WHS Transfer

The WHS warehousing system is driven by work, but sometimes a user needs to determine where items go, or when a transfer needs to take place.  The WHS Transfer transaction is used in this case.  In this test case, we will transfer license plate “000040” from location “FL-001” to location “FL-002”.

License plate “000040” is currently at location “FL-001”.

On the Mobile Device, open the Transfer transaction. Scan the license plate “000040”.  The transaction fills in the rest of the from information.  Press “Ok”.  Now we need to enter the to information.  Scan the location to move this inventory to “FL-002”.  Press “Ok”.  The transfer is completed.

Note:  The transfer transaction generates completed work to actually transfer the inventory.  Transfer journals in the Inventory management module in AX are NOT used with the WHS transfer transaction.  

WHS Purchase Putaway

WHS purchase orders are ALWAYS received to the inbound dock location.  The inbound dock location must use license plates.  Putting items away is accomplished using the WHS Purchase Putaway transaction.  See below for the work ID we will be putting away.

The following screens show the transaction flow from the mobile device.  Note that the location, item and quantity can be setup to require scanning.  This setup is on the Mobile device menu item form in the Work confirmation setup.

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Once the purchase order is putaway, the status of the work is updated from “Open” to “Closed”.

Location Directives

Location directives are the rules that govern what location to pick from and put to. Location directives can be setup very specifically for different items, different location types/profiles, warehouses, quantities, units of measure, etc.  Very careful consideration is needed when setting up location directives for an advanced warehouse.

See below for an article that discusses location directives in more detail:  https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn553215.aspx

Work Templates

Work is created based on the work template setup (see my previous post on Work for more information here).  Work templates are the rules that govern how a warehouse operates.  Work templates contain two key steps in every template – Pick/Put.  Inventory must be picked from one location and moved to a different location with most warehouse work.  There are other options/steps that can be added to work templates as well.

The work order type must be first selected.  This could be purchase orders, sales orders, etc.  There are several different types available.

Work templates are generally setup by warehouse.  See below for an example of several different work templates create by warehouse (24,25,61 and 51 are warehouses in AX).  The “Edit query” option allows you to be very granular in how work templates are setup.

Pick and put are the two required work types, but other work types are available as well (see below).

Careful consideration is needed when designing work templates for a complex warehouse.

Here is a link for more information on setting up work templates.  https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn553184.aspx

 

Work

What is all this talk about Work?

AX 2012 R3 WHS is centered around this concept of Work.  The Work form in AX shows all the work in the system (both open and completed work).  It is nice to only have to navigate to one area in AX to complete work.  WMS1 and WMS2 required going different places in AX to process “work” (i.e. purchase order form to receive purchase orders, transfer order form to receive transfer orders, transfer journal form to process transfers, etc.).

There are a couple issues that I see with the concept of “work”.

1. Quantities are maintained separately in the work form. The work quantity could get out of sync with on-hand inventory.
2. Work adds quite a bit of overhead, especially by adding many new InventTrans records.

Aside from those issues, it nice to see all work in the system in one location.  See below for an example of the Work form filtered to only show open work.

 

Updating the WHS Mobile Device CSS

The WHS mobile device look/feel can be updated by changing a .CSS file.  See below for the default.css that ships with WHS.

How does one go about updating the .CSS file to change the look/feel?  Navigate to the following path on the AX server (path may be different depending on where AX was installed) C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics AX\60\Warehouse Mobile Devices Portal\00\Content\CSS\RFCSS.  There are several .CSS files available in this folder.

We are currently using the “defaultrf.css” file.  See below for what the standard defaultrf.css file looks like on a mobile device.

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Let’s open up the defaultrf.css file to see what options are available to change.

I am going to update the background color and the font size.  To find a background color that suits my needs, I need to reference a website to find the correct color (I used  http://www.colorpicker.com/).  I found a nice color to update the background to, and this color is #0CADF2.  I also decided to update the font size to 22.  See below for the changes to the css file.

I close out of the mobile device browser, and open it back up, but I see no changes on the mobile device.  The background color is still white and the font size has not changed.

This is because internet browsers cache their settings.  I need to clear the cache before the changes take effect.

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Setting up WHS Users

WHS Users are setup in the Work users form in the Warehouse Management module of Microsoft Dynamics AX.  Each user is setup with a default warehouse and is assigned a menu.  Additional options are available for each user to override pick/put locations, and setup thresholds for the volume that user can transact against.  Passwords can be setup using the “Reset password” option.  Note that Active Directory passwords are not supported in WHS.

See the link below for more information on setting up WHS work users.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn553186.aspx

 

Overview of WHS Mobile Device Experience

The WHS mobile client is HTML based.  The images below are using the stock .CSS included with WHS.  There are additional .CSS files included with WHS that can be configured in AX.  Adjusting the look/feel of the WHS mobile device requires updating CSS files.  See my post for updating .CSS files to change the look/feel of the WHS mobile device.  Updating the WHS Mobile Device CSS.

Most ruggedized scanners manufactured by Honeywell/Intermec and Zebra/Motorola are built on the Windows Mobile operating system.  The HTML experience on these devices is somewhat lacking.  There is no WHS dedicated mobile client on Windows Mobile.  The WHS mobile device portal is designed to be more broad based and work across many different types of devices.  The problem here is that most warehousing operations use the Windows Mobile operating system, and the user experience is lacking.

See the link below for more information setting up the WHS mobile device look and feel. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn553175.aspx

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Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Warehouse Management Options

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 includes several warehousing options.  See below for the warehousing options available and the pros/cons of each option.

WMS

Also known as WMS1 or basic warehousing.  This option is available for the most basic warehouses.  WMS supports all inventory transactions from receiving through production to shipping customer orders.  Note that pallets are not included in WMS.  WMS is available in AX7. WMS does not include integrated bar code scanning.

WMS2

WMS2 adds functionality to include pallet handling, consolidated shipping options and dock management using Shipment Staging.  Note that WMS2 is deprecated in AX7.  WMS2 does not include integrated bar code scanning.

WHS

WHS is the “new” Advanced Warehousing module introduced with AX 2012 R3 CU8 released in November 2014.  Microsoft acquired this technology from Blue Horseshoe at a period in time.  The WHS module was previously known as WAX/TRAX in Blue Horseshoe terminology.  WHS includes advanced warehousing features for complex distribution centers.  WHS includes integrated bar code scanning.  See below for a introduction video to the WHS module.