QuickBooks Enterprise v20 Advanced Inventory Express Pick-Pack

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Intuit recently released QuickBooks 2020 Desktop, and many QuickBooks Enterprise Users have already been notified about the availability of the initial release of the Enterprise Solutions v20 software. Additional notifications will occur as users annual subscription renewals arise.

Insightful Accountant was privy to various pre-release versions of QuickBooks Enterprise v20 during development and has had communications with Intuit personnel, including product managers and developers, to help you learn about the new products. This article takes a closer look at one of the features released as part of the QuickBooks Enterprise v20.

If case you haven't read my article summarizing the Desktop Products then the chart below, courtesy of Intuit, reflects which new features are available in which QuickBooks releases. Of course, I would encourage you to read 'My QuickBooks Desktop 2020 Summary article'.

Be certain to tune in TODAY September 18, 2019 for this month's edition QB Talks at 2 PM Eastern to hear about QuickBooks 2020. It's not too late to register HERE.

Express Pick-Pack

QuickBooks Enterprise v18 Intuit Advanced Inventory introduced the enhanced Sales order fulfillment worksheet and mobile inventory capabilities that allowed QuickBooks users to send picklists to warehouse workers and receive updates in real-time. Then as part of QuickBooks Enterprise v19 pack-lists were added to the workflow which made it possible to track sales orders through the entire process of items being picked, packed and shipped.

This year saw another expansion of the mobile features for QuickBooks Enterprise Advanced Inventory aimed at saving time by addition of an optional workflow in which the picker/packer roles, actions and approvals associated with the prior individualized ‘pick’ and ‘pack’ processes are consolidated. This new optional workflow was intended to serve the need of users who pick and pack items at the same time, many times picking directly into the shipping boxes themselves. Having separate pick and pack steps (and lists) was not only confusing but cumbersome in terms of the picking and packing process for those users.

QuickBooks Enterprise v20 adds a new feature called ‘Express Pick-Pack’ to the process workflow options and includes a new tab for this feature on the Sales order fulfillment worksheet (as shown in the prior illustration). Express Pick and Pack is only available to U.S. users of QuickBooks Enterprise v20 Advanced Inventory (Platinum subscription) customers, it is presently not available in Canada.

Getting Ready for Express Pick-Pack (for First Timers)

If  you are a first timer, that is you have never used the enhanced sales order fulfillment worksheet available in QuickBooks Enterprise Advanced Inventory then you have quite a few steps to take to 'get ready'. This section summarizes those steps, it is not a comprehensive guide to installing or configuring the mobile equipment you may choose to use with this or the other features available under this functionality.

Whether you are going to use a mobile device (or even an Android cell phone) for this feature, or just use paper forms, you must still enable the enhanced Sales Order Fulfillment Worksheet. This is a preference under the Advanced Inventory settings, you must be logged in as the Administrator in Single-user mode to activate this preference. From the QuickBooks menu, select Edit, then Preferences, then choose Items & Inventory, then click the Advanced Inventory Settings button on the Company Preferences tab, select the Site Operations tab, now check Enable Sales Order Fulfillment Worksheet (as shown below).

The 'Add Device' section of this tab is where you will add either Intuit's approved mobile scanner device (referred hereafter as 'mobile device') which is a Zebra TC20/TC25 (originally selected MC40, now discontinued but still supported), or an Android-OS (v4.4 or later) based smart phone, with the latest version of Intuit's Warehouse Management App that can be downloaded from this official website. [Note: additional instructions regarding installation of the App, and use of these devices, along with other related Warehouse App for Enterprise information is provided at this website.]

If you are NOT using any form of mobile but intend to only use paper forms, then you can simply ignore the 'Add Device' section of this tab. Once you have enables the worksheet and added any/all devices, if needed, click OK to close out this preference and complete this part of the set-up.

You must create warehouse workers whether you will be using a mobile device, or paper forms, this is because you assign pick-pack orders to specific warehouse workers.  These warehouse workers must be a Vendor in QuickBooks with the 'Type' field set as Warehouse user. Warehouse workers can be both a Vendor and an Employee. To assign a Pick-pack list to an employee, you need to make them this special type of Vendor.

Only individuals configured in this manner will be included in the Picker drop-down list of the Picklist Creation window. They will appear as Pickers in the mobile device or Android App. In my example, I have chosen to create a generic picker I simply called 'Warehouse Worker'. I'm not suggesting you follow the same approach, it simply was the least complicated way for me to illustrate this set-up, but I have had clients who set up their systems as Warehouse Worker 01, Warehouse Worker 02, etc.

Using Express Pick-Pack to Assign Orders

To use Express Pick/Pack select the Dashboard tab of the Sales order fulfillment worksheet (as shown below) and find the Sales Order you wish to work with, then click on the drop-down arrow in the Action column and select Send for exp pick-pack.

This really works no differently than either the Pick or Pack functionality did, you simply are combining the two functions together under either one ‘manual (paper) pick-pack list’ or one ‘electronic list’ to be sent to a mobile device. When the Create express pick pack lists window opens (as shown below) review the items on the Sales Order you selected to determine which are fulfillable, select those you wish to process, and check the boxes adjacent to the left side of the sales order number for each item (or optionally at the top of the checkbox column to check all items in the column) and then click Next.

When the Complete express pick-pack item lists dialog box appears (as shown below) you can Add a Note to either be printed on the paper pick-pack list, or be sent to the mobile device.

In the Packer column (from the drop down list) select the Warehouse worker to whom the pick-pack list will be assigned (as shown below). [Note: In this case we have simply called our ‘Mobile Device: Warehouse Worker’.]

Now click Send to Device (as shown above) to send the pick-pack list to the mobile device. If you wish to use the manual process, select the drop down arrow next to the Send to Device (blue) button and select the option to Print the List.

Performing Express Pick/Pack using the Mobile Device

The assigned Warehouse Worker will use the assigned mobile device (or compatible smartphone with or without bluetooth scanner) to pick and immediately package the items for each Sales Order. The process of logging-in, receiving Sales Orders, and selecting an Order upon which to work is no different for Express Pick/Pack than it was for either Picking or Packing under the individual functions.

In the example (shown below) the mobile device shows a single Sales Order Pick-Pack list assigned to our Warehouse Worker for Express pick-pack.

When the Warehouse Worker opens the Express pick-pack task on the mobile device (as shown below) they can see applicable information including the Customer’s Name and Sales Order information (additional information has been blurred from this illustration).

Upon examining the items making up the Sales Order our Warehouse Worker can easily identify both products and the quantities related to each that are required to fulfill the order. If we were using bin/shelf/row or serial/lot tracking the necessary information would be available to the worker.

When the Warehouse Worker has located the item(s) they can either scan the necessary item and quantity with the mobile device to fulfill the item pick requirements, or manually select the item and then increment the quantity before proceeding to the next item or step.

Now the mobile device asks for confirmation of the picked quantity prior to proceeding. Affirm your counts by answering Yes.

With quantities of the items confirmed, the packing quantification is also confirmed on the mobile device by the Warehouse Worker, now click Add to package.

That completes the mobile pick/pack process.

Following-up Express Pick-Pack Back in QuickBooks

The fulfillment worksheet not only provides a resource whereby QuickBooks users can track warehouse operations in near real time, but they can also update Sales Orders completion status. By default, QuickBooks is updated from Warehouse mobile operations via the cloud every hour, so some Express Pick-pack activities might not have yet changed on the Express pick-pack tab of the Sales order fulfill worksheet (as shown below).

Click the ‘sync’ icon in the upper right coroner of the worksheet next to where it says, Last updated at: to start a manual update. It takes only a few seconds for the worksheets to update from the most current mobile device data.

Our example (shown below) Sales Order now has a Status of ‘Packed’. You can easily click on this Sales Order to select it, then simply click the Update sales order button to mark the Sales Order as ‘fulfilled’ so that inventory quantities will be totally accurate in near real time.

QuickBooks displays the message that your Sales Order has been successful updated, and advised you that you can process mark the Sales Order as shipped from the Dashboard tab of the Sales order fulfillment worksheet when you are ready.

And believe it or not, that’s Express Pick-pack, and that's also the end of my individual look at QuickBooks 2020 features, but I will be publishing 'My Favorite Newbies' in tomorrow's Insightful Accountant headlines.  If you have missed some of my articles covering the individual features you can go back through our last 2 weeks of stories in the General Ledger section, or you may just want to check out my QuickBooks Desktop (for Windows) 2020 Summary here for a synopsis of what's new, you can also check out my companion QuickBooks for Mac 2020 Summary here.

Editor's Acknowledgements

My very special thanks go out to Laura Madeira who helped cross-check my work with her own to make certain that we were consistent in providing accurate information regarding this 2020 release. For the official Intuit version of “QuickBooks Desktop 2020 – What’s New and Improved” you will find Laura Madeira's article posted at this Firm of the Future blog website. 

I also want to thank the following Intuit personnel for their dedication not only in providing information, briefings and responding to questions, but in guiding the actual product developments within QuickBooks Desktop and this release: Chetana Arakanakere, Rachna Arya, Nipun Bhatia, Aditya Dixit, Varshitha Gokari, Sumit Poddar, Raman Verma. Of course there are entire teams, composed of hundreds of Intuit personnel, behind these people that make the magic happen and too often we forget to say, thank you, to them as well; so to all involved, "THANK YOU"!