Updates
Advance Shipping Notices: How IT Distributors Cut "Where Is My Order?" Calls
A purchase order tells a distributor what to ship. It does not tell the reseller what actually left the building. When that gap is filled with phone calls and inbox chasing, the warehouse has already done the work and the service desk is still catching up.
An advance shipping notice (ASN) closes that gap. It is the electronic message, often an EDIFACT DESADV or an X12 856, that goes out as soon as a shipment is confirmed. The partner knows the carrier, the tracking reference, the cartons, and the lines that are on the way, including partial shipments.
Why IT distribution feels this more than most
IT orders rarely leave as one neat pallet for one address. A single purchase order can split across warehouses, drop-ship from a vendor, or ship today with a back order to follow. Serial numbers, bundle components, and short-dated promotions make "we dispatched it" a poor answer.
- Partial shipments need a line-level record of what went and what is still open.
- Drop-ship and multi-site fulfillment mean the reseller cannot assume one tracking number covers the order.
- Serialised products need the serials, or at least the carton identities, before goods-in.
- Retail and etail partners often will not book the delivery into their system until the ASN arrives.
What a useful ASN actually contains
Partners do not all want the same file, but the useful notices share the same facts:
- The original purchase order number and your delivery or shipment reference
- Ship-to address, ship date, carrier, and tracking or consignment number
- Carton or pallet identities, with the SKUs and quantities inside each
- Serial numbers or batch details where the partner requires them
- A clear statement of lines shipped now versus lines still outstanding
If any of those are typed into a portal after the van has left, the notice is already late. The ASN should be a by-product of confirming the shipment in the ERP or warehouse system, not a second job for customer service.
How RDS Cloud sends the notice
RDS Cloud takes the shipment confirmation your system already produces and turns it into the ASN format each trading partner expects. The same approach used for purchase orders applies here: map once, validate every message, and send it without rekeying.
- Format conversion from your ERP extract, XML, CSV, or internal EDI into DESADV, X12, or the partner's XML.
- Checks before send, so a missing PO reference, a quantity that does not match the order, or a blank tracking number is stopped rather than shipped as a bad file.
- Partner-specific packaging, including which fields are mandatory and how cartons should be grouped.
- A record of what was sent, so a "we never got the ASN" query can be answered from the audit trail.
With 500+ pre-mapped formats already in use for UK and European partners, adding the outbound shipping message is usually an extension of a connection you already have, not a new project that starts from a blank map.
What changes for the service desk
Distributors that send ASNs automatically tend to see the same shift. Goods-in teams at the reseller scan against the notice instead of ringing to ask what is on the truck. Your own team spends less time copying tracking numbers into emails. Short shipments are visible as data, so they are queried once, against the right lines, rather than as a vague "order not complete".
It also prepares the invoice. When the shipment, the order, and the invoice share the same references, the three-way match is something the systems can do. That matters even more as UK businesses move toward structured e-invoicing. The shipping notice is one of the documents that makes the invoice believable.
Where to start
Pick the partners who generate the most delivery calls, or who already refuse a receipt without an ASN. Confirm the shipment event in your ERP is complete enough to build the notice, then send a test file before you switch off the manual email. RDS Cloud can run that test against the partner's specification and keep exceptions in one queue.
Want ASNs to leave with the shipment, not after the phone rings? See how RDS Cloud works for IT distributors or request a free demo.