Locations

The Locations screens list every zone, rack and bin of a warehouse and what is stored in each. A warehouse's locations are created on its warehouse profile; this is where you see them together and switch on location management, which unlocks the warehouse-control settings for them.

#Before you start

You need Warehouse › Locations › View all to open the list, and Warehouse › Locations › Edit all to turn on location management and to change a location's purpose and positions per bin. Edit all also lets you add and remove assignments. Owners and Admins can always do both. Locations offers only these two permissions: locations have no owner, so there are no "own records" choices.

Zones, racks and bins are still added on the warehouse profile, under the Edit permission for Warehouses.

#Turn on location management

Location management is switched on for one warehouse at a time.

1. Open Warehouse > Locations.
2. Open the filter panel (funnel icon) and choose the warehouse, then choose Filter.
3. On the card Location management is off for warehouse, choose Turn on location management.
4. Confirm.

Once it is on, it can't be turned off: later warehouse features record their rules on the stock held in that warehouse.

A warehouse that has ever handled 3PL goods can't use location management. OCTO Ops checks the warehouse for 3PL receipts and 3PL issues (including deleted ones), stock owned by a 3PL customer, stock of the 3PL type, stock received on a 3PL receipt (even when that receipt was made at another warehouse), and 3PL transfers into, out of or within the warehouse. If it finds any, it refuses with "This warehouse holds 3PL stock, so location management can't be turned on for it." Its locations stay visible on the list.

#The Locations list

Open Warehouse > Locations. The list shows one warehouse at a time: the one you choose in the filter panel, or else the first warehouse with location management on, or else the first warehouse.

Filter by Warehouse, Type, Purpose and Occupancy in the filter panel; the card title repeats the filters in use. Inactive bins are left out of the list. Select a name to open that location's profile.

#Open a location

• Select its name on the Locations list, or a bin on a rack's page under Warehouses.
• Or scan it: when you hold Warehouse › Scan › View, the list shows a scan box (Scan a location to open it). Scan a bin label with a USB or Bluetooth scanner or the camera, or type a location's name or code and press Enter. See Scanning.

#The location profile

The toolbar reads Zone:, Rack: or Bin: and the location's name. Its Edit button appears when location management is on and you hold Warehouse › Locations › Edit all. With location management on, the toolbar also offers Print label (a bin) or Print bin labels (a rack or zone); see Labels.

The side panel shows the Warehouse, Type and Path; while location management is on, the Purpose and Positions per bin (with from … when inherited), and for a bin its Positions used and Occupancy; then Volume max, Weight max, Status, Location management (On or Off) and, for a bin, its Label code — the text printed under the bin label's barcode.

When location management is off, the profile says "Location management is off for this warehouse." and offers no actions.

#Purposes

Each zone, rack and bin of a managed warehouse has a purpose:

Quarantine is reserved for quality checks and can't be chosen yet.

A purpose set on a zone applies to every rack and bin in it, and one set on a rack applies to its bins, unless a rack or bin sets its own. The nearest value wins: bin, then rack, then zone, then Saleable.

Changing a purpose never changes stock that is already there; only stock moved in later follows the new purpose.

#Positions per bin and occupancy

Positions per bin is how many stock records a bin may hold — a carton, or a batch line, each counts as one position. Set it on a zone, rack or bin; it is inherited the same way as the purpose. Volume and weight limits are shown for information only.

A bin's Occupancy is:

#Change a location's purpose or positions

1. Open the location's profile and choose Edit in the toolbar.
2. Choose a Purpose, or Inherit to follow the rack or zone above (the option says what that currently gives). On a zone or rack, the racks and bins beneath follow this purpose unless they set their own.
3. Enter Positions per bin (1 to 999), or leave it blank to inherit.
4. Choose Save changes.

If the location already holds stock, the form reminds you: "Stock already here keeps its current status; only stock moved in later follows the new purpose."

#Assignments

An assignment reserves a zone, rack or bin for a brand or for one product. Assignments are made only in warehouses with location management on, and only on saleable locations; areas such as receiving, dispatch, damaged and returns are shared by every product.

#How assignments decide where goods go

• Assigned locations are exclusive. A bin takes only the goods of its owners. A bin's owners are the assignments on the bin itself; if it has none, those on its rack; if the rack has none, those on its zone. So a rack inside a brand's zone can be given to another brand.
• Several owners can share a location.
• A product beats its brand. A product that has any assignment in a warehouse uses only its own locations there; its brand's locations no longer apply to it.
• Goods with no assignment — neither the product nor its brand — use open saleable bins only: bins that nobody owns.

For example: brand Acme is assigned to Zone A, product P (an Acme product) to bin A1-1B, and brand Zen to Rack A2 inside Zone A.

If a location's purpose later changes from Saleable, its assignments stay but are marked Not in effect until it is saleable again.

Put-away uses these rules to suggest bins, and the Put-away rule in Warehouse settings decides whether another bin is only confirmed (Suggest) or needs an override (Enforce).

#Add an assignment

1. Open a saleable location's profile and choose Add assignment in the toolbar.
2. Choose Brand and pick an active brand, or Product and search by SKU or name (3PL products are not offered).
3. Choose Add assignment.

#Remove an assignment

On the location's profile, in the Assignments card, choose Remove on the row and confirm. Only assignments made on that location can be removed there; inherited ones are removed on the rack or zone that holds them. No stock is moved.

#The assignments list

All assignments on the Locations list (shown when the warehouse on the list has location management on) opens every assignment of that warehouse with its location, owner and status. Filter by Warehouse, Brand and Product.

#Bin labels

Print a label for a bin, or for every bin of a rack or zone, from the location's toolbar. Scanning a bin label opens the bin on the Locations list's scan box and in Lookup. See Labels.

#Errors you may see

#Current limitations

• Location management can't be turned off once it is on.
• Zones, racks and bins can't be renamed or deleted on these screens.
• Subbins are not shown.