An advance notice announces a delivery for one of your clients: delivery note, order number, container, expected date and the items with quantity and batch. It is the starting point of every goods receipt. When the goods arrive, the warehouse team finds the notice by its delivery note, order or container number at [unloading](/inbound/unloading.md) and at the [putaway scanner](/inbound/putaway.md). X-Sitter counts the stored quantity per item and closes the notice automatically as soon as everything is in stock.

In the menu the advance notices are called **Notifications** (*Avisierungen*).

![Screenshot: Notifications overview with status filter, company filter, search field and a few notices in different statuses](/inbound/images/advance-notices-overview.png)

## Before you start

- Your user needs the permissions for the **Notifications** menu. Creating, editing and closing notices are separate permissions – ask your administrator if a button is missing.
- The client who owns the goods exists as a client of your company, see [Clients](/company/clients.md).
- The articles exist in the article master, so you can add them as items, see [Create an article](/products/create-article.md).

## Step by step

### Find advance notices

1. Open **WMS › Notifications** (*WMS › Avisierungen*).
2. Narrow the list down if needed:
   - Status filter: **All** (*Alle*), **Open** (*Offen*), **In progress** (*In Arbeit*), **Closed** (*Geschlossen*).
   - Filter by **Company** (*Firma*).
   - Search field **Search by notification/purchase order number...** (*Suche nach Avisierung/Bestellnummer...*).

The list shows company, delivery note number, supplier, order number, estimated delivery, number of items, quantity and status.

### Create an advance notice

1. Click **New notification** (*Neue Avisierung*).
2. Fill in the header data (see [Fields and options](#fields-and-options)). **Estimated delivery** is preset to today.
3. Under **Add stock item** (*Artikel hinzufügen*), type into **Enter the item number or name...** (*Artikelnummer oder Name eingeben...*) and pick the article from the search result.
4. Enter the **Quantity** (*Menge*) and, if known, the **Batch number** (*Chargennummer*). The item appears under **Notification items** (*Avisierungspositionen*).
5. Repeat for all articles of the delivery.
6. Save:
   - **Save > New** (*Speichern > Neu*) saves and opens an empty form for the next notice.
   - **Save > Overview** (*Speichern > Übersicht*) saves and returns to the list.

X-Sitter confirms with "Notification successfully created." (*Avisierung erfolgreich erstellt.*). The new notice has the status **Open**.

![Screenshot: New notification form with the header fields filled in and the article search under "Add stock item"](/inbound/images/advance-notices-create-form.png)

![Screenshot: Notification items list with two articles, quantity and batch number](/inbound/images/advance-notices-items.png)

### Edit an advance notice

1. In the overview, open the notice to get to **Edit notification** (*Avisierung bearbeiten*).
2. Change header data or quantities, add items, then save.

X-Sitter confirms with "Notification successfully updated." (*Avisierung erfolgreich aktualisiert.*). Quantities that are already stored, best-before dates and putaway times stay untouched.

### Close an advance notice manually

Normally X-Sitter closes a notice on its own. If a delivery will never be complete (for example because the supplier sent less), click the check-mark button in the overview. The notice switches to **Closed**.

![Screenshot: Notifications overview with the check-mark button in the Actions column highlighted](/inbound/images/advance-notices-close-button.png)

### Import advance notices from a file

If your clients or suppliers send their delivery advice as a CSV or Excel file, use **Import** (*Import*). See [Import advance notices](/inbound/import-advance-notices.md).

## Fields and options

| Field | Meaning | Required |
|---|---|---|
| **Company** (*Firma*) | The client who owns the goods. | yes |
| **Delivery note number** (*Lieferscheinnummer*) | Main reference of the delivery. Can be scanned at unloading and putaway. Must be unique. | yes |
| **Container Number** (*Container - Nummer*) | Container reference, can be scanned at unloading. | no |
| **External order number** (*Bestellnummer*) | Preferred reference at the putaway scanner. | no |
| **Estimated delivery** (*Voraussichtliche Anlieferung*) | Expected delivery date. | no |
| **FFN - ID** | Reference for deliveries from JTL-FFN. | no |
| **Supplier** (*Lieferant*) | Who sends the goods. | no |
| **Quantity** (*Menge*) per item | Expected quantity. | yes |
| **Batch number** (*Chargennummer*) per item | Expected batch. | no |

!!!
If you add the same article with the same batch number twice, X-Sitter merges both lines into one item and adds up the quantities. Lines with different batches stay separate.
!!!

## Statuses

| Status | Meaning | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| **Open** (*Offen*) | Notice created, nothing unloaded or stored yet. | Creating the notice |
| **Unloaded** (*Entladen*) | The arrival has been recorded at [unloading](/inbound/unloading.md). | Saving the unloading |
| **In progress** (*In Arbeit*) | The first (partial) putaway has been booked. X-Sitter also notes the start of putaway. | First booking at the [putaway scanner](/inbound/putaway.md) |
| **Closed** (*Geschlossen*) | All items are fully stored, or the notice was closed by hand. | Automatically or via the check-mark button |

![Screenshot: Status badges Open, In progress and Closed in the notifications overview](/inbound/images/advance-notices-statuses.png)

Unloading is optional. If you start putaway right away, the notice goes from **Open** directly to **In progress**.

When you edit a notice that is already in progress or closed, X-Sitter recalculates the status: raising a quantity reopens a closed notice (**In progress**), lowering it to the stored quantity closes it.

## Good to know

- Advance notices can also come in automatically, for example from JTL-FFN, see [JTL-FFN order processing](/jtl/ffn-order-processing.md).
- Closed notices are included in the client's unloading cost billing, see [Unloading costs](/billing/unloading-costs.md).
- The time from creating a notice until it is fully stored is shown as **Dock-to-Stock** on the [warehouse dashboard](/stock/warehouse-dashboard.md).
- **Why is "New notification" missing?** Your user lacks the permission to create notices. Ask your administrator.
- **Why does my notice not close?** At least one item is not fully stored yet. Check the progress at the putaway scanner or close it by hand.

## Troubleshooting

| Message | Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Select a company (*Wählen eine Firma aus*) | Saved without a company. | Choose the client in **Company**. |
| No data transmitted (*Keine Daten übermittelt*) | The form was empty. | Fill in the form. |
| Please correct the errors in the form. (*Bitte korrigiere die Fehler im Formular.*) | Required fields are missing or invalid. | Fill in the highlighted fields. |
| The delivery note number already exists (*Lieferscheinnummer existiert bereits*) / This delivery slip number is already in use. | Another notice uses the same delivery note number. | Enter a different number. |
| Notification not found (*Avisierung nicht gefunden*) | The notice could not be opened. | Open it again from the overview. |
| No notifications found (*Keine Avisierungen gefunden*) | No notice matches the filter. | Reset the filters or search. |