Versioning and Splitting Orders

In SAP Commerce Cloud, an order isn't a static record. As it moves through the fulfillment process, changes may occur—such as customer-requested modifications, cancellations, or partial returns. To maintain a clear audit trail and ensure data integrity, the system uses order versioning.

When a significant change is made to an order, the system creates a new "version" of that order. The original order remains as a historical snapshot, while the new version becomes the active record for fulfillment. This history allows administrators to track exactly when a change happened, who made it, and what the order state was at any given point in time.

The order history snapshot of the full order is still available under Orders in the Administration Cockpit.

Once an order is placed, the system will determine the best location to fulfill the items.

Often, a single order includes multiple items that can't be shipped from a single location. This triggers order splitting. The system divides the original order into multiple consignments. Each consignment represents a group of items that will be fulfilled together from a specific warehouse or POS.

For example, assume a customer buys a camera and a tripod, and the camera is to be picked up in store (1), while the tripod is in a warehouse and to be shipped (2). The system splits the order into two consignments to ensure the fastest possible delivery.

Note that both consignments use the same order number, 00006001, followed by version numbers _0 and _1 (3). This numbering makes it easier to track which consignments belong together.

The system uses configurable sourcing factors (such as "Distance-Based" or "Priority-Based") to decide which warehouse should handle the order to minimize shipping costs and delivery time.

After sourcing has assigned consignments to specific warehouses, the physical fulfillment process begins. The consignment is managed mainly through the Backoffice Order Fulfillment Cockpit.

Warehouse staff follow a standardized workflow:

1. Picking: Staff can print a "Pick Slip". This slip includes important order information such as the order date, order number, and shipping address. It also shows line items that need picking, product information (code, name, image), quantity, and bin code to make searching the product easier.

   After staff open the pick slip, the status of the consignment changes to Pickpack.

2. Shipping: Finally, after boxing the consignment, staff can print shipping labels to be placed on packages, with the necessary shipping information. With that done, they can confirm when the order has been shipped.

Sometimes, a warehouse can't fulfill a consignment, for example, if a warehouse worker discovers an item is damaged or the stock count is inaccurate. Rerouting the order to another warehouse is one way to solve these kinds of issues and is triggered in the Order Fulfillment Cockpit.

The system can automatically look for the next best warehouse based on the original sourcing rules (Auto Allocation), or a customer service agent can manually select a new fulfillment location.

• Order versioning maintains a historical record of all changes to an order for transparency and auditing.
• Sourcing determines the best fulfillment locations, often resulting in order splitting into multiple consignments.
• The Backoffice Order Fulfillment Cockpit facilitates the physical picking and labeling process.
• Rerouting provides the flexibility to move consignments to different warehouses if the original location cannot fulfill a request.