How to Create Work Orders

Work orders in ShipHero let you manage assembly and custom fulfillment tasks — such as kitting, bundling, or special handling — directly from your account. You can create a work order from the standard creation flow or automatically from backordered Assembly SKUs.

Before You Begin

Assembly work orders require an Assembly SKU to be configured first. See How to Create an Assembly SKU if you have not done this yet.

Table of Contents

• How to Create a Work Order (Standard Process)
• How to Create a Work Order from Backorders
• Pending Quantity on Work Orders

How to Create a Work Order (Standard Process)

1. Go to Orders > Work Orders and select Create Work Order.

2. Enter the required fields based on your account type, then click Continue.

   • Single-warehouse accounts: Select the Requested date — the date the work order should be completed by.
   • Multi-warehouse accounts: Select the Warehouse and the Requested date.
   • 3PL accounts: Select the 3PL Customer, Warehouse (if applicable), and the Requested date.

   Multi-warehouse example	3PL multi-warehouse example

3. Enter a Name for the work order and choose the Work order type — Assembly or Custom. To track hours in WorkforceHero, enable Create a Special Project for this work order. See Overview: WorkforceHero Special Projects for more information. Select Continue.

   

4. Complete the remaining steps based on your selected work order type.

   For Assembly work orders:

   1. Click Select kit and choose the Assembly SKU from the list.

      Only SKUs with the "Is Assembly" product setting enabled appear in this list. See How to Create an Assembly SKU for configuration steps.

      Select kit button	Assembly SKU selection list

   2. Enter the quantity to create and select Continue. The component list shows the Available quantity for each component SKU — Available = On hand minus Allocated — so you can confirm how many complete kits can be built.

      

   3. Optional: Enter the Packing details and Assembly details, then select Continue. Leave these fields blank if not needed.

      

   For Custom work orders:

   1. Optional: Enter the instructions for your work order and select Continue. Leave the field blank if not needed.

      

5. Optional: Upload attachments for the work order. Supported file types: PDF, PNG, JPEG, JPG, DOC, XLSX, XLS, PPT, PPTX, and MP4.

   

6. Click Create work order.

   Note for 3PLs: When creating a work order on behalf of a 3PL client, ignore the Awaiting Approval prompt and select Create work order. No client approval is required. The work order is created with an In Progress status.

   

How to Create a Work Order from Backorders

When backorders exist for an Assembly SKU — a SKU configured to be assembled from component parts — ShipHero can automatically create a work order for the backordered quantity.

1. Go to Inventory > Products and filter by "Is Assembly", "Yes".
2. Check the box next to each Assembly SKU that has backorders. You can select multiple SKUs at once.

3. In the Bulk Manage section, click Create a Work Order. ShipHero creates a work order for each selected SKU at the backordered quantity.

   

4. Go to Orders > Work Orders to view the newly created work orders.

   

Pending Quantity on Work Orders

When a work order already exists for a backordered Assembly SKU and you create a second work order for the same SKU, ShipHero deducts the quantity already attached to the existing work order from the backordered total.

Formula: New work order quantity = Backorders − Pending on work order

Example: Assembly SKU "Holiday Treat Box - Cats" has 13 backorders and a Pending on Work Order quantity of 5. ShipHero subtracts the pending quantity: 13 − 5 = 8. The new work order is created for 8 units.

Products page — backorders and pending quantity	New work order created for remaining quantity

Once a work order is created, see Overview: Work Order Details Page for a full breakdown, or How to Process an Assembly Work Order to begin processing.