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Inventory Lifecycle in Parcel Pilot

This guide explains how stock moves through Parcel Pilot from receipt, to reservation, to shipment, and which actions change quantity versus status.

Key idea

Parcel Pilot separates these concepts:

Inventory on hand: physical quantity held on Inventory Units.
Reserved quantity: stock held for an order so another order cannot use it.
Available quantity: stock that is still free to use now.
Shipment evidence: the Shipment record showing how a physical fulfilment left the warehouse.

That separation matters because changing a status alone does not necessarily move stock.

Quick glossary

On-hand: the physical quantity on the Inventory Unit.
Reserved: quantity held for an order.
Available: on-hand - reserved, clamped at zero.
Allocation: the act of tying stock to an order.
Immediate allocation: reservation happens before shipment creation.
On-pick allocation: reservation happens later, during picking or serial allocation.

Simple lifecycle

Receipt created
-> Start Receiving
-> enter received quantities, locations, serials if required
-> Post Receipt
-> Inventory Units created or updated
-> Order reservation created or updated
-> Create Shipment
-> Shipment-backed stock deduction
-> Outstanding quantity reduced or cleared

Normal workflow

1. Receipts create inventory only when you post them

Creating a Receipt or Pre-Receipt does not create stock.
Start Receiving changes the receipt into In progress so the warehouse can record what actually arrived.
Post Receipt is the point where Parcel Pilot creates or updates Inventory Units.
Only lines with Add to stock enabled and a valid Item and Location are posted into inventory.

See Working with receipts.

2. Reservations hold stock for orders

For warehouse-fulfilled orders, Parcel Pilot can reserve stock before shipment creation.

For normal immediate-allocation items, reservation is created against Inventory Units when the order is reserved.
For serialised items and items using on_pick allocation, Parcel Pilot does not create the same style of early reservation. The reservation is created later when the serial or picked unit is actually allocated.

This is why one SKU can show reserved stock immediately, while a serialised or on-pick SKU may still show Reserved = 0 until picking starts.

See Reserved Stock and Inventory Units - Reservations.

3. Shipment creation is the physical fulfilment step

When a shipment-backed fulfilment is committed, Parcel Pilot deducts stock and clears the reservation for the shipped quantity.

In the current operator workflow, start from Create shipment and choose the Shipment method that matches what happened.

Parcel Pilot carrier, Customer collection, and External courier are shipment-backed warehouse dispatches.
External fulfilment still creates Shipment evidence, but it releases reservations without deducting Parcel Pilot warehouse stock.

For the full operator workflow, see Shipments - Create, Edit & Delete.

For the engineering current-state architecture, see Shipment Workflow Current State.

4. External fulfilment is different

Use External fulfilment only when the physical fulfilment happened outside Parcel Pilot and local warehouse stock should stay unchanged.

If the goods left the Parcel Pilot warehouse, use a shipment-backed warehouse method instead.

5. Partial shipments only move the quantity that actually left

If you create a partial shipment:

only the shipped quantity is deducted
only the shipped quantity is cleared from reservation
the remaining quantity stays outstanding
the remaining quantity can be shipped later or cancelled with Cancel Remaining

If the rest will never ship, Cancel Remaining releases the remaining reservation without deducting stock.

See Orders - Partial Shipments.

What happens to inventory

On-hand quantity

On-hand changes when you:

Post Receipt
Create Shipment for a stock-deducting shipment method
Transfer Stock between locations
Record inventory adjustment
process other explicit inventory workflows such as returns or repairs

On-hand does not change when you only:

change an order status
change a shipment tracking status
click Start Receiving
release a reservation
cancel outstanding quantity on an order line

Reserved quantity

Reserved changes when you:

reserve stock for an order
allocate a serial or on-pick unit
ship the reserved quantity
click Release Reservation
click Cancel Remaining on an outstanding order line
move reserved stock with Transfer Stock when Move reservations with stock is enabled

Available quantity

Available is derived from on-hand minus reserved.

That means:

a stock correction can increase available without creating a reservation
a reservation can reduce available without changing physical stock
a shipment can reduce both on-hand and reserved together

If an order is fully picked but not yet shipped, Parcel Pilot can still show outstanding dispatch work even though the reservation picture already reflects that picked stock.

What happens to order, receipt, and shipment status

Receipts

Pre-Receipt: planning only
Open or In progress: receiving work is underway
Completed: inventory has been posted

Orders

order status and fulfilment summary are related, but they are not the same thing
a shipment-backed deduction updates the derived fulfilment summary
an order can remain operationally open if outstanding quantity still exists

Shipments

Shipment records are the auditable evidence of a physical fulfilment step
shipment tracking statuses are operational metadata on the Shipment
tracking status changes do not replace stock deduction

Allocation strategies

Immediate allocation

Typical effect:

reservation is created before shipment creation
the order can reduce available stock even before anything leaves the building

On-pick allocation

Typical effect:

reservation is created during picking or serial allocation
the order may not hold early reserved quantity on the Inventory Unit until the pick actually happens

Serialised inventory

For serialised items:

each serial is tracked as its own unit
shipment deduction requires the serial allocation to exist first
Parcel Pilot blocks shipment deduction if the required serial allocations do not exist

Locations, quarantine, and holding stock

Pickable vs non-pickable

stock in a pickable location can support normal shipment creation
stock in a non-pickable location can still exist physically, but it is not counted as ready-to-ship pickable stock

See Locations - Pickable vs Non-pickable.

Quarantine and returns locations

shipment stock checks exclude QUARANTINE and RETURNS locations from the normal pickable stock pool
returning stock to an available state may still require moving it to the correct location, not just changing its status

Holding stock

When receiving or editing stock, you may intentionally keep stock out of normal availability by using a non-available status or a holding or quarantine location. That affects whether the stock is ready for normal outbound workflows even when the quantity exists.

Transfers, adjustments, and status changes

Transfer Stock

Use Transfer Stock when the stock is physically moving between locations.

bulk to pick face replenishment
correcting the wrong bin
moving serialised units to the correct location

See Inventory Units - Transfer Stock.

Record inventory adjustment

Use Record inventory adjustment when the quantity at the current location is wrong.

count correction
loss
damage
write-off

See Inventory Units - Record Inventory Adjustment vs Transfer Stock.

Status changes

Changing an Inventory Unit status is not the same as moving stock.

Examples:

marking a unit AVAILABLE does not move it into a pickable location
marking a unit DISCONTINUED does not remove physical quantity
marking a unit SHIPPED is only valid after the outbound workflow has already depleted the unit

Component-defined products: finished stock versus component-driven bundles

ParcelPilot now distinguishes between component-defined products that are assembled into finished stock and component-defined products that stay component-driven during fulfilment.

assemble-to-stock items are built first and then picked as the finished SKU
fulfilment-expanding bundles reserve, pick, and deduct the component items

See Items - Product Types And Components and Items - How Bundle Inventory Works.

Discontinued stock

Discontinued stock is still historical stock, but it is not ordinary active stock.

use Mark as Discontinued when a unit should be excluded from normal active use
release reservations before discontinuing an Inventory Unit
if the stock is physically moving or being written off, use the correct movement workflow as well

See Inventory Units - Create, Edit, Delete.

Virtual and non-shippable lines

If an order line does not require warehouse fulfilment:

Parcel Pilot does not need a warehouse shipment for that line
physical inventory is not reserved or deducted for that line

That is why a mixed order can contain both warehouse and non-warehouse behavior at the same time.

Why a Shipment matters

A Shipment is not only a label or tracking container.

In current Parcel Pilot behavior, a Shipment is the record that ties physical fulfilment to:

shipped quantity
shipment lines
stock deduction for shipment-backed methods
reservation clearing for shipped quantities
downstream fulfilment state

That is why Fulfilment Repair is treated as a legacy repair action and not a normal replacement for creating Shipment evidence.

Parcel Pilot also distinguishes between clean dispatch work and evidence drift:

Picked Awaiting Dispatch is for clean picked work still waiting on shipment action
Dispatch Problems is for orders where shipment evidence, reservations, or fulfilment commits disagree and need investigation

Worked examples

Example 1: Receipt -> reservation -> shipment

A receipt for SKU-A is created with expected quantity 10.
The warehouse clicks Start Receiving, records Received qty = 10, chooses a location, and clicks Post Receipt.
Parcel Pilot creates or updates the Inventory Unit with On-hand = 10.
An order for SKU-A x4 is reserved.
The Inventory Unit now shows On-hand = 10, Reserved = 4, Available = 6.
The order uses Create Shipment.
Parcel Pilot deducts 4 and clears the 4 reserved units.
The Inventory Unit now shows On-hand = 6, Reserved = 0, Available = 6.

Example 2: Partial shipment with remaining reserved quantity

An order needs SKU-B x5.
Only 3 are currently available in pickable stock.
The shipment modal shows Full shipment unavailable and offers Ship available items (Partial shipment).
The operator ships 3 now.
Parcel Pilot deducts 3 and clears reservation for 3.
2 stay outstanding on the order.
If those 2 will never ship, the operator uses Cancel Remaining to release the remaining reservation without deducting stock.

Example 3: External fulfilment with reservation release but no Parcel Pilot stock deduction

An order still has outstanding warehouse reservations in Parcel Pilot.
The goods were actually fulfilled outside Parcel Pilot.
The operator uses Create Shipment and chooses Shipment method = External fulfilment.
Parcel Pilot creates Shipment evidence for the fulfilled quantity.
Parcel Pilot releases the reservation for that quantity.
Parcel Pilot does not create Shipment inventory deductions for its own warehouse stock for that method.

Use this only when local Parcel Pilot inventory should stay unchanged because the physical fulfilment happened elsewhere.

Step-by-step investigation

If stock looks wrong, check in this order:

Was the receipt actually posted, or only created or saved?
Does the Inventory Unit show on-hand, reserved, and available the way you expect?
Is the stock in the correct warehouse and a pickable location?
Is the order reserved now, or does it use on-pick or serial allocation?
Did a Shipment-backed fulfilment actually occur, or was only a status changed?
Was the quantity partially shipped, cancelled as outstanding, or released manually?
Is the workflow a real Parcel Pilot warehouse shipment, or External fulfilment?

Safe corrective action

Use Transfer Stock if the stock is in the wrong location.
Use Record inventory adjustment if the quantity is wrong.
Use Release Reservation only when the order is incorrectly holding stock and no shipment should be created.
Use Cancel Remaining when the remaining quantity will never ship.
Use Create Shipment when physical fulfilment actually left the warehouse.