Tip #4.1 Auto-creating package and shipment records for your offline sales orders

Tip #4.1 Auto-creating package and shipment records for your offline sales orders

Hello,


Hope this post finds you in good health.
Last week we saw how we could automate item weight calculation for your orders. This week we will go a step further and see how you can automate the process of creating packages and shipments for your sales orders. 

To make it easier for the reader, this post has been split into two. Part 1 or tip #4.1 will tell you how you can auto-create package and shipment records in Zoho Inventory for your offline orders while tip #4.2 or part 2 will tell you how to do the same for online orders.

Who is this for?

Any business that ships goods as soon as an order is made and has very less time on their hands for paperwork (same day shipments using a single carrier/by self).


How does this work? 

It all begins with a sales order draft inside of Zoho Inventory. As soon as you email the sales order to a client or manually mark it as confirmed, the system uses this status change as a trigger for creating a package record (with all of the items on your sales order). Once this is done, the system will record a manual shipment record within the system against a preset shipping medium (which can be configured by you as you write the custom function into Zoho Inventory). 

Now, let's see how we can write this custom function for your business.

Setting up the custom function:

Log in to your Zoho account and click on this link to generate an Auth Token which is required to make this work.
  • Open your Zoho Inventory organization.

  • Navigate to Settings using the gear icon from the top-right corner.

  • Select Automation from the sidebar. Now click on the button adjacent to +New Workflow Rule.

  • Out of the four options from the drop-down, select Custom Functions.

  • Now let's add a name for this workflow rule and make sure that there are no spaces between words.

  • Select Sales Orders against module.

  • Add a description if you need one.

  • Now, the workflow type is going to be Event Based.

  • The condition to set shall be, "When a Sales Order is created".

  • And, for the trigger, it will be "When Sales Order status is Confirmed".

  • Now copy and paste this code snippet into the deluge pane:

salesorderID = salesorder.get("salesorder_id"); 

salesorderdate = salesorder.get("date").toDate();

organizationID = organization.get("organization_id");

authtoken = "Copy and paste your authtoken here";

mapper = Map();

customerID = salesorder.get("customer_id").toString();

//package_number = salesorder.get("salesorder_number").replaceFirst("SO","PA");

//mapper.put("package_number",package_number);

mapper.put("customer_id",customerID);

mapper.put("date",salesorderdate);

lineItems = salesorder.get("line_items").toList();

newLineItems = List();

for each lineItem in lineItems

{

lineItemMap = Map();

solineitemID = lineItem.get("line_item_id");

lineItemMap.put("so_line_item_id",solineitemID);

quantity = lineItem.get("quantity");

lineItemMap.put("quantity",quantity);

newLineItems.add(lineItemMap);

}

mapper.put("line_items",newLineItems);

jsonString = Map();

jsonString.put("JSONString",mapper);

response = invokeurl

[

url :"https://inventory.zoho.com/api/v1/packages?authtoken=" + authtoken + "&salesorder_id=" + salesorderID + "&organization_id=" + organizationID

type : POST

parameters:jsonString

];

info mapper;

info response.toMap();

//shipment

pack=response.get("package");

packid=pack.get("package_id");

ship=Map();

ship.put("date",salesorderdate);

ship.put("delivery_method","dhl"); //REPLACE WITH SHIPPING CARRIER NAME OR DELIVERY BY SELF

jsons=Map();

jsons.put("JSONString",ship);

resp = invokeurl

[

url: "https://inventory.zoho.com/api/v1/shipmentorders?package_ids="+packid+"&salesorder_id=" +salesorderID+ "&authtoken="+authtoken+"&organization_id=" + organizationID

type: POST

parameters: jsons

];

info resp.toMap().get("message");


  • Copy and replace your authtoken number with the text on line 4 of the code.

    • authtoken = "copy and paste your authtoken here"to something like, authtoken = "67xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx".

  • You can change the carrier name/shipping medium by making changes to line 38 of the code that says: ship.put("delivery_method","dhl"); //REPLACE WITH SHIPPING CARRIER NAME - for e.g., "dhl" can be replaced with "fedex" or something of your choice like say, "delivery_by_self" or "picked_up_by_customer".

  • Note: If you have enabled auto-generation of package numbers for your organization, then you don't need these two lines:

    • //package_number = salesorder.get("salesorder_number").replaceFirst("SO","PA");

    • //mapper.put("package_number",package_number);

  • Once everything is ready, hit Save.


Henceforth, all your offline sales orders (that have been confirmed) will have packages and manual shipment records created inside of Zoho Inventory.

Please check out the part 2 of this post titled - Tip #4.2 Auto-creating package and shipment records for your online sales orders on our forums.

Until next time.

Your everyday end user,
Ajay Aadhithya Chandrasekaran
Zoho Inventory


    • Recent Topics

    • Zoho Meeting Plug compatibility with newer versions of Outlook

      Documentation states that the zoho meeting plug in for outlook is only compatible with versions up to Outlook 2019 What is available to users of more up to date versions of outlook/office 365?
    • Getting Attachments in Zoho Desk via API

      Is there a way to get attachments into Zoho Desk via an API?      We have a process by which a zoho survey gets sent to the user as a link in a notification.    The survey has several upload fields where they can upload pdf documents.    I've created
    • Introducing Zoho's own SMS gateway

      We're thrilled to announce the launch of our own SMS gateway feature within Zoho Marketing Automation! This new feature enables seamless SMS campaign management alongside your email marketing initiatives, providing a more integrated and efficient way
    • Embedding in Desk articles

      We would like to embed documents in our Desk articles. When we use an iframe for the embed, we get scrollbars and a frame border. Neither of those is acceptable. I've spoken with the Desk Support team about what we want and they tell me that it cannot
    • Zoho CRM button to download images from image upload field

      Hello, I am trying to create a button in Zoho CRM that I can place in my record details view for each record and use it to download all images in the image upload fields. I tried deluge, client scripts and even with a widget, but feel lost, could not
    • Mass Update Contacts In Zoho Campaigns

      Is there a way to mass update contacts in zoho campaigns? I want to be able to change the content of a field for a few hundred contacts, and can't go through all of them individually.
    • report showing assignment type

      Hi, We've created a number of workflows to allow us to auto assign tickets to agents based on keywords and other criteria. I'm struggling to create a report that would show me what is the percentage of tickets that are assigned automatically via workflows
    • Option to Disable Knowledge Base Section in Feedback Widget Popup Hello Zoho Desk Team

      Hello Zoho Desk Team, How are you? We are actively using Zoho Desk and would like to make more use of the Feedback Widget. One of the ways we implement it is through the popup option. At the moment, the popup always displays the Knowledge Base section,
    • Placeholders in Ticket Templates

      We should be able to use placeholders in ticket templates. When we create a new ticket, our description field is shown to the client in the email they receive.  It would be very handy to be able to personalize that description field in our ticket templates to pull in the name of the client that the ticket is for. Using them in the subject field as well, so we can auto populate Account Names, etc. 
    • when the record is created the tag want to Show as Opportunity how i achive this using Deluge Script

      In the quotation i have the work flow schedule for create opportunity record in the module , on that time the quotation tag select as opportunity created. How i achive this using Deluge Script . this like i want to Do tag1 = Map(); tag1.put("name","Nurturing
    • Delete a channel

      I need delete a channel in tickets.
    • Copy / Duplicate Workflow

      I have workflows setup that are very similar to each other. We have a monitoring system watching servers, and all notifications - no matter what client it is about - will come from a  noreply@ address which is not very helpful in having it auto assigned to the right account. I have setup a workflow that will change the contact name of the ticket (currently it would say noreply@) to the correct customer which is based on the subject line, as that mentions which server the alert it is about. I need
    • Subtasks don't update parent task's times

      Hi there: I've recently upgraded to premium and check that subtasks completion % don't update the proportional completion of the parent tasks related to it.  We've been challenging with the problem of having to update twice or sometimes 3 times the completion of the related tasks. I've seen posts similar to this, of 3 years old.  Is there any roadmap for making this happen in a future release? Thanx César Ratto Lima, Perú.
    • Should I Use DMARC?

      When I configure Zoho Mail's DMARC settings, it's mandatory to fill in the RUA and RUF (Aggregate notification email address*, Forensic notification email address*) addresses. When we enter an email address in these fields, we receive reports from the
    • IMAP Server not responding.

      Trying to connect a phone via IMAP and getting "imap.zoho.com not responding." Is the server down, for maintenance or otherwise? I've tried this on two different devices and got the same error on both.
    • Tip #44 – Get Deeper Insights with Zoho Assist’s Custom Reports – ‘Insider Insights’

      In today’s fast-paced IT environment, having a clear view of your remote support activities is more important than ever. Zoho Assist’s Custom Reports feature gives IT teams the ability to generate tailored reports that provide actionable insights and
    • Message "...does not support more than 100 distinct values..." WHY????

      I get this message on one of my reports: Sorry, Zoho Reports currently does not support more than 100 distinct values in columns. 'Account Name * Sum(Amount),Count(Amount Tier)' contains more than 100 distinct values.  Possibly, you can apply filter to reduce the number of distinct values in 'Account Name' or drop the 'Account Name' field in Rows. I want to list all ACCOUNT NAMES (about 500) with SALES BY ACCOUNT.  What is blocking this?
    • Let's Talk Recruit: Super-charge hiring with Zoho Recruit add-ons

      Welcome back to our Let’s Talk Recruit series! This time, we’re diving into something that might seem like a small upgrade but has a huge impact on recruiter productivity: Zoho Recruit add-ons. Think about how much of your day is spent in your inbox or
    • Vendor Signatures Needed for Purchase Orders

      Hello everyone, We have a unique requirement that necessitates that Vendors & Suppliers formally acknowledge our Purchase Orders upon receipt. I was hoping that there would be an option to do so in Zoho Books, but that does not appear to be the case.
    • Is there an API to "File a Ticket" in Desk

      Hi, Is there an API to "File a Ticket" in Desk to zoho projects?
    • Store "Sign in with Google/Microsoft/GitHub etc." details

      Quite often now, users are using a sign-in provider like Google or Microsoft to sign into various apps and services. It would be great if Vault could remember which providers you use for each website and sign you in with that provider instead of a username
    • Tip of the Week #72– Assign thread ownership to avoid confusion.

      When teams handle a large volume of emails, managing threads becomes important to stay organized. Without a clear system, duplicate replies, missed follow-ups, or confusion over responsibilities can happen. Thread assignment solves this by designating
    • Unarchive tickets

      How can I manually unarchive tickets?
    • Optimize your Knowledge Base for enhanced accessibility by adding alt tags for images

      Let's learn why alt tags are crucial for your articles. You can add alternative tags (alt tags) and alternative text (alt text) to the images you share on your community forums or when embedding them in articles. Alt tags refer to the HTML attribute,
    • FSM trying again

      have not linked FSM yet to the rest of out Zoho suit. It certainly looks like the apointment and service part is more manageable for our staff. The question is that our engineers multi task examples 1. deliver products to customers not fitted 2. Service
    • Feature Request: Conditional Field Mandatoriness Based on Display Status

      Hello Zoho Creator Team, I would like to suggest an enhancement to improve the flexibility of form validations. Currently, when we need a field to be mandatory only if it's displayed on the form, the only option is to: Set the field as not mandatory in
    • Data Migration Strategies for Moving to a Cloud Solution

      Hi everyone, I’ve been working on moving some of our critical systems, including CRM and project data, to a Zoho cloud solution, and one of the biggest challenges I’ve encountered is data migration. Transferring large volumes of data while keeping it
    • Commerce Order as Invoice instead of Sales Order?

      I need a purchase made on my Commerce Site to result in an Invoice for services instead of a Sales Order that will be pushed to Books. My customers don't pay until I after I add some details to their transaction. Can I change the settings to make this
    • How to set different item selling prices for Zoho Commerce and Zoho Books

      Item selling prices for Zoho Commerce and Zoho Books are in sync. If we update the Item selling price in Books, the same will happen in commerce and vice versa. I need a separate commerce selling price for online users and a separate books selling price
    • How to report 'Response violation' OR 'Resolution violation'

      Hi, I want to report on SLA Violation Type. I grouped my tickets on this column. It seems I only get 'Response and Resolution Violation' or 'Not Violated'. The former seems to be given to a ticket if only the Response Time was violated. I would expect
    • [Webinar] Automate sales and presales workflows with Writer

      Sales involves sharing a wide range of documents with customers across the presales, sales, and post-sales stages: NDAs, quotes, invoices, sales orders, and delivery paperwork. Generating and managing these documents manually slows down the overall sales
    • Date triggering Workflow rule

      I have a function triggered by a workflow rule. The function takes a date and creates a task for that date and fills in a field with the name of the day for that date. It also updates the status field of the record. The workflow rule is set to run whenever
    • Restricting contact creation

      Hi all! I am looking to use Zoho Desk in a part of the business that takes end user enquiries. These are generally single interactions, and not linked to an account name. As Desk is Account centric, has anyone designed a way to manage these incoming emails
    • Import Holiday Calendars

      HI Zoho Is there anyway of importing an online calendar like https://www.calendarlabs.com into the business hours calendars, to speed up setup of holiday calendars. Also could we also request a feature where you can specify a Holiday as hours, i.e it could be that the company is on a 1/2 day due to a holiday or when it is Eid in the UAE and they are only allowed to work restricted hours so we need the calendar to be flexible to allow for this. Regards Jamie
    • Filtering Tickets based on Email headers

      We're starting to get a lot more junk coming into our Zoho Desk, which is then triggering unnecessary email alerts to agents. Once thing we could do to cut this junk in half, is to filter tickets based on email headers. Any email containing the `List-Unsubscribe`
    • Error 550 5.4.1

      I’ve tried sending an email to someone but keep receiving this back. Any help would be greatly appreciated 
    • Billing Management: #2 Fair way of Billing- Prorated Billing

      Hello, From speaking about the traditional ways of billing in the previous post, we are moving into the deep sea of billing. We are now in a zone to break out the most complex yet, I would call it the fairest way of billing, the Prorated Billing. Prorated
    • Has Anyone successfully integrated Zoho and Sage Intact?

      Hey all, We’re evaluating Zoho One + Sage Intacct and I’m trying to connect with anyone who has actually implemented the two together.Specifically, I’d love to know: -- Which functions you kept in Zoho vs. Intacct (e.g., Product Catalog, AR/AP, invoicing,
    • Adding image in HTML report page

      Hi, I want to know two things: 1. Can anyone advise how to add an image in HTML report. The tagged used is <img> but what path do I mention for the image to be added in the HTML report. 2. Also, I want to know if I am creating an application for the market
    • How to change view of HTML report based on device but always print in A4

      Hello everyone, I am aware that HTML report view can be configured to adjust according to the screen size like Laptop, Tablet and mobile using media queries. But my concern is no matter on which device the reports is opened when printed should always
    • Next Page