What is a pick list profile?
A pick list profile (also known as picking rules) is a preset set of rules and parameters for the picking process in Xentral. Pick list profiles contain so-called picking rules and determine the way sales orders are to be picked in the warehouse. These profiles allow for flexible adaptation of the picking process to specific business needs, warehouse structures and customer requirements.
Tip
Video tutorial: Your head start on pick list profiles
Are you looking for a quick overview on the functionalities and usage of pick list profiles in Xentral? Then, our video tutorial is exactly right for you. Take a look right away!
Why should I set up a pick list profile?
Pick list profiles allow you to precisely control and optimize your logistics processes by customizing picking rules and filters that are tailored to your needs. By defining pick list profiles, you can increase the speed of your sales order processing, minimize errors, and also quickly integrate new business needs.
This means that your company can improve warehouse operations, reduce picking time, and lower costs through more accurate inventory movements and better resource utilization. Setting up and regularly adjusting pick list profiles in Xentral is therefore a key strategy for meeting today’s market demands.
Tip
Introducing pick list profiles - yes or no?
An important reason for setting up a pick list profile could be if you run an e-commerce and B2B business that processes hundreds of sales orders every day during the holidays, and an automated pick list profile helps you respond quickly to peak times and ensure customer satisfaction through efficient order processing.
One reason to stick with your previous processes could be if you run a smaller medium-sized electronic circuits company that operates primarily regionally, where a manual, closely monitored picking process can ensure that each circuit is carefully checked, ensuring high product quality that may not be achieved by automated systems.
Creating and setting up pick list profiles
Before using pick list profiles in Xentral, they must be created and configured according to your needs. The setup steps and all possible settings are described in more detail in the following chapters.
Important
Pay attention to the following important notes on using pick list profiles:
Pick lists, and by extension pick list profiles, only consider product that have been marked as stock items in the product master data. This means that the option Stock item must be activated under Sell > Products > Open product > Details tab > Item options section.
Special case: Although just-in-time (JIT) parts lists and their components are not stock items in Xentral, you can still consider those products for pick list profiles by using the product filters in the pick list profile settings.
Train your employees in handling already configured pick list profiles and regularly check that your processes are running smoothly and as desired.
Optimize your processes if, for example, you operate in seasonal business or integrate new sales channels that may impact your automation behavior.
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Creating a pick list profile
Proceed as follows to create a new pick list profile in Xentral:
Open the menu Stock > Pick list profiles.
Alternatively: Go to Settings > Warehouse & Logistics > Logistics > Pick list profiles.
Click on +NEW or +Add profile at the top right.
Assign a Designation (e.g. "B2B" or "1-position orders") and add an optional description in the Comment field to facilitate future adjustments.
Use the settings to define the criteria for the pick list profile, including:
Settings section Pick list: Name, activation, and description of the profile.
Settings section Properties pick list: Number and scope of pick lists to be processed.
Settings section Selection orders: Criteria for positions, weight, volume, and Fast lane.
Setting section Limitation per product: Limitations for weight, volume, and quantity of products.
Settings section Execution of pick list creation: Automatic or manual creation with time control.
Settings section Filter orders: Exclusion of projects, products, shops, or other criteria.
Settings section Shipment settings: Printing options, selection of a picking process and multi-order picking workflow.
Click on Save.
Settings section Pick list
The following general settings are available in the Pick list section.
Important
An activated pick list profile may be processed by Xentral immediately. Keep the profile inactive until you have finalized all desired settings. For testing purposes, you can also deactivate pick list profiles and activate only a single profile.
Field | Description |
Designation | Enter a unique designation for the pick list profile. This designation is only visible to you and your employees in Xentral and is not visible to your customers. |
Active | Once you activate this option, the rules set will be applied and the process will be executed. Warning Activate this option only after you have finalized all desired settings for the pick list profile. |
Comment | Describe the objectives of the pick list profile, its specific use and the controlled logistics processes. The comment serves internal information purposes for you and your employees. Specify which sales channel (e.g. e-commerce, B2B, offline retail) will be optimized in which way, for example for fast e-commerce sales orders during Black Friday. Sample comment: Process all single line sales orders except in the B2B project.
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Settings section Properties pick list
The following settings are available in the Properties pick list section.
Field | Description |
Sales orders | Set the minimum and maximum number of sales orders to be included on a pick list. Enter 0 or leave the field blank for an unlimited number of sales orders, and additional pick lists will be automatically generated if the maximum number of sales orders is exceeded. Tip |
Max. number of pick lists | Set the maximum number of pick lists created simultaneously (i.e. in the same run). This function allows you to control how many pick lists and thus picking runs you manually hand over to your logistics department. If an unlimited number of pick lists should be transferred to logistics, leave this field empty or enter the value 0. Tip |
Piece | Define the minimum and maximum number of products within a pick list. 0 or an empty one means that the product quantity is not limited. If more than the maximum number of products is ready for shipment in sales orders, multiple pick lists are created accordingly. |
Identical parcel contents | If you activate this option, only sales orders consisting of identical products in the exact same quantity will be included in the pick list. Important This option does not work for products with information on best before dates and batches. |
Settings section Selection orders
The following settings are available in the Selection orders section.
Field | Description |
Positions | This setting limits the sales orders on the pick list to those whose number of positions is within the specified values, enter 0 or leave the field blank to allow unlimited numbers of positions. |
Weight | For the pick list, select only sales orders whose total weight of all products is within the specified limits. Enter 0 or leave the field blank to not set a weight limit. Products for which no weight is maintained in the Xentral product master data are not considered by this setting. |
Volume | The pick list only considers sales orders whose total volume of all products is within the specified limits. A value of 0 or an empty field does not set a volume limit. Note that the volume is calculated as a sum and is only an indication of the actual space requirement. The volume must be entered in cm^3 (cubic centimeters). Products for which no volume is maintained in the Xentral product master data are not considered by this setting. Note Note that the volume is calculated as a total and serves only as an estimate of the actual space required. |
Fastlane | This setting selects only sales orders that are marked as Fastlane to be included on the pick list. Use this option for express sales orders and Amazon Prime sales orders, for example. |
No best before/batch | Exclude sales orders with products that have best-before dates and batches information. |
Setting section Limitation per product
The following settings are available in the Limitation per product section.
Note
The criteria described below must apply to all products within a sales order. If only one product in the sales order meets the specified criteria, the sales order will not be processed by the pick list profile.
Field | Description |
Weight | This setting limits the pick list to products whose weight per unit is within the specified values. Enter 0 or leave the field blank to not set a weight limit. |
Volume | This setting limits the pick list to products whose volume per piece is within the specified values. Enter 0 or leave the field blank to not set a volume limit. The volume must be entered in cm^3 (cubic centimeters). |
Piece | This setting limits the pick list to products whose quantity per position is within the specified values. Enter 0 or leave the field blank to set no quantity limit. |
Settings section Execution of pick list creation
The following settings are available in the Execution of pick list creation section.
Field | Description |
Automat. execution | Enable automatic process control for creating pick lists and handing over sales orders to logistics. |
Time | The time or times you enter determine when your pick lists are automatically created and the sales orders are handed over to logistics. Use this setting to control the intervals for process automation. |
Sequence | The sequence set here determines the priority of execution when multiple processes or pick lists are started at the same time, making sure the order reflects the desired priority of your processes. |
Settings section Filter orders
The following settings are available in the Filter orders section.
Field | Description |
Projects | Selects only jobs that belong to the specified projects for the pick list. Deselect this option to exclude specific projects. |
Product | Selects only jobs that contain at least one of the specified products for the pick list. Deselect this option to exclude certain products. |
Properties | Selects only sales orders with products that have specific properties for the pick list. Deselect this option to exclude specific properties. |
Free fields | Selects only jobs whose products contain defined free field values for the pick list. Deselect this option to exclude certain free field values. |
Shops | Selects only sales orders imported from specific shops for the pick list. Deselect this option to exclude specific shops. |
Delivery country | Selects only sales orders that are shipped to the specified delivery countries for the pick list. Deselect this option to exclude certain countries. |
Category | Selects only jobs that contain products in a specific category for the pick list. Deselect this option to exclude specific categories. |
Shipping method | Selects only sales orders that use certain shipping methods for the pick list. Deselect this option to exclude certain shipping methods. |
Payment method | Selects only sales orders processed through specified payment methods for the pick list. Deselect this option to exclude certain payment methods. |
Group | Selects only sales orders that are sent to customers from specified groups for the pick list. Deselect this option to exclude specific customer groups. |
Warehouse | Selects only sales orders that contain products from specific warehouses. Deactivate this option to exclude specific warehouses. |
Warehouse storage location | Selects only sales orders that contain products from specific storage locations for the pick list. Deselect this option to exclude specific storage locations. |
Settings section Shipment settings
The following settings are available in the Shipment settings section.
Field | Description |
Document printer level 1 (picking) | Select a printer to be used for receipts in level 1 of the logistics process. |
Printer shipping label | Select a printer that should be used for printing shipping labels. |
Print shipping label | Activate this option to automatically generate and print shipping labels for sales orders processed by the pick list profile. |
Bulk print with delimiters | Activate this option if shipping labels for sales orders that are processed by the pick list profile should be printed automatically and in bulk. Note This option is only relevant if you are using the functionality for bulk shipping label printing in Xentral. Make sure to take a look at the article Bulk printing of shipping labels to learn more about the typical use cases and the required settings. |
Picking process | This option allows processing of orders from the pick list using a single-stage logistics process. Use this if the affected orders belong to a project where a two-stage logistics process was initially defined in the project settings. Selecting a different commissioning method here overrides the project settings, allowing affected orders to bypass the shipping center and be processed in a single step. |
Squash document handling to stage 1 | Enable this option to override project settings if document printing is set to level 2 in the project’s logistics settings. With this option, documents such as invoices and delivery notes are printed collectively in level 1 instead of being printed later in the shipping center. |
Mobile picking profile | Select a profile that you have previously created in the Mobile picking profile module. Note This setting is only relevant if you are using the Mobile Picking App with the single item pick mode. |
Skip box confirmation | This setting is only relevant if you are using the Multi-order picking module. It ensures that the box confirmation for this pick list is skipped. |
Practical examples for setting up pick list profiles
Below are various practical examples along with a list of the necessary settings for pick list profiles. These use cases focus on excluding or specifically processing B2B orders.
B2B pick lists daily at 11:00 am as a separate picking run
Make the settings below to automatically create pick lists for sales orders from the B2B project at 11:00 a.m. each day and hand these sales orders over to a dedicated picking run.
Maximum of 10 sales orders per pick list
Run automatically at 11:00
Select B2B project
Apply printer settings from the B2B project
Process all sales orders with one position (excluding the B2B project)
Carry out the settings listed below to automatically create pick lists with sales orders that contain only one product each. At the same time, sales orders from the B2B project will be excluded from automatic pick list creation.
Maximum of 25 orders per pick list
Maximum of 5 pick lists at a time
Automatic execution at 07:00, 08:00 and 09:00 o’clock
Only consider sales orders including 1 product
Exclude project B2B
Apply printer settings from project settings
Automatic and manual creation of pick lists
Pick list profiles allow you to start picking runs manually or have them generated automatically. You can initiate the processing of pick lists yourself if there are special needs, or use an automatic system that processes orders at predetermined times and sorts different pick lists according to priorities and process logic.
Creating pick lists manually
The manual transfer of pick list profiles gives you the control to select specific sales orders specifically for processing by manually calculating individual or all pick lists.This method allows flexible adaptation to changing priorities and requirements in operational operations, whereby you select and release the sales orders that meet the defined criteria directly for further logistics processing.
Example: The following sales orders are ready for shipment with green lights in the sales order list. Since they are posted to the project B2B, they meet the criteria of the B2B pick list profile from the example outlined above and are therefore suggested for processing for this pick list profile.
Steps to generate a pick list manually:
Open the menu Stock > Pick list profiles.
Select a pick list profile by selecting the desired profile from the drop-down menu, e.g. B2B.
Select the desired pick list profile from the drop-down menu above the table.
Optional: Click on All to simultaneously calculate all pick list profiles available in Xentral.
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Start the calculation of the pick list profiles by clicking on Recalculate.
After the calculation, the sales orders found for the selected pick list are displayed at the bottom of the list and the number of the respective picking run is displayed in the Batch column for each sales order.
You can manually process the picking runs by clicking the Single or All button.
The entries are now displayed in the Queue tab, where they are waiting for an automatic logistics process to complete.
Note: You can also view all sales orders that are currently in the queue in the Sales order overview > Shipment handover tab menu.
The process launcher processes all picking runs in the queue automatically. The required process is called Batches. You can access and set it up in the Process starter module. Further information on this module is available in this article.
Note
Result: The orders are forwarded to the delivery note and invoice according to the settings in the B2B project in this example. The products are posted out of the warehouse and the delivery notes with storage space are printed out via the warehouse printer. Picking of the B2B sales orders can start in the warehouse separately from B2C.
In the log of the sales orders handed over - the traffic light symbols are checked off in gray - you can see the type of execution via the pick list profile B2B, where the number 1 denotes the first stack.
Generating pick lists automatically in the background
Unlike manual handling of pick list profiles, automatic processing does not require you to check which pick lists can be created; instead, the time control and criteria are automatically calculated in the background, checked and the corresponding picking runs are generated.
For example, if the pick list profile calculates all Prio orders at 6:00 a.m., all related sales orders are automatically transferred to the warehouse and the process configured in the profile is started, for example, all Amazon sales orders for Packing table 1 and all Shopify sales orders for Packing table 2 are automatically processed and, depending on the setting, either printed as a paper pick list or prepared for picking with mobile devices.
Note
Custom settings such as picking processes and fully automated pick list creation allow you to control how your in-house logistics or fulfillment service provider is supplied with pick lists and sales orders around the clock.
Steps for fully automated pick list creation:
Start by creating pick list profiles from the Stock > Pick list profiles menu. You can find an overview of the necessary steps and available settings in this chapter.
Set times or criteria for processing in the pick list profile settings. Optionally, assign priorities as well.
Set up the Batches process in the Process starter module.
In addition, create a pick list profile that is the last to process all open sales orders with green sales order traffic lights at the end of the day. By doing so, you make sure that no sales order remains that has not been processed by an automatic process.