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Glossary

Canonical definitions for the terms used across Yessort. Where a page uses one of these terms, this is what it means.

Site

A physical warehouse, shop, or virtual holder of stock — the building, not a spot inside it. Sites come in three types: warehouse, shop, and virtual. A Shopify "Location" always maps to a Yessort site, never to a location.

Location

An addressable stock spot inside a site: a bin, shelf, pallet space, or slot. Yessort calls this a "location", not a "bin", because the real spot is often broader than a bin.

On-hand

Stock physically present. On-hand partitions into eight buckets — see the stock quantities reference.

Committed

Stock allocated to an order but not yet picked.

Available to promise

On-hand minus committed — what you can still sell.

Reserved

Stock held for an order so it can't be sold twice.

Lot

Also called a batch — a traceable production or receipt batch of a variant, rotated first-expiry-first-out (FEFO).

Dispatch

Stock leaving the warehouse to a customer. Yessort says "dispatch", never "ship".

Goods receipt

The record of stock physically arriving at a site. Posting one is what puts the stock on hand and sets what it cost. A receipt does not need a purchase order — it can cover several purchase orders and inbound transfers at once, or none at all. Receipts are numbered GRN-1000 onwards by default.

Putaway

Moving stock that has just arrived out of a site's receiving location and into the locations it will be stored in. On a site using advanced locations, posting a goods receipt raises one putaway task for that receipt, and receiving a transfer raises one the same way, staging the arriving stock in the receiving location first; each task carries a line for each received line, and the tasks are worked from Inventory → Putaway. Lines received onto a licence plate are excluded — that stock is moved later as a whole plate instead — and damaged quantity is never put away; it goes to quarantine at receipt. Sites using simple locations have no putaway step: received stock lands in the variant's home location, or, if it has none, the site's flagged default location, or, if no location is flagged as default, whichever active location at the site sorts first by sequence — with no check that the location can actually receive stock.

Location mode

Whether a site uses simple or advanced locations. On simple locations, each variant has one home location and goods-in posts straight there, with no putaway step. Advanced locations add multi-location placement and unlock putaway, pick face and reserve location roles, replenishment and licence plates. A shop is single-location: it's created with one MAIN location and holds its stock there, so the setting makes no difference to it. A virtual site holds stock at site level and has no locations at all.

Receiving location

The location a site using advanced locations lands goods receipts in before putaway. It's created automatically the first time a site needs it, accepts stock but isn't pickable, so stock sitting there is on hand but not yet sellable.

Reserve location

A location marked as bulk storage on a site using advanced locations — where putaway prefers to place stock, and where replenishment draws it from to top up a pick face.

Pick face

A location marked as the forward-pick spot for a variant, on a site using advanced locations — the location a picker is actually sent to. Topped up from a reserve location by replenishment.

Replenishment

Moving stock already at a site from a reserve location into a pick face, so a picker never finds one empty. This is different from a reorder rule, which brings new stock into a site by purchase order or transfer — replenishment never brings stock in from outside. It runs on sites using advanced locations, driven by a replenishment policy for each variant and pick face.

Replenishment policy

The minimum, maximum and increment set for one variant at one pick face, on a site using advanced locations. When the pick face's available stock falls below the minimum, a replenishment task tops it back up towards the maximum, in whole multiples of the increment.

Transfer

The record of stock moving between two of your own sites. A transfer holds stock at the source, dispatches it into the source site's in transit location, and only puts it on hand at the destination once it's received.

In transit

One of the non-sellable on-hand buckets — stock a transfer has dispatched but that hasn't yet been received at the destination. It sits at the source site's in-transit location for the whole journey, so organisation-wide on-hand is unaffected by a transfer; only the per-site figures move. See stock quantities.

Licence plate

A scannable container — pallet, carton or gaylord — that holds stock and moves as one unit, worked from Inventory → Licence plates. A goods receipt line assigned to a licence plate is excluded from putaway and moved later as a whole plate with scan-to-move. Stock on a licence plate is picked, counted, replenished and transferred like any other stock at its location: when more is needed than the location holds loose, Yessort takes the difference off the plate automatically, so a plate empties as its stock is used.

Count task

A count of one location, or, when scoped to a single variant, just that one line at it. Raised by the overnight coverage schedule, by a person directly, by a low- or empty-location prompt at pick time, by an automatic short-pick signal, or by a recount. A variance posts automatically only within the count tolerance; otherwise it waits for review.

Count session

A named batch of count tasks, kept only for tracking progress — how many of its tasks are done and how many are left. It can't be opened, completed or cancelled from the app; once created, it just sits as a running tally.

Count tolerance

How far a count's variance may differ from the expected quantity before it posts automatically rather than waiting for review. Two tolerances must both pass: a plain unit-quantity tolerance, and a value tolerance measured against the variant's weighted average cost. A variant with no cost on file always queues for review; a variant whose average cost is genuinely zero passes the value tolerance outright.

Blind count

A count where the person counting doesn't see the expected quantity while entering what's physically there. It's on by default, and changes only what the counter sees — a blind count is still measured against the same count tolerance once it's submitted.

Fulfilment group

The per-site unit of fulfilment on an order. An order dispatched from two sites has two fulfilment groups, which can be picked, packed and dispatched at different times.

Allocation

A quantity of a specific variant earmarked from a specific location to satisfy one order line. Picking works on allocations, which is why two pick runs can serve one order.

Consignment

The goods going out together as one delivery — the unit that picking, packing and shipment work is organised around. A consignment can cover more than one order.

Pick queue

A configured stream of work that picking is classified into, carrying the pick method and how many orders a run may hold. Work is classified per consignment, so one order's groups can sit in different queues.

Pick run

The unit of work one picker executes: a claimed batch of work, or a single consignment.

Pick method

How a run is organised: single order, pile, cluster, or two-stage. See the pick methods reference.

Short pick

A pick confirmed for less than the allocated quantity. The shortfall is released back to the queue; the quantity actually picked stands, because it is a real stock movement.

Parcel

One physical box in a consignment. A consignment can hold several parcels, each with its own weight, dimensions and tracking number.

Shipment

One label-purchase attempt against a carrier for the goods going out in one consignment. Only one attempt is live at a time; a cancelled or failed attempt is kept, and you can buy again.

Packing slip

The document listing what is going out in one consignment. It renders on demand — from the order's documents card or via the API — and is reprintable at any time; nothing is persisted. A consignment can cover more than one order.

Order revision

An entry in the order's history. Yessort appends one every time something meaningful happens to an order — an edit, a confirmation, a payment, an allocation, a dispatch — rather than overwriting what was there before.

Exchange order

A replacement order created as a child of the original, rather than extra lines added to it.

Purchase order

The instruction you send a supplier telling them what you want to buy, at what price, and where to deliver it. Numbered PO-1000 onwards by default.

Supplier

A business you buy stock from. The supplier record holds contact details, payment terms, the currency you buy in, and the tolerances Yessort uses when checking their invoices.

Supplier price list

What a supplier charges you per variant. Purchase order lines take their unit cost from here. This is the supplier's quoted price, not the value your stock is held at — changing a supplier price list never moves the weighted average cost. Distinct from a sales price list, which is what you charge.

Weighted average cost

What a unit of stock is currently worth in your books, averaged across everything you have received. Receiving stock moves it; a supplier invoice that disagrees with the receipt cost moves it again. Selling at the average does not move it.

Goods received, not invoiced

Stock you have received but not yet been invoiced for — an amount you know you owe but have no invoice against. Yessort accrues it when you post a receipt and clears it when you post the matching supplier invoice. Shortened to GRNI.

Goods returned, not credited

Stock you have sent back to a supplier but not yet been credited for. Raised when you post a supplier return and cleared when you record the supplier's credit note. Shortened to GRNC.

Three-way match

The check Yessort runs before a supplier invoice can post: the invoice against the purchase order it was ordered on, and against the goods receipt that recorded what actually turned up. An invoice that passes is matched; one that fails is held for someone to approve.

Match tolerance

How far a supplier invoice may differ from the agreed price, or from the quantity received, before Yessort holds it. Set per supplier. Left blank it is zero, which means any difference at all holds the invoice.

Landed cost

Freight, duty, handling or similar charges added onto the value of stock you have received, so the stock carries what it truly cost to get to you rather than just its purchase price.

Supplier return

Stock sent back to a supplier — a goods receipt in reverse. Posting one takes the stock off hand and records that you are owed a credit; the return closes when you record the credit note the supplier sends.

Prepayment

Money paid to a supplier before there is an invoice to settle — a deposit. It is allocated against invoices as they arrive, and any remainder can be refunded.

Reorder rule

A minimum and maximum stock level for one variant at one site, with an ordered list of where to get more from. When the net position falls to or below the minimum, the variant appears on the reordering worklist.

Net position

What you will have once everything already in motion arrives: stock on hand, minus what is allocated to orders, plus what is on order — both open purchase orders and inbound transfers. Reordering compares this against the minimum, not the on-hand figure.

Close short

Abandoning the outstanding quantity on a purchase order line because the rest is not coming. The order's own progress treats the line as done, so the order can finish without it. The abandoned quantity stops counting towards on order immediately — it does not wait for the order itself to reach Received or Closed, so closing a line short can put the variant back on the reordering worklist straight away.

Delivery note

The supplier's own paperwork that comes with a delivery. Yessort records its number against the goods receipt, and asks for it before you can start receiving.

Product

The catalogue record for an item you sell. Carries the name, description, brand and classification. Not the unit of sale: a product holds one or more variants, and it is the variant that is stocked, priced and ordered.

Variant

The unit of sale. Every order line, stock movement, sales price and channel reference points at a variant. A product that comes in one form still has exactly one variant.

SKU

Your own code for a variant. Unique across the organisation among variants that have not been deleted.

Option

A way a product varies, such as Size or Colour. Options carry values, and combinations of values produce the variants.

Unit of measure

A sellable or scannable pack size for a variant, such as Each or Case of 12. Sales prices and barcodes hang off the unit of measure. Purchase order quantities do not use it.

Barcode

A scannable code recorded against a unit of measure, not directly against a variant. The six GS1 trade-item types (EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A, UPC-E, GTIN-14, ITF-14) are stored normalised to 14 digits; other types (Code 128, Internal, Custom, and more) are kept exactly as entered.

Sales price list

A named set of selling prices for variants. Distinct from a supplier price list, which is what you pay.

Bundle

A variant defined as a recipe of other variants. Ordering the bundle adds its components to the order behind the scenes.

Brand

The manufacturer or label a product belongs to. Assigned on the product record.

Taxonomy category

The classification of what a product is, used for grouping and reporting.

Tax category

The rate a variant is taxed at when it is taxed. Separate from whether it is taxable at all.

Accounting category

The mapping that decides which account a variant's revenue and cost post to.

Product type

Whether a product is physical, digital, made to order, a gift card or a service. Fixed once the product is created.

Catalogue status

The lifecycle stage of a product or a variant: Draft, Active, Archived or Discontinued. A product and its variants carry their own statuses independently.

Facility operator

The organisation that runs a shared warehouse: the only organisation that can lay out its locations, and the only one that can run a commingled count there. Visibility still follows membership, not this role — see who sees what.

Brand tenant

An organisation holding its own stock at a shared warehouse run by another organisation's facility operator. Its stock stays on its own books throughout, tracked separately from every other organisation's.

Shared warehouse

A site with one facility operator and stock owned by more than one organisation. Check a site's Members card to see whether it's shared. See how shared warehouses work.

Anchor

Also called a shared anchor — one physical product line, identified by a 14-digit GS1 barcode (GTIN), that several organisations each stock under their own SKU. Everything cross-organisation — commingled counting, supply links, ownership flips — resolves "the same product, someone else's stock" by matching on the anchor, never on SKU, name or barcode alone. See anchors.

Commingled stock

Several organisations' stock of the same anchor sitting in the same location at a shared warehouse. Commingling is physical, not financial — each organisation's stock stays on its own books throughout. See commingled stock.

Trading relationship

An agreement between two organisations to trade, set up when they're onboarded rather than from within Yessort. It's symmetric — one relationship covers both directions — and it gates every cross-organisation feature between that pair: supply links and ownership flips among them. See trading relationships.

Counterpart

The other organisation in a trading relationship — Yessort's term for a trading partner in a supply context. The same organisation is called a partner in a settlement context instead — see intercompany settlement.

What lets one organisation's stock become sellable by a counterpart, once the two have an active trading relationship and a shared anchor. The publisher sets a reserve on Supply to counterparts; whatever isn't held back publishes automatically as published availability. See how supply links work.

Published availability

The quantity a publisher has made available to one counterpart, shown on Available to relist — already net of the publisher's reserve. It's a commercial cap only: Yessort also checks the publisher's actual pickable stock before a cross-organisation trade can draw on it. See what "Available" means, where.

Ownership flip

A change of owner recorded against units that don't physically move — the stock stays where it is; what changes is whose books it sits on. A transfer flip happens when a cross-organisation transfer draws on a counterpart's stock; a sale flip happens when a customer order draws on a counterpart's published supply with no transfer involved. See how ownership flips work.

Intercompany settlement

A live, running balance between two trading organisations, netting every ownership flip between them and posting real invoices, bills or credit notes to Xero. Not to be confused with a settlement period, the facility operator's own record, which never reaches Xero. See intercompany settlement.

Auto-settle cadence

How often a trading relationship settles automatically — daily, weekly or monthly, monthly by default. Settle now settles a pair ahead of its cadence; it isn't what causes intercompany settlement to happen. See settle with a trading partner.

Settlement period

A facility operator's own date-range record of what commingled-count rounding cost each brand tenant, moving through draft, finalised and paid. It records money but never posts any — brand tenants can't see it, and nothing about it ever reaches Xero. Not to be confused with intercompany settlement. See operator settlement periods.

Shrinkage-rounding line

The one kind of line a settlement period ever writes — the Kind column prints the raw value shrinkage_rounding, underscore and all. It trues up, in money, the fraction of a commingled count's variance that whole-unit rounding left one organisation ahead of or behind its exact share, valued at that organisation's own weighted average cost. See operator settlement periods.

Attributed units

The facility operator's per-organisation adjustment to how a commingled count's variance is split, entered before Recompute split. Attributed units go to the named organisation outright; only the unexplained remainder is still shared out proportionally. An allocation built this way is not always a whole number — a fractional attribution carries its fraction straight through to that organisation's share. See count a commingled bin.