The purpose of the Receiver Tool is to quickly scan incoming packages that are being returned by customers who have rented your products. An employee scans either the tracking number of the package, or opens it up and scans the unit's barcode, or enters its serial number (unit code).

Doing this as soon as the packages are delivered back to your facility offers a couple advantages:

  • The Receiver Tool updates the schedule for the unit, which can indicate to the system that it is or soon will be ready to ship out again on another order

  • It can update the status of the order and the items under it, which can trigger notifications

  • It can trigger a Receiver Tool Problem notification if one or more of the inputs to the tool is invalid, meaning that it did not find one and only one order in the expected status, associated with the tracking number, serial number, or barcode that was inputted. This can alert employees to inspect the package further to see what it is.

Running the Receiver Tool

To run the Receiver Tool, click Inventory and Shipping -> Shipping -> Receiver Tool.

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  • Enter one serial number, barcode, or tracking number per line, or, separate each input with a comma.

  • Indicate which status, if any, all the items under the matching orders should be changed to automatically. Note: the status is applied to ALL items under each order that is the sole match for each of the inputs.

  • Indicate which status, if any, the matching orders should be changed to automatically.

  • To update the list of statuses available to select on this screen, find the "Receiver Tool Order Status Options" setting under Site Settings -> Advanced System Settings.

Receiver Tool Results

After processing the inputs, the tool displays information about what it found.

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  • For each input where an order was not found, an error message is shown next to the input that was processed, allowing the employee to double check.

  • In addition, if more than one matching order is found, an error is shown along with information about each order, so the employee can investigate.

  • For each matching order, the employee can proceed to update the rental date, update the item's status, or update the order's status.

Receiver Tool Problems Notification

If the receiver does not find a single matching order for a given input, it can trigger a Receiver Tool Problems notification. Ie, another employee or person can receive an email when this happens, so they can investigate the problem. To set this up, visit Notifications and Emails -> Notifications, and find the Receiver Tool Problems Notification. Either set the Tos field to have an email sent, or assign employees to receive on-screen notifications via the notification's Employee Notification Subscriptions.

The notification that is sent simply send the inputs that resulted in a problem, and a list of the orders that match each input, if more than one match.

Receiver Tool Settings

You can control the behavior of the receiver tool via a few settings. These settings can be found under Settings -> Advanced System Settings:

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  • Receiver Tool Order Item Status Options controls the list of order item statuses that appears in the drop down for the tool, and which item statuses are valid for the tool

  • Receiver Tool Order Status Options controls the list of order statuses that appears in the drop down for the tool, and which order statuses are valid for the tool

  • Receiver Tool Problems Notification Code is the code for the notification record that the system should use to send messages when an input does not correspond with exactly one order.