Send Planner
The Send Planner works out how much of the stock in your own warehouses to send to each fulfillment network: Amazon FBA and AWD, Walmart WFS and TikTok FBT. It can also plan sends to your own warehouses and 3PLs by warehouse transfer, and suggest orders from suppliers who ship straight to a network. It keeps enough back for your self-fulfilled orders, shares short stock between networks by rules you set, and turns the result into shipment drafts that you finish in each network.
You work on Inventory → Send Planner, across five tabs: Plan, Scenarios, Send runs, Network rules and History.
Start here
New to the Send Planner? This is the shortest path to your first send:
- How the Send Planner works: what it decides, and when to use it instead of Demand Planning.
- Set up the Send Planner: connect a network and calculate your first plan.
- Read the send plan: check what goes where, and why.
- Create shipment drafts: turn the plan into drafts in each network.
- Work through a send run: the weekly routine once you're up and running.
The rest of this chapter covers each stage in full.
Set up
Connect your networks, set each network's rules, choose which warehouses ship to which network, and add capacity limits and product exceptions. Start at Set up.
| To… | Go to… |
|---|---|
| connect a network and calculate your first plan | Set up the Send Planner |
| set targets, floors, priorities and blackouts for each network | Set network rules |
| control which warehouses ship to which network | Choose where sends ship from |
| plan sends to your own warehouses or 3PLs | Stock your own warehouses and 3PLs by transfer |
| cap what a network can take each month | Set network capacity limits |
| make exceptions for one product | Set product overrides |
Read and adjust the plan
Understand where each number comes from, read the plan day to day, and change it where you know better. Start at Read and adjust the plan.
| To… | Go to… |
|---|---|
| understand where a network's number comes from | How a network's send is calculated |
| understand what's kept back and how short stock is shared | How stock is shared between networks |
| work the Plan tab day to day | Read the send plan |
| see the reasoning behind one SKU's quantity | See why a SKU gets its quantity |
| override a quantity, or rebalance around it | Change a send quantity |
| try different settings on the current plan | Tune the plan |
| recalculate, refresh network stock, or fix a plan that failed or left something out | Recalculate the plan and fix calculation problems |
Send stock
Turn the plan into real shipments: allocate the source stock, create the drafts, follow them up, and close any shortfall. Start at Send stock.
| To… | Go to… |
|---|---|
| learn what a shipment draft becomes in each network | How sends reach each network |
| create the drafts in FBA, AWD, WFS, FBT or as warehouse transfers | Create shipment drafts |
| optional: set source stock aside before you draft (drafting does it for you) | Allocate stock for a send |
| retry a failed draft, or finish a manual one | Follow up on shipment drafts |
| order from suppliers that deliver straight to a network | Order from suppliers that ship straight to a network |
| close a shortfall with a purchase order, production or a kit build | Cover a shortfall |
| get the plan into Excel or CSV | Export a send plan |
Scenarios and send runs
Plan ahead with what-if scenarios, work the weekly send as a checklist, and let the AI summarise the plan for approval. Start at Scenarios and send runs.
| To… | Go to… |
|---|---|
| know the difference between the working plan, scenarios and send runs | Plans, scenarios and send runs |
| model a promotion or a change of target without touching the live plan | Try a what-if with a scenario |
| pick the best scenario and make it the plan | Compare and promote a scenario |
| do the weekly send in four steps | Work through a send run |
| have the weekly run happen on a schedule | Schedule weekly send runs |
| let the AI summarise the plan and run the approval | Approve the AI send plan |
| find or archive old plans | Archive plans and review history |
Send Planner Reference
Look up every column, flag, status, export column and permission. Start at Send Planner Reference.
| To… | Go to… |
|---|---|
| look up a grid column, filter or toggle | Send plan grid columns and filters |
| look up a flag | Send Planner flags |
| look up any status | Send Planner statuses |
| look up an export column | Send plan export columns |
| find out who can do what | Send Planner permissions |
Related
These chapters own subjects the Send Planner touches. The planner's pages link to them instead of repeating them.
- Demand Planning: forecast what to buy and make, and how sales velocity is measured.
- Allocations & backorders: the allocations the planner creates when you allocate stock for a send, and how they differ from stock holds.
- How warehouse transfers work: what a transfer draft becomes once you ship it.
- Purchase orders: approve and send the purchase orders the planner drafts.
- Build a master production schedule: where Plan production puts a shortfall.
- The network chapters, where you finish each draft: Amazon FBA inbound, Walmart Fulfillment Services and TikTok Shop.
- Basics: Follow background jobs for calculations, exports and drafts, and Save and pin table views for the plan grid.