Staged Putaway

Receive stock into putaway bins, then run a routed putaway batch that moves each item to its final bin, with scan verification at every step.

What Is Staged Putaway

Staged putaway splits receiving into two steps. First you receive stock into a putaway bin, such as a dock or receiving location. Later you clear that bin with a putaway batch: SKUSavvy suggests a destination bin for every item, orders the walk through the warehouse, and moves the stock as you confirm each line.

This is useful when the person receiving is not the person shelving, or when a large delivery needs to be checked in quickly and shelved later. Inventory in a putaway bin is on hand and counted, so it never disappears between the two steps.

Enable Staged Putaway

To turn on staged putaway, go to Company > Settings > Inventory and switch on Enable staged putaway. This adds the Putaway page under each warehouse and shows the Putaway Bin toggle when you edit a bin.

The Putaway page and putaway batches require the Update Inventory right, because confirming a line moves stock between bins.

Set Up a Putaway Bin

A putaway bin is where received stock waits before it goes to its final home. Most warehouses mark their receiving or dock locations. You can mark as many bins as you need, for example one per dock door.

From the bin list

Go to Warehouse > Layout > Bins, open the bin, and turn on Putaway Bin. Save the bin. The same toggle is available when you create a new bin.

From the layout editor

Open the warehouse layout editor, select the bin on the map, and check Putaway Bin in the sidebar. This is the faster option when you are marking several dock bins at once, because you can select each one on the map without leaving the editor.

Receiving into a putaway bin

When you check in a purchase order or transfer, the bin picker lists your putaway bins first, so receiving staff can drop stock at the dock without searching for it. Any stock received into a putaway bin becomes available on the Putaway page.

Start a Putaway Batch

To begin, go to Warehouse > Inventory > Putaway. The page lists every putaway bin in the warehouse with how many units and items are waiting in it. Expand a row to see the exact contents.

Check the bins you want to clear, then click Putaway. Empty bins cannot be selected because they add nothing to the batch. You can select all non-empty bins at once with the checkbox in the table header.

The batch has no record of its own. The selected bins live in the page URL, so refreshing keeps your place, and you can send the link to a second worker to share the same batch.

How the route is built

SKUSavvy picks a destination bin for every line and sorts the lines into the shortest walk, starting and ending at the putaway bins you selected. Only bins with room for the whole line are offered, and never another putaway bin. Each line shows its suggested bin, the reason it was chosen, and the other candidate bins ranked underneath.

Destinations follow your putaway criteria first, then bins already stocking the item, then empty bins. To set up putaway criteria, see the guide below.

Directed Putaway With Bin Criteria

Route settings such as Max Time, Resolution, and shelf side grouping are shared with picking. Open Putaway Settings on the batch screen to adjust them, or to show the warehouse layout beside the list. A change made here is the change picking uses, so the two workflows never disagree about how your aisles walk.

Work the Batch

Lines appear in route order. Tap a line to expand it and see the suggested bin on the map. As you confirm each line, the next one along the route opens automatically, so you can keep walking without touching the screen.

To confirm a line, click Allocate on the suggested bin, or scan the bin barcode. The confirmation prompt shows the item and the quantity, defaulted to the full line. Lower the quantity to move only part of the line, for example when the destination fills up sooner than expected. Click Confirm to move the stock.

You are not locked to the suggestion. Click Allocate on any other candidate bin, or scan a different bin barcode when only one line is left, and the stock goes there instead. If no bin has room for a line, the card says so; free up space or scan any bin to override.

The batch is complete when every line has been moved. Stock leaves the putaway bin the moment you confirm, so a batch you stop halfway can be picked up again from the Putaway page with whatever is still waiting.

Scan Points

Putaway has its own scan policy, separate from outbound picking and transfers. Set it under Company > Settings > Verification and choose Putaway from the workflow selector. The section is only offered while staged putaway is enabled.

The batch screen accepts scans at any time, from a hardware scanner or the camera scanner. A scan is read as a bin barcode first, then as an item barcode or serial number.

Verify bin location

Optional lets you confirm a line by tapping Allocate, or by scanning the item, which confirms it into the suggested bin. Scan required hides the Allocate buttons and makes the worker scan the destination bin barcode before anything moves into it, which catches stock landing in the wrong location. With bin scan required, an item scan alone is refused and the screen tells you which bin to scan.

Verify item

Optional confirms the whole line as soon as the bin is right, with no prompt. This is the fastest setting.
Manual opens the confirmation prompt, where the worker sets the quantity and taps Confirm or scans the item.
Scan required opens the prompt but disables tapping. Only a scan of the item barcode or serial number confirms the line, so a mis-shelved item is caught before it happens.

Scan counts as

This appears when item scanning is Manual or Scan required. The whole line means one item scan confirms the full quantity. One unit means each scan adds one unit to the count, and the line confirms itself when the last unit is scanned. Use one unit when serial numbers or high-value items need every piece verified.

What a scan does on the batch screen

Scanning a bin that a line is routed to opens the confirmation for that line. Scanning a bin nothing is routed to is treated as an override, and is accepted only when a single line is left, because a bin says where but not which item.
Scanning an item finds its pending line and opens the confirmation into the suggested bin, unless bin scanning is required.
Scanning while the confirmation is open verifies the item and either confirms the line or adds one unit, depending on the scan counts as setting. Scanning the wrong item shows an error and moves nothing.