Managing Inventory in a Regulated World: Outbound Shipping

DSCSA introduces compliance documentation into your warehouse and with it, inventory management complications. Establishing processes to properly manage Transaction Histories, Information, and Statements (T3) is critical—if you don’t have T3 to match product, you cannot sell it—but you also need to maintain operational efficiencies.

In the first two parts of this series, we looked at product receipt and warehouse management. In this final installment, we'll consider what you need to think about during outbound shipping along with how TraceLink's Product Track can help.

Outbound Shipping

6 - You need to send the compliance documentation in the form your buyer can receive it

Your order is picked and it’s time to send T3 to your buyer, but in what format can they receive it?

TraceLink solution: T3 is primarily sent using the HDMA EDI 856 ASN format provided by the HDMA guideline, but not everyone uses this. When you enter to whom you are selling the product, Product Track will check that trade partner’s profile which is configured in the system and includes the specific format they prefer. It will then output the data accordingly, whether their preference is portal, ASN, or paper. The process is very automatic for you.

7 – How do you know what information you must include on the outbound T3, and then provide it?

According to the law, the data you include on the outbound ASN is dependent on how you sourced the product. How do you easily reference product origin, determine what specific information is required, and then produce it on the outbound T3?

TraceLink solution: When you received the product you will have used a specific Product Track field to indicate where it came from -- the manufacturer, an exclusive distributor, as an indirect purchase, or somewhere else. Product Track recorded that data and based on this product origin, will make a determination of what data needs to be provided outbound.

For example, if you purchased directly from the manufacturer, the system knows that on the outbound, it can omit the transaction date and lot number, but must include a direct purchase statement. Whereas if it sees it came from a primary wholesaler, Product Track knows that the lot number and transaction date are required and that it must also include a “receive direct purchase” statement.

Product Track makes these determinations by interrogating the product origin field as well as the content in the T3. As long as you provided product origin upfront - which you’re required to do - the system then has all the information it needs to execute this workflow and produce the right outbound T3.

The arrival of compliance documentation in your warehouse complicates your operations and puts a lot of responsibility on pickers, packers, and shippers who have not been trained around compliance. Understand where the challenges will arise, and select a solution that will help shoulder the burden every step of the way.