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Working with Receipts

Use this guide when the warehouse needs to book in stock that has arrived.

When should I use this?

Use the Receipts workflow when you want to:

  • create a standalone goods-in record for stock already on site
  • receive against a linked expected delivery
  • record actual quantities, locations, and serials
  • finish the receipt so stock is added to inventory

For new planned deliveries that have not arrived yet, use Registering and receiving an expected delivery first.

Choose the right route

Use:

  • Register Expected Delivery when you are planning stock before it arrives
  • Create Receipt when goods are already on site and need to be booked in now
  • Create pre-receipt only for older workflows that still use it

Create a receipt

  1. Go to Receipts.
  2. Click Create Receipt.
  3. Fill in the header fields:
    • Client and Warehouse
    • Receipt Reference, which ParcelPilot generates automatically
    • External Reference for the PO, ASN, supplier, delivery, or paperwork number your team knows
    • Expected at and Received at when needed
    • Single pallet if the whole receipt should count as one pallet for billing
  4. Add the receipt lines:
    • Stock details: item, expected stock quantity, received stock quantity, location, serials, measured quantities, and whether the line should be added to stock
    • Receiving details: record how the stock arrived, such as individual items, cartons, or pallets
    • Container ref if you want to record a pallet, carton, or delivery reference
    • Apply labels only when label application should be billed for that stock line
    • Item for stock-bearing lines
    • Expected stock quantity: how much stock you expect to receive, not the carton or pallet count
    • For measured items, optionally use Number of units and Quantity per unit when the delivery contains equal physical units such as rolls, reels, drums, coils, or lengths. These fields describe physical receiving evidence for stock creation; they do not automatically decide receiving billing quantity.
    • Receiving charge: leave Bill receiving charge on when this receipt should count for receiving handling, or turn it off when the physical receipt should not be charged.
  5. Click Create.

Receive and finish the receipt

  1. Open the receipt.
  2. If this is a standalone or older receipt, click Start Receiving when that action is available.
  3. Enter the Received stock quantity for each line. This is the stock quantity physically received.
  4. Set the Location for lines that should be added to stock.
  5. Leave Add to stock on for lines that should become inventory.
  6. Leave Bill receiving charge on when the received stock should count for receiving handling charges.
  7. Use Apply labels only when the label-application service should be billed for that receipt line. This is separate from the receiving charge setting.
  8. Use Scan Items or Scan stock in if scanning is quicker than manual entry.
  9. If the receipt came from an expected delivery, review Receiving Charge / Receiving Basis. Planned packaging and Handling Units are suggestions only; use Confirm Receiving Basis to choose the commercial receiving quantity for Monthly Operations.
  10. Finish the receipt with:
  • Complete Receiving for a receipt that came from an expected delivery
  • Post Receipt for a standalone or older receipt workflow

Receiving Note

When a receipt is open, warehouse users can use Receiving Note from the receipt header on the View or Edit page.

The Receiving Note is an A4 working document for checking what the receipt expects.

It can be used to:

  • print the expected receipt contents for warehouse checking
  • carry an easy-to-read paper list during unloading or checking
  • open the digital receiving screen quickly by scanning the QR on the note

The paper note does not itself receive stock, post stock, or complete the receipt.

It is a checking sheet that points staff back into the live ParcelPilot receiving workflow.

What happens next?

When the receipt is completed or posted:

  • stock is added to inventory for the lines marked Add to stock
  • the receipt becomes the warehouse record of what actually arrived
  • quantity differences can trigger a final review step before stock is created

For manual receipts, physical packaging is separate from Received stock quantity. For example, a line can receive 50 stock units while Receiving details records 1 carton. Stock remains 50; the carton count is used for the receiving-charge preview before the receipt is posted.

If the receipt has one stock line, record how that delivery arrived directly as individual items, cartons, or pallets. For normal count-based individual items, ParcelPilot uses the Received stock quantity as the receiving item count. If the receipt has several stock lines, choose Together when all product lines arrived in the same packaging, such as 1 pallet across several SKUs, or By product line when each product line can have different packaging, such as cartons or individual items. By product line receipts can use individual items or cartons on each stock line; pallets are recorded only at the whole-delivery level. For measured stock, individual receiving quantity comes from physical unit evidence such as Number of units, not from the measured stock quantity. Items per carton can be recorded as supporting physical information, but Number of cartons is the carton count used for the receiving basis.

Older admin-only billing overrides such as Single pallet and Ignore pallet lines (billing) are compatibility controls for historical receipts. New manual receipts use the Receiving details and Bill receiving charge fields instead. For example, a one-pallet delivery should be entered as Together, Pallets, Number of pallets = 1.

Bill receiving charge controls receiving handling metrics such as pallets, cartons, and individual units received. Apply labels controls the label-application service. Turning off receiving charges does not automatically make label application free when Apply labels is still on.

When a newer manual receipt is posted, ParcelPilot confirms the receiving details entered on the receipt at the same time as it posts stock. If those details are incomplete, posting is blocked until they are completed. There is no separate receiving-basis confirmation button for normal manual receipts.

For controlled receipts from an expected delivery, the received stock quantity remains the inventory truth and the confirmed receiving basis is the commercial receiving truth. A new chargeable controlled receipt cannot be completed until the receiving basis is confirmed. Example: the warehouse may receive 1000 leaflets into stock and confirm 4 cartons for receiving charges. Historical standalone/manual receipts keep the legacy receipt interpretation unless they show the newer Stock details, Receiving details, and Receiving charge layout.

Confirm a controlled receipt's receiving basis

On the receipt Edit page, use Confirm receiving basis in the header. This is available to operators, tenant admins, owners, and appropriately scoped super-admins, not client users. It is a warehouse confirmation, not tariff or billing administration.

The modal shows stock quantity separately from receiving charge quantity. Choose a whole-delivery basis (one pallet, pallets, cartons, or no receiving charge), or review each received line as individuals, cartons, or no charge. Whole-delivery quantities count once across the receipt; they are not repeated for every SKU.

Explicit non-chargeable evidence takes precedence. A saved, manually overridden carton count is the preferred editable proposal ahead of the inbound packaging plan and item-master reference. All conflicting suggestions remain visible with their sources. For example, three lines with 20 stock units each and actual carton overrides 2, 2, and 1 propose 5 cartons even if the first two were planned as 1 carton x 25. Confirm what actually arrived; do not change stock quantities just to match a packaging plan.

Suggestions never confirm themselves. For measured individuals, an unknown receiving charge count stays blank: metres, kilograms, or litres must not silently become individual receiving counts. Enter the appropriate commercial quantity deliberately.

Carton receiving charge quantities must be positive whole numbers. Individual commercial receiving quantities use the existing positive numeric domain contract (including fractional quantities); this is independent of whether inventory itself is count-based or measured. The server validates carton integers rather than relying on browser numeric step validation.

Click Confirm basis, then Complete Receiving. Saving, opening or cancelling the completion modal, and reloading preserve the confirmed basis. This also works for an already-open receipt; do not create a replacement receipt or receiving session.

Once receiving charges are billed or finalized, normal confirmation is locked, including a modal opened before billing finished. Completed historical controlled receipts use the dedicated, guarded historical correction process described in the internal command guide; that command is not the way to confirm an OPEN receipt.

For measured stock such as metres, kilograms, or litres, physical unit evidence such as 10 rolls x 50 m helps ParcelPilot create the right inventory units, but it is not automatically billed as 10 individuals. Confirm the receiving basis separately when the controlled receipt should be chargeable.

Pallet lines and single-pallet billing

On newer manual receipts, record pallet arrivals in Receiving details instead of creating a pallet stock line.

Older receipts may still show PALLET lines when they were created in the legacy workflow.

Use Single pallet when the whole receipt should be billed as one pallet, even if it contains several item lines.

If the delivery only says something like "1 pallet" but you do not know the SKU breakdown yet, add the real item lines before posting stock.

Serialised items

For serialised stock:

  1. Create one item line per SKU.
  2. Scan the serials onto that line.
  3. Finish scanning before you complete or post the receipt.

You do not need one receipt line per serial number unless the stock is being split by location, batch, or expiry.

Common questions

What is the difference between Receipt Reference and External Reference?

Receipt Reference is ParcelPilot's own receipt number.

External Reference is where you put the supplier, PO, ASN, or delivery paperwork reference your team wants to search by.

When is stock actually added?

Only when the warehouse finishes the receipt with Complete Receiving or Post Receipt.

What if expected and received quantities do not match?

ParcelPilot shows the variance and can ask for an approval step before stock is created.

If the receipt came from an expected delivery with Handling Units, you can also start from the pallet or box label and move into the same receipt workflow from there. See Receiving an inbound delivery from a Handling Unit label.

What if a location does not allow mixed SKUs?

Choose a different location for one of the items, or clear the conflicting stock first.

Edit, delete, and bulk actions

  • Use Edit to correct a receipt before it is locked by later workflow steps.
  • If stock has already been posted, prefer a correction with an audit trail over deleting the receipt.
  • From the list view, Bulk actions includes CSV export and admin-only delete.

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