Allocation

Allocation reserves physical inventory for an outbound order. For every pending unit Boxture picks one specific inventory item (a specific unit in a specific bin, container, lot and expiry date) and links it to the order line item. The item becomes allocated and the inventory item can no longer be used by other orders. Only allocated items can be put on a pick list.

Allocation applies to sales, transfer, scrap, kit and remove inventory orders. Purchase, return and add inventory orders receive stock instead and are never allocated.

Possible outcomes per unit

For every pending or backordered unit, allocation ends in one of four ways:

Outcome	When
Allocated	A suitable inventory item was found.
Pending (left as is)	No item could be allocated right now, but matching stock does exist: for example in a bin that is not used for picking (such as a receiving bin), or stock that is on hold. The unit waits and is tried again later.
Backordered	No matching stock exists and Allocation › Backorder allowed is on. See Backorders.
Cancelled	No matching stock exists and backorders are not allowed. When all units of a line are cancelled, the line is cancelled; when all units of the order are cancelled, the order is cancelled.

After allocation you get a notification. If everything was allocated it says the order has been allocated; otherwise it lists how many units were allocated, backordered and cancelled.

Automatic allocation

With Allocation › Auto allocate on (the default), you normally do not have to allocate by hand. Boxture allocates automatically:

Moment	What is allocated
On confirmation	First, existing backorders for the same products on other orders (so older orders keep their priority), then the order itself.
Every 30 minutes	Orders with pending or backordered units for products whose available stock has changed since the order was last allocated.
When stock is received (purchase, return or transfer order)	Backordered units of the received products.
When stock is put away	Pending and backordered units of those products.
When stock is added by an inventory adjustment	Backordered units of that product, if Allocation › Auto allocate backorders is on.
When a hold is released	Pending and backordered units of the products that were on hold.

When several orders wait for the same product, Boxture serves them in this order: orders asking for a specific serial number first, then a specific lot, then a specific expiry date, then by Ship at (earliest first), and finally by creation date (oldest first). It stops at the first order that cannot get any stock, so later orders do not jump the queue.

Automatic allocation skips:

• orders of a type that is never allocated (purchase, return, add inventory),
• orders for which Auto allocate is off (the setting can differ per customer and location),
• orders that have been unallocated before, by a user or by the system. Once unallocated, an order is only allocated again by hand,
• sales orders whose shipping window has not started yet (see Ship earliest and latest).

Unallocating stops automatic allocation

After you unallocate an order (even partly), Boxture no longer allocates it automatically. Use Allocate on the order when you are ready.

Allocating by hand

1. Open the order and click Allocate (or use the Allocate row action or batch action in the order list).
2. Either:
   • leave Items empty to allocate the whole order, optionally choosing a Location to allocate from, or
   • add one or more Items: a product, a quantity, a location and, for serialized products, one or more serial numbers (one per line), to allocate specific units.
3. Click Allocate. Allocation runs in the background.

Item allocation needs Allocation › Partial allocation to be on, because allocating only some items is by definition partial.

When part of the order is already allocated, the location is preset to that location, so the whole order ships from one place. For Shopify orders the location of the Shopify integration is used.

Manual allocation ignores the shipping window

Manual allocation does not check Ship earliest on and Ship latest on. Use it to send an order out early.

How Boxture chooses the location

For each line, the location is chosen in this order:

1. The line's origin location, if it has one.
2. If other lines of the order are already allocated, the same location as those lines. Boxture keeps an order in one location.
3. The location you chose on the Allocate page.
4. Otherwise, the first location you have access to that has enough available stock for the whole line (or for at least one unit, if partial allocation is allowed). Locations with the stock in picking bins are preferred; locations with stock in other bins come next.

For kits, a location qualifies when all components are available there. Kit orders always allocate at their destination location.

How Boxture chooses the inventory

Within the chosen location, Boxture looks for inventory items that:

• are of the right product and status (new or defective),
• are available (not allocated, not on hold, not being picked),
• match the line's serial number, lot and expiry date, if given,
• are in a bin location with a purpose that suits the order type (for sales orders: picking or bulk; see Order types),
• are not in a container that is on hold,
• have not expired: items whose expiry date is today or earlier (in the location's time zone) are skipped. Scrap and remove inventory orders are the exception and can allocate expired stock.

When several items qualify, Boxture takes them in this order:

1. Items that are loose or in an open container come before items in a closed container.
2. Items that expire soonest (first expired, first out). Items without an expiry date come after those with one.
3. Items that were received the longest ago (first in, first out).
4. Finally by container, so the same container is emptied first rather than opening a random one.

Why is my order pending while there is stock?

Allocation only uses stock in suitable bins. Stock that has just been received but not yet put away in a picking or bulk bin, stock on hold, and stock in a held container is not allocated, and the order stays pending. Put the stock away or release the hold; this triggers allocation automatically.

Partial allocation

Allocation › Partial allocation (on by default) decides whether an order may be allocated when not all of it can be:

• On: Boxture allocates what it can and backorders (or leaves pending) the rest. Picking can start on what has been allocated.
• Off: when the whole order cannot be allocated, nothing is allocated. You see "could not fully allocate" and the order stays as it was. Item allocation on the Allocate page is not allowed either.

Whether a partly allocated order may also be shipped in parts is a separate setting, Shipping › Partial shipping. See Shipments.

Ship at

When a sales order is allocated, Boxture calculates its Ship at, the date and time by which it should leave the warehouse:

• If the order was allocated before Shipping › Cutoff time (default 13:00, in the location's time zone), Ship at is the same day at Carrier › Pickup time (default 17:00).
• If it was allocated after the cutoff time, Ship at is the next working day.
• If the day of allocation is not a working day, the next working day is used.

Working days come from Internationalization › Working days (default Monday to Friday); holidays do not count as working days. The cutoff time can differ per location, business model and shipping method; the pickup time per location, carrier and service type.

Ship at is recalculated on every new allocation and is cleared when all units are unallocated. Pick lists use it to prioritize work. See Cutoff and SLA.

Ship earliest on and ship latest on

Sales orders can have a Ship earliest on and Ship latest on date. If neither is given, Ship earliest on is set to the day the order is saved.

Automatic allocation only allocates a sales order once today is on or after the ship earliest on (or ship latest on) date, minus Shipping › SLA days working days. With SLA days 0 (the default), an order with Ship earliest on next Monday is allocated automatically on Monday. With SLA days 2, it is allocated on the Thursday before. This keeps future orders from tying up stock too early. If no location can serve the order within its window, the order simply stays pending until it can.

Unallocating

Unallocate releases reserved stock: the items go back to pending and the inventory becomes available for other orders.

1. Open the order and click Unallocate.
2. Leave Items empty to unallocate everything (optionally only what is allocated from one Location), or add items with a product, quantity, location and serial numbers to unallocate specific units.
3. Click Unallocate.

Only allocated units can be unallocated. Units that are on a pick list must be taken off the pick list first; picked units must be unpicked. When a line is completely pending again, its origin location is cleared (unless the order type requires one), so the next allocation can choose freely. When the whole order is pending again, its Ship at is removed.

Kits that were split into components are merged back into kit items when they are unallocated.

Expired stock

Every 15 minutes Boxture expires inventory that has reached its expiry date. If such an item was allocated to an order but not yet put on a pick list (and the order is not on hold), Boxture unallocates it, marks it expired and tries to allocate a replacement unit. If no replacement is found, the unit is backordered or left pending as described above. Expired stock that is already on a pick list is reported as a picking problem when the picker gets there; see Picking problems.

Products that are not set up

If Inventory › Restrict transactions to setup complete is on, allocation fails with "… is not setup complete" for products (or kit components) that are not marked as setup complete. See Product lifecycle.

Related settings

Setting	Effect
Allocation › Auto allocate	Allocate orders automatically on confirmation and periodically.
Allocation › Auto allocate backorders	Allocate backorders automatically when stock comes in.
Allocation › Backorder allowed	Backorder units without stock, or cancel them.
Allocation › Partial allocation	Allow allocating part of an order.
Shipping › Backorder shipping method	Shipping method used once a backorder gets allocated.
Shipping › Cutoff time, Carrier › Pickup time, Shipping › SLA days	Ship at calculation and shipping window.
Kits › Kit to order	Split kits into components when no kits are in stock.

The allocation settings can be set per customer and per location.