Preparing a Wholesale Order for Picking

Before the warehouse team can pick a wholesale order they need to know where to stage the order, where the inventory should be picked from and who should complete the task. This article covers in detail how to prepare a wholesale order on the Deesktop so your warehouse teams can seemlesly process the task on the floor.

Table of Contents

• Selecting a Staging Location
• Creating a Picking Plan
  • Assign Locations
  • Choose a Picking Flow and Delegate Tasks

Selecting a Staging Location

The staging location is where you will move inventory to after picking. Here are some quick rules about selecting a staging location for a wholesale order:

• Zero Inventory Assigned: A staging location must be empty before assigning it to a new wholesale order.
• One per Wholesale Order: Only one staging location can be assigned per wholesale order.
• Can be reused. Once the order is marked Complete, the staging location will be emptied of the inventory that is packed and will be available to assign to a new wholesale order. 

How to Select a Staging Location

1. Open the wholesale order and click the Select Staging button from the Shipping tab. 
2. Select an available Staging Location from the list and hit Save.

 Quick Reference:

How to Create a Staging Location:
Go to the Inventory > Locations page.  Click the Add a location button and  Name your Staging location. Check the box next to the Is this a staging location? setting. This automatically sets the location as a transfer location that is sellable, and non-pickable. Select Save.

Creating a Picking Plan

The picking plan is the first step of processing your wholesale orders. Here you will assign locations to pick inventory from, determine who will pick the inventory and how it will be picked. Essentially, all the prep work before the physical process gets started. 

1. Assigning Locations
2. Choose a Picking Flow and Delegate Tasks

Assign Locations

You can assign locations manually, use the auto-assign feature or take a hybrid approach. Please take careful note of the limitations below and learn how to use each process in the subsections that follow. 

Important Notes and Limitations

• You can select locations marked as non-pickable, 
• Unit of Measure (UOM) SKUs: If the order was created with an 'Eaches' unit of measure SKU you can assign locations containing inventory with a unit of measure larger than eaches. If the order was created using an SKU with a unit of measure other than 'Eaches,' you can only assign locations with that same unit of measure.
• Hybrid Assignment Method: To use the hybrid approach you must first use the Auto-assign process and then edit specific SKUs after. Manually selecting locations and then using the Auto-assign feature is not supported as the auto-assign feature can override the manual selection if the locations differ from the specified criteria.
• Courier Orders Eaches and Cases ONLY: If a wholesale order has a Courier order type, you cannot assign locations containing SKUs with a Pallet UOM. You must first break down the pallet UOM into cases before assigning the location. For more information on working with units of measure visit our article How to use Unit of Measures (UOMs)

Manual Assignment

To start the location assignment process select the order from the Orders to Process page then follow the steps below. 

1. Click on the Select button next to the location column.
2. Check the box next to the location(s) and the quantity to pick from that location. 
3. Click Save.

Example of inventory still remaining to be assigned.	Example of inventory fully assigned to locations.

Auto-Assign Locations

Selecting the 'Auto-Assign Locations' option opens a modal where you are presented with different prioritization rules. These rules have priorities ranging from number 1 to number 5, with priority 1 will have more weight than priority 5. The priority weights are shown in order and cannot be changed. 

5 Auto-Assign Priority Rules
1. Prioritized locations: Search and select specific locations to prioritize them during the execution of the auto-assign algorithm.
2. Location Type: Choose whether to prioritize non-pickable or Pickable locations. (In the event that there is no inventory in the selected location type, the algorithm will propose the other type of location).
3. Unit of measure: When enabled, the algorithm will prioritize locations that contain larger units of measure.
4a. Lots: location assignment is prioritized based on the selected lots priority (FIFO, LIFO, LEFO, FEFO). 4b. Expires in X Days: Only considers locations that meet this expiration date criteria. (Only impacts Lot controlled SKUs)
5. Stock: Prioritize locations with the least or greatest amount of stock.

Choose a Picking Flow and Delegate Tasks

Part two of creating your Picking Plan is choosing how you want to process the order and who will be completing the work. There are three supported picking flows: 

1. Picking & Packing (Mobile): Pick lines and immediately pack them into one or more LPNs (License Plate Numbers) on the device. Best for single‑touch operations, small orders, or when you want to print/apply the LPN label as you go.
2. Picking (Mobile): Pick to a packing station directly. Ideal for wave/batch picking, multi‑line orders, or when packing requires extra checks (dimensions, weight, compliance).
3. Manual (Paper Picking): Print the picking list and give it to a member of the team to pick from.

A picking sheet can also be printed during mobile picking, which is useful for capturing a picker's name and signature for auditing purposes 

Assigning locations to a picker is optional but recommended depending on the size of your team and operations.

After completing the allocations and assigning pickers (or choosing not to assign specific pickers), you can set the order status to Ready to Pick. When the order is moved to the Ready to Pick status, the Packing layout is displayed with the information that the order can be picked using the mobile app.

Select a Picking Method

NOTE: You can switch the picking method anytime before moving it to the Ready to Pick status. Once an order is set as Ready to Pick, you will not be able to change the picking method and will need to Reset the order to make any changes.

Mobile Picking Options: To select one of the mobile picking options the Mobile toggle must be enabled. This will display a dropdown to choose Picking and Packing or Picking.

Manual Picking: To select the Manual picking method, you will need to first disable the Mobile toggle. With this option, you do not have the ability to assign pickers to the specific picking jobs.

Assign Locations to Pickers (Optional) 

You have the option to assign specific pickers to each location on the wholesale order. This allows you to manage the workflow that is best for your team. For example, if some items require a forklift operator while others are floor loaded, you can divide the work, assigning specific tasks/locations to the qualified personnel.

Things to Consider:

• User Permissions: In the new Wholesale process, we've implemented granular permissions to control employee access. Pickers, specifically, will need the following permissions assigned to their accounts. For more information please visit our Roles and Permissions article.

• Changing the Picker Assignment: You can change the picker up to the moment the picker begins work. Picking assignments cannot be modified once a user has begun picking from a location.
• Unassigned locations: Unassigned locations remain available to any authorized user accessing the order via the app. Upon scanning a location, the user is automatically assigned to it.

You can assign pickers two ways, individually or in bulk:

• Individually: Click the +Assign Picker button and select the employee from the list of eligible pickers. Here you also have the option to assign that user to all the locations. 

• In Bulk: Check the box next to the line items you want to assign, and click Assign Picker from the bulk menu and select the employee from the list of eligible pickers.