Glossary

The terms used in Boxture and in this documentation, from A to Z. Where a term has its own page, the entry links to it.

A

Account — A company using Boxture: the logistics provider or one of its clients. Accounts form a hierarchy of parent accounts and sub-accounts. Products, orders, customers and most other records belong to an account. See Key concepts and Accounts.

Account owner — A role that gives a user control over the data of one account (and its sub-accounts): creating and editing records and managing the account's users.

Account switch — The dropdown in the top bar that sets the account you work in. See Navigating.

Activity — An action attached to a task on a problem ticket that Boxture can carry out for you, such as Release manual hold or Reallocate order. See Problems.

Add inventory order — An order type created when inventory is added by an inventory adjustment. See Inventory orders.

Allocation — Reserving specific inventory items in a specific location for an order line. Allocated items cannot be used for other orders. Can happen automatically (Auto allocate) or manually. See Allocation.

Analytics — The charts at the bottom of the dashboard.

Anonymize — Irreversibly replacing personal data (names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses) by asterisks, to comply with privacy regulations. Possible for customers, orders and shipments. See Anonymization.

Assignee — The contact a ticket is assigned to. See Work orders.

Available — (1) The inventory item state for stock that is free to be allocated. (2) The switch on a user profile that indicates the user is available to be assigned work.

B

Backorder — An order line item that could not be allocated because there was not enough available stock. Backorders can be allocated later, automatically when stock arrives. See Backorders.

Batch action — An action carried out on several selected rows of a table at once, such as confirming or allocating orders. See Working with tables.

Billing contact — The contact that receives invoices for an account, customer, vendor or order.

Bin location — A specific storage place inside a location (shelf, pallet place, floor area), usually identified by a barcode. Each bin location has a purpose such as picking, bulk, receiving or packing. See Bin locations.

Bulk — (1) A bin location purpose for overflow storage that is also used to replenish picking locations. (2) Bulk picking: picking the same product for many orders in one go. See Bulk pack and ship.

Business model — Whether an order is business to consumer (b2c), business to business (b2b), business to government (b2g) or buy online, pickup in shop (bopis). See Key concepts.

C

Cancelled — The final state of an order, order line item, pick list or shipment that will not be carried out. See Cancelling.

Carrier — A transport company that delivers shipments, such as a parcel service or freight forwarder. See Carriers and shipping methods.

Channel — A sales channel (webshop, marketplace) through which orders come in. Several settings can differ per channel. See Channels.

Completed — The final state of an order that has been fully shipped or received, or of a pick list that has been fully picked.

Concept — The initial state of an order (and of accounts and products): created but not yet confirmed or published. A concept order can be edited freely and is not allocated.

Confirm — The action that moves a concept order on, so Boxture starts processing it. The order passes through Confirming to Pending.

Consolidated inventory — An inventory overview that adds up the stock of a product across bin locations and locations. See Inventory overview.

Contact — (1) A set of name, address and communication details on an account, customer, vendor or order, with a kind such as billing or delivery. See Customers and vendors. (2) In tickets: a person who can request, submit or be assigned tickets. See Groups, contacts and organizations.

Contact kind — What a contact is used for: billing, delivery, pickup, importer, exporter, or a custom kind.

Container — A physical carrier of inventory such as a pallet or carton, with its own barcode. Containers can be nested. See Containers.

Customer — A party an account sells to. See Customers and vendors.

Customer reference number — The order number as known in the source system (for example the webshop order number). Searchable with the global search.

Customs value — The value of a product declared to customs on international shipments.

Cutoff time — The time of day until which orders are shipped the same working day. See Cutoff and SLA and Cutoff time.

D

Dashboard — The start screen with counters of open work. See Dashboard.

Defective — An inventory item status for damaged goods (the other status is New), and a bin location purpose.

Delivery terms — The Incoterms (for example EXW, DAP, DDP) that define who pays for transport, duties and taxes. See Default delivery terms.

E

EAN/UPC — The product barcode number (European Article Number or Universal Product Code).

EORI number — Economic Operators Registration and Identification number, used in customs declarations.

Exception — A technical error recorded by Boxture, visible to administrators under Admin › Exceptions. See Exceptions.

Expected — The state of inventory items and containers that have been announced on an inbound order but not yet received.

Expired — (1) The state of inventory items past their expiry date; they cannot be allocated. (2) The state of products that are no longer active. See Serial numbers, lots and expiry.

Export — Downloading a table as a CSV file, once or on a recurring schedule. See Exporting.

F

Flow — An integration flow in Vorto that exchanges data with an external system. See Vorto.

G

Global search — The search field in the top bar that finds orders, shipments, pick lists, serial numbers, containers and products. See Navigating.

Group — In tickets: a team that tickets and contacts can be assigned to, for shared visibility. See Groups, contacts and organizations.

H

Hold — A blocking state for an order, order line item, inventory item, container, pick list, shipment or ticket. Items on hold are not processed further until they are released. Holds usually come with a problem ticket. See Holds and Holds and releases.

Holiday — A day or part of a day on which no business is conducted, used when calculating ship dates. See Holidays.

I

Import — Uploading a spreadsheet to create or update orders, products, inventory and other records. See Imports.

Impersonate — An administrator working in Boxture as another user, to see exactly what that user sees. Ended with Stop Impersonating in the profile menu.

Inventory — The stock of products in locations. See Inventory.

Inventory item — One single unit of a product in stock. Ten pieces on stock are ten inventory items, each with its own state, bin location and optionally serial number, lot and expiry date. See Inventory items.

K

Kit — A product made up of other products (components). See Kits.

Kit order — An order to assemble kits from their components. See Kit orders.

L

Label — The shipping label with the carrier barcode that is stuck on a parcel. See Labels and documents.

Location — A physical site such as a warehouse, where inventory is kept. See Locations.

Location switch — The dropdown in the top bar that sets the location you work in. See Navigating.

Lot — A production batch number, tracked for lot-tracked products. See Serial numbers, lots and expiry.

M

Messaging — The e-mail (and other message) templates Boxture sends on events, for example shipment notifications. See Messaging.

Metadata — Free-format extra data (YAML) on records such as orders, products, customers and accounts, often used by integrations.

Mobile app — The warehouse interface for handheld scanners and tablets, used for receiving, picking, packing and moving stock. See Mobile app.

O

Order — A request to move goods, with one or more order lines. Types: sales, purchase, return, transfer, scrap, kit, add inventory and remove inventory. See Orders.

Order line — One product and quantity on an order. See Order lines.

Order line item — One unit of an order line, linked to the inventory item that fulfils it. Its state shows exactly where that unit is in the process (pending, backordered, allocated, picking, picked, packed, shipped, expected, received, hold, cancelled).

Organization — In tickets: a company that contacts belong to, matched on e-mail domain, used to share tickets. See Groups, contacts and organizations.

Over-receive — Receiving more units than were expected on an inbound order. See Receiving settings.

P

Packed — The state of an item or container that has been packed into a parcel.

Packing material — A box, envelope, pallet or other material that goods are packed in. Packing materials have dimensions and a level that says how they nest. See Packing materials.

Paper — A generated document or label (packing slip, pick list, SSCC label, invoice) based on a Papyrus template. See Papers.

Parcel — One physical package within a shipment, with its own tracking number.

Pending — (1) An order that is confirmed and waiting to be allocated. (2) An order line item waiting for allocation. (3) A pick list not yet assigned. (4) A shipment not yet labelled. (5) A ticket waiting for input.

Pick list — A list of items to pick for one or more orders in one location, sorted in walking order. See Pick lists.

Pick list plan — A rule set that automatically creates pick lists from orders that match its criteria. See Pick list plans.

Pick list wave — A group of pick lists released together. See Pick list waves.

Picked — The state of an item that has been taken from its bin location by a picker.

Problem — A ticket created automatically by Boxture when something needs attention, such as missing stock during picking or invalid order details. See Problems.

Processing — The state of an order that is being allocated, picked, packed, shipped or received.

Product — An item that can be ordered and kept in stock. See Products.

Product alias — An alternative product number or EAN/UPC for a product, for example the number a sales channel uses.

Product category — A grouping of products. See Categories.

Purchase order — An order to receive goods from a vendor. See Purchase orders.

R

Reason — A predefined reason that can be given for a hold or adjustment. See Reasons.

Receive — Registering inbound goods into a bin location, making them available. See Receiving.

Remove inventory order — An order type created when inventory is removed by an inventory adjustment. See Inventory orders.

Replenishment — Moving stock from bulk storage to picking locations so pickers find enough stock. See Replenishment.

Reportlet — A small chart on the dashboard. See Analytics.

Requester — The contact who asked for a ticket.

Retired — The final state of an inventory item that is no longer in stock (shipped, scrapped, removed), or of a container that is no longer used.

Return order — An order to receive goods back from a customer. See Return orders.

Role — A set of permissions given to a user, such as Picker, Packer, Receiver, Shipper, Kitter, Pick list planner, Warehouse associate, Account owner, Admin or Super user. See Users and roles.

S

Sales order — An order to ship goods to a customer. See Sales orders.

Scrap order — An order to remove goods from stock to be destroyed. See Scrap orders.

Serial number — A unique number of a single unit, tracked for serialized products. Searchable with the global search. See Serial numbers, lots and expiry.

Service type — A transport service offered by a carrier (for example standard, express). Shipping methods refer to service types.

Setting — A configurable behaviour of Boxture, stored per account and optionally refined per location, customer, channel and more. See Settings.

Shipment — The goods of one order leaving the warehouse for one address with one carrier, made up of one or more parcels. See Shipments.

Shipping method — How an order is shipped: a carrier with a service type and options. See Carriers and shipping methods.

SLA days — The number of days within which an order must be shipped according to the service level agreement. See Cutoff and SLA.

Snapshot — A record of the inventory at a given moment. See Snapshots.

Solved — The state of a ticket whose tasks are all completed and that has been resolved.

Status — The condition of an inventory item: New or Defective. Not to be confused with its state.

Sub-account — An account below another account in the hierarchy. See Key concepts.

Super user — The highest administrator role, with access to everything including system-level options.

T

Task — A piece of work on a ticket. On work orders tasks are entered by hand; on problems they are created with an activity that resolves the problem. See Work orders.

Ticket — A record of work to be done or a problem to be solved, with comments and tasks. See Tickets.

Tote — A reusable crate used during picking that holds the items of one order at a time. See Totes.

Tracking number — The carrier's number for following a parcel.

Traffic lights — Indicators that show whether integrations and messaging are healthy. See Traffic lights.

Transfer order — An order to move goods from one location to another. See Transfer orders.

Two-factor authentication (2FA) — Logging in with a one-time code from an authenticator app in addition to your password. See Signing in.

U

UN number — A four-digit number that identifies hazardous goods. A shipment containing an item with a UN number is put on hold automatically. See Problems.

User — A person who logs in to Boxture. See Users and roles.

V

VATIN — VAT identification number.

Vendor — A party an account buys from. See Customers and vendors.

View — A saved combination of filters, sorting and columns on a table. See Views.

W

Warehouse associate — A role for warehouse staff who may manage orders, pick lists and inventory in the warehouse.

Wave — See Pick list wave.

Work order — A ticket created by a user for a manual task. See Work orders.