Service Locations Overview
Service locations represent physical or logical places (office, city, region) where assets are used. They help route asset requests to the correct fulfilment area.
Why Service Locations Are Important
Service locations allow organizations to:
- Map users to the nearest fulfilment point.
- Use centralized stockrooms to support multiple branches.
- Avoid unnecessary transfer or purchase orders by consuming assets for particular model from the right stockroom.
Example:
A head office has a stockroom. Several branch offices do not have stockrooms.
By assigning those branch offices as service locations to the head office stockroom, asset requests raised at the branches can be fulfilled directly from the head office stockroom.
Distribution Channels Overview
Distribution channels define the routes for moving assets between stockrooms. They help control how assets are sourced and transferred.
Inbound & Outbound
- Inbound: Stockroom can receive assets from another stockroom.
- Outbound: Stockroom can send assets to another stockroom.
Ranking
Channels are ranked; lower rank = higher priority.
The system sources assets from the highest-priority stockroom first.
Example
If a stockroom is in another country, you may avoid creating distribution channels to prevent cross-country transfers. This ensures requests use local stockrooms or purchase orders instead.
