Overview
A fulfillment request (or fulfillment orders) represents an order/request placed with your source to fulfill orders imported into Flxpoint.
Key Information:
- A fulfillment request should be associated with every order fulfilled via Flxpoint. (see Orders)
- Order line items can be split into multiple fulfillment requests
- Each fulfillment request is associated to a single source (see Sources)
- Fulfillment requests can be created manually or generated automatically
- Once created or generated, fulfillment requests go through a processing life cycle
Generating Fulfillment Requests
After an order has been placed and paid (or deferred), the fulfillment request needs to be created, so the order can be fulfilled from your source(s).
Since an order is linked to product variants, and we ultimately need to send a source a FR/FO with its source inventory variants, a generation process happens which essentially:
- Goes through the routing orders process to determine the best fulfillment options (i.e. the lowest cost solution)
- Attaches the FR/FO from the routing process to the order
- Goes through any unique FR/FO Strategies for a source (i.e. altering the FR/FO # or auto processing)
- Leaves behind logs that can be viewed to determine what happened during that generation
At this point, the fulfillment request are now generated, attached, and ready to go through a processing life cycle.
Processing Fulfillment Requests
- Auto Processing
- FR/FO # Strategy
- Setting a Maximum FR# Length
- Pass Order Custom Fields to Fulfillment Request
- Pass Order Line Custom Fields to Fulfillment Request
Processing allows Flxpoint to send the fulfillment request to the source on the next Send Fulfillment Request integration run.
When processing, a fulfillment request primarily goes through the following states:
UNPROCESSED | by default |
PROCESSING | if auto processing is enabled or once manually launched from UI |
PROCESSED | if processed successfully but not acknowledged by a source, or if manually designated in UI |
ACKNOWLEDGED | if processed successfully and received acknowledgement from source, or if manually designated in UI |
FAILED | if there was a submission failure to a source |
CANCELED | if the FR/FO has been canceled by a source |
Once a fulfillment request has been successfully processed, it will go into one of the two states:
PROCESSED | if a source cannot automatically acknowledge an order (or doesn't provide acknowledgements). The source may later pass back an acknowledgement or leave the fulfillment request as processed. |
ACKNOWLEDGED | if a source can automatically acknowledge an order (i.e. submissions via API) |
Click here to understand Other Statuses
Once a FR/FO is either processed or acknowledged, it's eligible to receive shipments.
Flxpoint Pro Tip: Manual Acknowledgement
If a source does not provide an acknowledgement, FR/FOs remain in a Processed state in case additional verification is needed. These can be manually changed to acknowledged by a user if confirmed.
Handling Cancellations
Awaiting Shipment: If all remaining quantities are still awaiting shipment after a partial cancellation, the FR status is "Awaiting Shipment."
Partially Shipped: If some quantities are canceled and some have already shipped, the FR status is "Partially Shipped."
Fully Shipped: If all non-canceled quantities have shipped, the FR status is "Fully Shipped."
Canceled: If the entire quantity on the FR is canceled, the status is "Canceled."
Order Modifications: If quantities are added back after a cancellation, Flxpoint users must take action to fulfill or cancel the added quantities, determining whether the order should stay open or be closed.
Bulk Actions
You have the ability to take action on fulfillment request in bulk in Flxpoint. You will navigate to the fulfillment request tab when on the orders screen within Flxpoint.
How to Bulk Action Fulfillment Requests from Order Tab |
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Go to Orders Optional: Select certain Order Statuses you want to filter (or setup a Custom Filter) Manually select certain orders, or use the box towards the top of the list to select all After orders are selected, click "Action" towards the top of the bar--to right of the box you checked Select the Action you're looking to complete
Review Orders within the new pop-up, then select Acknowledge after confirming these are correct |
How to Bulk Action Fulfillment Requests from Fulfillment Request Tab |
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Go to Orders Manually select certain fulfillment request or use the box towards the top of the list to select all After orders are selected, click "Action" towards the top of the bar--to the right of the box you checked Select the Action you're looking to complete
Review Orders within the new pop-up, then select Acknowledge after confirming these are correct |
Flxpoint Pro Tip: Status Requirements
FR/FOs need to be in the proper status in order to take the queued action on them. For example, to Acknowledge FR/FOs they need to be in a Processed status.
If you try to take an action on FR/FOs that are not eligible for that action, the system will tell you that none are eligible
If some are eligible and some are not the system will let you know as well.
Adjusting a Fulfillment Request
If a Fulfillment Request is generated, you can cancel items by navigating to Actions and selecting Adjust FR/FO from the dropdown.
- You can acknowledge items first, and if you need, you can cancel something after it's been acknowledged.
- Once you confirm the cancel. You will see the unallocated amount in the order line item details.
- Next, you will make a decision on whether you want to fulfill the FR/FO from another source or cancel the FR/FO and the order.
If you choose to fulfill the FR/FO from another source you will need to manually create the FR/FO and select the source to fulfill from. You can do this by clicking the Create FR/FO_ _button and entering the required information.
- Enter a FR Number
- Select a Source to fulfill from and a shipping method
- Select the items you're generating the FR for with the quantity and click Create FR
Bin Location
The primary use for Bin Locations is the ability for Internal Warehouses to be able to track where the inventory is located through the SKU. This will now also be documented within the FR/FO section of an order, and within the FR /FO tab in the Orders section.
- If you do not see the Bin Location column, you will need to make sure to click the ⚙️ icon towards the top right corner.
Within the order itself, this is visible after the FR is generated:
Source Inventory |
For additional information on Bin Locations via Source Inventory, please see our article on Bin Locations. |