Staging & Holding Orders Best Practices

Document Version	v.5
Document Last Updated	11/08/2024
Software Version Documented	v.10

Overview

This document outlines the best practices for staging and or holding orders for your customers, allowing them to be shipped at a later date. It covers the preemptive configurations necessary to set up holds effectively and describes the benefits of each hold type available in Savance Enterprise. By using these processes, you can better manage inventory, optimize warehouse space, and maintain customer satisfaction through flexible and efficient order handling.

Create Staging Bins

To begin, you will need to make sure you have created “Staging Bins” for your warehouse locations in which you plan on storing and holding your customer's orders. Staging Bins can include a generic Will Call area, and Pack & Hold area/location.

Here is an example of a Customer’s Pack and Hold Area -Staging Bin called “Pack & Hold”

Here is an example of a Customer’s Will Call Area -Staging Bin called “Will Call”

Creating Staging Bins

Go to Inventory > Warehouse Manager > Location Management
Within the Holding Bins section select and expand ‘Staging Bins’
Right-click on the StagingBin (Default) and select ‘Add Bin’
From here you can name the bin/location anything you want. For the purpose of the document, I will be naming this new bin ‘Pack & Hold’
- I added the Name, Description, and Bin Type.
- Under Process Type you can select from All Processes, Will Call, or Pack & Hold. I have selected Pack & Hold.
Once I have selected ‘Ok’ my newly created staging bin has been added.
If you want to make any of your bins the default bin, just right-click on the bin, and select ‘ Set as Default

Update your Spreadsheet Admin

Another configuration you should consider is the spreadsheet admin. In a later step of the process, you will be updating your Due Date, and by adding the ‘Due Date’ column within your spreadsheet this will give visibility of when the customer’s approximate due date for their order is.

To add this column if not already visible, go to Settings> Spreadsheet Admin
Make sure the Order Type is on Quote/Order
Next, select the Show All button to view all available columns for this grid.
Find the ‘Due Date’ column, and make sure that the ‘Show Column’ checkbox is checked.
Then while the ‘Due Date’ column is highlighted use the <- and -> to move the column in the preferred place in the grid.
Once you’ve made your changes, select ‘Save’ or ‘Save As’ to update your changes.

The Benefits of Order Holds

The below section will go over each available Hold in Savance Enterprise and its benefits.

Pack & Hold (P&H)

A Pack and Hold system involves physically removing material from its original stock location and storing it in a designated area within the warehouse. This ensures that the inventory is reserved specifically for a customer’s order and prevents employees from inadvertently using it to fulfill other orders. It helps secure high-demand items and minimizes the risk of delays or disruptions in order fulfillment.

Delayed Order (DO)

The Delayed Order system offers several unique benefits:

You can place an entire order as a Delayed Order and set a future due date. This allows you to avoid allocating inventory or placing orders for special items until closer to the customer’s due date.
You also have the option to apply Delayed Order at the item level, aligning receiving dates with special-ordered items. When the due date arrives, available materials will automatically trigger a pick ticket (PT) for warehouse processing.

To ensure accuracy, it's important to maintain up-to-date lead times and receive materials promptly. Additionally, configure any necessary buffer times with vendors to prevent delays.

If you are going to use this hold you can have it automatically check in the orders header by going to Settings> General Settings> System and selecting ‘Automatically check order’s header DO’ and or ‘Automatically check orders header DO if RH is checked’ if you are using a combo of Delayed Order and Reserve Hold.

Reserved Hold (RH)

Reserved Hold gives you control over when an order is released to the warehouse for processing. While the inventory is still "reserved" and allocated to the order, no pick tickets are automatically printed, even when the order is fully available.

This system allows the inventory to remain in its original warehouse locations until you're ready to have it picked, eliminating the need for a separate staging area for prepared orders.

A key advantage of Reserved Hold is that the quantities on hold still generate demand. These quantities will appear in Critical Purchasing, ensuring they are factored into stock replenishment or order fulfillment as needed.

If you are going to use this hold you can have it automatically check in the orders header by going to Settings> General Settings> System and selecting ‘Automatically check order’s header RH’ and or ‘Automatically check orders header DO if RH is checked’ if you are using a combo of Delayed Order and Reserve Hold.

Storage Shipper (ST)

Storage Shipper allows you to process an order, allocate stock, and invoice the customer as if the material has been shipped, while still storing it in your warehouse until the customer is ready for delivery.

This is especially useful for large orders, as it lets you bill the customer while holding the inventory in your warehouse until they are prepared to receive it.

Like Pack & Hold, this method requires effective inventory management, ensuring that the materials are securely stored in a designated warehouse location and ready for shipment when needed.

Back Order (BO)

Using Back Order (BO) Hold allows you to mark either the entire order or individual line items as manually backordered. When items are marked as backordered, the system will ignore any current stock availability and forces you to purchase everything on the order even if some items are in stock.

The benefits of using Back Order Hold include maintaining control over your inventory. If you have minimal stock of an item but know you'll need to place a larger order soon, this prevents the available stock from being allocated to the current order. It’s also useful when the majority of the items on an order require special ordering, ensuring that the system doesn’t automatically allocate any available stock, allowing you to fulfill the order more efficiently once the full inventory is available.

As material is received for your BO order, during the Process Back Orders process you will be prompted to create a new PT/Shipper for the item(s) to begin the warehouse process.

Ship Complete (SC)

The benefits of using Ship Complete are that it ensures both you and the customer don't want the order to be processed until all items are available. Once the last item is received, the ability to allocate and create the shipper for the order will appear in the Process Back Orders.

Orders marked as Ship Complete will allocate any current stock to the order but will not generate a pick ticket or shipping document until all materials have been received and allocated. This option ensures that available stock is reserved for the order, but instead of manually controlling when the order is released for processing, the system will automatically initiate the warehouse process once the final item is available.

Line Item Hold (LIH)

Line Item Hold is a completely manual hold option. When selected at either the order level or item level, no actions are triggered when the order is converted. This means no pick tickets are generated for items marked with Line Item Hold, and the system does not allocate stock or include those items in Critical Purchasing for replenishment, even if they are in demand.

The benefits of using Line Item Hold are for users that are familiar with their inventory, but the system does not reflect proper available quantities, so using this hold lets the user control when the item(s) will be released for the warehouse process or when they need to purchase it.

If you are going to use this hold you can have it automatically check in the orders header by going to Settings> General Settings> System and selecting ‘Automatically check order’s header LIH’

Sales & Warehouse Processes for Common Order Scenarios

The below section will go over different common sales order scenarios, and the Savance Enterprise recommended workflow for each. The section will also point out the best holds described above for you to achieve these workflows.

First, based on your warehouse processes, you will have already determined what you can and can not do, as in I am either going to stage my material once an order has been converted to ship later, or I am reserving and releasing orders with the intention that it will be shipping from my warehouse once released.

Secondly, when placing an order for your customer, you have to determine if your customer needs the order, or some goods immediately or will the order be held to be received at a later time.

Scenario 1) Everything is available in stock and all materials will be picked & staged

**Recommend Workflow: P&H (Pack & Hold)
**

If the customer is planning to receive their goods at a later time, in the order header you will select ‘P&H’ for Pack and Hold.
- For reference, a Pack and Hold, order once converted will allocate material to the order that is available and print a pick ticket automatically labeled with PACK & HOLD on it. This will inform the warehouse that the order is not to be shipped immediately, but yet held in your Pack & Hold staging bin/location.
Next, within the order header select the approximate due date that this customer will need or like their order by.
Continue your normal order process.
Once the order has been converted a pick ticket will be created for those available items, and the warehouse process will begin.

(Scenario 1) Warehouse Process for Packing/Staging Order

The warehouse will receive the pick ticket, with PACK & HOLD printed on it.

The warehouse will Pick All Items & Ship All Items.
Next, Post the order to Staged.
In the Staging Location, you will select the staging bin that you created for your Pack & Hold staging area.
Lastly, Save and Close the Shipper.

Scenario 2) Some Material is Available, and some items have to be ordered from Vendor

Sticking to the process and scenario above, if you intend to pick and stage all the material you have available while you place POs to fulfill the rest of the order you can follow the same process above. The main difference in this process is when the material is received from the vendor you will need to stage it when it comes in.

Recommend Workflow: P&H (Pack & Hold)

In the order header, select P&H (Pack and Hold)
- For reference, a Pack and Hold, order once converted will allocate material to the order that is available and print a pick ticket automatically labeled with PACK & HOLD on it. This will inform the warehouse that the order is not to be shipped immediately, but yet held in your Pack & Hold staging bin/location.
Next, within the order header select the approximate due date that this customer will need or like their order by.
Continue your normal order process.
Once the order has been converted a pick ticket will be created for those available items, and the warehouse process will begin.
For material that needs to be ordered, the purchasing process will take over, and a PO will need to be created for the material you need to order.

(Scenario 2) Warehouse Processes for Packing/Staging Order & Receiving Material to be Staged

The warehouse will receive the pick ticket, with PACK & HOLD printed on it for the material you have available.

- The warehouse will **Pick All Items & Ship All Items**.

Next, Post the order to Staged.
In the Staging Location, you will select the staging bin that you created for your Pack & Hold staging area.
Lastly, Save and Close the Shipper.

Now as material is received for this order, you will follow this process.

During the receiving process, once you enter your Received and Put Away quantities, post the receiver to ‘Received’.
The ‘Hold for Backorders’ screen will appear.
Confirm, and select Ok to hold all material for backorders in the ‘Held for BO Bin’.
Finally, Post the Received to ‘Put Away’.
Next in the Receiving process, you will go to Inventory> Shipping > Process Backorders
Select the orders you wish to process.
A PT/Shipper will be created, and since the order was flagged P&H, the PT will print with Pack & Hold on it.
The warehouse will follow the same process above and will pick and stage the material. As the material is received and picked, it can be staged at the same location as the rest of the order or can be staged at a different location.
When completed, post the order to “Staged”
Then save and close the shipper.

Scenario 3) You don’t want a PT ticket to print for Material you have available

Recommend Workflow: RH (Reserved Hold)

In the scenario where you don’t want to pick and stage the material you have available, you will release the material and create a PT when the customer is ready to receive their order.

In the order header, you will select ‘RH’ for Reserve Hold.

For reference, Reserve Hold, once the order is converted the system reserves material on the order but doesn’t create a shipper for the order until one is manually created. RH will increase your Reserved, and Reserved Hold Allocated and decrease from your Available within your warehouse inventory log.
Next, within the order header select the approximate due date that this customer will need or like their order by.
Continue your normal order process.
Once the order has been converted NO pick ticket will be created for your available items.

(Scenario 3) Order Release & Warehouse Processes for Reserved Hold Orders

When the customer is ready for their order to be released you will first Open their order, and select the ‘Status’ tab.

Select ‘Release Management’
In the Release Management screen, you will select which items you are ready to pick and deliver to your customer.
To Release some of the order enter the Quantity you are releasing in the column of the item.
To Release the whole order select ‘Force Out Available Only’
As you do either option, the shipper you are about to create will appear under the ‘Shipper to Allocated Detail’s section.
When done, select ‘ Allocate Shipper’
This will create a PT which will print for the warehouse.
The Warehouse will then pick all, ship all items, and post it loaded/delivered.

Scenario 4) You don’t want to create a PT for available items and need to order from the Vendor.

Recommend Workflow: RH (Reserved Hold)

In the scenario that you don’t want to pick and stage the material you have available, and need to place a PO for other material, and will release some or everything (create PT) when the customer is ready to receive their order.

In the order header, you will select ‘RH’ for Reserve Hold.

For reference, Reserve Hold, once the order is converted the system reserves material on the order but doesn’t create a shipper for the order until one is manually created. RH will increase your Reserved, and Reserved Hold Allocated and decrease from your Available within your warehouse inventory log.
Next, within the order header select the approximate due date that this customer will need or like their order by.
Continue your normal order process.
Once the order has been converted NO pick ticket will be created for your available items.
For the material that needs to be ordered, the purchasing process will take over, and a PO will need to be created for the material you need to order.

(Scenario 4) Receiving Material, Order Release, & Warehouse Processes for Reserved Hold Orders

When it is time to receive the warehouse receiver will find and open the receiver.
They will print a receiver document, by selecting the ‘Print’ button in the top right corner.
This receiver document shows the list of items on that receiver and will allow the warehouse employee to write down how many were received and the location they are putting the material away to.
As you are entering the information from the receiver document into Savance, you will enter the quantity received as well as the location in which the receiver put it away to.
To select the Put Away location of the items select the “..’ next to the Put Away Location column
Next, in the Put Away locations screen, choose the location from the drop-down menu. NOTE: If you are using the Temporary Location functionality the drop down location listing will appear. If not, you will need to edit the locations as normal.
After this step the ‘Hold for Backorders’ screen will appear.
This screen will denote what items are for normal back orders, and reserve hold so the receiver knows what needs to be done with the material.
- Place it to the side, because an order needs to be shipped later that day
  - AND
  - OR
- Put away to a location, as it is either reserved for an order or nothing needs to happen until sales release it.
Select Ok on the Hold for Backorders screen, the system will automatically increase your Reserved Allocated by the item and qty. NOTE: Since you are using (RH Reserve Hold) there is no need to go to the ‘Process Backorders’ screen.
Finally, Post to ‘Put Away’ and save and close the receiver when completed.
Now, when the customer is ready for their order to be released you will first Open their order, and select the ‘Status’ tab.

Select ‘Release Management’
In the Release Management screen, you will select which items you are ready to pick and deliver to your customer.
- To Release some of the order enter the Quantity you are releasing in the column of the item.
- To Release the whole order select ‘Force Out Available Only’
As you do either option, the shipper you are about to create will appear under the ‘Shipper to Allocated Detail’s section.
When done, select ‘ Allocate Shipper’
This will create a PT which will print for the warehouse.
The Warehouse will then pick all, ship all items, and order or mark it loaded/delivered.

Scenario 5) You want to Delay Processing the Order

**Recommend Workflow: DO (Delayed Order) at the line level and RH (Reserved Hold) and or Pack & Hold in the Header
**

In this scenario, there is a while before the customer needs their order, so there is no need to allocate material, pick and stage the order now, as well as there is no need or rush to place a PO for any non-stock or special buy items.

In the order header, you will select DO (Delayed Order) & RH (Reserve Hold)
- For reference: Reserve Hold, once the order is converted the system reserves material on the order but doesn’t create a shipper for the order until one is manually created. RH will increase your Reserved, and Reserved Hold Allocated and decrease from your Available within your warehouse inventory log.
- The Delayed Order feature allows you to enter a sales order in the system well before the material is due and that material won’t be allocated OR flagged for purchase until a date in the future.
Next, within the order header select the approximate due date that this customer will need or like their order by.
Continue your normal order process. Once the order is converted it will be flagged On Hold, until the Due/Delivery date has been met.
For the items that have been flagged as DO (Delayed Order) to be purchased later as soon as the Due Date - (Buffer Time +Lead Time) for the vendor is calculated the demand for those items will appear in Critical Purchasing to be purchased for the order.
The normal PO creation process will take over.
For any items that are already available and have been flagged Delayed Order, they show reserved, but the “allocation” will happen until that due date has been reached.

(Scenario 5) Receiving Material, Order Release, & Warehouse Processes for Reserved Hold Orders

When it is time to receive the warehouse receiver will find and open the receiver.
They will print a receiver document, by selecting the ‘Print’ button in the top right corner.
This receiver document shows the list of items on that receiver and will allow the warehouse employee to write down how many were received and the location they are putting the material away to.
As you are entering the information from the receiver document into Savance, you will enter the quantity received as well as the location in which the receiver put it away to.
To select the Put Away location of the items select the “..’ next to the Put Away Location column
Next, in the Put Away locations screen, choose the location from the drop-down menu. NOTE: If you are using the Temporary Location functionality the drop-down location listing will appear. If not, you will need to edit the locations as normal.
After this step the ‘Hold for Backorders’ screen will appear.
This screen will denote what items are for normal back orders, and reserve hold so the receiver knows what needs to be done with the material.
- Place it to the side, because an order needs to be shipped later that day
  - AND
  - OR
- Put away to a location, as it is either reserved for an order or nothing needs to happen until sales release it.
Select Ok on the Hold for Backorders screen, the system will automatically increase your Reserved Allocated by the item and qty. **NOTE: Since you are using (RH Reserve Hold) there is no need to go to the ‘Process Backorders’ screen.

**
Finally, Post to ‘Put Away’ and save and close the receiver when completed.
When the customer is ready for their order to be released you will first Open their order, and select the ‘Status’ tab.

Select ‘Release Management’
In the Release Management screen, you will select which items you are ready to pick and deliver to your customer.
To Release some of the order enter the Quantity you are releasing in the column of the item.
To Release the whole order select ‘Force Out Available Only’
As you do either option, the shipper you are about to create will appear under the ‘Shipper to Allocated Detail’s section.
When done, select ‘ Allocate Shipper’
This will create a PT which will print for the warehouse.
The Warehouse will then pick all, ship all items, and post the order to loaded/delivered.

Other Common Scenarios

Stealing Material from Another Order

Following the Sales Process above for entering orders, if you have an item with 0 availability, but you know you have other orders on hold that have this item available, you will follow the below process to steal the material.

If an item shows 0 availability but you know you have it in stock allocated to other orders you will open within the order open the In Basket > Part Info > and select the Inv. Status button.
In the Inventory Status screen, you will look for “Staged” orders to view where you could potentially “Steal” From.
Review the Due Date column and determine if you can indeed “steal” from any of the orders and write down that order number.
Next, go into Release Mgmt on the newly processed order.
Since you already determined you need to steal from another order to process and ship this one you will locate the item(s) in the “Not Released” section of this screen and select “Take/Force”
From this screen Select “Search Other Orders for Material”
Again review the orders, and their due dates to determine the best order you should steal from.
Next, once you’ve selected your order, note the location of where that material is and where you will need to go retrieve it from, select ‘Shipper Allocated’, and then select ‘Accept’.
Lastly, if you need to merge the shippers select ‘Merge All’ and a brand new shipper will print with all items ordered.
Select Allocated Shipper.
A new merge shipper will be created for the warehouse to process.

Shipping the Order (Partial)

When the customer is ready to pick up or have delivered some of their order here are the steps on how to handle this.

Search and open the customer's order, and go into the Release Mgmt Screen.
Review the items on the shippers, and select which ones the customer wants, by selecting ‘Merge’
As you do this, the Shipper to Allocate section will begin tallying the items you wish to have leave the warehouse.
In addition, you will also notice where these shippers are staged. Please note this information before you proceed, as when you create a new shipper the system will assume you are picking the material from its original location.
If you wish to have a new Print ticket printed you can also select that option as well for this newly created (merged) PT/Shipper.
Once you are done selecting the items you wish to ship, select ‘Allocate Shipper”.
A new shipper will be generated with the items you are merging, and the rest of the items will remain on their original shippers.

Helpful Dashboards & Alerts

Delayed Order Alert

In Admin> Administrator> Warehouse> Alerts
When you set this alert, users will receive an alert when there is a delayed order that has been converted where the lead time can not be met, based on the following criteria. Due Date - (Buffer Time +Lead Time)

PO Receipt Alert

In Admin> Administrator> Sites> Purchasing
Here you have two PO Receipt Alerts:
- When a PO is received the PO writer will receive an email alert that it has been received.
- When a PO is received the Sales writer will receive an email alert that it has been received.

Vendor PO Status Dashboard

The Vendor PO Status Dashboard will allow you to view your open POs at a glance that have yet to be received. You can click on the magnifying glass, as well to search for the PO number, or vendor name to help narrow your results as well.

From this view, the following Key information is displayed:

PO Number (hyperlinked)
Vendor Name
Order Date
Grand Total
Order Completed - check box
Date the PO was received completed
Warehouse Location
Ship to Name

As you drill into one of the POs you will be presented with the PO details.

If you need to make any changes to the PO, once again the PO number is hyperlinked and will open the PO in Savance. However, from this view, you can see all the details of the PO, what has been received and put away already. If there are any linked orders to this PO that will also be displayed here.

This is a very helpful tool, to quickly get the status of a PO that you are waiting for without having to drill down in the application.

Hard Linked PO’s Queue Dashboard

The Hard Linked POs queue is exactly that, anytime you have a hard-linked POs on an order, this information will be displayed here. Please Note the information is displayed here item that is hard-linked.

You can click on the magnifying glass, as well to search for the Salesperson, order, or PO number to help narrow your results as well.

At a glance, this widget displays the following information:

The Salesperson who placed the order
Linked Sales Order (hyperlinked)
Account Name
Linked PO Order (hyperlinked)
MFG
Part Number
Description
Install Location
The remaining qty yet to be received
The amount that has already been received
The received date
A quick hyperlink to the Release Management screen for that order, to allow you to release and allocate a shipper for that item, for staging or delivery,

As you select the hyperlink for the order you will get the full order details as well as items that have a hard link associated with them. If you need to view the order or linked PO in the Savance application just select the hyperlink and that order will open in the application.

As you select the hyperlink for the PO you will get the full PO details. If you need to view the linked PO in the Savance application just select the hyperlink and that PO will open in the application.

Lastly, when you see that the material has been received and you either wish to pick and stage your order or ship the order you can select the ‘Release Management’ link.

This will open the Release Management screen for that order, and from here you can release, steal, and or adjust the material to get it allocated to a shipper.

Account Order Status Dashboard

The Account Order Status Dashboard will list your sales order here. You can click on the magnifying glass, as well to search for the Order number, or account name to help narrow your results as well.

The at-a-glance view will show you the following information:

Order number (hyperlink)
Account name
Order Date
Order’s grand total
Balance Due on the order
Date the order was completed (shipped) checkbox
Date it was completed
Warehouse
Bill To Name
Release Management (hyperlink)

When select the the hyperlink for the order number you are presented with the order details.

If you need to open the order in the application, select the order hyperlink again. However, the order details will show you what has been shipped already, and what is still outstanding such as balances and material that still need to be shipped.

If there are any linked POs these will be listed at the line item as well.

Lastly, when you select the ‘Release Management’ hyperlink this will open up the release management screen for that order. Here you are able to do the same functions as if in the application, such as release, steal, and or adjust the material to get it allocated to a shipper.