ERP and WMS integration: orders through the warehouse

Key points

• ERP and WMS have different responsibilities.
• Commercial allocation must connect to physical quantity.
• Scanning and confirmations create traceability.

What remains in ERP

ERP manages customer, price, terms, order, purchasing, documents and costs. It decides what should be delivered and why.

Operational status from WMS updates the order without sales calling the warehouse.

What remains in WMS

WMS manages locations, operator tasks, routes, scans, batches, serial numbers and packing. It decides how physical movement is executed.

It shows where the product is, who moved it and which quantity is available for an action.

The receiving workflow

A purchase order or expected receipt leaves ERP. WMS confirms what arrived, where it was stored and which differences or quality issues appeared.

ERP updates stock and documents from the confirmation. Missing, extra or blocked quantities need explicit handling.

The delivery workflow

ERP sends a validated order. WMS allocates locations, creates tasks, confirms picking and packing, then returns the dispatched quantity.

Partial delivery and batch substitution must remain visible because ERP needs physical reality for documents and customer communication.

Counting and differences

Cycle counts can cover zones and products without closing the whole warehouse. Differences should be approved before financial stock changes.

The cause matters as much as the adjustment: wrong location, missed scan, incorrect unit or delayed document.

Technical integration rules

Use common identifiers, retryable messages and clear states. Event order matters, since a cancellation should not arrive before the system knows the original task.

Monitor queues, delay and mapping errors. Operations needs a simple exception screen, not only technical logs.

Frequently asked questions