What Is Warehouse Order?
Also known as: LN warehousing order, warehouse order type, whinh order
Definition
A warehouse order is the execution document in Infor LN Warehousing that carries out an inbound, outbound or transfer movement. It is generated from an originating order such as a sales, purchase, production or transfer order, and its order type defines the procedure steps.
Warehouse Order Explained
Infor LN deliberately separates the commercial or manufacturing document from the physical movement. A sales order records what the customer bought and at what price; the warehouse order records what has to leave which warehouse, in what sequence of steps, and who confirms each one. The same separation applies to purchase receipts, production material issues and completions, and transfers between warehouses. Warehousing is a package in its own right for exactly this reason.
The warehouse order type is the control object. It defines which activities are part of the procedure and whether each is mandatory, manual or automatic. An inbound procedure might be receipt, inspection and put away, with inspection switched off for trusted suppliers or on for regulated material. An outbound procedure typically covers generating the outbound advice, releasing it for picking, confirming the pick and confirming shipment. Changing the order type changes the operational workflow without any code.
Warehouse orders also connect to the rest of the logistics chain. They generate the inventory transactions that drive valuation and the integration transactions that post to finance. They group into shipments and loads for transport planning and documentation. They can carry lot and serial data, and where handling units are in use they record which physical packages moved, which is what makes downstream traceability and packing documentation possible.
Because the procedure is configurable per order type, the same LN environment can run a very light process for internal transfers and a rigorously controlled one for customer shipments of regulated product. That flexibility is valuable but demands design discipline: every optional step you activate is a transaction someone must perform, and over-configured procedures are one of the most common reasons warehouse users complain that the new ERP is slower than the old one.
Why It Matters
- The warehouse order type is where physical process design lives, so it directly sets how many clicks a picker or receiver performs.
- Separating warehouse orders from commercial orders lets one shipment consolidate multiple sales orders cleanly.
- Inbound inspection steps configured here are how regulated and aerospace receiving controls are actually enforced.
- Warehouse orders generate the inventory and integration transactions that finance later reconciles, so misconfiguration surfaces in the ledger.
In Practice
A frequent go-live complaint is that shipping now takes far more steps than before. The cause is almost always an order type with every optional activity enabled and set to manual confirmation. Review each activity against a real operational need, automate the confirmations that add no control value, and reserve the full procedure for order types that genuinely require it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a sales order and a warehouse order in LN?
The sales order is the commercial agreement: customer, items, prices, terms and delivery commitments. The warehouse order is the physical execution document generated from it, covering which warehouse the goods leave, the picking and shipping steps, and the confirmations required. One sales order can generate several warehouse orders, and one shipment can consolidate lines from several sales orders.
What does a warehouse order type control?
It controls the procedure: which activities are included in the inbound, outbound or transfer flow, in what sequence, and whether each is automatic, manual or optional. Typical inbound activities are receipt, inspection and put away; typical outbound activities are outbound advice, release, pick confirmation and shipment. It also drives defaults such as the warehouse and inventory handling behavior.
Related Terms
Handling Unit
A handling unit in Infor LN is an identified physical package - a pallet, carton or container - tracked with its own ID. Handling units nest hierarchically, carry item, lot and serial data, and move through warehousing and shipping as a single scannable entity.
Integration Transaction
An integration transaction is the record Infor LN creates when a logistic event such as a receipt, issue, shipment or production completion must post to finance. Mapping schemes translate each transaction into the correct debit and credit ledger accounts and dimensions.
Multisite (Infor LN)
Multisite in Infor LN is the configuration pattern for running several plants, warehouses or legal entities in one environment using sites, enterprise units and multiple companies, with intercompany trade rules that price and post transfers between them automatically.
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Working with Warehouse Order in a live environment? Our engineers do this every day - and our AI agents automate most of it.