Pick Management

How Picking Works in Helm

A pick is the instruction that sends someone into the warehouse to collect items for one or more orders. Helm builds the pick, decides which locations to visit and in what order, holds the stock so nothing else can claim it, and then updates inventory when the pick is published.

Picks live under Processing > Pick Management. You can create them one at a time when something needs to go out now, or set up a pick routine that builds them for you on a schedule or on demand.

There are three pick types, and the one you choose changes how work is divided up:

• Order By Order: one order picked at a time. Splits the work by the maximum orders per pick you set. Best for large or high-value orders where accuracy matters more than travel time.

• Tote: several orders picked together, each into its own tote. Splits by the maximum orders per tote. Best for small multi-item orders going out in volume.

• Bulk: one product collected across many orders at once, then separated afterwards at the Sort Wall. Splits by the maximum lines per pick. Best for high-volume single-line orders.

Example scenario: you have 200 orders waiting, most of them one or two small items. Picking them Order By Order means walking the same aisles 200 times. A Bulk pick collects each product once, in one pass, and the orders are separated at the Sort Wall afterwards.

Before You Start

A few things need to be in place before a pick will behave as you expect:

• You need the relevant pick permissions. Picking is permission-controlled, so if Pick Management isn't in your Processing menu, ask whoever administers Helm for your business to check your permission group.

• Your stock needs locations. Helm builds a picking route from the locations your stock sits in. Items with no location cannot be routed and will not be picked.

• Orders must be in a pickable status. Orders already picked, despatched or cancelled will not be pulled into a new pick.

• Warehouse scanning rules apply to every pick. Whether a picker must scan each item, must scan the location, and whether they may skip a location are warehouse settings, not pick settings. Set them once under your warehouse configuration rather than per pick.

Stock in an active pick is reserved, so it cannot be allocated to another order or another pick while that pick is open. If a pick is abandoned rather than completed or cancelled, the reservation clears itself after 10 minutes of inactivity.

How to Create a Pick in Helm

Use this when you have orders in front of you that need picking now.

1. Open Pick Management. Go to Processing > Pick Management to see the Pick List.

2. Start a new pick. From the action bar, choose Create Pick.

3. Choose the orders to include. Either select orders directly, or choose Pick Routine Filters to let a saved routine's filters decide. If you choose Pick Routine Filters, your manual order selection is ignored and the routine's filters are used instead.

4. Set the pick type. Choose Order By Order, Tote or Bulk, then set the matching maximum (orders per pick, orders per tote, or lines per pick).

5. Set the creation status. Ready to Pick makes the pick available immediately. On Hold creates it but holds it back, which is useful if you want to stage work for a later shift.

6. Assign a user if you already know who is picking. You can also leave it unassigned and assign it later from the Pick List using Assign to a User.

7. Confirm. Pick creation is queued rather than instant, so you will be notified when it's ready. Large picks take a few moments to build.

How to Create & Run a Pick Routine

A pick routine is a saved set of filters and settings that builds picks for you, either on a schedule or whenever you run it. Use one when the same picking decision happens every day.

1. Go to Processing > Pick Routines and choose Create Pick Routine.

2. Name the routine so the rest of your team can tell what it does.

3. Set your Order Filters. These decide which orders the routine collects. You can filter on fields including Courier Service, Target Despatch Date, Order Value, Main Product and Qty, using operators such as Is, Is Not, Contains and Starts With.

4. Choose the pick type and its maximum, exactly as you would for a manual pick.

5. Set the multi-location priority. This decides which location Helm picks from when stock sits in more than one place:

   1. ELP (Empty Location Priority): clears down locations that are nearly empty first, which keeps your bin count tidy.

   2. ILP (Inventory Location Priority): follows the location priority set on the product itself.

   3. SLP (Single Location Priority): keeps the whole line coming from one location wherever possible, so the picker makes one stop instead of several.

   4. Set Live Picking. Yes streams the route to the picker as they go. Yes and Allow Trackback additionally lets them move back to a location they have already visited. No gives them the full list up front.

   5. Set the completion status. Picked sends finished items straight on. Sorting routes them to the Sort Wall instead, which is what you want for Bulk picks.

   6. Set the frequency if the routine should run itself: Daily or Monthly. Leave the schedule off if you would rather run it by hand.

   7. Save the routine. To run it there and then, choose Run Pick Routine from the Pick List or from the routine's row in the Pick Routines list.

   
   

Opening a pick from the Pick List gives you everything about it on one screen.

1. Pick Items lists every line, with its Location, Tote, Picked Qty and Action Qty. You can set a location on a line that doesn't have one.

2. Pick Progress shows Complete Percentage, EST Completion and Pick Rate, which is measured in units per hour. Use EST Completion to decide whether a shift needs another picker on it.

3. Assigned User shows who is picking, the device they're on, and their time record.

4. Pick Details holds the pick's Name, Pick Status, Pick Type and dates. Hold this Pick stops work on it without deleting it.

5. Select lines to use the bulk actions: Fill Action Qty, Clear Action Qty, Delete, Split Pick and Split Lines.

   1. Split Pick breaks one pick into several, either by setting Maximum Lines or by using Split per Zone, and can assign each new pick to a different user.

   2. Split Lines divides a single line so part of it comes from a different location.

6. Publish the pick. When picking is finished, choose Publish. Helm asks you to Specify Item Location so it knows where the picked stock has been put, then updates inventory when you Confirm Location.

7. Send it onward. Once published, Batch Despatch moves the pick straight into despatch.

Publishing is the step that moves stock. If you leave the pick without publishing, Helm warns you that your changes will not be reflected in inventory, and it means it: nothing you did in that pick counts until it's published.

Pickers themselves work on the Despatch Terminal, the app on your warehouse devices, rather than in this screen. Their scanning, quantity entry and tote steps are covered in the Despatch Terminal articles.

Example: Splitting a Large Pick Across Three Pickers

1. A Bulk pick is created from 180 orders and comes out at 240 lines, which is too much for one person before the courier cut-off.

2. You open the pick and select all its lines.

3. You choose Split Pick, set Maximum Lines to 80, and assign the three resulting picks to three pickers.

4. Each picker sees only their own pick on their device, and all three work at once.

5. As each pick is finished you publish it and set the picked-to location.

6. Because the completion status is Sorting, the items land at the Sort Wall, where they're separated into their individual orders.

Best Practices & Notes

Match the Pick Type to the Order Profile

Bulk picking a handful of large orders creates sorting work for no travel saving. Order By Order on 200 single-line orders wastes a shift walking. The pick type is the single biggest lever on picking efficiency, so it's worth reviewing whenever your order mix changes.

Let Routines Do the Repetitive Decisions

If you build the same pick every morning, that's a routine. Routines also keep the decision consistent when the person who normally makes it is away.

Publish Promptly

Stock stays reserved while a pick is open, which means it isn't available to other orders. Publishing finished picks quickly keeps your available stock figures honest and stops orders being held up behind picks that are already done.

Watch for Item Not Found & Location Skipped

When a picker can't find an item or skips a location, Helm records it against the line as Item Not Found or Location Skipped. Recurring events at the same location usually mean a stock accuracy problem worth counting rather than a picker problem.

Orders That Fail to Pick

Orders that cannot be picked are tagged and placed in a Pick Failed folder so they don't quietly disappear. Check it as part of your end-of-day routine.

FAQ

Can I change a pick's type after it's created?

No. The pick type determines how the pick was built and divided, so it's fixed once the pick exists. Delete or archive the pick and create a new one with the type you want.

What happens to stock while a pick is open?

It's reserved, so it can't be allocated to another order or pulled into another pick.

Why can't I publish my pick?

The most common reason is that the pick is On Hold. Release the hold, then publish. If a line still has no location set, set one first.

Do I have to publish a pick if picking wasn't finished?

Use Mark As Complete instead. This closes the pick and allows the orders that weren't picked to appear on new picks, rather than leaving them stranded.

Can I run a pick routine without waiting for its schedule?

Yes. Choose Run Pick Routine from either the Pick List or the routine's row in Pick Routines.

If a pick isn't behaving as you expect, check the pick's status and its assigned user first, then the events recorded against the individual lines. If you're still stuck, contact support with the Pick Number to hand.