Glossary
Inventory allocation
Reserving specific stock for a specific order before it is picked, so two orders cannot promise the same unit and the store stops selling what is already spoken for.
What it is
Allocation is the moment an order takes ownership of stock. Before allocation, the order is a wish and the stock is available to anyone. After allocation, those units are reserved: the store’s available number drops, a second order cannot take them, and a picker will be sent for them.
In the ledger, allocation is its own bucket. The units have not moved physically; they have moved from “available” to “allocated” on paper, and that row has a name and a time.
Why it matters
Overselling is what happens without allocation, or with allocation that arrives late. Two orders for the last unit both succeed; one customer gets an apology. Allocation is the lock that prevents it, and it only works if it happens at order time, not at pick time.
The other failure is quieter. Allocated stock that never ships is invisible to sales and to the floor. An order held for three weeks with its stock reserved is a decision nobody made.
A worked example
ITEM-01 has fifty pieces available. Order 2031 for six pieces arrives at 09:14. Allocation writes a row: six pieces from available to allocated, order 2031. Available is now forty-four, and that is the number the store shows. At 09:15 order 2032 asks for forty-six; allocation refuses forty-six and allocates forty-four, leaving two short with a named reason. Nobody sold the same unit twice, and the shortfall is a fact on the order, not a surprise at the dock.
How DockingWare does it
Allocation reserves exact pieces at order time and writes the ledger row. Every order records when it was allocated and shows how long it has held its stock. A per-tenant threshold and a per-customer hold limit define what “too long” means; on breach the system notifies and lists the order in a stale allocations report. It never releases on its own. When a person releases, the reason is required and it rides on the ledger row with their name. Kits allocate their components, and a component held by kit orders says so on its own product page.
Questions
- Is allocation the same as picking?
- No. Allocation is a promise made in the system: these units belong to this order. Picking is the physical act of going to get them. Allocation happens first and is what keeps a second order from claiming the same units.
- What is a stale allocation?
- Stock that was reserved for an order that has not moved in days or weeks. It is not on the shelf for sale and not on a truck either. Someone needs to decide: release it or pick it. Left alone, it is money asleep.
- Can the system release an allocation on its own?
- It should not. Releasing means breaking a promise to a customer, and that is a human decision. The system's job is to notify loudly and to record who released it and why.