NOTE
The Pio app functionalities presented in this article are only visible to Pio Admins.
Topics covered in this article
Order prioritization types
How to set the rules
Block orders from going to picking
Important to remember
When do rules come into effect?
Order prioritization types
Pio Admin users can choose how to prioritize orders that come to picking by adding business rules. There are three types of order prioritization rules:
Shipping methods
You can prioritize specific shipping methods. Suppose you for example know that DHL always comes to pick up the packages at 2 PM. In that case, you can set a prioritization rule that prioritizes all the orders where DHL is the chosen delivery method and make sure that they are sent to ports before 1 PM so you have time to pack them all before they are collected.
Webshop/order channel
If you have several webshops or order channels, orders from a specific webshop can be prioritized. You can for example add a rule to say that orders from a specific store need to be fulfilled before 11 AM.
Tags
The third option is to use order tags in your webshop and create a rule for them. You can for example create an order tag 'Urgent' in your webshop and create a rule that matches that tag to send those orders to picking immediately.
Note that the tag name in your webshop and the tag name in Pio has to be 100% match. Note also that your webshop and integration towards Pio need to support tagging. This is the default functionality in Shopify and in the Pio Shopify integration.
How to set the rules
Go to Dashboard - System Settings - Organisation settings - Order prioritization. Note that these settings are only visible for Pio Admin users.
If this is the first time you are creating prioritization rules, select the green 'Create new rule' button. If you have created rules before, but want to add another rule, click the 'Create new rule' button in the top right corner:
First, choose the type of rule you want to make (category). Then select the rule variant. If you are making a rule for shipping methods or webshop Pio will automatically show you the available options (shipping methods/webshops that you have).
If you create a rule for a tag, add the tag name under 'Variant'. The tag name has to be a 100% match to the tag name you use in your webshop (for example 'Urgent').
Lastly, choose the handling time. You can also set custom handling time.
The following example shows how to set up a rule that makes sure all orders that have delivery method 'Helthjem' will be sent to picking before 10:00 o'clock.
Create new rule with category Shipping
Set the Handling time
Custom handling time for rules
You can also set up custom handling time for any type of rules
Block specific orders from going automatically to picking
It is also possible to block specific orders from going automatically to picking by using order prioritization rules. In that case, choose the category and variant you want to block, and after that, 'Set custom time' and select the option 'Block' under Custom time.
These orders will be transferred to Pio, but they will not go to picking and will stay as 'Blocked' until someone manually changes them.
This functionality is recommended when you have an online store both for B2B and B2C orders. You can use tags to block the B2B orders and control when the order is ready to go to picking.
The following example shows how to block all orders that have the delivery method called 'Helthjem' from automatically going to picking:
Create a new rule with the category 'Shipping'
And specify the 'Delivery method':
Select 'Set custom time' and use the option 'Block'
Confirm the selected option and save the new rule:
Force a blocked order to the picking queue
Even if an order is blocked from going to picking, you have the option to force it into the picking queue. Find the order in Pio app admin > Orders and choose 'Queue all missing items':
Important to remember when setting up the rules
Having many rules will harm the performance of the system, so we recommend having a maximum of 5 rules.
You can drag and drop the rules in the overview list to prioritize them by holding the dot icons on the left-hand side circled below.
If rules conflict with each other (same handling time for example), the rule on top of the overview will be prioritized.
When do rules come into effect?
The rules will be applied immediately. This is something to take into account if you create new rules or change existing rules that are very different from existing rules.
The new rules will also affect the orders that are already in progress and planned by Pio system, so it can greatly slow down the system while the system plans everything again. That's why we recommend creating rules outside of busy picking periods.