Agency Pallets

Purpose of this document

This document will illustrate how to use the Agency Order/ Agency Pallets functionality in Ceres. Once an Agency order has been picked, food banks need to keep track of the number of pallets and where those agency pallets are stored. Agency Pallets helps with the creation of the agency pallets and the administration of those pallets.

Ceres Object release 6.00.00, 6.00.13, 6.00.14 , and 6.00.17 are required for the functionality described in this document.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Overview
• Inventory Setup
• Bin Classes
• Location
• Ceres Report Selection
• Creation of Agency Pallets
  • From Inventory Picks
  • From Agency Order
• Agency Pallet Administration
• Agency Pallets

Overview

The staging functionality in Ceres was enhanced to support multiple workflow models by tracking as much information as possible within Ceres.

The staging enhancements are based on Inventory Picks (Ship Option 2) and include:

• Default Bin Location – Standard pre-defined bin location for agency pallets created. Bin Locations can be setup by zone for clients that create picks by zone or with a single default agency pallet bin for clients that do not create separate picks by zone.

• Agency Pallet Tags – Tag that can be printed and placed on the agency pallets that are staged.

• Agency Pallet Administration – Provides the ability to move pallets, reprint an agency pallet tag, create additional agency pallet tags and close agency pallets.

Inventory Setup

The setup of default Staging Areas starts with defining Agency Pallet Staging Areas.

Inventory Setup can be accessed by selecting “Search” from the Dynamics 365 Business Central Banner and entering “Inventory Setup” in “Tell me what you want to do” then selecting “Inventory Setup” from the results in the Go to Pages and Tasks section OR by selecting the “Inventory Setup” menu action (if present) from your Role Center home page.

Enable Agency Pallet Tracking by toggling on the appropriate item on the Location tab.

Note: With Ceres 6.00.13 when Agency Pallet Tracking is enabled, the 'Print Agency Pallet Tag when creating Pick' option is available to control if the Agency Pallet Tag is defaulted to be printed or not when the Pick is created.

Navigate to the Numbering FastTab on Inventory Setup. Create and assign a number series for the Agency Pallet Nos.

Bin Classes

If you are creating picks by zone, you must identify a bin class for each zone.

Bin Classes can be accessed by selecting “Search” from the Dynamics 365 Business Central Banner and entering “Bin Classes” in “Tell me what you want to do” then selecting “Bin Classes” from the results in the Go to Pages and Tasks section OR by selecting the “Bin Classes” menu action (if present) from your Role Center home page.

You should setup 5 bin classes, one for each zone, and other class for picks not assigned to a zone and lastly a distribution class that will be used once the agency pallet is either picked up or delivered to an Agency.

In the type field for each Bin Class, choose the appropriate type from the choices.

Once the Bin Classes have been created and linked to a type, the Location can be setup and the default agency pallet bins can be assigned.

Location

Locations can be accessed by selecting “Search” from the Dynamics 365 Business Central Banner and entering “Locations” in “Tell me what you want to do” then selecting “Locations” from the results in the Go to Pages and Tasks section OR by selecting the “Locations” menu action (if present) from your Role Center home page.

On the location card enable agency pallet tracking by checking the appropriate checkbox on the Warehouse tab.

Based on the setting of the Create Pick by field, the system will enable/disable fields on the Bins Tab. If the field is set to Zone as shown above, the bin fields shown on the Bins tabs are active and need to be filled in.

If the field is not set to Zone, as shown below. Only “Default Agency Pallet Bin Code” is active and needs to be filled in:

Defining the Bins for the location. Prior to completing the Bins tab with the default agency pallet bins, you must first define the Bins for the location. Click on the Bins icon on the location to access the bin list.

In the Bin list, create the agency pallet bins if needed and assign each to the correct bin class. In this example we have created 5 bins, 1 for each zone (AP-COOL, AP-DRY and AP-FRZ) each set in the corresponding Bin Class code. We have defined an AP-OTHER bin for any pallets where the zone could not be identified and lastly the AP-DIST bin used when the agency pallet is delivered or picked up by an agency.

Now that the Bins have been created we can complete the Bins tab on the location code.

If we are not using create picks by zone, only the Default Agency Pallet Bin code would be filled in.

This completes the setup and agency pallets are now ready to be utilized.

Ceres Report Selection

Ceres Report Selection – Inventory can be accessed by selecting “Search” from the Dynamics 365 Business Central Banner and entering “Ceres Report Selection – Inventory” in “Tell me what you want to do” then selecting “Ceres Report Selection – Inventory” from the results in the Go to Pages and Tasks section OR by selecting the “Ceres Report Selection – Inventory” menu action (if present) from your Role Center home page.

Select the Usage of Agency Pallet Tag and specify a Report ID of 14012550.

Creation of Agency Pallets

From Inventory Picks

Create Invt. Put-Away/Pick can be accessed by selecting “Search” from the Dynamics 365 Business Central Banner and entering “Create Invt. Put-Away/Pick” in “Tell me what you want to do” then selecting “Create Invt. Put-Away/Pick” from the results in the Go to Pages and Tasks section OR by selecting the “Create Invt. Put-Away/Pick” menu action (if present) from your Role Center home page.

When running the program to create picks toggle on the box to Print Agency Pallet Tag.

 Note:  With Ceres 6.00.13 when Agency Pallet Tracking is enabled, the “Print Agency Pallet Tag when creating Pick” option on Inventory Setup is available to control if the Agency Pallet Tag is defaulted to be printed or not when the Pick is created.

Note: Ceres 6.00.17 adds a “Shipping Pallet Cubic Feet” field to Warehouse Setup.   When this parameter is defined (e.g. greater than zero), Ceres will use the “Total Cubic Feet” from the Inventory Pick Header to determine the number of Agency Pallets to create for each Inventory Pick.

In order to utilize the functionality provided by Ceres 6.00.17, the Length, Width, and Height (e.g. Cubic Feet parameters) must be specified for Items so “Total Cubic Feet” on the Inventory Pick can be calculated.

In addition to the picks being created and printed, the system will also create and generate agency pallet tags and print those as well. If the system is configured to create picks by zone, then you will receive one pallet tag for each zone used on the pick. Each pick generated will have one agency pallet tag generated and printed. Additional agency pallet tags for any pick can be acquired from the Agency Pallet Administration page. Below is an example of the agency pallet tag created.

Note: Ceres 6.00.14 added the Order Handling Group Code and Order Routing Group Code to Agency Pallets.  If the Agency Pallet is created during the creation of the Pick, the Order Handling Group Code and Order Routing Group Code for the Agency Pallet will be populated from the values specified on the Pick.

From Agency Order

Agency pallets can also be created from the Agency Order prior to picks being created. From the Agency Order header select Actions à Warehouse à Create Agency Pallet.

On the dialog box, specify the number of agency pallets to create for this order and choose whether you wish to just create the agency pallets or create and print the agency pallets. In this example we have specified 2 agency pallet labels.

After creating the agency pallets you can view them by selecting Related à Warehouse à Agency Pallets.

This will display a list of the agency pallets for the order. Notice that the Invt. Pick No. is not populated because the picks have not been created at this time. When picks are created for the order, the picks will be assigned to these agency pallets first. If more picks are created than the number of agency pallets created, the pick process will create additional agency pallets as required.

Note: Ceres 6.00.14 added the Order Handling Group Code and Order Routing Group Code to Agency Pallets. If the Agency Pallet is manually created from the Agency Order, the Order Handling Group Code and Order Routing Group Code for the Agency Pallet will be populated from the values specified on the Agency Order.

Agency Pallet Administration

Agency Pallet Administration is accessed from Departments à Warehouse  à Goods Handling Order by Order à Agency Pallet Administration

Agency Pallet Administration can be accessed by selecting “Search” from the Dynamics 365 Business Central Banner and entering “Agency Pallet Administration” in “Tell me what you want to do” then selecting “Agency Pallet Administration” from the results in the Go to Pages and Tasks section OR by selecting the “Agency Pallet Administration” menu action (if present) from your Role Center home page.

The Agency Pallet Administration page will open.

The following functions are available:

Expand All – this will show all agency pallets associated with each pick underneath each pick document. Most picks will have only one agency pallets associated with it unless an additional agency pallet has been created for that pick.

Collapse All – this will close the display of agency pallets associates with all picks.

Note: Individually you may use the expand/collapse icons to the left of each pick to show or hide the agency pallets associated with an individual pick document.
 

Create Agency Pallet – Use this function to create an additional agency pallet for an individual pick. Select the pick line and click on the icon. You may create 1 or more additional agency pallets for the pick and choose whether or not to print them. If the Location is configured to print picks by zone, you will not be able to specify the bin code for the pallet, they will be created in the default agency pallet bin code specified on the location card.

Close Agency Pallet – If the agency pallet has been picked or delivered and was not properly closed you can use this function to close the agency pallet. Also, if an agency pallet was created in error, you may also close the incorrect agency pallet with this function. The administration page is defaulted to not show closed pallets, although you may change the filter to show closed pallets. It is NOT possible to reopen a closed agency pallet; you would need to create a new agency pallet if needed. When you select this function you will be prompted to confirm the close.

Agency Pallet Tag – this allows for the reprint on an agency pallet tag.

Register Movement (Ceres 6.00.14) – Move the agency pallet to another bin or to the Distribution bin to close the pallet. Click on the Register Movement Icon and enter the To Bin Code the pallet was moved to. Then click OK to complete the movement.

The following Related Information is available:

Agency – this function will display the agency card associated with the agency pallet tag.

Agency Order – this function will display the agency order document associated with the agency pallet tag.

Inventory Pick – this function will display the inventory pick document associated with the agency pallet tag.

Agency Pallets

Agency Pallets can be accessed by selecting “Search” from the Dynamics 365 Business Central Banner and entering “Agency Pallets” in “Tell me what you want to do” then selecting “Agency Pallets” from the results in the Go to Pages and Tasks section OR by selecting the “Agency Pallets” menu action (if present) from your Role Center home page.

This will display the Agency Pallet Page.

From the Agency Pallet Page you can perform the following functions.

Register Movement – Move the agency pallet to another bin or to the Distribution bin to close the pallet. Click on the Register Movement Icon and enter the To Bin Code the pallet was moved to. Then click OK to complete the movement.

Agency Pallet Tag - this allows for the reprint on an agency pallet tag.

Close Pallet Tag - If the agency pallet has been picked or delivered and was not properly closed you can use this function to close the agency pallet. Also, if an agency pallet was created in error, you may also close the incorrect agency pallet with this function. The administration page is defaulted to not show closed pallets, although you may change the filter to show closed pallets. It is NOT possible to reopen a closed agency pallet; you would need to create a new agency pallet if needed. When you select this function you will be prompted to confirm the close.

 The following Related Information is available:

Agency Pallet Movement History – Display a page showing all movements of the agency pallet through the warehouse.

Ceres 6.00.14 added Order Handling Group Code and Order Routing Group Code to Agency Pallets.  The Order Handling Group Code and Order Routing Group Code are populated from the Agency Order and/or Pick.  If the Order Handling Group Code or the Order Routing Group Code need to be changed the “Edit List” action can be used on the Agency Pallets page which allows the user to update the codes.