Storage Management Status

Hopstack allows customers greater flexibility in managing their storage by enabling them to designate whether they would like locations to be available and unavailable for operations.

Storage Management Status is the first step in building complex rules for a location. Here’s what each status means:

1. Available: If a location has been marked as “Available”, which means it will be able to support various operations such as Receiving and Putaway, Putaway or Picking and so on.

2. Unavailable: If a location has been marked as “Unavailable”, there will be no operations that can be supported on that location.

Manage Storage Management Statuses:

1. Once a user creates storage hierarchies, all newly created locations are set to “Available” by default.

2. Updating Storage Section Status: To make an entire storage section “Unavailable” for maintenance or other purposes, follow the steps below:

   1. Select the storage section within the warehouse (applicable in a multi-warehouse setup) that you want to mark as unavailable.

   2. Under Actions, click on Update Status

      

   3. The user will see the current status pre-selected (e.g., "Available"). To disable operations in this storage section, they can change the status to "Unavailable."

      

      

      1. If the Storage Section is marked as "Unavailable," all locations within it will automatically be marked as "Unavailable."

      2. If you mark the Storage Section as "Unavailable," no operations can be performed at any locations within that section.

   4. The user will be able to add a reason for making it Unavailable, to provide more accountability and transparency.

      

3. Hierarchy's Impact on Storage Status Management:

   1. If the parent location is marked as "Unavailable” :

      1. All child locations will inherit the same status.

      2. If a child location is marked as "Available," both the child and its parent location will be updated to "Available."

   2. If the Parent Location is marked as “Available”:

      1. All the child locations will inherit the same status.

      2. You can update the status of any child location to "Unavailable" as needed.

      3. Note: If a parent location has only one child location and that child is marked as "Unavailable," the parent location will also be updated to "Unavailable."

4. Impact of Storage Management Status on Workflows:

   1. Receiving Workflow:

      1. BIN Location: If a location is marked as "Unavailable”, it cannot be entered or scanned in the Bin Location field. The user will see an error message indicating that the location is unavailable.

         1. This step enables the user to do Receiving and Putaway together.

            

            

      2. Select Putaway Location: If a location is marked as "Unavailable”, user will not be able to enter or select that location. The user will see an error message indicating that the location is unavailable.

         1. Note: This feature is not available to all customers. Please contact your account manager for more details.

            

   2. Putaway Workflow:

      1. Puaway Bin Location - If a location has been marked as “Unavailable”. it cannot be entered or scanned in the Bin Location. The user will see an error message indicating that the location is unavailable.

         

   3. Picking Workflow:

      1. If a location has been marked as Unavailable, there will be no Picking allowed from that location.

   4. Order Batching:

      1. When batching an order, you can view the order line items. If a SKU is stocked in an unavailable location, its quantity will not appear in the "Available Qty," and the order will not be batched completely due it insufficient qty.

   5. Bin-to-Bin Transfer:

      1. A Bin-To-Bin Transfer is only available if both the locations are available, when the action was initiated. If the location is unavailable, the user will be notified about it.

         

   6. Cycle Count:

      1. Cycle Count will only be allowed when the locations are available. Once the cycle count has been completed on the location, the user will be able to mark the location unavailable.

         

5. Updating Status During Ongoing Operations

   1. If you try to update a storage location to "Unavailable" while there are ongoing or assigned operations, you will not be able to mark it as "Unavailable." The user will be notified about it.

   2. Workflows:

      1. Receiving + Putaway -If you have entered a BIN Location during the Receiving workflow, it means the product has been put away. Once the user confirms and completes the process, the location can then be marked as "Unavailable."

      2. Suggested Putaway - If you are enabled for this feature, and the associate has selected a location for this, the user will not be able to mark the location as “Unavailable” until this product and all the expected quantities have been done with the putaway.

      3. Putaway - Once a Putaway has been completed, the user will be able to update the location to unavailable.

      4. Picking- If a particular location has been assigned on a Pic List, the user will not be able to update the location as unavailable.

      5. Bin-To-Bin Transfer and Cycle Count- Once the operations have been complete, the user will be able to mark those locations as Unavailable.

6. Stock Presence and Status Updates:

   1. Hopstack offers complete flexibility to update a location’s status to "Unavailable," even if stock is present. Once marked as unavailable, the location will not be valid for any workflows, regardless of stock presence.