Guide

WMS or the 1C warehouse module: which does your warehouse need?

Short answer. If you only need to know how much stock you have and what it is worth, the stock module of your accounting system is enough. That can be 1C, ORIS, FINA or ArmSoft.

If you need to control where each item is, who moves it and which batch leaves first, you need a warehouse management system (WMS). In most companies the two work together: the accounting system keeps the money and the documents, and the WMS runs the warehouse floor.

What an accounting or ERP stock module does well

Accounting and ERP systems are the system of record for your business. Their stock module is built for:

• quantities and value of stock per warehouse;
• purchase and sales documents, invoices and returns;
• cost of goods and financial reporting;
• tax reporting.

Examples: 1C configurations such as Trade Management (Управление торговлей) and 1C:ERP are common in both countries. In Georgia many companies use ORIS or FINA, and in Armenia ArmSoft is widespread.

These systems answer “how much do we have and what is it worth”. They are not built to direct the people and the scanners on the warehouse floor.

What a WMS adds

A WMS manages the physical work, step by step, usually on handheld scanners:

• Locations: every item has a location, and put-away is directed to the right one.
• Tasks on scanners: receiving, put-away, picking, checking and dispatch are tasks assigned to people and confirmed by scanning.
• Rotation by batch and expiry: FEFO, FIFO or LIFO is applied at location level, so the right batch leaves first.
• Stock status: goods can be available, in quarantine, damaged or expired, and picking only takes what may ship.
• Flows for distributors: cross-docking and breaking supplier orders down per store.
• Control: who did what and when, worker productivity, and stock differences found while working rather than at month-end.

Seven signs your warehouse has outgrown the accounting module

1. Pickers walk around looking for goods, because nobody knows the exact location.
2. More than three to five people work on the floor at the same time.
3. Batch and expiry matter (food, pharma, cosmetics), and expired goods are found on the shelf.
4. Every stock count ends with differences nobody can explain.
5. Customers receive wrong items or wrong quantities.
6. You have hundreds of items or locations, or several warehouses with different rules.
7. You keep stock for several clients (3PL), or supply many stores from one distribution centre.

If two or more of these are true, the cost of errors is probably already higher than the cost of a WMS.

Your options if you work with 1C

• Address storage inside 1C. Some 1C configurations can track stock by cell. This is a good first step, but scanner-driven tasks and warehouse rules stay limited.
• A scanner add-on for 1C, for example Mobile SMARTS. Scanning is added to 1C documents. It is cheaper per device but still document-based, not task-based.
• 1C:WMS Logistics. A full WMS built on the 1C platform, usually delivered by an integrator.
• A dedicated WMS connected to 1C. 1C stays the system of record; the WMS runs the warehouse and exchanges data with 1C.

How a WMS and 1C work together

A WMS does not replace your accounting system. A typical exchange looks like this:

• Products come from the accounting system to the WMS.
• Purchase orders come in; receipts with the real quantities, batches and expiry dates go back.
• Sales orders come in; shipments with what was really picked go back.
• Stock is compared regularly, so both systems agree.

The connection can use 1C’s standard web interface (OData) or file exchange. What matters most is monitoring: a failed message should be visible and easy to send again. Nobody should find it at month-end.

In Georgia, the WMS can also send RS.ge electronic waybills straight from the shipment, so the waybill matches what was really loaded.

What it costs

The price range is wide: from a few dollars a month for an accounting stock tab to tens of thousands for a turnkey WMS project. We compare the options with real prices in How much does a WMS cost in Georgia and Armenia?

Where Linari fits

Linari WMS is a dedicated warehouse system that works alongside your accounting system:

• Integration: during implementation we build the connection to your system: through the API of 1C, SAP Business One, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central or Odoo, or by file exchange with local systems such as ORIS, FINA and ArmSoft. Every message is monitored and can be sent again.
• Operations: FEFO, batch and expiry on every stock line, stock statuses, per-warehouse rules, break-down per store and RS.ge waybills.
• Pricing: per warehouse, with handheld scanners included and unlimited office users. You can try it free for 30 days.