Configuring the Promising service

The Promising service provides personalized promise dates to customers. Along with flexible fulfillment options, you get complete visibility of the delivery and pickup schedules.

Before you begin

Familiarize yourself with the Sterling Intelligent Promising Essentials, Standard, and Premium packages. For more information, see Sterling Intelligent Promising overview.

Ensure that you are familiar with the following concepts.

Lead time
The buffer time before you process an order at a node. For more information, see Lead time.
Shipping notification time
The minimum time required for the delivery service to initiate the delivery or pickup process. For more information, see Shipping notification time.
Capacity
The amount of resources available for an optimization objective. For more information, see Capacity.
Shipping groups
A shipping option that includes a group of carrier services to fulfill an order. For more information, see Shipping groups.
Transfer rules
The rules to transfer the inventory from one node to another node. For more information, see Transfer rules.
Processing time
The time to prepare an item for shipment. For more information, see Configuring processing time.
Cost-based optimization
The option to provide cost-efficient promising and sourcing recommendations. For more information, see Configuring cost-based optimization for promising.
Carrier pickup schedules
The day and time that a carrier picks up a shipment at a ship node. For more information, see Configuring carrier pickup schedules.
Promising rules
A set of conditions to determine the fulfilling nodes of an order or item. For more information, see Promising rules.
Estimated delivery date (EDD)
The earliest time that an item is picked up and delivered. For more information, see Estimated delivery date (EDD).
Checkout options
The options displayed before a shopper confirms the order. For more information, see Checkout options.
Custom attributes
The attributes that are associated with sourcing or supply tasks. For more information, see Custom attributes.
Shipping commitment days
The requirement on how far ahead in days any listed merchandize item can be promised and fulfilled. For more information, see Shipping commitment days.
Shipping cutoff times
The latest time by which an order must be captured and processed to meet delivery commitments. For more information, see Shipping cutoff times.
Pickup times and schedules
The daily or weekly pickup times and schedules to specify when customers can pickup items at the node level. For more information, see Pickup times and schedules.
Pickup cutoffs
The latest time that an order can be placed for same-day pickup. For more information, see Pickup cutoffs
Caching for estimated delivery dates
Enable the caching of estimated delivery dates (EDD) computations for use in the Product List Page (PLP). For more information, see Configuring caching for estimated delivery dates.

Procedure

  1. Configure the node lead time to define the time before you process an order at a node by using the Define node lead time API.
  2. Configure shipping notification by using the Upsert items API and the Define or update a shipping notification API.
  3. Configure capacity availability to define the resources that are available to fulfill an optimization objective by using the Insert or update available capacity API.
  4. Configure shipping groups to group carrier services that meet certain fulfillment criteria for a delivery promise by using either an API or the UI.
    Configuration option Procedure
    API Define shipping group
    Order Hub Configuring shipping groups
  5. Configure transfer rules to transfer the inventory from one node to another node by using either the following APIs or the UI.
    Configuration option Procedure
    API List transfer rules | Get transfer rules by rule ID | Define transfer rules | Delete transfer rules
    Order Hub Creating transfer rules in Order Hub
  6. Configure processing time that is the time to prepare an item for shipment by using the Define node type processing time API.
  7. Configure cost-based optimization to provide cost-efficient promising and sourcing recommendations by using either an API or the UI.
    Configuration option Procedure
    API Create processing cost | Get processing cost | Create capacity | Upload transit rates by shipping zones
    Order Hub Managing node-balancing values
  8. Configure carrier pickup schedules to define when a carrier service picks up shipments at a ship node by using the Define node carrier pickup schedule API.
  9. Configure Promising rules to define the conditions that for fulfilling nodes for an order by using either an API or the UI.
    Configuration option Procedure
    API Create a new rule with auto-generated ruleId
    Order Hub Managing fulfillment rules
  10. Configure the estimated delivery date to determine the earliest estimated delivery date for an item to reach a specific destination or to be picked up by a customer by using the Get EDD API.
  11. Configure the checkout options to determine the earliest delivery and pickup times for shipments by using the Get Checkout Shipment Plan (Pre-Purchase) API.
  12. Configure the custom attributes to associate specific attributes with sourcing or supply business purposes by using either an API or the UI.
    Configuration option Procedure
    API Creating custom attributes for sourcing by using an API
    Order Hub Configuring custom attributes
  13. Configure the maxFutureAvailabilityLookahead attribute to consider shipping commitment days to limit the duration of a promise by using the Get EDD and the Get Optimized Checkout Plan (Pre-Purchase) APIs.
  14. Configure the shipping cutoff times, by using the Define node shipping cutoff schedule API.
  15. Configure the pickup times and schedules by using the Define node daily pick schedule API or the UI.
    Configuration option Procedure
    API Define node daily pick schedule
    Order Hub Configuring pickup times and schedules
  16. Configure the pickup cutoffs by using the Define Pick cutoff schedule API or the UI.
    Configuration option Procedure
    API Define Pick cutoff schedule
    Order Hub Configuring the pickup cutoffs
  17. Configure caching for estimated delivery dates by using the Define settings API or the UI.
    Configuration option Procedure
    API Define settings
    Order Hub Configuring caching for Estimated Delivery Dates