EBS_121_Cum_RCD_LOG

ORACLE E-BUSINESS SUITE RELEASE CONTENT DOCUMENT Logistics Release 12.1 (through 12.1.3)

Prepared by EBS Product Management & Strategy Last Updated: July 9, 2010

Version: 4.0 Copyright © 2010 Oracle Corporation All Rights Reserved

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1 Release Content Document ii

Table of Contents

1. Disclaimer 1

2. Introduction 2

2.1. Purpose of Document 2

3. New and Changed Features in Logistics 3

3.1. Oracle Inventory Management 3 3.1.1. Overview 3 3.1.2. Release 12.1.1 3

3.1.2.1. On Hand Balance Material Status 3 3.1.2.2. Extensibility Enhancements 3 3.1.2.3. Lot Genealogy Enhancements 3 3.1.2.4. Purchasing by Revision Enhancements 4

3.1.3. Release 12.1.2 4 3.1.3.1. Supply Chain Web Services for Items and Inventory 4

3.2. Oracle Landed Cost Management – New Product 4 3.2.1. Overview 5 3.2.2. Release 12.1.1 5

3.2.2.1. Charge Management 5 3.2.2.2. Advanced Pricing for Charge Templates 5 3.2.2.3. Landed Cost Calculation 6 3.2.2.4. Product Cost Dashboard 6 3.2.2.5. Tax Recovery 6 3.2.2.6. Integration to EBS Supply Chain and Backoffice 6

3.2.3. Release 12.1.2 8 3.2.3.1. Oracle Landed Cost Management Support for Process Cost Management 8 3.2.3.2. Visibility into Matched Invoice Amounts 8 3.2.3.3. Landed Cost Calculation History 8 3.2.3.4. Landed Cost Visualization by PO 9

3.2.4. Release 12.1.3 9 3.2.4.1. Landed Cost Simulation for Purchase Orders 9

3.3. Oracle Mobile Supply Chain Applications 9 3.3.1. Overview 9 3.3.2. Release 12.1.1 10

3.3.2.1. Mobile User Interface Personalization 10

3.4. Oracle Warehouse Management 10 3.4.1. Overview 10 3.4.2. Release 12.1.1 10

3.4.2.1. Forward Pick Replenishment 10 3.4.2.2. Mobile User Interface Personalization 11 3.4.2.3. Extensibility Enhancements 11 3.4.2.4. Dock Scheduling and Load Sequencing 11 3.4.2.5. LPN Status 12 3.4.2.6. UCC-128 and Case Picking Enhancements 12 3.4.2.7. Over-Allocation Using WMS Rules 12

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1 Release Content Document iii

3.4.2.8. LPN Over Allocation during Pick Release 13 3.4.2.9. Directed Putaway of Reserved LPNs 13 3.4.2.10. Reusing LPNs 13 3.4.2.11. Cluster Pick by Label 13 3.4.2.12. Distributed WMS Deployment 13 3.4.2.13. Advanced Wave Planning 14

3.4.3. Release 12.1.2 14 3.4.3.1. Advanced Wave Planning Enhancements 14 3.4.3.2. Task Cancellation 16 3.4.3.3. High Volume Case Picking Support 16

3.4.4. Release 12.1.3 16 3.4.4.1. Opportunistic Cycle Count 16 3.4.4.2. Lot Substitution 16 3.4.4.3. Distributed WMS Integration with Oracle EBS 17 3.4.4.4. LSP Management and Activity Based Billing 17

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1 Release Content Document Purpose of Document 1

1. Disclaimer This Release Content Document (RCD) describes product features that are proposed for the specified releases of the Oracle E-Business Suite. This document describes new or changed functionality only. Existing functionality from prior releases is not described. It is intended solely to help you assess the business benefits of upgrading to the specified release of the Oracle E-Business Suite.

This document in any form, software or printed matter, contains proprietary information that is the exclusive property of Oracle. Your access to and use of this confidential material is subject to the terms and conditions of your Oracle Software License and Service Agreement, which has been executed and with which you agree to comply. This document and information contained herein may not be disclosed, copied, reproduced or distributed to anyone outside Oracle without prior written consent of Oracle. This document is not part of your license agreement nor can it be incorporated into any contractual agreement with Oracle or its subsidiaries or affiliates.

This document is for informational purposes only and is intended solely to assist you in planning for the implementation and upgrade of the product features described. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described in this document remains at the sole discretion of Oracle.

Due to the nature of the product architecture, it may not be possible to safely include all features described in this document without risking significant destabilization of the code.

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1 Release Content Document Purpose of Document 2

2. Introduction

2.1. Purpose of Document This Release Content Document (RCD) communicates information about new or changed functionality introduced in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1 and subsequent 12.1.x Release Update Packs and off-cycle patches.

For your convenience, features are organized by product, and then by the release in which they first became available. Release 12.1.1 was the first generally-available release of Release 12.1. Features released in an off-cycle patch on Release 12.1.1, but before Release 12.1.2, are designated as Release 12.1.1+. Features released in RUP2 of Release 12.1 are designated as Release 12.1.2, and so on.

Existing functionality in Release 12.0, Release 12.0.x Release Update Packs (RUPs), or prior releases is not described in this document. For a complete overview of all functionality included in prior releases, this document should be read in conjunction with the Release 12 and Release 12.0.x RUP RCDs. These RCDs can be found in My Oracle Support Document 404152.1 Release Content Documents for E-Business Suite Release 12 and 12.0.x Release Update Packs.

https://support.oracle.com/CSP/ui/flash.html#tab=KBHome%28page=KBHome&id=%28%29%29,%28page=KBNavigator&id=%28bmDocID=404152.1&from=BOOKMARK&bmDocDsrc=KB&viewingMode=1143%29%29�

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1 Release Content Document Oracle Inventory Management 3

3. New and Changed Features in Logistics

3.1. Oracle Inventory Management 3.1.1. Overview

With Oracle Inventory Management you can improve inventory visibility, reduce inventory levels and control inventory operations. All of your material in each line of business and stage of the inventory lifecycle can be tracked in a single system. Increased transparency will reduce the need for local buffer stocks, and inventory will be located where it previously wasn't known to exist.

Oracle Inventory Management is part of the Oracle Logistics solution and integrates seamlessly with other Supply Chain Management applications, including Oracle Warehouse Management, Oracle Order Management, Procurement, Discrete and Process Manufacturing, and Oracle Financials.

3.1.2. Release 12.1.1

3.1.2.1. On Hand Balance Material Status

Even in the most efficient manufacturing and distribution networks, quality issues may arise. Packages may arrive damaged from transportation; , defects may be detected in manufacturing long after the product has left the production center; or quality issues may affect only a portion of a manufacturing batch. With this feature, the material status model leveraged in Oracle Warehouse Management has been extended to provide material status at the on hand balance level.

This On Hand Material Status will enable warehouse users to:

• Separate the physical movement of material and changes to the material status into different responsibilities, which will prevent the accidental change of material status when material is moved.

• Put part of a lot that exists in a certain location on hold without having to place the entire lot on hold.

• This also enables holds to be placed on non lot or serial controlled items without moving that material to a quarantine location.

3.1.2.2. Extensibility Enhancements

Users often require the ability to programmatically alter the details of an allocation record in Oracle Inventory (a pending pick or other temporary transaction record). This may be to change the lot about to be picked, change the quantity or otherwise manipulate the transaction based on logic derived from a third party materials management application or a custom user interface used to drive picking. To better support these requirements, Oracle Inventory now offers a public API to manipulate records allocations prior to committing a pick confirm transaction.

3.1.2.3. Lot Genealogy Enhancements

Enhancements have been incorporated into the Lot Genealogy form to allow the user to:

• Highlight a particular item lot on the genealogy tree and toggle between the Where Used and Source tabs using the highlighted item lot as the top level node in the tree structure. This allows the user to refresh the tree with a different top level node without being forced to go back to the query window.

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1 Release Content Document Oracle Landed Cost Management – New Product 4

• View more levels of detail in the left-side navigator window where lot branches are expanded before they are forced to scroll horizontally.

3.1.2.4. Purchasing by Revision Enhancements

The profile option “INV: Purchasing by Revision” controls whether an item revision will be specified on purchase requisitions generated by Min-Max Planning. Purchasing by Revision has been enhanced to be used for non-revision controlled items, as well as revision controlled items. Item revisions may be defined and used when purchasing material, although the item may not be revision-controlled in inventory. The latest revision will be defaulted onto the purchase requisition.

3.1.3. Release 12.1.2 3.1.3.1. Supply Chain Web Services for Items and Inventory

As part of this enhancement, web services are provided by exposing business logic contained within Oracle forms through Java APIs. These web services are cataloged in the Oracle Integration Repository and can be browsed though Oracle Integration Repository Browser Interface under respective product family node. By Clicking on the Business Entity in Integration repository, you can view full description, list of web services for that business entity along with the description of the web service, whereas description of parameters can be seen from the xsd definition of the service available via the generated wsdl. Following web service is provided for Item: 1) Item : Create Item, Query Item Details, Update Item Details Following web services are provided for Inventory: 1) Lot Number : Create Lot Number, Query Lot Number, Update Lot Number 2) Reservation : Create Reservation,Delete Reservation, Query Reservation, Update Reservation 3) Serial Number : Create Serial Number, Query Serial Number, Update Serial Number

3.2. Oracle Landed Cost Management – New Product In an effort to meet revenue targets and profitability expectations, companies often look to international trade to maximize their customer reach, gain competitive advantage, and reduce costs. However, international trade introduces new coordination and management complexities as well as costs. Understanding and attributing how much money an enterprise is currently earning by product becomes very difficult. This is due in large part to the fact that financial processes do not often mirror complicated physical supply flows. Companies are looking for ways to bridge these two realities and accurately map product movement and costs to financial accounting. They need the confidence to know that cost and inventory valuations are correct. This is important not just for regulatory compliance but also for strategic decision making. Knowledge and visibility into these trade costs


would help organizations better evaluate new product plans, price their products, and negotiate contracts with both suppliers and customers.

Additionally, some industries and regions require that product specific landed costs be tracked and included on documentation even for domestic trade. These are often driven by a federal wide mandate in the case of countries like Brazil and India. However, they can also be driven by industries like process manufacturing where it is difficult to track the individual acquisition components against the resulting products that get stored and sold further downstream.

A landed cost management solution itemizes all the merchandise and nonmerchandise related costs associated with an organization’s supply chain. It apportions these costs back to the individual merchandise item providing traceability throughout the item’s lifecycle. The result is overall visibility that drives strategic decisions around sourcing, product pricing, contract negotiation, and product planning initiatives. It also provides the evidence and data to support accurate fiscal reporting and compliant trade documentation.

3.2.1. Overview Oracle’s Landed Cost Management application is a new product released on EBS r.12.1. Landed Cost Management enables organizations to gain insight into all of the “real” costs associated with acquiring products including broker, terminal, insurance, and transportation fees as well as duties and taxes. These costs are initially estimated and updated with actual amounts as they become known allocating them to shipments, orders, and products. Cost methods and inventory valuations are accurately maintained providing better visibility into an individual product’s profitability and an organization’s outstanding exposure. This data provides better insight for product forecasting and budgeting and provides clear evidence of the detailed accumulation of expenses for regulatory requirements and reporting.

3.2.2. Release 12.1.1

3.2.2.1. Charge Management

Many of the charges that apply to landed costs can be complicated in their application, maintenance, and ongoing tracking. These charges are received in a variety of formats at different points during a fulfillment process. These points include product creation, sourcing, order creation, shipping, receiving, and invoicing. Organizing and tracking these charges as soon as they are incurred is key to a company fully understanding their outstanding liabilities.

Oracle Landed Cost Management collects an unlimited number of estimated charges and allows users to configure how charges should be applied to a shipment line, a group of lines within a shipment, or an entire shipment. It applies these charges based on weight, volume, quantity, or the value of the items being traded. These charges can be categorized by different cost factors which will ultimately govern the behavior in how they are included in a total landed cost calculation. Once actual amounts are received, Charge Management records the new value for comparison with the earlier estimates and sends adjustments to backoffice applications.

3.2.2.2. Advanced Pricing for Charge Templates

When organizations try to obtain estimates for a particular charge, they can typically identify standard business rules for when these charges should apply. Oracle’s Landed Cost Management application allows users to enter lists of estimated charges and conditions as to when these charges should apply by using Advanced Pricing. This enables a template of charges to automatically be applied to a receipt. It removes the need for a charge reference spreadsheet or document often found in organizations dealing


with complex supply chains and minimizes error prone steps of manually entering charges during a transaction. Once these estimated costs are applied by Advanced Pricing, users have the ability to verify and update them via Oracle Landed Cost Management’s Charge Management functionality. Ultimately, Oracle Landed Cost Management uses these components to calculate the estimated landed cost.

3.2.2.3. Landed Cost Calculation

Most organizations struggle to find the “real” costs required to take a product to market, to source a product overseas, or to do business with a particular vendor or customer. Knowing the total actual landed cost of goods provides powerful insight in today’s competitive global markets. When companies use this landed cost information strategically, they can control overall product margin and optimize profitability. Some companies can only estimate this landed cost at best, while others can calculate estimated or actual costs. Often times, this is done in a semi-automated fashion in different places, making it difficult to compare estimates with actuals.

The Oracle Landed Cost Management engine provides the ability to calculate the estimated landed cost based on charges manually assigned and automatically allocated based on the configuration in the charge management repository. It recalculates applicable taxes and can be configured to exclude recoverable tax amounts. It also calculates the actual landed costs by prorating the actual invoices and proportional taxes to obtain the variances between what was estimated and what was charged. Cost components summed in the calculation remain stored at the most granular level for detailed tracking of charge amounts while variances are updated to the appropriate accounts.

3.2.2.4. Product Cost Dashboard

Financial flows do not mirror physical supply chain transactional flows. Landed cost management helps to link these two flows together and provides visibility and traceability from one to the other. With Landed Cost Management’s dashboard pages, companies can see the real time accrual updates for a particular receipt or shipment. They can validate the accuracy of a supplier’s estimate by comparing estimated and actual costs and can see the percentage of a particular cost component for a particular item. Additionally, users can make use of all the flexible Oracle and E-Business Suite tools in order to meet their own customized reporting requirements.

3.2.2.5. Tax Recovery Many countries impose high tariffs on items as they pass through the supply chain. This can sometimes reach into the double digits. As a result, tax recoverability becomes extremely important when organizations are making sourcing decisions and automating inbound flows. Oracle Landed Cost Management factors in tax recoverable amounts in the landed cost calculation, so that estimated and actual landed cost calculations do not overstate the true tax costs.

3.2.2.6. Integration to EBS Supply Chain and Backoffice

Almost all organizations struggle to provide their backoffice systems visibility into estimates of accrued liabilities that are then updated with actual amounts when they become known. This is particularly the case when organizations have a large portion of their trade done across borders or have a complex supply chain. Oracle’s Landed Cost Management is integrated with Oracle E-Business Suite’s financial and supply chain applications to provide this visibility and make implementation straightforward. Oracle Landed Cost Management provides the estimated landed cost to E-Business Suite Inventory Receiving which then automatically forwards it on to E-Business Suite Cost


Management module. Once actual costs are obtained and shared with Accounts Payable, variances are effectively communicated to E-Business Suite Cost Management module.

3.2.2.6.1. Procurement Integration Procurement Information is often the baseline information used to itemize expected shipment or receiving lines on which extended supply chain charges will be applied. Landed Cost Management provides visibility into E-Business Suite Procurement data in order to build expected shipments for charge application and subsequent landed cost estimation calculations. When manually entering expected shipments the reference information provided by Procurement saves time and decreases errors that might occur without automated access to this information. Once available in Landed Cost Management, expected values received from procurement such as quantity and price can be edited for estimated cost calculation purposes. Furthermore, all the necessary data is provided to help arrive at an accurate three way match once an invoice for a PO line or charge is entered into Accounts Payable.

3.2.2.6.2. Receiving Integration It is difficult to gain insight into charges associated with the acquisition of items through an extended supply chain. Often, organizations are not aware of them until an invoice is received. Companies need better visibility into these charges. Additionally, many regions require that all expenses be accounted for at an item/product level upon receipt. In order to comply with these requirements and provide an accurate calculation of product related expenses, these extended costs need to be estimated and applied to an item at the time of receipt.

Oracle’s Landed Cost Management’s integration with EBS Inventory’s Receiving module enables Receiving to view LCM’s estimated shipments and receive against them. It further calls LCM for a total cost estimation calculation for all receipts whether they originate in LCM or in Receiving itself. These estimations are then forwarded to E-Business Suite Cost Management module in order to update inventory valuations and accounting.

3.2.2.6.3. Cost Management Integration When organizations are able to estimate landed costs, they often do not communicate those estimates to their backoffice system. This is because they lack an automated method to update these estimates with actual values once they are received. This prevents them from fully utilizing the estimated information in their reporting and decision making processes.

After actual values are received and the true landed cost is calculated in Landed Cost Management, any variances between the actual and the estimate are determined. Those variances are updated to E-Business Suite Cost Management module which in turn updates the proper accounts and valuation.

3.2.2.6.4. Accounts Payable Integration Few Accounts Payable applications provide a mechanism to apply and match an unlimited number of charges to a particular procured item line or group of lines. This means that accurate actual landed cost calculations might be difficult to automatically calculate. Additionally, this prevents tying an actual charge back to any record of an earlier estimated landed cost calculation.

Oracle Accounts Payable allows for unlimited numbers of charges to be entered and applied to procured line items and allows line items to be applied and associate to recovered line items. This information is forwarded to Landed Cost Management which in turn calculates the Actual Landed Cost. These values are compared with earlier estimates to determine if a variance should be communicated to Costing and ultimately to the General Ledger.


3.2.3. Release 12.1.2

3.2.3.1. Oracle Landed Cost Management Support for Process Cost Management

In a global environment, extended supply chain and logistical costs can account for as much as 30, 40 or 50% of the overall cost to obtain an item. Process industries are particularly sensitive to these additional costs especially when the goods being acquired are commodities with narrower margins. Oracle Landed Cost Management is being enhanced to support Oracle Process Manufacturing. Most of the enhancements are designed to allow Oracle Process Manufacturing Cost Management to consume the landed cost calculations and adjustments. Please see the 12.1.2 Release Content Document for Manufacturing for more information on the bulk of the enhancements made to Oracle Process Manufacturing Cost Management to support this flow.

3.2.3.2. Visibility into Matched Invoice Amounts

Comparing a total landed cost calculation against the portion of the cost that has been invoiced gives companies visibility into the finality of the actual landed cost calculation. It also helps them understand how complete the billing is for a particular receipt including all of the applicable charges.

The “Shipment Hierarchy” screen’s “Allocations” view has been enhanced with a third calculation column, “Matched” in addition to the estimated and actual amounts. This column includes the portion of the actual landed cost that has been billed or invoiced. Users can drill down to review the itemized matched or billed transactions to help resolve issues, tracing back a landed cost calculation to the related invoices.

3.2.3.3. Landed Cost Calculation History

Organizations that make decisions from landed cost data often monitor landed cost calculations for any unexpected inconsistencies between estimated and actual calculations. If an inconsistency exists, they require the ability to drill into the root cause of the calculation and related transactions. Insight into this is useful in many regards but is particularly helpful in refining estimated charge calculations or troubleshooting errors.

The “Landed Cost Details” page has been enhanced with a calculation history diagram. Peaks in actual calculations not inline with estimates identify areas of interest that might warrant further investigation. Users can then choose to review the details for that particular landed cost calculation for more information

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1 Release Content Document Oracle Mobile Supply Chain Applications 9

3.2.3.4. Landed Cost Visualization by PO

In purchasing organizations where material is coming from overseas or cross borders, extended costs are a big portion of the overall acquisition cost. In these instances, it is often helpful for procurement professionals to see the estimated landed cost of a PO before submitting it.

With 12.1.2, Oracle Landed Cost Management will update the current “Display Acquisition Cost” page in Oracle Purchasing to display landed cost information by Purchase Order.

3.2.4. Release 12.1.3

3.2.4.1. Landed Cost Simulation for Purchase Orders

Landed cost is the cost to “land” the good on the ultimate (final) location. It could be also the cost that a buyer has incurred in purchasing a product (good or service). Landed Cost is calculated in order to accurately measure the corporation’s cost calculation and item profitability. Knowing the real landed cost is important in actual costing, evaluating on-hand inventory, as well as setting sales prices and revenue forecasting.

This feature allows a buyer to simulate the landed costs at creation time of purchase orders, allowing better sourcing decisions based on the true landed cost of the items. The buyer can also review the landed cost information simulations by editing the charges automatically calculated or create and delete new ones.

3.3. Oracle Mobile Supply Chain Applications 3.3.1. Overview

Oracle Mobile Supply Chain applications enable users to perform many common warehouse and shop floor transactions through hand-held radio frequency devices, personal digital assistants and truck-mounted radio frequency scanners. Transactions can be carried out on these wireless devices at the point of use, offering real time transaction processing, improved data accuracy and increased mobility and convenience.

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1 Release Content Document Oracle Warehouse Management 10

3.3.2. Release 12.1.1

3.3.2.1. Mobile User Interface Personalization

A major benefit of Oracle Warehouse Management (WMS) mobile data entry capability is to ability to record a material movement at the point of usage. Data entry at the point of usage enhances inventory accuracy and records real time information. Mobile personalization goes one step further by providing the user with the flexibility to record data that is most relevant for the transaction without compromising the accuracy of transaction. In addition, mobile personalization can record additional use defined data in flex fields for specific transactions. Using this feature a warehouse can immediately realize the following benefits:

• Improve transaction execution speed by hiding or defaulting fields on a mobile transaction form

• Improve transaction accuracy by defaulting a value in field using a user defined logic

• Allow recording of additional data on a mobile transaction form using flex fields

All the above changes to a mobile transaction form can be made using a user friendly configuration screen without resorting to code changes that are expensive to complete and difficult to maintain. In this release, personalization is available for mobile receipt transactions in MSCA.

3.4. Oracle Warehouse Management 3.4.1. Overview

Oracle Warehouse Management (WMS) automates and optimizes material handling processes to reduce labor costs, improve facility utilization, increase order accuracy and provide innovative services to customers. Oracle Warehouse Management supports inbound, outbound, and reverse logistics, finished, raw and work in process materials, manufacturing and distribution environments and advanced value-added services such as kitting and cross docking.

Oracle Warehouse Management is part of the Oracle Supply Chain Execution solution and integrates seamlessly with other Supply Chain Execution products, including Oracle Order Management, and Oracle Transportation Planning.

3.4.2. Release 12.1.1

3.4.2.1. Forward Pick Replenishment

Forward pick area replenishment is an important activity in a warehouse. By replenishing a forward pick area, a distribution center disaggregates material stored in reserve or bulk area and moves it into a pick area that is optimized for unit picking. In this release the following replenishment features are available for use:

• Pull Replenishment: This type of replenishment is useful for items with high uniform demand in forward pick area. A replenishment suggestion will be auto-created as soon as a shortfall is detected during order release process.

• Push Replenishment: This type of replenishment is useful for items with irregular demand in forward pick area. Using push replenishment, the aggregated future demand for an item is replenished to a forward pick area for future order picking activity.

• Dynamic Execution: The dynamic replenishment execution feature orchestrates the warehouse tasks in such a way that a pick task to a forward pick area will be


dispatched only when replenishment has been completed. Similarly a replenishment task will be dispatched only when a forward pick area has enough capacity to receive the replenished material.

These features provide tremendous productivity benefits to a warehouse engaged in distribution activity. Replenishment to forward pick area will allow distribution center to reap the benefits of bulk procurement and optimized storage in a reserve area as well as optimized picking for order profiles with smaller quantities.

3.4.2.2. Mobile User Interface Personalization

A major benefit of Warehouse Management’s mobile data entry capability is to ability to record a material movement at the point of usage. Data entry at the point of usage enhances inventory accuracy and records real time information. Mobile personalization goes one step further by providing the user with the flexibility to record data that is most relevant for the transaction without compromising the accuracy of transaction. In addition, mobile personalization can record additional use defined data in flex fields for specific transactions. Using this feature a warehouse can immediately realize the following benefits:

• Improve transaction execution speed by hiding or defaulting fields on a mobile transaction form

• Improve transaction accuracy by defaulting a value in field using a user defined logic

• Allow recording of additional data on a mobile transaction form using flex fields

All the above changes to a mobile transaction form can be made using a user friendly configuration screen without resorting to code changes that are expensive to complete and difficult to maintain.

3.4.2.3. Extensibility Enhancements

Task Extensibility features provide tremendous implementation flexibility in the execution of WMS tasks. This feature will deliver a public API to modify, update, split and cancel a WMS task. Using these features, WMS task functionality can be extended for customer or industry specific needs. The following list of business scenarios illustrates the applicability of this API:

• A user defined application that dispatches tasks to warehouse workers. Task API will be used to modify task status from unreleased to pending

• An extension that assigns a task to a warehouse operator based on a customer specific logic

• An extension to the cartonization algorithm that can split a task and assign a cartonized LPN to tasks

• An extension that supplements the warehouse control system layer to allow the warehouse automation system (for example and automated storage and retrieval system) to enable the automation system to drive updates to the lots, serials or quantities picked

3.4.2.4. Dock Scheduling and Load Sequencing

Organizations leveraging both Oracle Transportation Management (OTM) and Oracle Warehouse Management (WMS) can now make use of additional integrations between the two products to drive distribution efficiencies. OTM can schedule shipments to dock doors and sequence the loading of trailers at the doors based on time required, door availability and stop sequence for drop offs. With this feature, the dock doors, the dock


door appointments and sequence of loads into a trailer can be synchronized with WMS. WMS will use this additional information to plan outbound activities such as:

• Release of shipments for pick execution based on dock door schedule

• Sequencing of drops in the staging area for a multi-stop shipping itinerary

• Sequencing of tasks for picking when a multi-stop shipping itinerary is being used

3.4.2.5. LPN Status

Even in the most efficient manufacturing and distribution networks, quality issues may arise. Packages may arrive damaged from transportation; defects may be detected in manufacturing long after the product has left the production center; or quality issues may affect only some of the LPNs produced in a manufacturing batch. With this feature, the material status model has been extended to provide License Plate (LPN) level holds. This will enable warehouse users to:

• Put individual pallets, cases or totes on hold without impacting the rest of the lot or the batch.

• Place holds on material that is neither lot nor serial controlled without moving that material to a quarantine location for speedier intervention when issues are discovered.

• Separate the physical movement of material and changes to the material status into different responsibilities, which will prevent the accidental change of material status when material is moved.

3.4.2.6. UCC-128 and Case Picking Enhancements

In consumer packaged goods industry, its common requirement to have the goods packed into containers with UCC-128 labeling. While the ability to print UCC-128 label already exists in WMS R12, this feature makes it easy to manage varied compliance needs of customers in consumer packaged goods industry based on customer’s ASN preference e.g. pallet level ASN or case level ASN, order type e.g. bulk order, store order, etc. This feature will also allow printing of sequential carton count on label e.g. “1 of 3”, “2 of 3”, etc. and also allow generation of ITF-compliant (I 2 of 5 labeling standard) labels with shipping information.

This feature also introduces support for efficient “Case Picking”. The case labels printed at order release can be assigned to pick operators. The operator can now perform case picks and either perform “Pick to Belt” or “Pick to Pallet” by scanning multiple case labels.

3.4.2.7. Over-Allocation Using WMS Rules

This feature is useful to pick items that are difficult to fulfill in exact order quantity. Examples of such items are: Metal strips, Gas cylinders, fluid containers, paper rolls, wire bobbins, etc. Such items are typically stored or packed in non-standard quantities in the warehouse. Over shipment is a very common business practice for such items since it’s not cost effective to cut, split or unpack the items in order to ship the exact ordered quantity.

In this feature WMS rules can be configured to over allocate containers that are within over shipping tolerance and at the same time closest to the requested quantity on the order. In this way WMS operators are directed to pick containers that require minimal material handling without entering any pick exception codes even though the pick quantity may be greater than requested quantity.


3.4.2.8. LPN Over Allocation during Pick Release

Certain industries and business situation require that an Order cannot be fulfilled in the exact quantity. A good example is primary metal where an order for an item such as steel sheets cannot be exactly fulfilled because it’s expensive to cut a steel sheet to match the exact order quantity. In such situations, over allocation or under allocation is a normal business practice. This feature in Oracle WMS facilitates over allocation of an entire LPN provided it’s within over shipment tolerance defined on the Order Line.

3.4.2.9. Directed Putaway of Reserved LPNs

In a made to order manufacturing environment, the finished material is often packed into LPNs at manufacturing completion. In order to ensure that the manufactured material is fulfilled correctly, the entire LPN is reserved to the sales order. However it’s a common business scenario to putaway the LPN within the warehouse prior to its eventual shipment to the customer. This feature allows a reserved LPN to be transferred or putaway within the warehouse while retaining the reservation for the customer. The reservation guarantees the supply for the order line while the system enables you to move reserved lots within an LPN throughout the warehouse.

3.4.2.10. Reusing LPNs

The REUSE_LPNS API enables you to reuse LPNs and to review an LPN history. This API enables you to physically re-use returned containers after their contents have been issued out of stores, or returned using an RMA (return materials authorization).

3.4.2.11. Cluster Pick by Label

One Step Pick and Pack Process i.e. picking of products directly into a shipping carton offers huge productivity gains as no downstream packaging is required. Oracle Warehouse Management System currently supports One Step Pick and Pack Process using cartonization and “pick by label” picking. This feature makes it possible to pick one or more orders (the cluster) directly into their respective shipping cartons (pick by label). With this feature it’s now possible to get further productivity boost using one step pick and pack for several orders at once.

With cluster pick by label, labels are printed at pick release and manually distributed to operators based on criteria such as cart capacity. An operator scans multiple labels, and WMS facilitates interleaving of picks from several orders in one pass of the warehouse.

3.4.2.12. Distributed WMS Deployment

Distributed WMS deployment is a new feature delivered as a patch on Release 12.1.1. Until now Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) Warehouse Management System (WMS) required the transaction source systems like Purchasing and Order Management and execution systems like WMS to reside and operate within the same instance. With Distributed WMS deployment, it’s possible for WMS to be installed on a separate physical instance that is independent from the remaining applications of E-Business Suite such as Order Management, Purchasing and Financials. This feature gives powerful choices to customers to deploy WMS either "integrated" as a module within EBS or as a "distributed" and independent solution installed on a separate instance. Customers who want the latest WMS features in R12.1 can have WMS deployed on a separate instance without upgrading the entire application suite. This feature also makes it possible to use Oracle WMS for warehousing operations along with an EBS or a non-EBS host system. In addition, warehouse with network connectivity issues can also consider a distributed WMS installation for an "always on" WMS solution.


The feature also ships with an integration framework based on Oracle Data Integration (ODI) tool

3.4.2.13. Advanced Wave Planning

Advanced Wave Planning is a new feature being released as a patch on Release 12.1.1. Advanced wave planning provides advanced Pick Wave management functionality over and above what currently exists in pick release. Wave Planning is particularly useful for warehouses that fulfill a high volume of small order lines. Wave planning makes it easier to manage large order volume by grouping orders into waves and subsequently releasing them for execution and monitoring.

Using advanced Wave Planning warehouse managers can select order using simple criteria and group them into pick waves. In addition, advanced filters similar to WMS rules engine can be used to select orders for waves as well as create waves by constraining them to be within certain line count, weight, cube or value. Wave planning provides preview of lines and tasks, expected completion, fill rate and labor needs prior to release of the wave. Advanced wave planning also comes up with Wave Dashboard that can be used to view wave progress and drill down to detailed line or task status. The exception engine in wave planning can be configured for specific business case to proactively look for exceptions such that corrective action can be taken. For example, a severe exception can be triggered if 80% of the lines in a wave are not loaded to the trailer 30 minutes prior to dock appointment end time. The other advanced wave planning feature is task planning. The task planning criteria can be used to configure the conditions under which tasks will be released automatically for execution.

3.4.3. Release 12.1.2 3.4.3.1. Advanced Wave Planning Enhancements

In a distribution center, a wave is a grouping of orders governed by user defined criteria for release to the warehouse floor. Wave Planning is particularly useful for warehouses that fulfill a high volume of small order lines. It makes managing large order volume easier by grouping orders into waves and subsequently releasing them for execution and monitoring. Advanced Labor Planning With further enhancement as part of release 12.1.2, Advanced Wave Planning now provides detailed labor requirements planning for the wave. Advanced wave planning also offers additional travel time modeling criteria to provide more precise labor requirement for pick execution based on item category, operation plan and pick zones.


Pick Rules and Crossdocking Wave planning now considers the impact of crossdocking criteria on fill rate estimation. The scope and visibility provided in Wave Management user interfaces has also been enhanced to provide visibility to inventory in receiving area and in-transit material for high speed warehousing and visibility to cross docking tasks. In addition wave planning also offers the ability to compute fill rate based on pick rules constraints a. The fill rate computation based on pick rules and crossdocking allows warehouse managers increased visibility to material and labor availability and ensure that only waves feasible for execution are released to the warehouse. Enhanced Exception Handling Advanced Wave Planning in release 12.1 offered flexible order grouping, wave creation and release using advanced filters and dashboards to monitor wave progress along with configurable proactive exception handling. Advanced Wave Planning now has the ability to add and respond to exceptions such as managing emergency orders in an active wave and canceling tasks.


3.4.3.2. Task Cancellation

Cancellation of tasks is often required in a warehouse environment. Cancellation of tasks may be needed when material allocation or warehouse task planning needs to be revoked. Cancelling tasks feature gives warehouse managers the flexibility to stop execution of certain tasks without the need to backorder sales order lines and gives them the opportunity to release lines with new allocated material and task assignment at a later time.

3.4.3.3. High Volume Case Picking Support

Case pick efficiency is critical in high volume distribution centers where more picks are in cases than individual units or whole pallets. Release 12.1 introduced case picking methodologies that allowed an operator to bypass labeling and scanning processes while loading cases at the picking line. Case picking could optionally become a label initiated process where labels are generated prior to wave release. The operator can then use these labels to conduct the picking operation. In Release 12.1.2, the case picking is further streamlined by allowing labels to be grouped and sequenced prior to wave release. This allows operators to selectively choose the labels that will send them to a specific zone or aisle, thus limiting travel time across the warehouse. Picks within that label set can be automatically grouped and sequenced by pick slip grouping or order. Release 12.1.2 now also offers the capability to load and drop the tasks only after the last task for an order is dispatched to the user. This provides further visual cues to the user that their current set of work has ended and allows them to prepare for a run to a staging area. This capability is enabled for discrete picking, order picking and manifest picking to streamline the traveling path when orders are grouped for dispatch to a single user.

3.4.4. Release 12.1.3

3.4.4.1. Opportunistic Cycle Count

Cycle count is a powerful tool to ensure inventory accuracy in the warehouse. Regular cycle count is a recommended best practice for warehouses. The most efficient way to count a locator is when the operator is already present at the locator for a pick activity and the on-hand stock at the bin is either zero or close to zero. This way cycle count of the location can be optimally executed when the operator is already physically present at the location. Moreover the task of counting is also further simplified because the locator is either empty or close to being empty. Opportunistic cycle count achieves this goal by interleaving a cycle count task with picking. In addition, the count threshold can be configured in WMS to trigger a cycle count task when it’s most convenient to do so. The threshold can be set to “0” i.e. the operator will be asked to count after a pick activity only if the pick results in driving the locator empty.

3.4.4.2. Lot Substitution

Warehouses stocking lot controlled material often commingle lots in the same locator e.g. pallets with different lots in a 2-deep pallet location. In such a scenario physically performing the move to reach the right pallet is counterproductive. This is especially true if the warehouse does not follow a strict lot allocation or FIFO policy. Lot substitution feature in WMS provides the flexibility to the pick operator to override the system


suggested lot. WMS will continue to direct the picker to a location and a lot; however the picker can pick a different lot by entering an exception. Lot substitution provides tremendous amount of flexibility and convenience to warehouses that stock lot controlled products and often commingle them in the same locator.

3.4.4.3. Distributed WMS Integration with Oracle EBS

The distributed WMS deployment option provides enormous flexibility in deploying WMS. By enabling the distributed WMS option, customers can deploy WMS on a separate instance that is physically distinct from an Oracle EBS instance. In this implementation model, the distributed instance of WMS will be focused exclusively on warehouse execution with minimal configuration required outside of WMS. The distributed WMS Integration with Oracle EBS enables a standardized out of the box integration between distributed WMS instance and an EBS 11.5.10 instance. Using this integration, the “Order to Cash” and “Procure to Pay” processes can be executed seamlessly within the two systems. The order capture and receivables management takes place in EBS and warehouse wave planning and subsequent pick, pack and ship execution is managed in WMS. Similarly procurement and payables management takes place in EBS and receiving, inspection and putaway is managed in WMS.

3.4.4.4. LSP Management and Activity Based Billing

LSP Management addresses a critical requirement of Logistics Service Providers (LSP) to manage their warehouse in multi-tenant mode. LSP management feature allows quick on boarding of client in the warehouse, allows automatic segregation of activities for every client and also enables process level differentiation for each client using client level rules. Activity based billing is a critical requirement for The LSPs perform material handling on behalf of their clients. These warehouses managed by LSPs receive, store and ship product on behalf of their clients. Activity based billing provides a complete solution that refers a service level contract, pricing of logistics services and relies on activity data in WMS to produce an itemized bill based on the actual services performed by the warehouse on behalf of the clients. Using activity based billing LSPs can invoice their clients accurately with minimal overheads.