Delivery Scheduling for Epicor Prophet 21
Orders ready to ship in Prophet 21, the windows customers asked for, and the trucks and drivers you have tomorrow, laid out as a plan by truck and stop. The dispatcher moves stops and confirms, and enrolled customers are told their window.
Dispatch & deliveryUpdated Oct 202620 ERPs
See it work on Prophet 21.
Click through the steps. Fictional data, in Prophet 21’s terms; the real thing runs on Prophet 21.
| Order | Customer | Job | Weight | Window | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SO 88455 | Pine Hollow Contractors | Elm Ridge phase 2 | 6,840 lb | By 8 am | Picked |
| SO 88462 | Harbor Point Builders | Maple St duplex | 11,200 lb | Morning | Picked |
| SO 88470 | Cedar & Stone Framing | Lot 14 Birchwood | 4,150 lb | After 1 pm | Picking |
| SO 88471 | Oak Hill Builders | Route 9 warehouse | 18,600 lb | Any | Picked |
| SO 88474 | Mill Creek Carpentry | Shop delivery | 920 lb | Any | Picked |
Everything with a delivery date of tomorrow, with weights from the item file and the window each customer asked for.
The problem, as it happens in Prophet 21.
Tomorrow’s deliveries are a stack of pick tickets, a whiteboard, and what the dispatcher knows about every jobsite. The orders are in Prophet 21 with a requested date and a ship-to, but the window the contractor asked for is on a sticky note, the weight is a guess, and whether the boom truck can get into the Lot 14 cul-de-sac is in the dispatcher’s head.
So the plan is rebuilt from scratch every afternoon, and it’s only as good as who’s at the board. When the dispatcher is out, trucks leave half-loaded, two go to the same side of town, and the crew that was promised first thing gets the truck at two.
How it works.
- 1
Orders ready to ship are gathered
Each order in Prophet 21 with a delivery date of tomorrow, picked or pickable, with its ship-to, its lines, the weight by line from the item master, and the window the customer asked for, from the order note or the request they sent.
- 2
The day is laid out by truck and stop
The trucks and drivers on tomorrow’s roster, the weight and length each truck can carry, and the stops grouped by area and window. Jobsite notes from past deliveries ride with each stop: gate code, boom access, where to drop.
- 3
The dispatcher moves stops and confirms
The plan opens on the board. Drag a stop to another truck, swap the order, pull one for the counter to call about. When it looks right, the dispatcher confirms the day and the run sheets go to the drivers.
- 4
Customers are told their window
Customers enrolled for delivery notices get a text or email with their window, sent by a person or on the schedule they chose. The counter calls the ones who aren’t enrolled, from the same list.
How it connects to Prophet 21.
Lunica reads open orders, ship-to addresses, order lines and the item master for weights and lengths, the customer master for delivery contacts, and whatever delivery schedule Prophet 21 keeps, through a read-only login to the Prophet 21 SQL Server database. Trucks, drivers and jobsite notes are kept in Lunica; the model reads the order notes and the customer’s request to find the window they asked for.
Nothing is written to Prophet 21 by Lunica and nothing is sent on its own. The confirmed plan is a run sheet for the drivers and, where Prophet 21 keeps a truck or a delivery date on the order, it goes back as a Prophet 21 import or API call where one exists, or keyed by your team from what Lunica prepared. Delivery notices go only to customers who enrolled, sent by a person or on the schedule they chose.
What a week looks like.
- Tomorrow’s plan on the board by two, with weights and windows, before anyone draws it.
- Stops grouped by area and window, trucks loaded to what they can carry.
- Jobsite notes on every stop, not in one person’s head.
- Enrolled customers told their window the afternoon before.
Questions
Does it dispatch the trucks?
No. It lays out a plan from the orders and the roster. The dispatcher moves stops, confirms the day, and the plan becomes the run sheet.
Where do weights come from?
From the item master in Prophet 21 where a weight is kept, and from a per-unit table you maintain where it isn’t. Lengths are read the same way, so a 24-foot beam goes on a truck that can carry it.
Does it write to Prophet 21?
No. It reads the orders and the item master. Where Prophet 21 keeps a truck or a delivery date on the order, the confirmed plan goes back as a Prophet 21 import or API call where one exists, or keyed by your team from what Lunica prepared.
Do customers get texted?
Only customers who enrolled for delivery notices, and only after the dispatcher confirms the day. A person sends the notice, or it goes on the schedule the customer chose.
What about same-day changes?
A new order or a cancelled one shows on the board as a change to the plan. The dispatcher drops it into a truck or leaves it for tomorrow; nothing moves on its own.
Does it route the trucks?
It groups stops by area and window and suggests an order. It is not a navigation app; the driver drives.
Does it need a server?
Lunica runs on one Windows server inside your network, or beside your hosted Prophet 21, set up and maintained by Lunica. It reads Epicor Prophet 21 through a read-only login to the Prophet 21 SQL Server database. There is no inbound connection from outside your network.
What does Lunica read in Prophet 21?
The customer master, open items and terms, purchase orders and receipts, the item master, quotes and order history, as each workflow needs them. Read-only, and only the rows a task is about.
Can it post to Prophet 21?
Nothing lands in Prophet 21 without a person. What belongs in Prophet 21 goes back as a Prophet 21 import or API call where one exists, or keyed by your team from what Lunica prepared.
What about our documents?
Invoice copies and scans keep living in Document Link. Lunica reads them when a workflow needs one and never writes to them.
The same workflow, on another ERP.
Delivery Scheduling is written for every system on the list. You’re reading the Prophet 21 version.
Lumber and building materials
Wholesale distribution
- Epicor Prophet 21
- Epicor Eclipse
- Infor CloudSuite Distribution
General business
Another system? Tell us which →
See it on your Prophet 21 data.
Thirty minutes. We walk the workflow on Prophet 21 data, then map it to yours.