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Schedule packing dates for orders in your shop. New WMS capabilities

At IdoSell we are constantly developing the capabilities of the WMS (warehouse management system). You can already use the new Planned order packing date mechanism. Thanks to it you'll be able to better plan the process of preparing packages and manage shipments with future delivery dates.

Until now, customers who placed an order could (for some delivery options) specify their preferred delivery date themselves. If they did not do so, the date depended on the form of delivery chosen.

In the order, the system records this date as Scheduled shipment date of order or Scheduled pickup date of order (depending on whether the order was a shipped, pick-up or drop-off order). He was then able to postpone the dispatch of such orders thanks to the automated machines he had set up.

What was missing, however, was a mechanism that would ensure that the process of preparing parcels for dispatch was also properly postponed. For this purpose, the Planned order packing date and the complementary automatics, about which you will read later in this article, were created.

Where can I find information about the planned packing date for my order?

You can find the planned packing date of your order on your order card in the IdoSell administration panel.

The date will be set automatically, according to the configuration "When should the order be placed on the packing list?", which you will find on the settings page of the order edition (the Settings link is located in the top sub-menu of the order card). There you can select one of three options:

  • when its status is changed to packed
  • at the beginning of the day on which it is scheduled to be dispatched/collected
  • X minutes, hours or days before the order is scheduled to be dispatched/collected

By default, the when it changes its status to packed option is selected.

How can I automate the management of orders with a planned order packing date?

In order for the system to continue to properly manage the preparation for packaging of orders in which you have set Scheduled packaging date of an order, it is necessary to launch appropriate automations on the page ADMINISTRATION / Process automation / Automating changes in order statuses

Automatics that will take care of holding those orders that have a distant shipping date:

  • If an order with a selected courier should wait to be packed due to a set distant planned packing date, change its status to "Awaiting packing date".
  • If an order with personal collection should wait to be packed due to a set remote date for the planned packing date, change its status to "Awaiting packing date"

Automations that will take care of resuming orders that have been waiting for the right preparation time and moving them to the list for packing in due time:

  • If an order with a selected courier has the status "Awaiting packing date" and the "Planned packing date of the order" has been reached, change its status to "Packed"
  • If an order with personal collection has the status "Awaiting packing date" and the "Planned packing date of the order" has been reached, change its status to "Packed"

For your convenience, we have also created a dedicated subpage for aggregating pending orders, which is located in the SALE menu:

Learn more about automating prints, returns and order flow

But this is not the end

Our next step will be to expand the lists of goods to be packed and present them divided into sections:

  • orders whose planned packing date has been exceeded (i.e. orders you should handle first),
  • orders which according to the planned packing date should be prepared for shipment on the current day,
  • orders which, according to the planned packing date, should be prepared for shipment on the current day, * orders whose preparation for shipment according to the planned packing date should take place in the future.

In this way, you will be able to manage the packing process better. You can decide for which of these orders the system should prepare a pick list first.

Learn more about packing lists optimizing the packing process

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