Zenventory Fulfillment Network (ZFN)

The Zenventory Fulfillment Network (ZFN) was released in early May of 2024. It's main purpose is to be able to network Zenventory subscribers (clients) with Zenventory Enterprise level subscribers (providers) for Third Party Logistics (3PL) services such as inventory storage, order fulfillment, FBA prep, and other services that 3PL companies typically provide.

This article will provide some guidance as to how it functions as well as links to our other articles for specific tasks that ZFN providers and clients can do.

Specific How-To Articles

How it Works

When a Client connects to a provider, the client will have a Provider warehouse in their account. They will be able to see their inventory numbers in that provider warehouse, create Purchase Orders for that provider warehouse, choose that provider warehouse as the Ship From location for Customer Orders, create Warehouse Transfers to send goods to the provider warehouse, and share the client item catalog with the provider.

Data Flow

Client to Provider: Data will flow from the client account to the provider account when the provider warehouse is chosen in real time. Data flow from the provider account to the client will run on a scheduled cron, every 30 minutes.

Provider to Client:

Creating an item in the Provider account for the client will also create the item in the client's account.
Creating a new Customer Order in the Provider account for the client will also create the order in the client's account. NOTE: The order created in the client's account will also show the quantity of the base unit of measurement of an item being used in the order.
Purchase Orders created in the Provider account DO NOT get created in the client's account.
Receiving events and fulfillments will flow from Provider to Client.

Reporting/Client Billing

For full reporting data and client billing data access, the client will need have a client user setup in the Providers account.

Marketplace Integrations

The ZFN provider warehouse is not selectable as the import warehouse for integrations.
Orders can be routed from a client to a provider by changing the Ship From warehouse on an order manually or using an automation rule during order import, and will show CLIENT as the order source in the provider account.

Customer Orders (COs)

Can be created in both the client or the provider account.
Orders created in the client account can only be sent to the provider account in full. They can not be split for fulfillment between the local client and the provider.
Order picking and fulfillment progress is relayed back from the provider to the client account during the cron run, every 30 minutes.
If picking occurs on the provider side and the setting for allow clients to edit picked orders is disabled in the provider account, customer order edits are still prevented even if the cron hasn’t run yet.
Using the Reprocess action on the client side, will also reprocess the order on the provider side.
COs have a prefix appended to them with a client ID included when flowing from client to provider.

Purchase Orders (POs)

Flow in one direction, client to provider, immediately visible in the provider account upon creation.
Receiving status of a PO is updated from provider to client via the cron run.
Item specific vendor codes are not sent from client to provider.
PO numbers in the provider account will follow this format PO-Client ID-[PO Number in Client's Account].

Warehouse Transfer Orders (TOs)

These show as TO's in the client account, but as Purchase Orders (POs) in the provider account.
TO's can only be created from client warehouse to provider warehouse, not the other way around.
A TO will close out on the client side upon the cron running and the related PO having been received/completed on the provider side at the time of cron run.
If the PO is received on the provider side prior to it being shipped on the client side, it will close out immediately on the client side when the cron runs.
TO numbers in the provider account will follow this format TO-Client ID-[TO Number in Client's Account].

Item Definitions

These are synced in both directions. If created or updated in the client account, they will sync immediately to the provider account. If created or updated in the provider account, they will sync during the cron run.
Bill of Materials for KIT or Assembly items types will sync immediately from client to provider account, but can NOT be sent from provider to client. NOTE: Any existing open orders that have an item on them when a BOM is changed will need to be reprocessed for the changes to take effect, matching existing functionality in Zenventory. Reprocessing can be done on the client OR provider side
Item Images do not get sent between accounts.

Inventory Counts/Buildable Counts

The "In Stock" value of inventory is relayed from Provider to Client during the cron run.
All math regarding buildable counts/sellable counts/including inbound in sellable is being handled on the client side using the local order data to determine how many sellable items are remaining for a given SKU.

Shipping (Carriers/Services)

These are sent over from client to provider on Customer Orders as the ShipVia field to match existing functionality
Fulfillment data (carrier, service, tracking) is relayed from provider to client during the cron run

Order Holds

Order holds are not relayed between client and provider. If an order is put on hold in the client account, it will require it also being put on hold in the provider account, or vice versa.

Communication Alert Rules

These are independent of account and will have to be created on both the client and provider side, if desired.
Allocation and picking related communication rules must be created on the provider side
Order edits flowing from Client > Provider will trigger the order edited communication rule on the provider side.
The stock has reached minimum stock level rule will have to be created on the provider side for it to work properly for ZFN provider processed orders.