How to run warehouse shipments in Business Central from order to truck
Warehouse shipments in Business Central group the order lines that must leave a location into one document. The shipping team works from that document. The office releases the order, then the warehouse creates the shipment, picks the goods and posts. Below we explain each step, the settings behind it and why a shipment sometimes refuses to post.
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What warehouse shipments in Business Central are for
A sales order says what a customer wants. A warehouse shipment says what leaves the building on a given run. Turning on Require Shipment for a location splits those two jobs. Sales staff stop posting shipments from their desks, and the people who load the truck confirm what really went out.
Shipments cover more than sales. Outbound transfer orders, purchase return orders and service orders can sit on the same document when they leave from the same location. That lets a shipping lead plan by carrier or by route. There is no need to open each order in turn.
Discuss your outbound flow →
- ✓Sales orders
- ✓Outbound transfer orders
- ✓Purchase return orders
- ✓Service order lines
- ✓Grouping by carrier or route
Building warehouse shipments in Business Central from orders
The warehouse sees only released documents, so the first step is always Release on the sales order. From there, the office can choose Create Whse. Shipment. Or the warehouse can start an empty shipment, set the location and use Get Source Documents to choose which orders join it.
Filters help most in busy warehouses. A saved filter can gather every order for one shipping agent, one shipment date or one customer. Shipping advice on the customer matters here. Complete tells the system not to ship an order until every line can go together.
Map your shipping day →- ✓Release the sales order first
- ✓Create shipment from the order
- ✓Get Source Documents
- ✓Saved source filters
- ✓Shipping advice Partial or Complete
Picking goods before the shipment posts
If the location also has Require Pick on, the shipment cannot post until staff register a pick. Create Pick on the shipment produces warehouse pick lines. Each line has a Take from the storage bin and a Place into the shipping bin. Workers register the pick, and the Qty. Picked field on the shipment fills in.
Larger operations can use the pick worksheet. It combines lines from several shipments, so one walk through the aisles serves many orders. You can sort picks by bin ranking, split them by zone or assign them to a named worker. Items with lot or serial tracking ask for the number at this point, not at posting.
Ask us about picking →- ✓Create Pick from the shipment
- ✓Take and Place lines
- ✓Pick worksheet for batching
- ✓Assigned user on each pick
- ✓Tracking captured at the pick
Posting warehouse shipments in Business Central
Post Shipment offers two choices: Ship, or Ship and Invoice. Most teams choose Ship. That way, the warehouse confirms quantity and finance invoices afterwards, often in a batch. Posting reduces inventory and creates the posted sales shipment and the posted warehouse shipment. It also updates the quantity shipped on every source order involved.
Carrier details belong on the shipment too. The shipping agent, service and package tracking number flow to the posted sales shipment. There, the Track Package action opens the carrier's site. A shipping connector for labels or rates reads and writes these same shipment fields, so agree on them early.
Get posting sorted out →- ✓Ship only
- ✓Ship and Invoice
- ✓Posted sales shipment created
- ✓Tracking number on the record
- ✓Batch invoicing afterwards
When a shipment will not post
The usual message says there is nothing to handle. It means the quantity to ship is zero. Perhaps nobody registered a pick, or the pick went to a different bin. Or the stock is not in a pickable bin. Checking the Qty. Picked column and the bin contents for the item normally finds the answer.
Other causes include a customer over its credit limit or a missing posting date permission. Someone may also have reopened an order after you built the shipment. It is best to avoid reopening an order while it sits on a shipment. If outbound posting errors hit you every week, our consultants can trace the pattern with you during US business hours.
Let us look together →- ✓No pick registered
- ✓Stock in a non-pickable bin
- ✓Order reopened mid-process
- ✓Credit limit hold
- ✓Posting date outside allowed range
Common questions on warehouse shipments in Business Central
When should a location use warehouse shipments instead of inventory picks?
Use an inventory pick when one document per order is enough and shipping is simple. Use warehouse shipments in three cases. First, several orders may leave together. Second, different people may pick and ship. Third, you may plan by carrier or route. If your team is small, the simpler inventory pick often does the job well.
Can several sales orders go on one warehouse shipment?
Yes, as long as they ship from the same location. Each line keeps its source order. So posting creates a separate posted sales shipment per order, while the warehouse works from one combined document and one pick run. That saves walking time, and the sales desk still sees each order on its own, with its own status.
Why does the shipment say there is nothing to handle?
The quantity to ship is zero on every line. With Require Pick on, that quantity fills only after staff register a pick. So look for an unregistered pick, a shortage in pickable bins or a line you already shipped in full. Then fix that cause and post again. The message goes away once a quantity exists.
Can we ship part of an order and the rest later?
Yes, when the customer's shipping advice is Partial. Post the quantity you picked. The remaining quantity stays on the sales order, ready to pull onto a later shipment once more stock arrives in the warehouse. If the customer wants one drop only, set Complete instead, and the order waits until every line can go.
Does the warehouse shipment create the customer invoice?
Only if the user chooses Ship and Invoice when posting. With Ship alone, the sales order shows a quantity shipped but not invoiced. Finance then posts the invoice from the order, or combines shipments on one invoice. So warehouse shipments in Business Central can leave billing to the finance team.
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