Configure individual supply and movement rules

11 min read Updated 2026-08-31 WindoorERP 19.0

What this does

A rule is the atom a route is built from. It says that when stock is needed in one place — or arrives in one place — a move of a particular operation type is created between two locations. Routes are the recipe; rules are the ingredients, and this article is the field-by-field reference for one of them.

Steps

The rule form for WH: Stock to Customers — action Pull From, operation type Delivery Orders, source WH/Stock, destination Customers, supply method Take From Stock, with the plain-language summary of the rule beside it

01
Turn on Multi-Step Routes in Inventory › Configuration › Settings if the menu is not there, and save.
02
Open Inventory › Configuration › Warehouse Management › Rules. The list shows action, source, destination and route for every rule on the system.
03
Open an existing rule to read it, or click New and give it a Name.
04
Choose the Action, then the Operation Type — in that order, because picking an operation type overwrites both locations with that operation type's own defaults.
05
Set the Source Location and Destination Location, and, on a pull rule, the Supply Method.
06
Under Applicability attach the rule to its Route, then read the sentence WindoorERP prints beside the fields — it restates the rule in plain language and is the fastest way to catch a rule pointing the wrong way — and save.

The rule form

Field	What it does
Name	Required. It fills the origin and the name of every move the rule creates, so it is what somebody reading a mysterious transfer will see. The shipped rules are named after their path — `WH: Stock → Customers`.
Action	What kind of thing the rule does. Four values, covered in the next section.
Operation Type	Required. The kind of transfer the rule creates, which also decides the reference prefix and the default locations. The list is filtered to the operation kinds the chosen action allows — a Buy rule accepts only a receipt type. Choosing one replaces whatever was in the two location fields.
Source Location	Where the goods come from. Required for the three movement actions and hidden entirely on a Buy rule, which has no source inside your warehouse.
Destination Location	Required. Where the goods are wanted. On pull rules the move's real destination is normally taken from the operation type rather than from here; when they differ, the summary sentence tells you so.
Supply Method	Pull rules only. What happens at the source location. Three values, covered below.
Automatic Move	Push rules only. Manual Operation creates a second move after the current one, so the step is visible and someone processes it. Automatic No Step Added instead rewrites the destination of the original move, so no extra transfer appears.
Route	Required, under Applicability. The route the rule belongs to. Changing it makes the rule adopt the route's company, and clears the operation type if that type belongs to a warehouse in a different company.
Company	Multi-company databases only. It must match the route's company; if it does not, saving is refused with "Rule … belongs to … while the route belongs to …".
Warehouse, Sequence	Developer mode only. Sequence decides which rule of a route is tried first; it defaults to 20 and there is no reason to touch it on a straight-line route.
Partner Address	Under Options. An address the goods should be delivered to. Optional, and rarely set outside dropshipping.
Cancel Next Move	Off by default. When ticked, cancelling the move this rule created also cancels the move that follows it in the chain.
Lead Time	Days, default 0. The expected date of the transfer the rule creates is pushed out by this much — how you tell the system that a pick takes a day before the van leaves.
Push Applicability	Push rules only. A filter on the incoming move, so a push rule can be made to fire for some arrivals and not others.

The four actions

Action	When it fires
Pull From	Demand-driven. Something is needed at the destination, so the rule creates a transfer to bring it from the source. This is how a delivery pulls from stock.
Push To	Arrival-driven. Stock lands in the source location and the rule pushes it onward to the destination — how a two-step receipt moves goods from Input to Stock. Goods arriving as a return are deliberately exempt, so sending something back does not set the chain off again.
Pull & Push	Both behaviours in one rule, for a step that has to work whichever end the trigger comes from.
Buy	Not a movement at all: the need becomes a request for quotation to a vendor instead of a transfer. It is contributed by the Purchase app, it hides the Source Location, and it quietly brings the warehouse's own receipt route along with it so the goods have a way in once the order is confirmed.

Note

There is no Manufacture action on this platform — that value is contributed by the Manufacturing app, which is not installed. Fabricated units are not produced through stock rules; they come from WindoorERP's own production flow and arrive in stock as finished goods. A rule will never be the reason a window gets made.

Supply Method: where the source gets it

A pull rule brings goods from the source location, which raises the obvious question of how the source location came to have them. That is what Supply Method answers, and it is the single field that turns a set of independent rules into a chain.

Supply Method	What happens at the source
Take From Stock	The goods are taken from whatever is available at the source location. If there is not enough, the transfer waits. This is the default and it is what both live rules on this platform use.
Trigger Another Rule	Available stock at the source is ignored; the system looks for another rule to bring the goods into the source location. This is what chains a pick to a pack to a ship.
Take From Stock, if unavailable, Trigger Another Rule	Use what is there, and only reach further back for the shortfall.

What actually ships here

Reading your own rules is the fastest way to understand your supply chain, and on this platform there is very little to read. Four routes exist: Replenish on Order (MTO), which ships archived, the warehouse's Receive in 1 step (stock) and Deliver in 1 step (ship) routes, and Buy. Between them they own four rules, and only two are live.

Rule	State and effect
`WH: Stock → Customers`	Active. Pull From, Delivery Orders, WH/Stock to Customers, Take From Stock. Every delivery you make is this rule.
`WH: Stock (Buy)`	Active. Buy, on a receipt type, destination WH/Stock. Every replenishment that ends in a request for quotation is this rule.
`WH: Vendors → Stock`	Archived. It is the receipt pull rule, and with one-step reception it is not needed: the Buy rule raises the order and the receipt lands straight in WH/Stock.
`WH: Stock → Customers (MTO)`	Archived, along with its route. Make-to-order is not in use here, so this rule can never fire.

Move the warehouse to a two- or three-step receipt or delivery and the missing push and pull rules are created and un-archived for you, between locations that are also created for you. That is why hand-editing is usually the wrong tool: change the step count on the warehouse and the whole set is rewritten consistently.

Tip

Rules are also what the Replenish Quantities tick box on a scrap order runs, and what a reordering rule runs when it reaches its minimum. If replenishment produces the wrong kind of document — a transfer where you wanted a purchase order, or nothing at all — the rule set is where the answer is, not the reordering rule.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause and fix
The Rules menu is not there	Multi-Step Routes is off, or the account is not an Inventory Administrator. Turning developer mode on does not help — this is a settings switch, not a debug screen.
Choosing the operation type wiped my locations	By design: the operation type carries its own default source and destination and imposes them. Set it first, then the locations.
The Source Location field disappeared	The action is Buy, which has no source location inside your warehouse.
There is no Manufacture action	The Manufacturing app is not installed on this platform. Production is handled outside stock rules.
"Rule … belongs to … while the route belongs to …"	The rule's company and the route's company disagree. Change one of them; a rule cannot straddle two companies.
A rule exists but never fires	It is archived, or its route is not applied to the products, categories or warehouse in question, or an earlier rule in the route's sequence already satisfied the need.
Demand produces no move at all	No rule matches the requested destination. The error names the product and the location — read it as "no route covers this path" and add the rule or apply the route.
Changing a rule did not fix an existing order	Rules apply when demand is created. Moves that already exist keep the path they were given — cancel and re-create the demand if it has to change.
Moves appear between unexpected locations	Read the route rather than the rule: open the route form and look at its rules in sequence. A chain is much easier to follow from the route.

Common mistakes

Editing rules by hand when changing the warehouse's receipt or delivery steps would generate the right ones automatically.
Setting the locations before the operation type, and losing them.
Building a loop: two rules that each pull from the other's destination.
Turning on Multi-Step Routes to see one screen, and not noticing that Storage Locations came on with it.
Expecting a rule change to repair transfers that already exist.

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