QuickBooks Enterprise (v19) Advanced Inventory - Enhanced Pick, Pack & Ship

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While this is one of our new feature summaries for the QuickBooks 2019 desktop product-line, it is a little more step-by-step because of the complexity of the feature itself. QuickBooks Enterprise (v18) with Advanced Inventory introduced a new Sales Order Fulfillment Worksheet that had an option to work with a Mobile Inventory Barcode Scanner to speed up picking by sending the orders to workers on the floor of the warehouse.

This functionality allowed those ‘pickers’ to either enter picked quantities and related information into the ‘mobile scanners’, or enter the information directly into the fulfillment section of the new worksheet using a manual workflow. I covered that functionality last year in our article, QuickBooks Enterprise v18 Advanced Inventory: Mobile Sales Order Fulfillment.

Even though I am not a big fan of the entire Advanced Inventory feature-set within QuickBooks Enterprise, I had to admit that the feature itself seemed to work exactly as intended, and that it offered at least one of the functionalities that large inventory, warehouse, wholesale and even retailers needed. My only concerns were with the physical integrity of the MC40 Scanners, the high cost of those scanners, and the inability to use the equipment for other inventory related tasks (like receiving and stock counts).

Mid-year, in terms of the product release saw an expansion to permit 'mobile receiving' via a new enhanced purchase order worksheet. This means that the high-priced scanners could be used for receiving of purchase orders and their related stock. Intuit also began introducing several alternative hardware offerings including Bluetooth scanners to work with Android tablets or phones that would support these operations. All of this means "more bang for the buck" when it comes to the new functionality and related hardware, and that's a plus for any small business.

Now, QuickBooks Enterprise (v19) has enhanced and expanded the Sales Order fulfillment capability for 2019 to include the ability to send orders to not just 'pickers' but also to ‘packers’ who can prepare the orders for shipping by capturing the details of packed contents, shipping weights, and packaging dimensions via a ‘mobile scanner’ or within the packing section of the worksheet. Users can also coordinate the shipping functionality as part of this overall workflow. Let's begin our examination of this new feature by looking at how packing is managed under this new workflow.

Send Order for Packing

From the Dashboard within the Sales order Fulfillment Worksheet select any order that has already been 'picked.' In the case of our example we are selecting the first row displayed on the dashboard below which indicated the order status as 'Picked.'

Click the drop-down Action list and select 'Send for packing.'

The Send Sales orders for packing window will appear, from the Packer drop-down list select the 'Packer' to whom you wish to assign the task of packing the order for shipment. In this case we selected 'Harvey' to do the work.

Because we are using the 'mobile device' in this example, we will then click the blue 'Send to device' button. If we were using the paper-workflow, we would select the drop-down blue arrow and print the packing list (instructions).

Simultaneously the packing instructions are sent to the mobile device so that the packing tasks can be performed in the warehouse. QuickBooks Enterprise will also display a message notifying us that the sales order has been sent for packing. Click the blue 'OK' button to continue and return to the dashboard screen.

Alternatively, click the 'View Progress' button to be taken directly the the Pack tab of the Sales Order Fulfillment Worksheet.

The graphic below showing the new 'Pack' tab of the worksheet shows our order (the top highlighted in green order) which has been 'Sent for Pack' highlighted in the top row.

Now let's take a look at the packing workflow when using one of the mobile devices. In this case we are going to use an Android phone to report the packing progress.

Packing the Order

Our graphic below shows both the mobile device and the Pack tab so that you can see the related reporting as the steps progress. Because this same mobile device has been configured for for use in picking and receiving as well as packing, all three functions appear on the devices list of assignments.

In the above scenario, only 1 of a total of 6 pack orders have been sent to this mobile device, the Pack section advises the packer that 1 pack order has been assigned (to them) and 5 others are unassigned (meaning they have not been assigned to this packer). When the packer selects the 1 assigned order to pack the generic information (Customer name and Sales Order #, along with Site) regarding the order shows up as shown below.

When the packer clicks on the order, the details are displayed. In this case, the order consists of Chocolate chips, Frozen food and Meat general, for each of these items additional information including description, quantity and unit-of-measure are also provided.

Selecting one of the specific line items, the quantity and unit of measure are displayed along with the order quantity and item. If the packer were using a scanner the barcode could be scanned to increment the quantity per unit (of measure). While this may seem more like a 'picking' functionality it is designed to serve as a confirmation that the picked quantity is being packed.

In our case the quantity is being manually incremented using the plus (+) or minus (-) keys since we aren't connected to a Bluetooth scanner for our Android device.

When the quantity increment is correct, select 'OK' to return to the list of items for the order, and then continue to process each additional item as they are packed. Once any item has been packed the 'Create Package' option appears at the bottom of the item display. By selecting this option the Mobile Device will display the Package Information screen (shown below).

While you might think that quantity multiplied by the weight (when the unit of measure is a weight type measure) would auto-calculate as the 'weight' (by default), that isn't the way this feature works. You will need to enter the weight of the 'packed container' (box, tube, envelope, etc.) based upon information available to you (as in from a scale).

You will also want to include the dimensions of the shipping container (length, width and height) and the unit of that measure (such as inches). You also have the opportunity to enter any note you wish to convey back for display in QuickBooks on the packing tab. In this case the packer has entered a note advising "Packing done."

If you attempt to create a package without all the required items, or quantities, the mobile device will display the outstanding items or quantities.

You have the option of proceeding with marking the packing task as done (as shown below).

The mobile will even display a 'good job' message once the packing assignment is completed.

As soon as QuickBooks updates from the mobile device, the Dashboard will display the updated status of the order. In our case the dashboard reflects that the order was "Partially Packed" because we chose not to include one of the items in the order within our out-bound package.

Believe it or not there is more to this new feature. The Shipping Manager within QuickBooks Enterprise has been incorporated into this new functionality as well.

Prepare Shipping Documents

Now you can simply select an option to 'Print shipping labels' for any Sales Order listed on the dashboard from the Action drop-down options.

Then select the 'shipping package type' (FedEx Package, UPS Package or USPS Package) from the options that pop-up.

QuickBooks Enterprise then displays the Print shipping labels for Sales Order dialog box asking you to confirm the package weight and packing information. Click the blue 'Next' button to launch the Shipping Manager.

When the Shipping Manager opens for the specific carrier type you selected earlier [in our example FedEx (Federal Express)], you will be able to confirm all the various information pulled from QuickBooks Enterprise: order details and shipping instructions along with the packing details (weight and packaging size). You can then configure the specific shipping method if it was not previously specified in the sales order.

When you are ready simply click the 'Ship' button and Shipping Manager will retrieve the proper shipping costs from the selected freight carrier, and finalize the shipping process by creating the shipping label. The details will be displayed in the Shipment Confirmation window (shown below).

QuickBooks Enterprise automatically updates each sales order with the appropriate shipping information provided by Shipping Manager.

Back in the Sales Order Fulfillment Worksheet, the shipping details will be fully accessible.

With the enhanced pack and ship functionality added to the already strategic pick process and enhanced sales order fulfillment worksheet, you will be ready to go with getting all your sales orders fulfilled, prepared for shipment, and out-the-door to your customers.

I must say that I am fairly impressed by the new functionality that was added this year to the already beneficial 'mobile' pick feature. For small businesses who were already using QuickBooks Enterprise with Advanced Inventory these new capabilities maybe just the thing to help them get keep their inventory-centric businesses on track and get their orders out-the-door to meet their customers' expectations.

Notes & Disclosures:

Graphics or other illustrations used in this article have either been prepared using a pre-release version of QuickBooks Enterprise v19 (2019) software or were furnished and/or adapted from Intuit source content. Be aware that certain aspects of features described or illustrated herein may have changed between the pre-release software version we used, and the release of QuickBooks 2019 desktop product line-up scheduled for September 4, 2018.

This article is intended to serve as a summary of one specific QuickBooks Enterprise v19 (2019) product feature, it is not an in-depth review nor has it been written to provide instruction in the proper use of the software (or feature) even if the content is presented in a step-by-step format.

While the writer or editor may express a personal opinion within this article regarding this feature and/or the software, such personal opinion does not constitute a formal endorsement by Insightful Accountant or the publisher.