What is the best way to handle sending a partial shipment in Cetec ERP? The answer to that question varies by company and depends on the types of products you sell and your normal production processes. So, here, well look at multiple options so you can use that information to decide the best practice for your business.

The cleanest way to handle a partial shipment is to start by setting a partial ship quantity on the order’s Invoice/Ship screen. To do that, click on the Invoice/Ship link on the left side of either the order or the work order screen. Then, go to the Ship Quantity field and enter the partial ship quantity.

However, if no parts have yet been picked, the ship quantity field may be grayed out. In this case, there’s a configuration setting that needs to be changed to allow you to set a ship quantity even without the parts being picked. To access the configuration settings, a user with the Admin role can click Admin, then Config Settings, then Config Settings.

The setting in question here is “Allow No Parts Picked for Invoice Creation.” Turning this setting on allows you to set a ship quantity on an order even if parts have not yet been picked to that order. After finding that config setting, set its value to 1 and then click Set. Now, if you go back to the order Invoice/Ship screen and refresh the screen (click ctrl + r), you’re able to edit the Ship Quantity.

Enter your partial ship quantity and click Update. You’ll get a pop-up window where you can choose how to adjust the quantity to relieve. (For more information on these options, see below.)

So, to review, when you want to ship only part of an order, we recommend first setting the ship quantity on the Invoice/Ship screen of the order. (This action has the same effect in the system as someone going to the Warehouse tab, then Release to Pick, and then releasing a partial quantity of the order to be picked.)

A second option you have with partial shipments is to split the order line before picking the parts on the order. Let’s look at where you would go to split an order line. From the order screen, go to the left and click on Workorder View +, then click the line number. (Alternatively, you can just click on the number link on the order line.)

Now that you’re on the work order screen, click Maint/Etc + on the left and then click Split Line. Enter the quantity you’d like to go onto a second line, then click Split.

In the pop-up window, you’re presented with different options for how to adjust the quantity to relieve. Depending on how you’ve set your configuration settings, different options will appear here. Let’s look at those config settings options. As mentioned before, a user with the Admin role can get to the Config Settings list by clicking the Admin tab, then Config Settings, then Config Settings.

In this case, you’ll want to search for the config setting called “Allow Calculate Component Relieve Qty from Ship Qty X QtyPerTop.” This config setting determines what options will show up when you’re deciding how your inventory should be relieved. See the key in the description to determine which number to type in the Value field. Enter the value you want and click Set.

Let’s go back to that Split Line screen on the work order. Once you’ve entered a quantity for your new line and clicked Split, you’re given choices about how to adjust your quantity to relieve, as we saw before. We’ll go over those options now.

If your business deals in indeterminate quantities of BOM components, where you pick what you can and then adjust the quantities as needed, and therefore you don’t know up front how many assemblies you can make, we’d recommend using Scale to Pick.

Scale to Pick sets a ratio by which all components on the assembly will be relieved. It uses this equation:

pick quantity (new ship quantity/old ship quantity)

For example, let’s say your original order quantity was 10 but you are splitting it into two lines of 5. This means that the new ship quantity (5) divided by the old ship quantity (10) is 0.5, or 50%.

You have a component on this assembly with a quantity per top of 1. So, to fulfill the total order of 10 assemblies, you’ll need 10 of this component. But you’ve only picked 7 so far because that’s all you have on hand.

In this scenario, if you click on Scale to Pick, Cetec ERP will multiply your pick quantity of 7 by 50% to get a quantity of 3.5. So, when you ship one of your split lines of 5 assemblies, Cetec will relieve 3.5 of that component.

Now that we’ve looked at the Scale to Pick option, we’ll cover Scale to BOM.

Scale to BOM is best for companies whose components are consumed in whole number quantities, like EMS, computer assemblers, and final assembly companies. Scale to BOM uses this equation:

quantity per top of components * ship qty

When you choose Scale to BOM and then ship one of your new split lines, Cetec ERP attempts to relieve the total component need for that shipped line, leaving any remaining component need associated with the unshipped line.

Let’s see what this looks like in action. I have an order for a quantity of 10 of a part called BOM2000. But my customer just called and said they only want me to ship them 5 of these assemblies for the time being.

So, I click into the work order view, then click Maint/Etc + on the left, and then Split Line. In the “New Line w/Qty” field, I enter a quantity of 5. This will create two lines of 5, one that I plan to ship now and one I plan to ship later. I click Split and I’m given the pop-up window. I choose Scale to BOM. The order is now split into two lines of quantity 5.

Now it’s time to ship those first 5 assemblies to my customer. I go to the left side menu and click Invoice/Ship. (Important note: You’ll want to ship the new split line rather than line 1 in order for the component inventory to relieve properly.) I go to line 2, enter a ship quantity of 5, and then click Update.

Cetec ERP shows me how the component quantities on these 5 assemblies I’m shipping are going to be relieved. Because I chose Scale to BOM, and because, even though I’d partially picked, I’d picked enough to cover a line of 5 assemblies, Cetec ERP will relieve the full component need for this line of 5.

However, if, instead of shipping the new split line, I were to try to ship line 1 without fully picking the order, Cetec ERP would only relieve a portion of the necessary components, because it is prioritizing allocating components to the newly split line (line 2).

Now that we’ve looked at the implications of Scale to Pick and Scale to BOM, let’s look at our last option for how to relieve inventory when doing a partial shipment: Don’t Scale.

Don’t Scale can be handy in a situation where components have been broken in the assembly process, but you still want them charged to the cost of the job.

Now you have a foundational knowledge of how to partially ship an order in Cetec ERP, either by setting a partial ship quantity right from the start, or by splitting your order into separate lines and then telling Cetec ERP how to relieve your inventory.

As we said in the beginning, whether you choose Split to Pick, Split to BOM, or Don’t Split depends upon your unique business situation. Feel free to review this tutorial as you decide what options work best for your company’s processes.