Inbound notices: 943 and 856 - Cargoflow Support

Summary

The 943 (warehouse stock transfer shipment advice) is the document a customer uses to announce what is coming. Each processed 943 creates an advance ship notice and, with it, its pending receipt, just like a notice entered by hand (Advance ship notices (ASN)) or sent through the API (Sending an advance ship notice through the API). The 856 follows the same path, with an important limitation explained below.

What is read and where it goes

Segment	Element	Goes to
ISA	ISA06	Identifies the partner (together with the key's customer).
ISA	ISA13	Interchange control number (to detect resends).
ST	ST01 / ST02	Document type and transaction control number.
W06	W06-02	The customer's reference on the notice (their order number).
N1	N1-02 when N1-01 = `CA`	The carrier.
W04	several	A notice line (see below).

The lines (W04)

W04*120*CS**VN*NT-1001~
     |   |     |  |
     |   |     |  +-- product code (SKU)
     |   |     +----- code qualifier
     |   +----------- unit
     +--------------- quantity

Quantity: the first element. Decimals allowed.
Unit: the second. If empty, the product's base unit is used.
Code: the one after the first recognized qualifier: VN, VP, UK, UP, IN, SK or B8. It must match the SKU in the customer's catalog or the warehouse's general catalog.
A W04 with no recognized qualifier is skipped. If no line is left in the end, the file is set aside.

What is ignored

Today these are not taken from the file: the date (G62), the supplier (N1 with other qualifiers), the trailer, additional reference numbers (N9), weight, lots and expiration dates. The receipt arrives without them and the warehouse enters them on receipt.

Full example

Northern Trading Co. announces 120 cases of one product and 40 pieces of another with their order PO-7781:

ISA*00*          *00*          *ZZ*NORTHERN       *ZZ*WAREHOUSE      *261006*0930*U*00401*000000123*0*P*>~
GS*AR*NORTHERN*WAREHOUSE*20261006*0930*123*X*004010~
ST*943*0001~
W06*N*PO-7781*20261006~
N1*CA*Southern Logistics~
G62*10*20261008~
W04*120*CS**VN*NT-1001~
W04*40*EA**VN*NT-2040~
W03*160~
SE*8*0001~
GE*1*123~
IEA*1*000000123~

What ends up at the warehouse

An advance ship notice for Northern Trading Co., Sent, reference PO-7781 and carrier Southern Logistics.
Two lines: 120 CS of NT-1001 and 40 EA of NT-2040.
Its receipt as Pending, with the expected quantities.
No expected date: the G62 is not used. If the warehouse needs it for planning, it is entered on the notice.

From there on the path is the usual one: see From notice to stock.

The 856 case

Important: the 856 (ship notice) is accepted as a document type, but the 856 almost every system generates carries its lines in a hierarchy of HL, LIN and SN1 segments, which are not read today. That file is set aside with the reason ASN payload must include at least one line. It only goes in if the partner sends its lines in W04. Before promising that 856 files are received, ask for a real file and test it with us; meanwhile, the safe option is for the customer to send 943.

Special cases

An unknown code on any line sets the whole file aside: no half-built notice is created.
Zero quantity: accepted; the line expects 0.
Several transactions in one file: all the lines end up in a single notice. One transaction per file.
The same file twice: the second time creates nothing.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the notice not carry the expected date from the file?

Because today the date is read but not passed to the notice. That also means these notices do not count in the on-time arrivals KPI, which needs an expected date. If that KPI matters for this customer, enter the date on the notice when you receive it, or ask the customer to send notices through the API, which does accept it.