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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2023-06-23
Setup Considerations: Zone Picking

Setup Considerations: Zone Picking

You can use this topic to help make decisions when planning your configuration and use of zone picking at inventory sites. It explains:
  • Why to set it up.
  • How it fits into the rest of Workday.
  • Downstream impacts and cross-product interactions.
  • Security requirements and business process configurations.
  • Questions and limitations to consider before implementation.
Refer to detailed task instructions for full configuration details.

What It Is

Zone picking is a method of picking for orders from different zones at an inventory site. In Workday, you can split a stock request into multiple zone picking lists for more efficient picking and shipping. You can then ship the zone picking lists separately or merge them before shipment.

Business Benefits

Zone picking:
  • Shortens the time workers spend picking and moving between locations.
  • Speeds up the picking process by enabling multiple workers to pick for the same stock request.
  • Reduces shipment delays by enabling workers to dispatch items as soon as they pick them.

Use Cases

  • Divide warehouses into zones according to item type so that workers can easily move around while picking. Example: Divide a site according to its carousel, bulk item, and fragile item areas.
  • Split a stock request into multiple zone picking lists. Example: Split the site into 4 zone picking lists that enable workers to pick in 4 different locations at the same time.
  • Enable trained workers to pick in designated zones, such as:
    • Areas that require specialized equipment, such as forklifts.
    • Refrigerated areas.
    • Restricted areas that contain hazardous materials.

Questions to Consider

Questions
Considerations
How can you determine if your site is suitable for zone picking?
Consider the size and layout of the site as you determine whether to use zone picking.
You can benefit from split zones when you use multiple order picking methods at your site.
Do you use applications to manage your inventory site?
If your site manages its inventory using multiple applications, consider how Workday interacts with them and whether you need to configure them for zone picking.
How do you want to ship items?
To minimize shipment delays, you can enable the shipment of the picked items from each zone picking list.
To minimize the number of shipments sent from your site, you can merge picking lists before shipment.
How can zone picking affect picking and shipment processes at your site?
Consider how zone picking can affect the quality control and verification processes that the site uses during picking and shipment. Example: Perform quality checks more frequently if you're shipping zone picking lists separately.
How does Workday use directed picking when you enable zone picking?
Workday uses existing directed picking rules to generate individual zone picking lists and guides workers to multiple zones to pick items, when necessary.

Recommendations

Enable individual shipments for zone picking lists when you want to ship urgent stock requests without delay.

Requirements

  • Each inventory location chain can have only 1 inventory zone.
  • To use zone picking, enable directed picking at the inventory site.
  • You can set an inventory location as either a stocking location or an inventory zone, but not both.

Limitations

  • You can change a stocking location to an inventory zone only when the stocking location has no existing transactions.
  • You can merge zone picking lists for shipment only when they're from the same stock request.
  • We don't currently support the automatic shipment of merged picking lists.

Tenant Setup

No impact.

Security

Domains
Considerations
Manage: Location
 in the Organizations and Roles functional area.
Users can create inventory locations.
Set Up: Inventory
 in the Inventory functional area.
Users can:
  • Enable zone picking at inventory sites.
  • Set inventory locations as inventory zones.
Process: Inventory Stock Request
 in the Inventory functional area.
Enables users to prevent workers from running inventory reports within a single company or location.

Business Processes

Configure the automatic shipment of individual zone picking lists using these steps on the
Inventory Pick List Event
 business process:
  • Create Shipment from Pick List
     action step.
  • Initiate Inventory Shipment Events from Inventory Pick List for Inventory Stock Request
     service step.

Reporting

Use the:
  • Find Inventory Picking List
     report to view picking lists that include inventory zones.
  • Inventory Location Attributes
     report data source when creating custom reports to include inventory zone data.

Integrations

Web Services
Considerations
Get Inventory Location Attributes
Get Inventory Picking Lists
Get Inventory Shipments
Use these web services to export data for inventory transactions that include zone picking information.
Put Inventory Location Attributes
Submit Inventory Shipment
Use these web services to add zone picking data that relates to location attributes and shipments.
Use these templates to include inventory zones on printed labels:
  • Inventory Label Printing Inventory Locations Template
  • Inventory Label Printing Locations Template

Connections and Touchpoints

Workday offers a Touchpoints Kit with resources to help you understand configuration relationships in your tenant. Learn more about the Workday Touchpoints Kit on Workday Community.