It’s 2:47 PM on a Tuesday afternoon. Your warehouse supervisor walks up to the picking station and finds three staff members standing idle. “What are you waiting for?” she asks. “We’re waiting for the pick lists,” one responds. “Karen was supposed to print them an hour ago, but she’s been on a call with a customer.”

Meanwhile, in the office, your sales team is fielding increasingly frustrated calls. “You confirmed this order three hours ago — why hasn’t it shipped?” The order is sitting in the system, marked as “confirmed,” fully paid, stock reserved. But no one in the warehouse knows it exists yet.

This scenario plays out in warehouses across Australia every single day. It’s not a technology problem or a people problem. It’s a handoff problem.

The gap between confirming an order and getting it picked in the warehouse is where most fulfilment errors originate. It’s the invisible crack in your operational workflow where orders fall through, urgency gets lost, and context disappears. And in most businesses, this handoff happens through a chaotic mix of printed lists, Slack messages, phone calls, and periodic system checks.

The businesses that get fulfilment right don’t have better warehouse staff or fancier picking equipment. They have a structured handoff process that turns order confirmation into warehouse action without manual intervention, lost context, or wasted time.

The Anatomy of a Poor Handoff

Before we talk about what good looks like, let’s diagnose what’s broken in most order-to-warehouse handoffs. Understanding these failure modes is crucial because most businesses don’t realise they have a handoff problem until it becomes a customer problem.

Paper-Based Handoffs: The Stale Pick List Problem

The classic approach: someone in the office (usually the person who took the order or confirmed it) prints a pick list and walks it to the warehouse. Sometimes it’s pinned to a corkboard. Sometimes it’s placed in a tray. Sometimes it’s handed directly to a picker.

This sounds simple and tactile. But by the time that piece of paper reaches the warehouse floor, it’s already out of date. An order might have been cancelled. A customer might have called back to add an item. Stock levels might have changed. The delivery address might have been corrected.

The picker doesn’t know any of this. They’re working from a snapshot that was accurate five minutes ago but is now a potential source of error. They pick items that shouldn’t be picked, miss items that should be included, and ship to addresses that have been updated in the system.

And if the pick list gets lost? Delayed? Spilled on? The order sits in limbo until someone notices and reprints it.

Email and Chat Handoffs: The Scattered Communication Problem

Some businesses have moved away from paper but haven’t moved to a system. Instead, they use email or messaging apps to communicate orders to the warehouse.

“Hey @warehouse, can you pick order #4521? Customer needs it by 4 PM.”

“Order #4522 ready for pickup.”

“URGENT: #4523 needs to ship today.”

These messages get buried in threads, lost in notifications, or missed entirely when the warehouse supervisor is on the floor. There’s no queue, no priority system, no way to mark an order as “in progress” or “complete.” Just a stream of messages that someone has to manually track and act on.

The result? Orders get picked in whatever order the warehouse team happens to see them. Urgent orders sit unnoticed. Non-urgent orders get rushed because they happened to arrive in Slack at the right moment.

No Handoff at All: The Periodic Check Problem

In some warehouses, there’s no formal handoff at all. Warehouse staff are trained to “check the system” every hour (or every 30 minutes, or whenever they finish a job) to see if there are new orders.

This might work when order volume is low and predictable. But the moment volume spikes — or the warehouse gets busy with other tasks — orders sit unprocessed for hours. There’s no alert system, no escalation, no way to know that an order has been waiting too long.

And because warehouse staff are checking the full order list (not a structured task queue), they have to interpret what’s ready for picking. Is this order confirmed? Is stock reserved? Has it already been picked but not marked complete? They’re doing detective work instead of warehouse work.

Partial Handoffs: The Missing Context Problem

Even when there is a structured handoff, it’s often incomplete. The warehouse team gets a list of SKUs and quantities — but critical context is missing.

Is this item fragile?
Does it need to be kept refrigerated?
Is it hazardous and subject to shipping restrictions?
Is this a rush order that needs to ship today, or can it wait until tomorrow’s dispatch?
Are there special packing instructions from the customer?
Is this a partial shipment (backorder the rest) or an all-or-nothing order?

When this context doesn’t transfer with the order, pickers make assumptions. They pack a fragile item in a box with no padding because they don’t know it’s fragile. They put a refrigerated item in the regular dispatch queue. They pick a partial order when the customer explicitly said “ship complete or don’t ship at all.”

These aren’t warehouse errors. They’re handoff errors.

The Industry Reality

According to the Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC), picking errors account for 35-40% of all warehouse errors. But when these errors are traced back to their root cause, a significant portion stem from poor order handoff — missing information, outdated pick lists, misinterpreted urgency, or tasks that were never communicated in the first place.

The problem isn’t the warehouse. It’s the gap between the order system and the warehouse system.

What a Structured Handoff Looks Like

A structured handoff isn’t about replacing your warehouse team with robots or implementing expensive automation. It’s about creating a deliberate, system-driven bridge between order confirmation and warehouse action.

At the heart of this approach is a simple but powerful concept: warehouse tasks.

Orders Are Not Warehouse Work

Here’s the fundamental insight that most businesses miss: orders are commercial documents, not operational instructions.

An order tells you what was sold, to whom, for how much, and under what terms. It’s a record of a commercial transaction. But it’s not a work instruction for the warehouse team.

A warehouse task, on the other hand, is an operational instruction. It tells a specific person (or role) to do a specific thing: pick these items from these locations, pack them in this way, prepare them for this carrier.

When you try to use orders as warehouse work instructions, you force warehouse staff to interpret commercial information and extract operational meaning. They have to figure out:

Is this order ready to be picked, or is it waiting for payment?
Has stock been reserved, or might this be a backorder?
Should I pick this now, or is it scheduled for next week?
What type of work is this — a send order? A transfer? A return?

This interpretive work creates delays and errors. It also makes it impossible to track warehouse productivity because there’s no clear definition of “work started” and “work completed.”

A structured handoff solves this by automatically creating warehouse tasks when an order is ready for warehouse action.

The Three Core Task Types

Most warehouse work falls into three categories:

OUTBOUND tasks tell warehouse staff to pick items from stock locations and prepare them for dispatch. These are created when a send order is ready for fulfilment.

INBOUND tasks tell warehouse staff to receive items and put them away into stock locations. These are created when a purchase order arrives or when goods are returned.

TRANSFER tasks move items between locations (warehouse to warehouse, zone to zone, or even bin to bin). These might involve an outbound task at the source location and an inbound task at the destination.

When your system automatically creates the right type of task based on order type, warehouse staff don’t have to interpret. They just execute.

What a Warehouse Task Contains

A well-structured warehouse task includes everything a picker needs to complete the work:

Items and quantities: What to pick
Locations: Where to pick from (bin, shelf, zone)
Order reference: Link back to the original order for context
Delivery details: Who it’s going to, where it’s going, when it needs to arrive
Priority level: Rush/standard/bulk
Special instructions: Fragile, hazmat, refrigerated, gift wrap, etc.
Task status: Pending, in progress, completed, or exception

The task is a complete work package. A picker can grab it from the queue and have everything they need without asking questions or hunting for information.

The Task Lifecycle

Once created, a task moves through a defined lifecycle:

Pending: Task created, ready to be picked up by warehouse staff

In Progress: Someone has claimed the task and started work

Completed: All items picked, checked, and ready for next step (packing, dispatch, etc.)

Exception: Something went wrong (stock not found, damaged goods, short pick)

This lifecycle gives real-time visibility into warehouse progress. Order managers can see which tasks are being worked on, which are waiting, and which have hit problems.

And here’s the critical part: when ALL warehouse tasks associated with an order are marked complete, the order automatically moves to “fulfilled” status. No one has to manually update the order. The handoff goes full circle without manual intervention.

Why Separating Orders from Warehouse Tasks Matters

Let’s go deeper into why this separation is so important, because it’s counterintuitive to many business operators.

Orders Are Commercial, Tasks Are Operational

When you look at an order, you see:

Customer name and contact details
Items ordered with prices and tax
Payment terms and status
Delivery address and shipping instructions
Order total, discounts applied, payment method

This is all information relevant to sales, accounts, and customer service. It’s not particularly useful to a warehouse picker. They don’t need to know the order total or whether the customer paid via credit card or bank transfer. They need to know what to pick and where to find it.

A warehouse task strips away the commercial noise and presents pure operational information:

Pick 5 units of SKU-1234 from Bay A, Shelf 3, Bin 7
Pick 2 units of SKU-5678 from Bay C, Shelf 1, Bin 4
Fragile — pack with bubble wrap
Ship via StarTrack Express
Delivery by Friday

This is the information a picker needs. Nothing more, nothing less.

Different Order Types Create Different Tasks

The separation becomes even more powerful when you consider that different order types create different warehouse work:

Send order → Creates an OUTBOUND task (pick items from stock and prepare for dispatch)

Receive order (purchase order) → Creates an INBOUND task (receive items and put them away into stock locations)

Transfer order → Creates both an OUTBOUND task at the source warehouse and an INBOUND task at the destination warehouse

Return order → Creates an INBOUND task (receive returned items and put them back into stock, or into a returns/damage zone)

If your warehouse team is working directly from orders, they have to manually interpret which type of work each order represents. Is this a send or a receive? Do I pick or do I put away?

When the system automatically creates the right task type based on order type, this interpretation step disappears. Warehouse staff see a queue of tasks, grouped by type, ready to execute.

Enabling True Warehouse Automation

As your business scales, you might introduce warehouse automation — barcode scanning, pick-to-light systems, automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS), or even robotic picking.

All of these systems require structured, machine-readable work instructions. They can’t interpret orders. They need tasks.

By separating tasks from orders now, you’re building the foundation for automation later. Even if you’re not ready for robotics, you’re creating the data structure that makes automation possible.

The Timing Question: When Should Fulfilment Happen?

Creating warehouse tasks is easy. Creating them at the right time is the hard part.

If you create tasks too early — before stock is actually reserved and committed — you risk warehouse staff picking items that aren’t properly allocated. If you create tasks too late, you create rush picking and missed dispatch windows.

The sweet spot is a three-step sequence that most businesses get wrong.

The Three-Step Sequence

Step 1: Reserve

When an order is confirmed, the system should mark the required stock as “reserved” — unavailable for other orders, but not yet removed from inventory.

This prevents overselling. If you have 10 units of a product and someone orders 5, those 5 are now reserved. If another customer orders 8, the system should reject the order (or flag it as a backorder) because only 5 units remain available.

But the stock is still physically in the warehouse. It’s not consumed yet. It’s just earmarked.

Step 2: Commit

When you’re ready to actually process the order, you commit the stock. This is the permanent inventory adjustment. The 5 reserved units are now removed from “on hand” inventory.

Committing before picking might seem odd — aren’t we removing inventory before it’s physically left the warehouse? — but this is crucial for inventory accuracy. The moment you commit to fulfilling the order, those units are spoken for. They’re on their way out. Treating them as “still in stock” creates phantom inventory.

Step 3: Fulfil

This is where warehouse tasks are created. Now that stock is committed and the order is locked in, it’s time to tell the warehouse to pick it.

The tasks appear in the warehouse queue. Staff can see them, claim them, and start work. The order moves from “committed” to “processing” status.

Why This Order Matters

If you create warehouse tasks (fulfil) before committing stock, you create a race condition. A picker might start picking an order that gets cancelled. Or they might pick stock that was supposed to be reserved for another order. Or they might find that stock levels have changed since the task was created.

If you commit stock before reserving it, you risk overselling because there’s no check to ensure the stock exists.

The sequence — reserve, commit, fulfil — creates a logical flow that prevents errors and maintains inventory accuracy.

Lead Time and Batch Fulfilment

The timing between commit and fulfil also determines how much lead time your warehouse has.

Some businesses commit and fulfil simultaneously — the moment an order is committed, warehouse tasks are created. This works for high-urgency businesses where every order needs to ship today.

Other businesses introduce a delay — orders are committed throughout the day, but fulfilment (task creation) happens once per day, at a scheduled time (say, 4 PM). This allows warehouse staff to batch-pick multiple orders, optimising pick paths and reducing travel time.

The right approach depends on your business. But the key is that it’s a deliberate choice, not an accident of your order process.

Tracking Fulfilment Progress

Once warehouse tasks are created, the order enters a critical phase: processing. It’s no longer just a promise to a customer. It’s active work happening in the warehouse.

This is where real-time visibility becomes essential.

Order Status Progression

A typical order moves through these statuses:

Draft: Being created, not yet confirmed
Confirmed: Customer has committed, waiting for payment or stock reservation
Reserved: Stock has been earmarked for this order
Committed: Stock permanently removed from inventory, ready for warehouse
Processing: Warehouse tasks created and being worked on
Fulfilled: All warehouse tasks complete, ready for dispatch or collection
Dispatched: Order has left the warehouse
Delivered: Order received by customer

The “processing” status is where most businesses have a visibility gap. They can see that an order has been committed and they can see when it’s dispatched, but the space in between is a black box.

With structured warehouse tasks, this black box becomes transparent.

Task-Level Visibility

Order managers can drill down and see:

How many tasks does this order have? (Most orders have one OUTBOUND task, but complex orders might have multiple)
Which tasks are pending?
Which tasks are in progress, and who’s working on them?
Which tasks are complete?
Are there any exceptions or issues?

This visibility enables proactive communication with customers. Instead of telling a customer “your order is being processed” (which tells them nothing), you can say “your order is currently being picked and will be ready for dispatch in the next hour.”

Auto-Completion and the Fulfilment Gate

Here’s where the system becomes truly elegant: when ALL warehouse tasks for an order are marked complete, the order automatically transitions to “fulfilled” status.

No manual step. No one has to remember to update the order. The warehouse team completes their tasks, and the order status updates itself.

This creates a clean gate between warehouse work and dispatch work. Once an order is fulfilled, it’s ready for the next step — printing shipping labels, booking couriers, or notifying the customer that their order is ready for collection.

Exception Handling: When Things Don’t Go to Plan

Of course, not every pick goes smoothly. Stock might not be where the system says it is. Items might be damaged. A picker might only find 8 units when the task calls for 10.

When a task is marked as “exception,” it triggers a workflow:

The order manager is notified (in-app notification, email, or both)
The task is flagged for resolution
The order remains in “processing” status until the exception is resolved

Common exception resolution paths:

Stock not found: Initiate a stock search or accept a short pick
Damaged goods: Remove damaged stock from inventory, decide whether to short pick or source replacement
Incorrect quantity: Adjust the task to reflect actual available quantity

The key is that exceptions are surfaced immediately, not discovered at packing or dispatch when it’s too late to fix them.

Common Fulfilment Handoff Failures

Even businesses with structured systems fall into predictable traps. Let’s examine the most common failure modes so you can avoid them.

The “It’s Urgent” Override

Every sales team has someone who marks every order as urgent. “This customer is very important.” “They need it by end of day.” “Can we prioritise this?”

When everything is urgent, nothing is urgent. Warehouse staff become numb to the urgency flag and start ignoring it, or they constantly context-switch between orders, reducing overall efficiency.

The solution isn’t to remove urgency flags. It’s to enforce criteria for what qualifies as urgent and limit how many urgent orders can be active at once.

A simple rule: only 10% of orders can be marked as urgent. If someone wants to flag a new order as urgent, they have to downgrade another urgent order to standard. This forces commercial teams to actually prioritise, not just flag everything.

The Split Shipment Confusion

An order contains items from two different warehouse locations. The system should create two OUTBOUND tasks — one for each location.

But if the handoff process doesn’t handle split shipments properly, only one task gets created. Warehouse A picks their items and marks the task complete. The system marks the order as fulfilled. The order ships — incomplete.

Warehouse B never received a task. The customer receives a partial shipment with no explanation.

This is particularly common when businesses are using manual or semi-automated handoff processes. Someone creates a pick list for the primary location and forgets about the secondary location.

The fix: the system must automatically detect split shipments and create multiple tasks, all linked to the same order. The order cannot be marked fulfilled until ALL tasks are complete.

The Cancelled Order Pick

A customer calls at 2 PM to cancel an order. The sales team cancels it in the system immediately. But the warehouse already printed pick lists at 1 PM, and someone is halfway through picking the order.

They finish the pick, pack it, and send it to dispatch. Only later does someone notice the order was cancelled. Now you have reverse logistics to deal with — contacting the courier, recalling the shipment, or receiving a return.

The problem: the handoff was one-way. Information flowed from order system to warehouse, but not back.

The fix: real-time task status. If an order is cancelled, the associated tasks should be automatically cancelled (or flagged for review if they’re already in progress). Pickers should be working from a live task queue, not printed lists.

The Missing Context Problem

We touched on this earlier, but it’s worth repeating because it’s so common.

An order includes a glass vase. The warehouse task says “Pick 1 unit of SKU-VASE-001 from Bay D, Shelf 2, Bin 5.” The picker grabs it, puts it in a cardboard box with no padding, and sends it to packing.

The vase arrives at the customer’s house in pieces.

The picker isn’t at fault. They followed the task exactly. The system failed to communicate that this item requires special handling.

The fix: special handling flags must be part of the task data. When the picker sees the task, they should immediately see:

FRAGILE — Pack with bubble wrap and mark box
REFRIGERATED — Store in cold zone until dispatch
HAZMAT — Shipping restrictions apply

This context should flow automatically from product master data (item properties) to the warehouse task.

The Location Mismatch Problem

The system says SKU-1234 is in Bay A, Shelf 3, Bin 7. The picker goes there. It’s not there.

They search nearby bins. Not there. They walk to the warehouse supervisor. “Where’s SKU-1234?” The supervisor checks the system. “Should be in A-3-7.” They both search. Eventually they find it in Bay C, Bin 2, where someone put it during a restock but forgot to update the system.

Twenty minutes wasted. The task is delayed. If this happens frequently, pickers stop trusting location data and start doing manual searches, destroying efficiency.

The fix: real-time location updates. When stock is moved, the system must be updated immediately. Barcode scanning helps enforce this — scan the item, scan the destination bin, and the system updates.

But even simpler: when a picker reports “stock not found,” trigger a location audit workflow instead of just marking it as an exception.

Building a Better Handoff Process

So how do you actually implement a structured handoff? Here’s a step-by-step framework.

Step 1: Define “Ready for Fulfilment” Criteria

Before you can automate the handoff, you need to define exactly when an order is ready for warehouse work.

For most businesses, the criteria are:

Order is confirmed (customer has committed)
Stock is reserved (items earmarked for this order)
Payment is received (or payment terms are acceptable for credit customers)
Stock is committed (inventory adjusted)
Order has not been cancelled or placed on hold

These criteria should be enforced by the system, not left to manual judgment. An order should not be allowed to create warehouse tasks until all criteria are met.

Step 2: Use System-Generated Warehouse Tasks

Manual task creation is error-prone. Someone forgets to create a task. Someone creates duplicate tasks. Someone creates a task for the wrong order type.

The system should automatically create tasks when an order meets the “ready for fulfilment” criteria.

This might be triggered by:

A manual “Fulfil” button that order managers click when ready
An automated workflow that triggers when an order reaches “committed” status
A scheduled batch process that creates tasks for all committed orders at a specific time each day

The important part: task creation is consistent, repeatable, and doesn’t rely on someone remembering to do it.

Step 3: Include All Relevant Context

Every warehouse task should include:

Core picking information:

SKUs and quantities
Stock locations (bin-level if possible)

Order context:

Order reference number
Customer name (for double-checking during packing)
Delivery method and address

Special handling:

Fragile, hazmat, refrigerated flags
Gift wrap or custom packing instructions
Batch number or serial number tracking requirements

Priority:

Rush, standard, or bulk priority level
Due date/time for dispatch

This context should flow automatically from order data and product master data. Warehouse staff shouldn’t have to hunt for it.

Step 4: Give Warehouse Staff a Dedicated Task Queue

Instead of asking warehouse staff to check the order list, give them a task queue — a dedicated view of all pending, in-progress, and completed warehouse tasks.

The task queue should allow:

Filtering by task type: Show me only OUTBOUND tasks, or only INBOUND tasks
Sorting by priority: Rush tasks at the top, bulk tasks at the bottom
Claiming tasks: A picker can claim a task, moving it to “in progress” so others don’t duplicate work
Updating status: Mark tasks as complete or flag exceptions

The task queue becomes the single source of truth for warehouse work. No more checking multiple systems or asking “what should I pick next?”

Step 5: Track Task Completion and Auto-Update Order Status

When a picker completes a task, the system should:

Mark the task as complete
Check if ALL tasks for the order are complete
If yes, automatically update the order status to “fulfilled”
Trigger any downstream workflows (notify customer, prepare shipping label, etc.)

This closes the loop from order to warehouse and back to order without manual intervention.

Step 6: Build in Exception Handling Workflows

When a task can’t be completed, the system should:

Prompt the picker to select a reason (stock not found, damaged goods, short pick, etc.)
Notify the relevant person (order manager, warehouse supervisor, or both)
Create an action item for resolution
Keep the order in “processing” status until the exception is resolved

Exception handling should be structured, not ad-hoc. No more Slack messages saying “hey, I couldn’t find this item.” The system should capture the exception, route it to the right person, and track resolution.

Measuring Handoff Effectiveness

How do you know if your handoff process is working? You measure it.

Key Metrics

Handoff-to-pick time: How long between when a warehouse task is created and when someone starts picking it?

Target: Less than 30 minutes for standard orders, less than 10 minutes for rush orders
Red flag: Tasks sitting in “pending” status for hours

Pick accuracy rate: What percentage of picks are completed without errors (wrong item, wrong quantity, wrong location)?

Target: 99%+ accuracy
Red flag: Frequent exceptions flagged as “stock not found” or “damaged goods”

Task completion rate: What percentage of tasks are completed on the first attempt, without exceptions?

Target: 95%+ completion rate
Red flag: High exception rate (more than 5%) indicates systemic issues with stock location accuracy or product master data

Order cycle time (commit to fulfilled): How long from when an order is committed to when all warehouse tasks are complete?

Target varies by business, but should be consistent and predictable
Red flag: High variability in cycle time indicates prioritisation or workflow issues

On-time dispatch rate: What percentage of orders are dispatched within the promised timeframe?

Target: 98%+ on-time dispatch
Red flag: Orders marked as “fulfilled” but sitting in the warehouse for hours before dispatch

Identifying Handoff Problems

Your metrics will reveal specific problems:

Tasks sitting in “pending” for hours: Warehouse team isn’t checking the task queue regularly, or they’re overwhelmed with higher-priority work. Solution: implement task alerts or increase warehouse capacity during peak times.

High exception rate for “stock not found”: Location data is inaccurate. Solution: implement cycle counting, barcode scanning for stock movements, and location audits.

Orders stuck in “processing” with some tasks complete and others pending: Split shipments or multi-location orders aren’t being handled properly. Solution: review task creation logic and ensure all required tasks are being generated.

Long cycle time from commit to fulfilled: Warehouse is batching picks inefficiently or there are bottlenecks in the workflow. Solution: analyse pick paths, review task prioritisation, or introduce zone picking.

Continuous Improvement: The Weekly Review

Every week, review:

Orders that took longer than expected to fulfil (and why)
Tasks that generated exceptions (and what the root cause was)
Orders that were cancelled or modified after fulfilment started (and how to prevent it)

Use this review to refine your handoff process, update your task generation logic, and train warehouse staff on common issues.

The goal isn’t perfection. It’s continuous reduction of handoff friction.

The Compounding Effect of a Good Handoff

When you get the order-to-warehouse handoff right, the benefits compound over time.

Week 1: Your warehouse team stops asking “what should I pick next?” They check the task queue and work from it. Immediate productivity boost.

Month 1: Pick accuracy improves because tasks include all context. Fewer returns, fewer customer complaints, less rework.

Quarter 1: You have reliable metrics on warehouse performance. You can spot problems before they become crises. You can forecast capacity needs.

Year 1: You’ve built a foundation for automation. Whether it’s barcode scanning, pick-to-light, or robotic picking, you have the data structure to support it.

But the most important benefit is this: your warehouse becomes predictable. Orders don’t get lost. Urgent orders actually get prioritised. Warehouse staff aren’t guessing what to work on next. And your customers get what they ordered, when they expected it, packed correctly.

That’s the power of a structured handoff.

Making It Real in Your Business

If you’re reading this and thinking “this sounds great, but we’re not ready for this level of sophistication,” start small.

Phase 1: Stop using paper pick lists. Move to a digital task queue, even if it’s just a shared spreadsheet or a Trello board.

Phase 2: Define what “ready for fulfilment” means in your business and enforce it. Don’t create warehouse tasks until orders meet the criteria.

Phase 3: Separate tasks from orders. Even if tasks are still manual, create them as distinct work items with their own lifecycle.

Phase 4: Automate task creation. When an order is committed, the system creates warehouse tasks automatically.

Phase 5: Add real-time visibility and auto-completion. Tasks update order status automatically when complete.

You don’t have to do all five phases at once. But each phase reduces handoff friction and gets you closer to a predictable, scalable fulfilment operation.

A Structured Handoff in Practice

EQUOS9’s approach to order fulfilment is built around this structured handoff concept. When an order is ready for warehouse work, the “Fulfil” action creates warehouse tasks automatically — OUTBOUND tasks for send orders, INBOUND tasks for receive orders, and split tasks for multi-location shipments.

These tasks appear in a dedicated warehouse queue, complete with all the context a picker needs: items, locations, special handling flags, and priority. Warehouse staff work from the queue, claim tasks, and mark them complete. When all tasks for an order are done, the order automatically transitions to fulfilled status.

It’s a small workflow step, but it eliminates the chaos of manual handoffs, reduces picking errors, and gives operations teams real-time visibility into what’s happening on the warehouse floor.

If you’re ready to move beyond printed pick lists and scattered Slack messages, explore EQUOS9’s warehouse management and order management modules to see how a structured handoff process works in practice.

Because the gap between order confirmation and warehouse action is where fulfilment is won or lost. Get the handoff right, and everything downstream gets easier.