.

Now, 4 is an arbitrary number I set as maximum for this demo. In reality, most will probably have this higher, only to account for certain really larger volume picks.

9. Remaining picking quantity exceeding max piece picking qty

10. Once the remaining quantity is entered (in our case it was just 1 remaining item), all the picks are complete, and we are directed to do the Put of all 10 pairs of shoes we picked.

10. Put to Baydoor

Note that at any point in time in the process, we could switch to the Details tab and manually enter the picking quantity by selecting the little edit icon next to Qty

This is in a way a back door, so I do not recommend that you use it, but thought I would mention it, also to get feedback on how useful this is, and if that's something your company uses on a frequent basis.

Backdoor - Edit Qty field

Summary

That's it. Now you're a master of piece by piece picking in shipping operations when Advanced Warehouse management is used. 

Does this functionality meet the mark? Let us know how you use it and if anything is missing!

In the next post we'll discuss what options are available for piece by piece scans in the receiving warehouse process.