Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management (SCM) offers Warehouse Management Only Mode (WMOM), a feature that enables your supply chain solution to primarily focus on warehouse management and operations. You can use this core function with external enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, streamlining operations and increasing visibility across entities. WMOM enables you to set up a legal entity within SCM that acts as a dedicated warehouse management system (WMS), prioritizing warehouse operations and services. In this article, we’ll walk through the steps to setting up and configuring WMOM.
Configuration & Integration Overview
Step 1: Enable WMOM Feature
To access WMOM, your Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management system must be running on version 10.0.36 or later. The WMOM feature can be turned on within feature management.
Step 2: Define Number Sequences
Once you have enabled the feature, you can set up the required number sequences for inbound and outbound order processing. Number sequences generate identifiers for your transaction records in order to create new records. Number sequences are formatted in segments with a specific scope to identify which entity uses the number sequence. Here is a high-level overview of common identifiers in transaction and master data:
- Outbound shipment order: Replaces the standard sales order in WMOM, tracking the shipment of goods from the warehouse.
- Inbound shipment order: Replaces the standard purchase order in WMOM, managing the receipt of goods coming into the warehouse.
- Shipment packing slip: Lists the items within a shipment to track and verify the contents of the shipment.
- Shipment receipt: Verifies the receipt of goods once the shipment has been received and inspected.
- Warehouse outbound notification ID: Tracks the status and notifications for outbound shipments.
- Load line inventory pick: Lists the specific picking items from inventory to help ensure the accuracy of a shipment.
- Internal consigner’s account number: Identifies the internal entity sending goods from the warehouse.
- Internal consignee’s account number: Identified the internal entity receiving goods from the organization.
- External warehouse outbound shipment order origin ID: Identifies the external entity that created the outbound shipment order.
- External warehouse inbound shipment order origin: Identifies the external entity that created the inbound shipment order.
- External warehouse outbound shipment order update ID: Tracks the status of external systems’ outbound shipment orders.
- External warehouse inbound shipment order update: Tracks the status of external systems’ inbound shipment orders.
Step 3: Configure Source Systems
Next, you must configure the Source system to integrate WMOM with each external ERP system. The steps for outbound and inbound setup vary depending on your business objectives and warehouse needs. Below are a few features that can be enabled during the outbound setup:
- Outbound shipment order fulfillment policy: Defines the percentage of quantity or price that the outbound shipment must reach prior to its dispatch to the warehouse.
- Reservation policy at import: Chooses how inventory should be reserved when an outbound order is imported from a source system.
- Delay reservation: Attempts to reserve any inventory during an import. A manual reservation process is necessary, since WMOM does not reserve any inventory requested in the outbound shipment order.
- Require full reservation: Requires all inventory to be available; otherwise, the system will not process the outbound shipment order message.
- Outbound shipment order consolidation policy: Determines if shipment orders are grouped during their dispatch to the warehouse.
- Use shipment policy: Processes the defined shipment consolidation policies and groups them by Source system when dispatching the outbound orders to the warehouse.
- Always release shipment order consolidation separately: Processes shipment orders when the Source system is responsible for any shipment consolidation and WMOM is not using any further logic to improve the shipment consolidation. This feature does not attempt to use shipment consolidation policies, nor will it group shipment orders when released to the warehouse.
- Convert cross-deck requests to marking: Specifies when the cross-dock requests are converted to inventory transaction marking.
- Internal order number policy: Details how an internal order number is made for an outbound shipment when processing a message from the Source system.
- Shipment packing slip posting delay unit: Delays journal posting for packing slip update postings.
- Manual outbound shipment order creation: Enables manual inbound shipment order creations from the UPI with a specified number sequence.
- Enable warehouse logs: Captures outbound shipment order line transaction updates in the warehouse inventory data log. According to Microsoft, “For integrations that require very quick on-hand inventory synchronization processes, you can use the Warehouse inventory update log to collect all the inventory transaction updates that lead to on-hand updates.”1
Comparably, the inbound setup process also consists of features to help track and analyze warehouse data. Inbound features include shipment receipt posting delays, warehouse inventory log, and manual order creation. Uniquely, the inbound process contains an enable returns process feature that allows users to create inbound shipment orders for the Source system during return processing. Below are a few key inbound shipment order policy features:
- Load synchronization: Synchronizes (manual or ASN) inbound order and load is disabled, giving full control over the shipment load. Manual or ASN requires manual effort to update order changes.
- Create automatically: Automatically create the load when an inbound order is created, but any changes to the order lines after creation will not be reflected on the load.
- Full synchronization: Create and update the load whenever an inbound order is created or changed.
- Delivery policy: Choose a policy that can be applied when confirming that received is completed to adjust load lines quantity to match received quantity.
The Source system items page can manage the product master data, but only one Source system can maintain the master data. The Source system item number is used for communication across systems, improving visibility and real-time data insights. This makes mapping external identifiers to the SCM item numbers near seamless. On the mobile app, the Source system item number can also be utilized to search for the item/variant number internal value.
Step 4: Configure Message Processor
The Message Processor manages message queues for shipment orders, Source system products, and external warehouse shipment order updates. To configure the Message Processor, you’ll first need to navigate to Batch jobs history and Process automation. You can use the Message Processor messages page to filter out and drill down into failed messages.
According to Microsoft, as part of the Source system setup, the following automated background processes are automatically generated:2
- Process source system product messages: Manages product master data messages. The default repeat interval is one minute.
- Process shipment order messages: Handles inbound and outbound order messages. The default repeat interval is one minute.
- Publish warehouse inventory update log updates: Publicizes inventory update log data to external systems. The default repeat interval is 10 minutes.
- Post shipment packing slips: Completes outbound shipment orders. The default repeat interval is 10 minutes, if the shipment packing slips posting delay value is set to one day.
- Post shipment receipts: Completes inbound shipment orders. The default repeat interval is 10 minutes, if the shipment receipts posting delay value is set to one day.
These batch jobs automate the posting of product receipts and packing slips for the shipment orders, so it is important to ensure the Process automation background processes are enabled and set to your desired intervals. Configuring these automated processes is critical to your warehouse operations.
There are additional batch jobs to run for WMOM to function properly. These batch jobs should be scheduled to run every one to two minutes to help ensure the most efficient use of WMOM. For instance, if you want to automatically release outbound shipment orders to the warehouse, you can set up a batch job to process the orders on a regular, consistent basis. Go to Warehouse management > Release to warehouse > Automatic release of outbound shipment orders to set up and schedule the job, per Microsoft.3 Alternatively, you can set up business events to deliver alerts for failed processing results, which can help streamline testing of the entire process workflow.
Step 5: Set Up Work Creation Configurations
There are two templates you should set up for Work Creation in WMOM: Work templates and Wave templates. You can configure Work templates for outbound shipment orders and inbound shipment orders. The Wave template remains as the “Shipping” Wave template type and includes containerization. Microsoft notes that in order to enable warehouse workers to use the Warehouse Management mobile app to register inbound shipment transactions, you should set up one or more mobile device menu items that use one of the following processes:4
- License plate receiving (and put away)
- Load item receiving (and put away)
- Mixed license plate receiving (and put away)
- Inbound shipment order line receiving
- Inbound shipment item receiving
- Inbound shipment order line receiving (and put away)
- Inbound shipment order item receiving (and put away)
Following suit, to allow Supply Chain Management to exchange meaningful information with an external system, some master and reference data must be synced between the two systems. This data includes products, item model groups, and countries/regions.5 You can create a shared warehouse in multiple entities, e.g., USRT and USMF, and map them, if the Use warehouse management process option for these warehouses is enabled. Within the Use warehouse management process parameter, there are a few features that can be enabled:6
- Storage dimension groups: Allow the use of storage inventory dimensions values such as sites, warehouses, locations, and license plates.
- Tracking dimension groups: Enable the use of tracking inventory dimensions, including owner, batch, and serial numbers.
- Inventory owners: Set up unit sequence groups to define the sequence of units that can be utilized in warehouse operations.
Step 6: Monitor the Integration
WMOM also offers integration monitoring via Warehouse management > Workspaces > Warehouse integration monitoring to manage data flows between systems. This can help keep order processing timely and gives you more visibility across the system. The Warehouse integration monitoring workspace also can give you a comprehensive overview of the WMOM integration regarding shipment order messages and business events. The workspace allows you to take action as needed.
Business events can notify you of any Message Processor failure. Microsoft advises: “Follow the view log information for the Message Processor messages page, and use that information to take the next appropriate action: queue the message, cancel it, or manually update it.”7 It further notes that WMOM is a part of a larger deployment of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, giving you access to all integration points. To restrict a user’s access to other modules, Microsoft advises only assigning those security roles pertaining to warehouse management processes.8
Limitations of WMOM
While Dynamics 365 offers internal and external system integration and visibility, WMOM does not support the following features:9
- Goods in transit: The system cannot track shipped goods where the receiving process is handled against a container.
- Sales return orders: The system does not support tracked orders that support return reason codes and disposition codes as part of the flow for the Return order receiving (and put away) mobile device menu item; rather, you can use the blind return process.
- Production flows: Inbound and outbound shipment orders don’t support production order, batch order, or kanban processing, including material consumption and reporting as finished via the Warehouse Management mobile app.
- Inbound TMS process and charges: The transportation management engines that are currently supported for purchase order loads aren’t supported for the inbound shipment order processes. Note that charges can’t be assigned, and direct invoicing can’t be processed, for either inbound shipment orders or outbound shipment orders.
- Items enabled for CW: Items that are enabled for catch weight processing aren’t supported for inbound or outbound shipping orders.
How Forvis Mazars Can Help
As a certified Microsoft Partner, we can assist you in the configuration of Warehouse Management Only Mode to help align your customizations with your business objectives, strengthening your warehouse management system. Our experienced technology consultants at Forvis Mazars are ready to help you with your warehousing needs. Contact us today to learn more.
- 1“Warehouse management only mode with external ERP systems,” learn.microsoft.com, October 31, 2024.
- 2“Enable and configure Warehouse management only mode,” learn.microsoft.com, April 30, 2024.
- 3Ibid.
- 4Ibid.
- 5Ibid.
- 6“Exchange data between systems,” learn.microsoft.com, April 30, 2024.
- 7“Warehouse management only mode FAQ,” learn.microsoft.com, April 30, 2024.
- 8Ibid.
- 9“Warehouse management only mode overview,” learn.microsoft.com, October 31, 2024.