A consignment is a batch of goods that is received at a fulfilment location to fulfil orders. Learn here more about consignments.
Note: You need to set up the ERP integration for inward consignments only for the fulfilment locations where you are managing inventory.
This article will help you understand how ERP integration works for inward consignments.
How it works?
Below is a flowchart that explains the flow of information between the ERP system and Eshopbox for each event.
Overview
Create consignment
Whenever a purchase order or stock transfer order is created in your ERP system for inward inventory at a fulfilment location, a new consignment should be created in your Eshopbox workspace. You can create a consignment in Eshopbox using the Create inward consignment API.
Note:
It is essential to save a unique Order ID of your ERP in Eshopbox when creating a consignment. This Order ID can be used further to easily reconcile the consignments between your ERP and Eshopbox.
In case you are using an Eshopbox fulfilment centre to store your inventory, it is recommended that the consignment is created in Eshopbox in a manner that you are going to send all items of a consignment in one go. This is suggested because Eshopbox needs to mark the consignment as completed as soon as the receiving is completed for all the items received in the first go.
Once the consignment is marked as complete, the pending items in the consignment will be updated as shortage, and you will not be able to send these pending items against the same consignment. If you are expecting the items of a purchase order delivered in multiple lots at the Eshopbox fulfilment centre, then we recommend you split the order into multiple consignments as per its expected delivery lots. In this scenario, you can also save a reference ID (non-unique and optional field) in Eshopbox to identify the parent order number.
If you have enabled batch tracking for your products, you need to mention the corresponding batch tracking attribute while creating the consignment.
In case you are sending a consignment to an Eshopbox fulfilment centre, you need to also schedule the consignment on your Eshopbox workspace.
Receive items of consignment
Once the items are received at the fulfilment location against a particular consignment, they should be recorded in your ERP system. You can retrieve the GRN details via the Get all GRN details API by applying the Inward on date filter.
Close consignment
When the receiving is completed for a consignment in Eshopbox, you need to mark the PO/STO as completed in your ERP system and update the shortage quantity. You can get the details of the completed consignments for a specific date using the Get all inward consignments API and applying the Completed on date filter.
Note:
There can be certain instances when you might receive extra quantities for an item in a consignment. Learn here how to handle excess items received in a consignment.
There can be certain instances when you might receive unknown items in a consignment. Unknown item refers to the item for which SKU is not scannable, or the tag is missing, or the product doesn’t exist in Eshopbox. Learn here how to handle unknown items received in a consignment.
Cancel consignment
If any PO/STO is cancelled in your ERP system, then you need to cancel the same in Eshopbox using the Cancel consignment API. You cannot cancel the consignment if it's already marked as delivered.
Note: The consignment should be marked as complete only when the received quantity in Eshopbox matches the received quantity in your ERP system. This can be used to validate if all the GRNs are accurately recorded in your ERP system.
FAQs
Q1. How to handle products where batch tracking is enabled?
In case you have enabled batch tracking for any of your products, then you need to provide the applicable batch attribute as well while creating the consignment.
Learn here how to prepare a CSV template while batch tracking is enabled.
Q2. What happens if an excess quantity of an SKU is received in a consignment?
There can be instances when the received quantity for a product is greater than the ordered quantity, or the received item is not a part of the created consignment. In this case,
Eshopbox automatically creates an Unexpected consignment for the excess quantity. In this case, you need to
Create a new purchase order in your ERP
Mark the items as received against the new consignment
Eshopbox will generate a Reference Order ID for the unexpected consignment
Update the Reference Order ID in your ERP as the PO/STO number
This will help in reconciling the unexpected consignment using the generated Reference Order ID. The invoice details for the unexpected consignment will be updated the same as the invoice details mentioned for the original consignment against which the excess items are received.
Q3. What happens if an unknown item is received in the consignment?
There can be instances when an unknown item (Overage) is received in the consignment. Unknown item refers to the item for which SKU is not scannable, or the tag is missing, or the product doesn’t exist in Eshopbox.
In this case, you need to receive the inventory against an unknown SKU. To do so, you need to
Create an unknown SKU in your ERP
Add the inventory for such items against the unknown SKU.