Sourcing is the process of determining from which node or supplier a
product should be shipped.
In the most simplistic scenarios when you have just
a single distribution center, you already know the shipping node.
In such cases you can pre-specify the shipping node in the inquiry
function or specify it on the order line. If this node is a firm pre-defined
node, an order line is only sourced from that ship node. You need
not do any sourcing configuration in this case.
However, if the node is not a firm pre-defined node,
the remaining sourcing setup is used. If the node specified on the
line is not a firm node or in more complex situations, you may have
multiple nodes and suppliers from which you source the products.
The requirements for selection of the correct shipping
location may be based on:
- What product is being shipped.
- Ship to location - typically you would want to
ship out of the closest shipping location but you still need to ensure
that geopolitical requirements are met. For example, if shipping to
El Paso, Texas you may want to ship the product from a distribution
center located in the United States even though a Mexican distribution
center is closer to El Paso.
- Product availability at different locations. A
warehouse may or may not have inventory for a given item. However,
a manufacturer may want to always assume that any demand can be fulfilled
using existing raw material at the node. To achieve this, Sterling Selling and
Fulfillment Foundation can
be configured to never perform inventory checks on schedule and release
for certain items, at any node. You can enable this functionality
at the item level.
- Total number of shipments that are required to
complete the request. This, in some ways, reflects the transportation
and handling costs associated with the entire shipment. If an order
is placed for 3 items and one of your nodes carries all three and
another node carries only 2 them, you may want to ship from the node
carrying all 3 items in just one shipment compared to two shipments
in the other case.
- Prioritization of nodes. You may want to first
ship out of your own locations and then use drop-ship suppliers when
no product is available in your own nodes.
- Customer specified constraints such as ship together
dependencies and fill quantities being met from the selected node.
- Ability to perform services for a work order. This
could include kitting and dekitting services, and ability to supply
services for buyer compliance.
- Ability to perform
gift wrapping services. A ship node may or may not offer gift wrapping
as a fulfillment option for an item. You can enable this functionality
at the node attribute level.
- A
customizable order sourcing classification. For example, an enterprise
may want to use a customer attribute as a sourcing parameter. The
order sourcing classification enables this flexibility.
The following sections discuss the configuration
required to achieve these requirements. When making sourcing and date
decisions, Sterling Selling and
Fulfillment Foundation uses
the configuration setup for the:
- Enterprise on the order. Exceptions to this rule
are noted in individual cases.
- Primary Enterprise of the Organization code passed
in on-the-fly inquiry APIs.