Track Shipping Backlog & Anticipate Shipping Bottlenecks

If shipping is a bottleneck operation in your organization, consider using Order Volume Inquiry (OVQ) to track the progress of your shipping department and get a heads-up on upcoming shipping tasks. OVQ can highlight potential problems, allowing you to complete pre-picking or provide additional manpower when large volume shipping dates are anticipated.

OVQ is significantly enhanced in the latest update to PowerShift 4.00 (04.00.026). You can see orders and dollars flow through the shipping department: first as open, then in picking, and finally as shipments. You can even get a quick indicator of past due orders and to how you are doing compared to the scheduled shipment date.

A summarized list of orders with these details is displayed (the column heading that appears on the screen is italicized in the following descriptions):

• <date> is the date the order was entered, the expected ship date, the promised date or the wanted date (a program option you set)

• Order value is the total sales order value for the specified day or week based on the unshipped quantity at the start of the current day. (When looking at an OE/OQ line this would be the quantity open plus the quantity shipped for the current date extended by the selling price.)

• Open value is the total dollar value of items not yet on a shipment; i.e., the value of orders where shipments have yet to be created. (When looking at an OE/OQ line would be the quantity open less the quantity-in-picking extended by the selling price.)

• Picking value is the total dollar value of shipments created, but not confirmed. (When looking at an OE/OQ line this would be the quantity-in-picking extended by the selling price.)

• Shpmnt value is the total dollar value of shipments for the current date. (When looking at an OC/OCQ line this would be the shipped for the current date extended by the selling price.)

• Orders is the number of orders for shipment for the displayed date

• Order lns is the number of sales order lines for the displayed date

• Shpmnts is the number of shipments for the displayed date

• Shpmnt lns is the number of lines on shipments for the displayed date

• Intl ords is called out separately since international orders take more time to prepare for shipment

• % shipped is the percentage of the days' orders that have shipped

• Order wt is the total weight for items not shipped

• Shpmnt wt is the total weight for items shipped

• EDI ords is the number of orders imported via Electronic Data Interchange

• EDI lns is the number or order lines imported via Electronic Data Interchange

• Web ords is the number of sales orders entered via e-business programs

• Web ins is the number the quantity of sales order lines entered via e-business programs

• WOY (formatted as CCYYWW) is week of year in which the selected date falls so that orders/shipments can be grouped

With flexibility the hallmark of PowerShift, OVQ offers many options to display information the way you want to see it:

• Lump past due orders into the current date or listed by scheduled date

• View activity by day or group activity by week – or both! View a specified number of days and then see weekly summaries.

• Show order and shipment value using list or discounted prices

• Select which date -- ordered, promised, wanted or expected ship – is the basis for the inquiry

Assuming you shipped complete the prior day the report starts with the current date and then, based on your options, lists out as much of the future as you desire. Each row can be a single day's schedule or a weekly grouping. Drills from the summary line provide supporting detail.