Key ideas
Ten ideas appear on almost every screen. Learn them once and every screen becomes easier.
1. Company (tenant)
Your company has its own private space in PrismaWMS, identified by a 5-digit tenant ID (for example 10001).
You type it when you sign in. Nobody outside your company can see your data.
2. Warehouse
A building (or site) where you keep stock, with a short code such as KL-DC-01. One company can have many
warehouses. Most screens show the warehouse each record belongs to.
3. Zone and bin (location)
A warehouse is divided into zones (areas with one purpose) and bins (exact positions).
The bin code tells a person where to walk: aisle → bay → level → position. Some bins have a special job — receiving, staging, QA, damage — and PrismaWMS uses them automatically.
4. Owner (client)
The company that owns the stock. If you are a 3PL (you store goods for other companies), each client is an owner and their stock is kept apart. If the warehouse only holds your own stock, there is one owner and PrismaWMS fills it in for you.
5. Item (SKU)
A product you store, identified by a SKU code. Each item has a base unit (UOM, e.g. EA = each) and can
have bigger units (inner, case, pallet) with conversions — for example 1 case = 12 each.
6. Lot, serial number and expiry
Optional tracking for items that need it:
- Lot / batch — goods made together (food, medicine).
- Serial number — one unique number per unit (electronics, machines).
- Expiry date — PrismaWMS can pick the earliest expiry first (FEFO).
7. Stock status
The same item in the same bin can be in different statuses:
| Status | Can it be picked? |
|---|---|
| Available | ✅ Yes |
| Allocated | Reserved for an order already |
| QA Hold | ❌ Waiting for quality inspection |
| Quarantine / Blocked / Damaged / Expired | ❌ Not for sale until released |
| In transit | ❌ On the way between warehouses |
8. LPN (license plate)
A number on a pallet or carton so the whole thing can be scanned and moved at once instead of item by item.
9. Document status
Documents move through statuses, shown as coloured badges — for example a purchase order goes Draft → Open → Partially received → Closed. You can only do the next step when the status allows it.
10. Approvals
Some actions need a second person, for example an adjustment above a set quantity. The person who asked can never approve their own request. Approvals are found in Inventory → Approvals.
Unsure of a word? The Glossary lists them all.