Sometimes when fulfilling orders, an unexpected problem might occur with inventory of the ordered items. In NetSuite, you can manage these problems in different ways on the fulfillment request record, depending on the fulfillment request type. For fulfillment requests of type Ship, you can reject lines in the fulfillment request. For fulfillment requests of type Store Pickup, you can enter “exceptions”. Examples of exceptions include out of stock inventory and damaged or spoiled items on the store shelves. Exceptions interrupt the normal store pickup workflow. The usage of exceptions on the fulfillment request record offers the following benefits:
- Enables you to record and track problems with inventory.
- Lets you view orders on hold because of inventory problems.
- Prevents further shipping orders from being assigned to a store automatically. This only applies if the Automatic Location Assignment feature is enabled and configured to assign locations to sales order lines automatically.
A fulfillment exception is a deviation from the expected fulfillment workflow, typically because of inventory problems. Two types of exceptions are available for store pickup orders: Picking and Picking Up. You enter the Picking exception type before or during the picking stage. You enter the Picking Up exception when the customer visits the store to collect the items.
Fulfillment request exceptions can be entered on a fulfillment request for both shipping orders and store pickup orders.