Peoplevox
Submit an Idea

Picking and Shipping Customized Items


Overview

Some products need extra work in the warehouse before they can be shipped. For example, items that must be customized or personalized after picking. This reference article explains how to:

  • Pick all components required to build a customized item

  • Guide operators through customization on mobile

  • Print one label per completed customized item

  • Ship the order by scanning that label at the pack bench instead of every component


Who is This For?

This workflow is designed for warehouse operations where:

  • Orders include products that require post-pick customization or assembly (for example, kits built from multiple components)

  • Customization instructions come from your order management system (OMS) or ecommerce platform

  • Pack bench operators should handle a single labeled item rather than individual components

  • The business needs basic tracking of customization work (who did it and when)


How the Workflow Fits Into your Process

At a high level, the process looks like this:

  1. Order creation
    Your OMS sends orders that include any customization instructions on the order line. This is done via a "WorkStatus" property on the order line to indicate that work needs to be done and using the order line attributes to describe to mobile operators what work needs to happen.

  2. Picking
    Warehouse staff pick all components required for the customized product into a location.

  3. Customization station (mobile)
    An operator with the Use customization workflow permission scans a location or a sales order in the mobile app using the Scan function. The app shows order lines that require work, grouped at order-line level with the relevant customization details. The operator completes the work, records that work is complete and optionally prints a label for each finished item.

  4. Packing / dispatch
    At the pack bench or dispatch station, the user scans either the label on the customized item (if the items are assembled into a single parent item) or the individual component items if that is more suitable. The system treats the parent barcode as scanning the full kit, moves all required components into the shipment, and allows the user to complete despatch.


Key Concepts

Customization Work Status

Each order line that participates in this workflow has additional tracking fields that store:

  • Whether work is required or work is complete

  • User who most recently updated the work status

  • Timestamp when it was last updated

These values are updated automatically as operator's complete customization in the mobile app.


Kits and Components

The workflow is optimized for kitted items:

  • The kit parent represents the finished customized product on the order line.

  • The components are the underlying items that are picked, such as the base product and customization components.

On the mobile screen, operators primarily work with the order line (kit parent) and can expand it to see components when they need to verify details.


Customization Label

When customization is complete for an order line, operators can print a sales-order-item label. This label typically includes:

  • Sales order number

  • Customization details from order attributes

  • A barcode that uniquely identifies the order item

  • The user and timestamp of work completion

The pack bench uses this label to ship the customized product by scanning a single barcode.


Prerequisites

Before you start using the customization workflow, make sure the following are in place.


Permissions

There is a dedicated permission that controls access to the customization workflow in the scan function, called "Use customization workflow", under the Scan function.

  • Grant this permission only to users who:

    • should see the customization-specific scan experience, and

    • are allowed to complete work and print customization labels

  • Users without this permission continue to see the standard scan workflow.


Order and Product Data

Your integration or upload process should:

  • Identify which order lines require customization by:

    • Setting the appropriate work status: for order lines that need some work, the sales order item line property WorkStatus should be set to "WorkRequired"

    • Using order attributes to store the customization instructions

  • Ensure that:

    • Customization details are available on the order line attributes, not the item type

    • Quantities and kit structures (parent and components) are correctly populated


Label Templates

If you want to be able to subsequently scan an assembled kit, then you will need to set up at least one sales-order-item label template that includes:

  • Order number

  • Order attributes used for customization instructions (for visual auditing)

  • A barcode for the order item or kit parent

  • Optional fields such as the user and timestamp of work completion

Make sure this template is available to the printers used at the customization station.


Step 1: Pick Items for Customization

  1. Create and allocate orders
    Orders are created in your OMS and pushed into the warehouse system. For customizable products, the order line represents the kit parent and contains the attributes describing the required customization.

  2. Pick all components required for the kit
    Operators follow your normal picking workflows. All components needed for the customized product are picked into a location, such as a tote or staging location.

  3. Ensure items are picked before work is completed
    The customization workflow expects that order lines with work required are fully picked. Order lines that are not yet picked cannot be legitimately marked as complete. This prevents customization being recorded before all items are ready.


Step 2: Run the Customization Workflow on Mobile

Customization work typically happens at a dedicated station using the mobile app.


Entering the workflow from a location

Use this option when items for multiple orders are picked into the same location.

  1. In the mobile app, open Scan.

  2. Scan the location that contains picked items requiring customization.

  3. If the operator has the Use customisation workflow permission:

    • The app automatically loads the orders picked into that location and opens the first order directly in the customization view.

    • The user does not need to expand lists and manually navigate to the items.


Entering the Workflow from a Sales Order

Use this option when you want to work on a specific order, or when you cannot scan the location barcode.

  1. In the mobile app, open Scan > Sales order.

  2. Scan or search for the sales order.

  3. On the sales order page, use the Items / Work on order action to enter the customization screen for that order.

The app loads the order in the same customization view as when entering via a location. This is also useful when an order’s items are spread across multiple locations and you need more control over where to start.


Understanding the Customization Screen

Once in the customization view, the app shows the items in a layout optimized for this workflow:

  • Grouped by order line
    Items are grouped by sales order item instead of listing every component row. Each line represents one logical product to be customized, often a kit parent.

  • Attributes and quantities
    For lines with work required, the customization attributes and the ordered quantity are shown directly on the collapsed row. Operators can see at a glance what needs to be produced and how many units. For lines that do not require work, attributes and quantity stay within the expanded view to keep the screen focused.

  • Expandable component details
    Operators can expand a line to see the underlying components, such as the base item and sub-components. This is helpful for validation, for example confirming that all needed components are present before starting work.


Handling Partially Picked Orders

To avoid doing customization work on incomplete orders:

  • If an order is partially picked and not marked to allow partial shipment, a warning banner appears at the top of the customization screen.

  • Operators can then decide whether to start work immediately or wait until all items for the order are picked.


Completing Work and Printing Labels

For each order line that requires customization, operators can complete work and print labels.


Complete Work

  1. On the customization screen, locate the line that requires work.

  2. Tap Complete work.

  3. The system sets the work status to work complete and records the user and timestamp in the order line’s tracking fields.

  4. The Complete work action is only enabled when the line has work required and the related items have been picked.


Print Labels

There are two ways to print labels for customized items.

  • Manual print per line
    Tap Print label on a specific line. The system prints one or more labels for that order item using the configured sales-order-item template. If no template is selected, the app prompts the user to choose one.

  • Automatic print on completion
    Enable the toggle Print label after completion? When this is on, every time Complete work is tapped, the system prints labels for that line automatically.

In both cases, the number of labels is based on the order-line quantity. Operators receive one label per finished customized item.


Progressing Through Orders

  • When all lines requiring work on the current order have been completed:

    • If completion occurs on the last outstanding line, the app can automatically move to the next order in the same location.

    • Operators can also manually tap Next order to move on.

  • If there are no more orders in the location, the workflow returns to the scan prompt with a short confirmation message indicating that all orders have been processed.

The workflow is designed so that completing one line does not close the entire session when there are still lines with work outstanding on the same order.


Working with Orders Across Multiple Locations

If items for a single order are picked into multiple locations:

  • The sales order view can show a list of locations that currently contain picked items for that order.

  • From this list, operators can open a location to view its details and use existing processes, such as sorting, to consolidate items if necessary.

This locations list is useful to all scan users and is available even if they do not use the customization workflow.


Step 3: Ship Customized Items at the Pack Bench

Once customized items have been completed and labeled, they move to packing or dispatch.


Scanning Customized Items

  1. In the web app, open your standard dispatch or pack workflow.

  2. Scan the location that contains completed customized items.

  3. On the packing step, instead of scanning every component, scan the label applied to the finished customized item, using the kit parent barcode.

  4. The system identifies the order item represented by that label, treats scanning the kit parent as if all of its components had been scanned, moves the appropriate items into the shipment, and continues the normal dispatch flow.

If any required components are missing, a warning is shown so the user can investigate before completing the shipment.


Multiple Orders with the Same Customized Item

In high-volume scenarios where many orders contain the same customized item and are picked into the same location:

  1. All completed items are placed into a shared location.

  2. At despatch, the user scans that location and then scans the label on a single customized item.

  3. The system automatically selects the correct order for that item, treats the kit parent as a single packaged product representing all of its components, and skips redundant steps if there is nothing else to pack for that order.

This makes it practical to ship large batches of identical customized products without repeatedly scanning multiple components.


Tracking and Reporting

Because customization work is tracked directly on the order line, you can:

  • See at a glance whether work is required or work is complete.

  • Identify who completed the work and when it was done.

  • Use these fields in your own reports and dashboards to measure throughput at the customization station, monitor rework or exceptions, and validate that all customized items were completed before shipment.


Best Practices

  • Start small
    Pilot the workflow with a subset of customized products before rolling out more broadly.

  • Standardize attributes
    Agree a consistent structure for customization attributes, for example which attribute holds which part of the instruction, to keep the mobile UI predictable for operators.

  • Train both stations
    Ensure both the customization station and the pack bench understand which labels to print and that pack bench staff should scan the customization label instead of component barcodes.

  • Monitor early data
    Review early orders for incorrect or missing customization details, orders that were partially picked when work began, and any labels that had to be re-printed or corrected. Use this feedback to refine your templates and training.