Why Receiving Accuracy Matters

The old way of receiving a shipment involves a clipboard, a printed packing list, and a great deal of manual counting. A truck arrives, the dock team unloads pallets, someone walks through the shipment ticking off items on paper, discrepancies are written in the margin, and a data entry clerk later types those numbers into a system. By the time the inventory record reflects what actually arrived, hours have passed — and the opportunity for transcription errors is substantial. By the time a receiving discrepancy is discovered, the truck has left, the goods are in storage, and correcting the record requires either a return arrangement or an inventory adjustment that may never be fully reconciled.

eWAVE approaches receiving entirely differently: digital Advance Ship Notices provide expectations before the truck arrives, mobile scanning validates goods at the moment they cross the dock threshold, and discrepancies are flagged in real time — at the one moment when corrective action is fastest and cheapest.

Three Receiving Modes

ASN Lifecycle

Step-by-Step: SKU-Level Receiving

This is the most common receiving mode and works with any supplier. Here is the complete workflow from ASN creation to putaway confirmation:

1. Create the ASN (Back Office) Navigate to Receiving → Advance Ship Notices → New. Select the supplier and enter the expected arrival date. Add product lines from the purchase order or manually: select the product, enter the expected quantity, and the unit of measure. If lot numbers are known in advance, enter them on each line. Save and set the ASN to Initiated status.
2. Dock team opens the ASN on their mobile device The receiver navigates to the Receiving workflow on their phone. They select the open ASN for the arriving truck. The system presents the list of expected product lines with quantities to receive.
3. Scan or enter each product line For each product, the receiver either scans the product barcode from a carton label or selects the line on screen. If lot number capture is enabled (via context parameter), the system prompts for a lot number before accepting the quantity. If scan-each mode is active, the receiver scans each individual unit; otherwise they enter the counted quantity for that product.
4. System validates against expectation After each line is confirmed, the system compares the received quantity to the ASN expectation. If quantities match, the line turns green. If there is a shortfall or surplus, a discrepancy is flagged immediately on screen. The receiver notes the actual count and the system logs the variance.
5. Complete receipt and confirm putaway When all lines are received, the ASN advances to Receive Complete status. The system immediately generates a putaway suggestion for each received LPN using the move type rules. The receiver follows the on-screen direction to walk each pallet or tote to its suggested storage location, scans the destination location barcode to confirm, and the LPN status advances to In Storage.

Step-by-Step: LPN-Level Receiving

This mode is used when the supplier has pre-labelled their pallets with LPN barcodes and transmitted their contents in the ASN. It is significantly faster for high-volume operations:

1. Receive the supplier's EDI or electronic ASN The supplier transmits an electronic ASN (via EDI 856, flat file, or API) listing every container in the shipment with its LPN barcode and full contents. eWAVE's import wizard or EDI integration creates the ASN and all LPN records automatically.
2. Open the LPN-level ASN on the mobile device The receiver selects the ASN. The system shows a list of expected LPN barcodes rather than product lines.
3. Scan each container as it comes off the truck The receiver scans the LPN barcode on each pallet or tote as it is unloaded. The system instantly confirms: "LPN-000847 — OK: 3 products, 108 units" or flags "LPN-000851 — MISMATCH: expected 24 units SKU-100234, system shows 20." One scan per container replaces multiple product-level scans.
4. Handle discrepancies in real time When a container is flagged as mismatched, the receiver can choose to: accept the actual contents as received (creating a supplier discrepancy record), reject the container and note it for return, or hold the container in a quality-hold location pending supervisor review. All three actions are recorded in the transaction log with the receiver's user ID and timestamp.
5. Complete receipt; system generates putaway instructions As each LPN is confirmed received, the putaway engine evaluates move type rules and assigns a storage location. The receiver walks the pallet to the suggested location and scans to confirm — completing the process without returning to a back-office screen.

Configurable Receiving Steps (Context Parameters)

Supervisors can enable or disable individual data-capture steps for their receiving workflow through context parameters — no code changes required. The relevant parameters for receiving are:

Handling Receiving Discrepancies

Discrepancies at the dock fall into three categories, each with a standard resolution path in eWAVE:

• Quantity shortfall (under-receipt): fewer units arrived than the ASN specified. The system records the actual received quantity and creates an open shortfall record against the ASN. Options: close the shortfall as a supplier claim, create a back-order ASN for the missing quantity (if a follow-up delivery is expected), or adjust the purchase order accordingly. A claim letter can be generated from the ASN record.
• Quantity surplus (over-receipt): more units arrived than expected. The system flags the overage and places the excess in a designated over-receipt staging location pending a supervisor decision: accept (update the purchase order), return to supplier, or hold for credit. The excess LPN is not made available for picking until the disposition is confirmed by a Back Office User.
• Wrong product (substitution): a product different from what was ordered was included in the shipment. The system flags the unknown product barcode and routes it to the reject/returns staging location. A substitution record is created on the ASN for the purchasing team to review and resolve with the supplier.

Automatic Putaway After Receiving

Once a receiving session is complete, eWAVE does not leave goods sitting in a staging area waiting for separate putaway instructions. The putaway algorithm (LpnLocationFinder) runs immediately for each received LPN, evaluating the warehouse's move type rules through a four-pass cascade:

1. Pass 1: single-SKU location rules with a preferred location hint
2. Pass 1b: single-SKU rules without a preferred hint (fallback)
3. Pass 2: mixed-SKU or open-location rules with a hint
4. Pass 2b: mixed-SKU rules without a hint

The algorithm considers available capacity, current location occupancy, and weight/volume limits. If no eligible location is found after all four passes, the LPN is assigned to the default overflow staging location and a supervisor alert is generated. The receiver is guided to the suggested location on their mobile screen immediately after each receipt confirmation — no paper putaway list, no staging bottleneck.