In this article:

• What are location roles?
• Location role definitions
• General information about location roles
• Location role hierarchy

What are location roles?

A location role is like a status for an item on shelf, providing additional details such as:

• Does this item count toward available stock?
• Is the item damaged?
• Is the item being reserved to use at a later time?
• Is the item located in a GreyOrange warehouse?

A shelf can contain multiple items; each unique item on the shelf has its own location; each location can have its own role.

A shelf cannot contain multiple locations for the same Item, but a shelf can have different roles.

Example

Shelf 01-AA-01-01 has 1 unit of WATER-BOTTLE that's Pickable and 5 units of TSHIRT that are Damaged. The Shelf has 2 Locations.

We can add more Pickable WATER-BOTTLES and more Damaged TSHIRTs, or a different SKU.

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Location role definitions

Location role	Definition	Contributes to Available stock?
Pickable	Base or default location role. Batches send pickers to these locations.
External	GreyOrange-only: Base or default location role. Batches send GreyOrange mobile storage units to these locations.
Backstock	Location role not used generally for picking but can be promoted to Pickable during replenishment. Enhanced pick efficiency—send pickers to the low shelves before the wrapped pallet of Backstock 20 feet up.
Dropoff	GreyOrange-only: Location role used when replenishing from Backstock during location transfers.
Reserved	Temporary location role used for storing inventory. To receive into this role, you must enable it in Customer Preferences (Admin tab). Only visible to Administrators.
Pending	Location role used for returns when there is still post-processing work to do (reconditioning and reshelving). This allows returns to be completed but not make the stock immediately available. For this role to be used, it must be enabled in Customer Preferences (Admin tab). Only visible to Administrators. GreyOrange warehouses use the Pending location role as part of the receiving process. Once the inventory is put away, RyderShip does a location transfer to change the role to External.
Expired	Location role used for items that have Lot Control enabled and are in a Lot that is past its expiration date.
Damaged	Location role used for damaged items found during returns or Ship Notice receiving.
B Stock	Location role for receiving and storing items that have cosmetic flaws (scratches, dents, packaging damage) but are fully functional and useable. Items could be resold at a discount and may be labeled as "open box" or "refurbished.” Inventory can be adjusted in and out of this role. To receive into this role, you must enable it in Customer Preferences (Admin tab). Only visible to Administrators.

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General information about location roles

• Orders can't be directly created from a Location Role; they can instead be Batched favoring a particular set of Location Roles.

• One physical shelf could have multiple Location IDs with the same Name. For example, Location 01-AA-001-001 might have 2 units of SKUABC and a role of Pickable. When an order is placed for 1 unit of SKUABC, there are now two Location IDs with the same name. One of them could be Pickable, one could be Reserved.

• Inventory Exports and the Inventory Snapshots include stock levels for each role.

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Location role hierarchy

1.   Damaged

2.   B Stock

3.   Expired

4.   Pending

5.   Reserved

6.   Backstock | Dropoff

7.   Pickable | External

External and Dropoff apply to GreyOrange warehouses only.

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