Business value

The overview of current and planned internal logistical processes is one of the challenges of standard Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations .

Warehouse Management provides valuable insights:

• Strategical: Work space embedded Power BI
• Tactical: Warehouse activity forecast
• Operational: Warehouse management dashboard

 

Warehouse activity forecast

Purpose

Provide an overview of warehouse work load for the coming days, weeks based on open orders before they are released to the warehouse.

Compare with historical data on the same week number, week day, to forecast the expected work load even before the orders are in the system.

Display the historical and predicted inbound and outbound number of pallets, cases, etc.

• per date
• per warehouse
• per mode of delivery (= carrier + carrier service)

 

 

Warehouse management > Inquiries and reports > Warehouse activity forecast and actuals

The data in this form is calculated through a batch job which typically runs every night.

Field	Description	Remark
Date	Actual date Expected date	Physical shipment confirmation date Expected physical date

Year
Week
Weekday
Warehouse
Mode of delivery	Mode of delivery (carrier + service)
Direction	Inbound Outbound

Work order type	Purchase Sales or Transfer issue
Type	Actual Open
Lines	Number of actual shipment lines Number of open order lines
Shipments	Number of actual shipments Number of open orders
Hours estim.	Originally estimated hours based on Labor standards Estimated hours for open lines based on Logistics standard data per item and warehouse	centi-hours
Hours actual	Actual hours -	centi-hours

Pallets   Pallets (packed) *   Pallets (work) *	Actual number of pallets based on Transport unit Expected number of pallets based on Logistics standard data per item	Define transport unit Pallet on container type or work template Define standard pallet quantities per item
Cases   Cases (packed) *   Cases (work) *	Actual number of cases based on Transport unit Expected number of cases based on Logistics standard data per item	Define transport unit Case on container type or work template Define standard case quantities per item
Misc.   Misc. (packed) *   Misc. (work) *	Actual number of miscellaneous units based on Transport unit Expected number of miscellaneous units based on Logistics standard data per item	Define transport unit Misc. on container type or work template Define standard miscellaneous quantities per item
Pick start	Earliest pick line
Pick end	Last pick line
Loading start	Earliest work line put to final shipping location

Loading end

Last work line put to final shipping location

Transportation method

Transportation method of the carrier + service

E.g. Truck, e-truck, express delivery

Shipping carrier

Carrier

Field can be inserted to the grid

Carrier service

Service

Field can be inserted to the grid

 

*) switch on Show quantity details to discern between containers from the packing station and work to the baydoor

 

Button Transactions displays the actual shipments or the open orders.

Button Recalculate will calculate the totals of the current line again (open orders only).

 

The number of pallets, cases and miscellaneous units calculated in a similar way per dock apppointment and displayed in the Dock appointment scheduler when an appointment is opened.

 

When migrating from a legacy system, historical data can be uploaded to this table.

 

Warehouse activity forecast calculation

Warehouse management > Periodic tasks > Warehouse activity forecast calculation

Select Process actuals and/or Process open orders.

Select a period and a warehouse, or (re-)process a specific date.

 

This calculation can run in batch.  

 

Setup

Warehouse management > Setup > Containers > Container types

The typical transport unit type for containers can be specified on the container type.

Field	Description	Remark
Transport unit type	[Empty] Miscellaneous Pallet Case	Should this container count as a pallet or case or misc. unit in the Warehouse activity actuals?

 

Warehouse management > Setup > Work > Work templates

The typical transport unit type for work heading to the final shipping location can be specified on the work template.

Field	Description	Remark
Transport unit type	[Empty] Miscellaneous Pallet Case	Should this work count as a pallet or case or misc. unit in the Warehouse activity actuals?

 

Warehouse management > Setup > Inventory > Logistics standard data per item

In this form, the standard pallet quantity, and/or standard case quantity is maintained per item.

If the item has a different transport unit type that does not resemble a pallet or a case (e.g. 4 m roll), specify the unity for this miscellaneous unit.

Note this data serves a simple aggregation of inventory units to number of pallets. The unit sequence group and unit conversion is not used for this purpose. Not all companies use multiple units in the unit sequence groups.

Field	Description	Remark
Item number

Standard pallet quantity	Number of inventory units on one pallet	If the item is received or shipped in different pallet types (e.g. Euro and Block), enter the quantity for the most used pallet type
Standard case quantity	Number of inventory units in one case	If the item is received or shipped in different case types, enter the quantity for the most used case type
Standard quantity (misc.)	Number of inventory units in one transport unit of type miscellaneous

This data can be uploaded through the data entity / open in Excel.

 

Warehouse management > Setup > Inventory > Logistics standard data per item and warehouse

In this form, the standard number of pallets, cases, misc. per hour (inbound, resp. outbound) is maintained per item and warehouse.

Field	Description	Remark
Item number

Warehouse

Pallets per hour (inbound)	Average (or median) number of inbound pallets handling per resource per hour
Cases per hour (inbound)	Average (or median) number of inbound cases handling per resource per hour
Misc. per hour (inbound)	Average (or median) number of inbound miscellaneous units handling per resource per hour
Pallets per hour (outbound)	Average (or median) number of outbound pallets handling per resource per hour
Cases per hour (outbound)	Average (or median) number of outbound cases handling per resource per hour
Misc. per hour (outbound)	Average (or median) number of outbound miscellaneous units handling per resource per hour

This data can be uploaded through the data entity / open in Excel.

 

Warehouse management dashboard

Warehouse management > Inquiries and reports > Dashboard

“Logistics is all about prioritizing”.

The Advanced Warehouse Management dashboard gives an immediate answer to day-to-day questions like:

• What is the amount of work expected, even before it is actually created?
• How is this work divided over the different types and waves?
• Will all pick work be finished before the transport company truck arrives at 16:00?
• What type of work is being executed, and by which warehouse user?
• What type of work is not being executed at the moment?
• Should one or more warehouse workers switch to high priority work?
• What type of work is warehouse worker XYZ executing at the moment?
• Where is warehouse worker XYZ right now?
• When will warehouse worker XYZ be ready with his current task?
• Which workers are available right now?

  

 

 

The warehouse dashboard shows:

• To be released: expected work related to unprocessed outbound waves
• Work related to outbound waves
• Work, not related to a wave, e.g. put away and replenishment work

The dashboard distinguishes between:

• Number of open lines of type pick
• Estimated remaining time, type pick (decimal hours)
• Estimated remaining time, type count (decimal hours)
• Overview of users that are currently working on a specific task.

Prerequisite for the remaining estimated time:

• Labor standards must be defined for work type pick.
• Work order type Cycle counting: labor standards must be defined for work type count.
  • Note that in the labor standard lines, work type count is added in Warehouse Management
• Average number of transactions per hour per warehouse and/or per warehouse zone group must be defined.
• For the most accurate results, a zone group (collection of warehouse zones) should be defined e.g. per warehouse hall. Preferably items should be stocked in only one warehouse zone group.

The remaining estimated time and estimated end time is always indicative.

Assumption before the wave is processed:

• No actual work is created yet, so it is not sure whether the item will be picked as full pallet from bulk or picked from a picking location. Items are expected to be picked from the first found zone group in the current warehouse where the item is physically available.
• The specified average number of transactions per hour in this zone group is taken into account. If not filled, the specified average number of transactions per hour on the warehouse is used.

Assumption after the wave is processed and the work created:

• The remaining times are based on the estimated times for the work lines calculated by the labor standards.
• The estimated end time is based on the total estimated remaining time for this task, divided by the number of workers that are currently working on this specific task.
• The number of lines and estimated time for the packing station is only visible if the locations of type packing are part of a zone. For the zone group that contains this zone, an average number of transactions should be defined in the warehouse zone group.

The auto refresh interval larger than zero can be set in the Warehouse management parameters, General, group Work, Dashboard refresh time (minutes). This is useful if the dashboard is displayed on a large overview screen which is mounted on the wall.

From the dashboard, multiple overviews can be opened:

• Work classes
• Work users
• Zone groups
• Zones

Note that the overviews show all data, and the user can filter manually.

 

Dynamic columns

The dashboard shows the number of wave lines that are not processed yet. The user can define up to twenty additional columns, and each of these columns can represent the amount of open work within one or more work classes and warehouses. E.g. define a separate column for the open narrow aisle truck work, or counting work in a specific part of the warehouse.
In case no worker is involved in the work defined in a specific task which must be executed, this dashboard cell gets an orange color.
If one or more workers are executing the work defined in a specific task, the estimated end time of the work is displayed in the dashboard.

Field	Description	Remark
Description	Wave template name	Type of work, e.g. Purchase, Cycle count, Replenish

To be released	Non processed wave lines	-
Packing	Open lines for packing station	-
User defined column 1..20	Open lines according to the dashboard template setup	Open lines according to the dashboard template setup

Total released

Open work lines

Open work lines

Total

Non processed wave lines + open work lines

Open work lines

Estimated end time

-

 

Warehouse management > Outbound waves > Shipment waves > All waves > Button: Update dashboard filter 

Each wave template is displayed on a separate line in the dashboard. If you want to split these lines, it is possible to set different wave template filter codes on different waves. This is useful if each wave should be finished at a certain time slot, and a different wave with the same wave template name has a different time slot.

The update dashboard filter form displays the total number of shipments (wave lines), the total number of load lines, the percentage complete, the volume and the estimated remaining work hours to complete this wave.

 

Setup warehouse

Setup dashboard template

Setup warehouse zone group

Setup zone

Setup labor standards

Work classes overview

Warehouse management > Inquiries and reports > Zone overview > Work classes

Field	Description	Remark
Work class ID	Identification of the work class	Work class typically discerns between: • Work order type (sales, replenish etc.) • Warehouse area • Required fork lift type • Height of the location • Required skill level of the worker • Mobile device menu authorization

Description	Description of the work class
Work order type	Type of work	E.g. sales, purchase, replenishment, production
Open lines	Number of open lines	Both pick and put type

Hours

Remaining (decimal) hours

Based on labor standards

Name

Mobile device user(s)

Worker(s) executing work in this class

Labor standards should be set up to display estimated remaining hours.
No further setup required.

 

Work users overview

Warehouse management > Inquiries and reports > Zone overview > Work users

Field	Description	Remark
Status	Mobile device user activity status, similar to the Skype for Business indicator, referring to last activity.	Green         Active Yellow        3-10 minutes inactive Orange      10-30 minutes inactive Red            30+ minutes inactive Grey           1 or more days inactive White         Not logged in Red X         User disabled

User ID	Mobile device login ID of the worker
User name	Name of worker
Default warehouse	Default warehouse of worker
Work class ID	Worker is currently executing work in this work class
Zone ID	Worker is currently active in this zone
Location	Worker is heading for / currently active on this location

Destination

Current work will be finished at this destination location

Estimated time

Expected time of arrival at destination location

Based on estimated remaining time for current work, calculated by labor standards

Labor standards should be set up to see the estimated time of arrival.
No further setup required.

 

Warehouse zone groups overview

Warehouse management > Inquiries and reports > Zone overview > Warehouse zone groups

Field	Description	Remark
Zone group ID	Zone group	E.g. a hall in the warehouse

Zone group name	Name
Estimated hours	Estimated hours for non-processed waves	Based on average number of transactions, and the estimated zone group upon creation of the wave line
Open lines	Number of open work lines
Purchase	Number of open work lines
Replenishment	Number of open work lines
Transfer issue	Number of open work lines

Sales	Number of open work lines
Cycle counting	Number of locations that require cycle counting	If cycle count work is created per product: number of products and locations for which open cycle counting work lines exists
Other	Number of other open work lines	E.g. raw material pick, production put away

Hours

Remaining hours

Based on labor standards

Name

Mobile device user(s) currently working in / heading for this zone group

Labor standards should be set up to display estimated remaining hours.

No further setup required. 

 

Zones overview

Warehouse management > Inquiries and reports > Zone overview > Work classes 

Field	Description	Remark
Zone ID	Zone (group of locations)

Zone name	Name
Zone group ID	Group of zones
Open lines	Total open work lines

Hours

Remaining hours

Based on labor standards

Name

Mobile device user(s)

Workers currently working in this zone

Labor standards should be set up to display the estimated remaining hours.

No further setup required.