Creating and Managing Work Orders

Work orders can be created in the 3PL account, 3PL client account, or on the brand account. There are several options available for creating a work order, making the tool flexible to meet your standard operating procedures. 

This article covers:

• How to Create an Assembly SKU
• How to Create a Work Order (The Standard Process)
• How to Create a Work Order from Backorders
• Work Order Details Page Overview

NOTE for 3PLs: Here is an article to provide your 3PL customers with instructions on how to create a work order from your 3PL Client Portal.

How to Create an Assembly SKU

In order to create an Assembly work order you must have the assembly SKU created beforehand.

Things to Consider

• An Assembly SKU is NOT a Kit. Assembly SKUs are used for building a new, trackable inventory item (the Assembly SKU) from component parts, which is what a Work Order is designed to manage. Kits are typically virtual bundles for selling, not for manufacturing/assembling and storing. Additionally, Kits cannot have locations or an on-hand quantity and an Assembly SKU can.
• An Assembly SKU must have at least one component. 
• You can change the components of an Assembly SKU, but it will not update on an existing work order. This is intentional to support the following use case:
  • You create an Assembly SKU with the components: 1 hat, 1 shirt, and 1 blue sticker. You do not have enough blue stickers and decide it is ok to use a different sticker but have the same Assembly SKU.
  • You can edit the sticker component SKU and make another work order with the new sticker. The first work order will use your blue stickers, and the new one will use the new sticker SKU.

Creating an Assembly SKU

Follow the steps below on how to create an assembly SKU.

1. Open the product's details page and select the edit icon. Select the setting "This is an Assembly SKU used in Work Orders" and click Update.

2. A new section is now available to add Assembly SKU components. Search for the SKU you want to add and select it from the drop-down. To edit the quantity of the component SKU in the assembly SKU, select the Quick Edit button for the component line item, update the Assembly Component Quantity, and click Update.

How to Create a Work Order (Standard Process)

1. Go to the Orders > Work Orders page, on the Shipping.shiphero.com platform, and select Create Work Order.

2. The following step varies depending on your account configuration. Once the fields are entered, hit Continue.

   • For Single-warehouse Accounts: Select the Requested date; this is the date that the work order should be completed by. 
   • For Multi-Warehouse Accounts: Select the Warehouse (where the work order will be completed), and the Requested date (when the work order should be completed by).
   • For 3PL Accounts: Select the 3PL Customer (the customer the work order is being completed for), Warehouse (if applicable, where the work order will be completed), and the Requested date (when the work order should be completed by).

   Multi-warehouse example	3PL Multi-warehouse example

3. Name your work order and choose the Work order type (Assembly or Custom). If you want to track hours in WorkforceHero, enable the Create a Special Project for this work order option. More information about using  Workforce Hero for Special Projects can be found here.

   Then select Continue.

4. The following steps depend on whether Assembly work order or Custom work order. 

   For Assembly Work Orders

   4.1. You will be prompted to choose the Assembly SKU you want to configure. Click the Select kit button and then choose the Assembly SKU from the list. 

   NOTE: Only SKUs that have the "Is Assembly" product setting enabled will show in this list. More information about how to configure an Assmebly SKU can be found here.

   4.2. After selecting the Assembly SKU enter the quantity to create and select Continue again. The list of components listed display the Available quantity of each component SKU to best determine the number of complete kits that can be made. After the quantity to create is entered, the total quantity to pick for each component will be updated. (Reminder: Available = On hand - Allocated).

   4.3. Optional: Input the Packing details and Assembly details and select Continue. If there are not required, leave the boxes blank and select Continue.

   For Custom Work Orders

   4.1. Optional: Enter the instructions for your work order and then select Continue. If these are not required, leave this blank and select Continue.

   Example Instructions:

   Task: Re-barcode 200 of SKU: dog_bones_415.

   • Barcode information is already updated on the product details page. Please print the product barcodes on 1.25x2 labels and place them over the old barcode.
   • Transfer inventory from location XX-XX to YY-YY while processing. Then transfer them aback to XX-XX once complete.

5. Upload Attachments: (optional) For both assembly and custom work orders, you will be able to upload attachments.

   Supported file types: PDF, png, jpeg, jpg, doc, xlsx, xls, ppt, pptx, and mp4 (videos).

6. Click Create work order. 

   NOTE for 3PLs: Please ignore the prompt and select Create work order when creating a work order on behalf of a 3PL Client. There is no approval required from the client and work order will be created with an "In progress" status. 

   Prompt to ignore: "The order will be created but as Awaiting approval Status. The customer will be notified that this order was created and should approve it shortly." 

How to Create a Work Order from Backorders

Work orders can be created if backorders exist for an Assembly SKU. Follow the ste-by-step instructions below. 

1. Go to Inventory > Products page and filter by "Is Assembly", "Yes".
2. Check the box next to the Assembly SKU(s) with backorders (bulk action supported).

3. In the Bulk Manage section, click the Create a Work Order button. Work Orders for each SKU will be created automatically for the quantity that is backordered

• To view your work orders go to the Orders > Work orders and the newly created work order(s) will be listed there.

Pending Quantity on Work Orders

If a work order has already been created for an item that is backordered and a second work order for the same product is added, ShipHero will deduct the amount of items attached to the existing work order. 

For example:

• Assembly SKU - Holiday Treat Box - Cats has 13 backorders with a Pending on Work Order quantity of 5. ShipHero will subtracts the pending on work order quantity from the backordered amount to calculate the remaining quantity that needs to be created on the new work order. In this case the new work order for Holiday Treat Box - Cats is 8, 13-5=8.

Work Order Details Page Overview

To open a work order's details page, click on the work order from the Work Orders list page. The type of work order you are processing will determine which of these sections are available. For example, Custom work orders do not show the Items section and Kit details banner like Assembly work orders do.  

Custom work order example	Assembly work order example

Top of Page Features

At the top of the page, for all work orders, you will see the following:

Instructions Section

The instructions section is an optional field for both Assembly and Custom work orders available during the creation process which cannot be edited. 

For custom work orders this is displayed at the top of the work order's details page. For Assembly work orders, this section follows the Items section and has two parts "Packing details" and "Assembly details," to be used based on your operational needs. 

Custom work order example	Assembly work order example

Organization Section

In this section you will see all the details of the work order including: Order name, Order type, Warehouse, Requested date and Scheduled date (optional). For assembly work orders there are also the options to set a Picker and Packer. 

Request Review Button (3PL/3PL clients ONLY)

The "Request Review" button allows either the 3PL or the 3Pl client to pause the work order and ask the other party to review it before continuing.

This feature is useful when:

• The 3PL needs clarification on requirements before proceeding
• The customer wants to review progress before assembly continues
• Either party notices an issue that needs discussion
• Changes to the work order need mutual agreement

How it works:

When the Request Review button is clicked a note is added to the timeline saying "Requested review" and status changes to Awaiting Approval - this pauses the work order.

Approval is determined based on who clicked the button:

• If 3PL requests review, the 3PL client must approve the work order.
• If Customer requests review, the 3PL must approve the work order.

The approver can select Approve work order which returns the work order to its previous status or Cancel the work order. The requester (who clicked "Request Review") can only Cancel the work order after they select the Request review button.

When Can You Request Review?

• 3PLs and 3PL Clients can request review from any active status, (In Progress, Ready to Pick, Assembly in Progress).
• A review request cannot be requested when a work order has the status of Awaiting approval, Completed, Canceled or Closed.

Timeline

The timeline on the work order details page is the history of all changes and updates made to a work order. The timeline shows who made the change, when it was made, and what was done. 

Communicate with the team asynchronously by leaving comments on the work order timeline. Just type in your message and then select Comment.

Ad-hoc charges

This section will only appear for 3PLs and is used to add an ad-hoc fee to the 3PL client's next bill. An ad-hoc fee can only be added to a work order witha status of Awaiting approval, In Progress, Ready to Pick, Assembly in Progress and Closed. 

Ad-hoc fees cannot be added to a work order with the statuses Completed or Canceled. 

More information about billing clients for completed work orders can be found here. 

Attachments and Notes

The attachments and notes sections are for exactly that. Attach documents or images to the work order and find them in the Attachments section. Add a note to the work order from the notes section and it will be shown here and have a line item added to the work orders timeline.