Give your ERP's own warehouse module a fair test on your hardest order before you buy anything else. If the module directs the picker and the count stays right, you have saved yourself a project. If it does not, you will have a written list of what to ask a warehouse management system (WMS) to do, which is a better starting point than a feature spreadsheet.
That advice is for a distributor choosing or living with a wholesale distribution ERP, the system where orders, pricing, purchasing and the books live. The five questions below are the ones I would put to the ERP vendor, and to myself, before adding a second system to the warehouse. Our series on choosing a system covers the rest.
Our ERP vendor says warehouse management is included. Is it?
Sometimes, and the only way to know is to read the quote line by line. NetSuite's wholesale distribution page lists warehouse management among its features. Acumatica sells its Warehouse Management module separately: its licensing guide shows Inventory Control as part of the Distribution Edition and Warehouse Management as an optional module. Neither is wrong, but they are different purchases.
Even when a module is included, ask who gives the orders. A screen with a barcode field takes down what happened once the work is finished, whereas a WMS sends the picker to the next bin and checks each scan against the order.
So test it. Take the hardest order you ship in a normal week, such as one split across two buildings or labeled to a customer's rules, and run it through the module with the people who will use it. Write down every place somebody leaves the system for paper, a spreadsheet or a second keystroke.
On my second ERP selection I asked each department to bring the reports they actually used every week. Finance brought a stack. The warehouse brought one printed pick list with handwriting all over it, and that page told us more about our requirements than the stack did. Your marked-up order is the equivalent, and it goes to every vendor.
What does a WMS do that the ERP does not?
A wholesale distribution ERP is the business system a distributor runs on. It handles purchasing, sales orders, customer pricing, inventory valuation, payables, receivables and the general ledger, and it records what you own, what you owe and what you sold, by item and by warehouse. A WMS runs the physical work: receiving, putaway, bin locations, replenishment, picking, packing, shipping and counting. It assigns each task to a person, and a scan confirms the step, so the inventory record follows the stock as it moves.
Plenty of ERP inventory modules now hold bins, lots and serial numbers too, so the difference lies less in what gets stored than in who directs the work and when the data goes in.
| ERP without a warehouse module | WMS | |
|---|---|---|
| Main job | Records the order, cost and invoice | Directs and checks the physical work |
| Inventory detail | Item and warehouse totals, often bins, lots and serials | Bin, pallet or case, and who moved it |
| When data goes in | Often entered after the work | Scanned as each step happens |
| Main users | Purchasing, sales, finance | Receivers, pickers, packers, counters |
| Picking | Pick list printed from the order | Sends the picker to the bin, checks the scan |
| Counting | Records results and adjustments | Counts by location, by scan |
The ERP keeps the books, and the WMS keeps the warehouse record accurate and feeds it to the ERP.
Should a WMS be built into the ERP or sit beside it?
An embedded WMS is part of the ERP's own environment and feeds it directly. A connected one is a separate system that passes transactions over. Embedded means one place to look. Connected means the WMS can survive an ERP change, provided a connector exists for the new ERP. Whichever you weigh, ask how often the two systems exchange data: a connection can post every transaction as it happens or sync on a schedule, and that sets how current the ERP is at two in the afternoon.
When operations asked for a warehouse system, my first question as the finance person was what it would do to the ERP. The answer I wanted was nothing: same items, same general ledger, the ERP still the system of record. The candidates that wanted to own the item master were the first I crossed off.
Endpoint is one example of the differences. Endpoint for Sage runs inside Sage 100, Sage 300, Sage 500 and Sage Intacct, and Endpoint for Acumatica runs inside Acumatica, where it posts transactions in real time. Endpoint Cloud is its own system, connects to Sage 100 and syncs on a schedule. Our page on how warehouse software works with the ERP you already run has the rest.
Which software is best for a wholesale distributor?
No single product is best for every distributor, so ask these before any demo:
- Does the ERP include warehouse management, or is it a separate license?
- Which warehouse systems work inside the ERP or alongside it, and how often does data move between them?
- Does it track stock by bin, and by pallet or case?
- Can it produce the labels and advance ship notices, the shipment details you send a customer ahead of the truck, that your customers ask for?
- Who on your team will be responsible for the change on the floor?
If you are choosing a new ERP now, put these warehouse questions into the same selection project.
We have one small warehouse and a short item list. Do we need a WMS?
Probably not yet. A single small warehouse with few items and counts that match can get by on the ERP, and a second system has a real cost. These are the signs that change the answer:
- The ERP shows stock the shelf does not have, because receipts sit on the dock before anyone puts them away.
- Pick lists are on paper, and shipments get keyed into the ERP later.
- Customers find mispicks before you do.
- Counting means closing the warehouse. Here is how cycle counts compare with a full physical count.
- A second warehouse is coming and the ERP only knows totals. See running inventory across two warehouses.
- You are changing ERPs, and the warehouse process has to be rebuilt anyway.
The routine for the count itself is in our 30-day plan for distribution inventory.
Any one of those is a reason to run the test above. If none describes you, the ERP alone is a reasonable answer.
