Shipment Planner

🚚 Shipment Planner

What is Shipment Planner?
Shipment Planner is the launchpad for managing outbound shipments in the warehouse. It’s primarily used by Warehouse Managers to review, action, and progress shipments into wave planning and execution.

For 3PL environments, it also supports Soft Allocation, enabling early inventory reservation before fulfilment begins.

🔍 Accessing Shipment Planner

Navigation Path: Shipping > Shipment Planner
Or use the search bar to type "Shipment Planner"

🏊 Pool Tab

The Pool tab is the first status stage for outbound shipments. When a shipment is created, it lands here until further action is taken.

👀 What You’ll See

Each row in the Pool tab represents a shipment, with data similar to what's found in Shipping Enquiry. Scroll horizontally to see more fields.

📋 Key Columns in Pool Results

Visual: Item Thumbnail
Shipment Details: Shipment Number, Item Code, Customer Order Ref, Warehouse, Company
Dates: Created Date/Time, Planned Dispatch Date
Contents: Total Lines / Units, Lines in Pool
Shipping Info: Carrier, Carrier Service, Ship To Name / City / Country
Exceptions: Wave Reject Reason (if applicable)

🧭 Actions in the Pool Tab

⬇️ Ellipsis Menu (⋯)

Each shipment has an action menu with:

Edit – Update shipment details
Hold – Pause the shipment
Delete – Permanently remove the shipment
To Wave – Send shipment to the Wave tab for planning

🧰 Bulk Actions

Use checkboxes to select multiple shipments
Select the top checkbox to select all in the pool
Then use "To Wave" to process them in bulk

🔍 Searchable Fields in the Pool Tab

You can locate shipments by searching with any of the following fields:

📦 Shipment Details

Shipment Number
Customer Order Reference
Company
Created Date (From / To)

🚚 Shipping Information

Carrier
Carrier Service
Ship To Name
Ship To City
Ship To Country

📄 Item Information

Item Code

🗒️ Additional Filters

Wave Reject Comment

Once you have entered all the information, you need to find your results click on the search button to continue.

Pool Results View

The Pool results grid shows limited columns by default. To view additional data, scroll horizontally. Key columns include:

🖼️ Visual
- Item Thumbnail
- 📦 Shipment Details
- Shipment Number
- Item Code
- Customer Order Reference
- Warehouse
- Company
- Created Date/Time
- Planned Dispatch Date
- 🧾 Shipment Contents
- Total Lines / Total Units
- Lines in Pool
- 🚚 Shipping Information
- Carrier / Carrier Service
- Ship To Name
- Ship To City
- Ship To Country
- ⚠️ Exceptions
- Wave Reject Reason

If you want to go back and input more information, click on the search icon and enter whatever data you need to refine your search.

🌊 Putting Shipments to Wave

Find your Shipment using the search function you were prompted with when opening the shipment planner, then select the shipments you want using the check box, if you want to select all shipments in the pool, use the check the box at the top .

Click on the three dots and "To Wave".

Select your Wave via the drop-down menu once you have done so, click on the submit button If needed you can create a wave using the create wave button .

Creating a Wave

If your wave has already been created, you can skip this step.

If a suitable wave doesn't exist, create one by entering the following:

Wave Name
Waveflow Header – This determines the processing logic (e.g., allocation and picking tasks).

Click on the Submit button to continue.

🏁 Running the Wave

To run a wave, you first switch to the wave tab within the shipment planner.

In this tab, you should see a list of all waves, including their name, ID and waveflow header. Find the wave that you want to release, click on the three dots and then click "Run". You also have the option to view and delete waves.

When the wave is successfully run, the assigned Waveflow is executed. This typically includes:

Allocation – Assigning inventory to shipments based on Allocation Rules.
Shipment Picking Job Creation – Generating picking tasks for operatives, based on the Shipment Picking Job Creation configuration.

Additional Waveflow processes may apply depending on your configuration. For a full list, refer to the Waveflow knowledge article

🧊 Soft Allocation (3PL Clients Only)

🧠 What is Soft Allocation?

Soft Allocation reserves inventory against an order without generating picking jobs. It’s ideal for 3PLs who want to commit stock early for sync with platforms like Shopify, before the fulfilment process starts.

🔒 Who Can Use It?

Only available for Companies with Soft Allocation enabled
Controlled at the Company level

✅ When to Use It

To reserve stock in advance while delaying fulfilment
While waiting for label prep, inbound completion, or batching
To reflect availability on external platforms like Shopify

🧭 How to Use It

Go to Shipment Planner > Pool Tab
Find your shipment using the filters
Click the ellipsis (⋯) next to a shipment
Click "Run Soft Allocation"

📝 The system will attempt to allocate the full shipment — but will not create any jobs. You can later deallocate or run the Wave when ready.

Note: This option only appears for shipments associated with Companies that have Soft Allocation enabled.

Shipment Planner