Event-Based TraceabilityShip Events

Ship Events

A ship event records the outbound side of a movement or transfer. It is the sender's side of the shipment's traceability.

This page explains the concept. Start with Understanding Event-Based Traceability in Wholechain for shared concepts.

To perform this event, see Ship. For every event type, see the Wholechain Events Overview.

What a ship event represents

A ship event records the outbound side of a movement or transfer. It is the sender's side of the shipment's traceability.

When and why to use it

Use a ship event when item instances leave one Location for another. This applies when goods go to a customer, move between two Locations in your own company, or are transferred between separate Location records, as described below.

Businesses often treat a shipment as one transaction. Event-based traceability records departure and arrival separately. The sender records the ship event. The receiver records a receive event. Together they describe the movement.

What it does to traceability history

A ship event adds a "this left here, for there" step to the instance's history. The quantity shipped leaves the sender's active inventory at the origin. The item itself isn't changed. It keeps its physical properties and its identifier.

Required information and master-data prerequisites

CategoryFor ship
LocationThe origin. This is where the event occurs.
ItemThe product being shipped.
QuantityThe amount shipped, in the item's configured unit of measure.
Lot or serial identifierThe specific instance(s) shipped. You can ship all or part of a lot.
Event date and timeWhen the goods departed.

A ship event also identifies:

  • The originating Trade Partner and Location.
  • The destination Trade Partner and Location.
  • The shipped items, lots or serials, and quantities, or the container they are in. See Aggregate Events.

Before you ship, make sure the item, your origin Location, and the destination Trade Partner and Location exist in master data:

Relationship to inventory, lots or serials, and other events

  • Inventory. A standard ship event draws on inventory you've already recorded. Wholechain also supports a shipment entry workflow, which lets you submit shipment information without previously recorded inventory for those lots. It is still a ship event, not a separate type of traceability event. In the app, a shipment with no prior inventory is recorded as a Direct Ship; see Direct Ship and Direct Receive and Starting Traceability in Wholechain. A Direct Ship shows as an Outbound Ship Event in the Outbound Shipments table, and adding Trace Info to it in the Outbound tab lets you post events that occurred with a date/time prior to the Direct Ship's date/time.
  • Lots or serials. The shipped lot or serial identifiers travel with the shipment so the receiver can match them. A ship entered without prior inventory creates the instance, so its identifier is fixed at that point. You can ship all or part of a lot. See How lot and serial identifiers work.
  • Containers. A shipped pallet or container can be shipped as one unit. When it arrives, the aggregation carries across to the receiver, who disaggregates when they need to work with the contents. See Aggregate Events.
  • Other events. Ship usually follows commission, receive, transform, or aggregate, and is matched by a receive on the other side. When a Receive is linked with Link Trace Info, a Ship is the only event type that can be linked to it; see Link Trace Info.

Examples

Shipment to a customer. Northline Processing ships 400 kg of fillet lot FIL-0412-A from its Cold Store to Metro Fresh's distribution center. Northline records the ship event at the Cold Store. Metro Fresh records receipt at its own Location.

Movement between your own Locations. Northline moves cartons from its Processing Plant Location to its Cold Store Location. Both are Northline Locations. Northline records both the ship and the receive, because both Locations are its own.

Transfer between separate Location records at the same physical warehouse. A brand, Cedar Bay Brands, stores goods in a warehouse. It hands day-to-day inventory over to a logistics partner whose Location record, "Coastal 3PL – Warehouse A," refers to the same building. Cedar Bay Brands ships from its "Cedar Bay – Warehouse A" Location record to "Coastal 3PL – Warehouse A." The goods never leave the building, but responsibility changes.

A transfer like this can represent a change in ownership or possession without geographic movement. Whether you should record one depends on your configured business process and how you've set up your Locations. If you're unsure, contact support@wholechain.com.

Common misunderstandings

  • "A ship event means the customer has the goods." It only means the sender recorded departure. Arrival is the receiver's event.
  • "If I ship, I can record the receive for my customer." For a separate company, no. The customer records its own receipt. For your own Locations you can record both sides. See Relevant restrictions.
  • "Ship changes the item." It doesn't. The item, lot, and identifier stay the same. If the item changes, use transform.
  • "Shipping a pallet means I must list every carton." You can ship the aggregated container as one unit.
  • "Shipping without prior inventory is a ninth kind of event." It isn't. It is a ship event that doesn't need prior inventory.

Relevant restrictions

  • A ship event is recorded at your own origin Location.
  • A shared Location can be used as the destination Location on a ship event.
  • If the destination Trade Partner is Wholechain connected, you can select its Location as the destination, but your account can't record operational events at that partner's Locations. The partner records the receipt. See connected trade partners.

Notes on standards and regulations

  • GDST (Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability): Shipping is a core GDST event. See GDST and Wholechain for how Wholechain events, including shipping and transshipment, line up with GDST.
  • FSMA 204 (the U.S. FDA Food Traceability Rule): Shipping is one of the events the rule covers. See FSMA 204 and Wholechain.

Recording a ship event doesn't by itself establish compliance with a standard or regulation.

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