Starshipit WMS overview and setup

Starshipit WMS is a warehouse management system designed to complement your existing Starshipit setup. It helps you track inventory, manage warehouse locations, and control how stock moves from inbound receiving through to outbound fulfilment.

Starshipit WMS connects directly to your Starshipit account. Orders, shipments and key events are kept in sync so you can continue to use your existing Starshipit automations, rules, and carrier integrations while the WMS manages what happens inside the warehouse.

Once configured, you can access the WMS at: https://wms.starshipit.com.

What is a WMS (and how it differs from an IMS)

What is an IMS?

An Inventory Management System (IMS) focuses on keeping your stock figures accurate. It generally tracks:

• How many units you have on hand
• How many units are committed to orders
• How many units are available for new orders
• How many units are incoming on purchase orders
• Stocktakes and manual adjustments

An IMS answers the question: “How much stock do I have?”

What is a WMS?

A Warehouse Management System (WMS) goes further. It manages the physical operations of your warehouse, including where stock is stored, how it moves, and how orders are picked, packed and shipped.

A WMS typically includes:

• Warehouse locations (pick faces, bulk storage, staging docks, packing benches)
• Inbound flows: suppliers, purchase orders, receiving and putaway
• Replenishment from bulk locations to pick faces
• Allocation strategies (FIFO, LIFO, FEFO, LEFO) per product
• Pick jobs (single order and batch picking)
• Packing workflows and packing benches
• Integration to shipping systems for labels and tracking
• Stock movement and process logs for full audit history

A WMS answers the questions: “Where is my stock?” and “How should it move through the warehouse?”

Where Starshipit WMS fits

Starshipit WMS is a full WMS with integrated inventory management. It combines inventory visibility (on hand, committed, available, incoming) with warehouse workflows like purchase orders, receiving, picking, packing and shipping. This means you can manage both your stock levels and your physical warehouse operations in one place, tightly linked to your existing Starshipit account.

Prerequisites

Before you enable Starshipit WMS, make sure you have:

• An active Starshipit account.
• Admin (or equivalent) access to Settings in Starshipit.
• Products set up in Starshipit with SKUs (barcodes recommended for scanning).
• If you use multiple Starshipit child accounts, clarity on which account will:
  • Own the primary WMS instance, and
  • Which accounts, if any, should point to that instance using a WMS override.

How to enable Starshipit WMS

Step 1: Add the Starshipit WMS integration

1. In Starshipit, go to Settings > Integrations > Add a new integration.
2. Under Inventory, Warehouse or Retail Management Platform, select Starshipit WMS.

Step 2: Configure WMS options

When adding the integration, configure the following options:

• Enable Sending Order Events [‘Order Created’, ‘Order Shipped’] to the Starshipit WMS
  This must be ticked so that orders and shipment events flow from Starshipit into the WMS.

• Expand WMS bundle items into their components when printing shipments (optional)
  Enable this if you later configure exploding bundles in WMS and need component products to appear on shipping documents (for example, for customs where duties may apply).

• Choose a WMS Override other than the current account (optional)
  Use this if you want the Starshipit account you are currently in to share a WMS instance with another Starshipit account. 

  Example:

  • You have two Starshipit child accounts, one for B2B and one for B2C.
  • Both ship from the same physical warehouse and inventory.
  • You can configure both child accounts to point to a single Starshipit WMS instance.

Step 3: Save and open the WMS

1. Click Save to enable the integration.
2. Open https://wms.starshipit.com and sign in using your Starshipit credentials.

First-time onboarding wizard

When you sign in for the first time, a multi-step welcome wizard guides you through the basics of Starshipit WMS. The wizard:

• Introduces the core concepts of the WMS.
• Asks whether you are replacing an existing warehouse system or setting up from scratch.
• Offers to take you to a dedicated Setup page at /dashboard/setup.

The Setup page walks you through importing your starting stock and configuring your warehouse. If you already have inventory on hand (for example, you are migrating from another system), you can import your current stock levels during this step so you do not need to manually create stock movements for pre-existing inventory.

You can skip the wizard and return to it later if needed.

Initial setup steps in Starshipit WMS

Once the integration is enabled and you can sign in to the WMS, follow these initial steps to get ready for day-to-day use.

1. Sync and review products

• Go to the Products section in Starshipit WMS.
• Click the three dots and choose a sync option to import products from your Starshipit account.
• For each key product, review:
  • SKU and name
  • Bundle configuration (exploding vs require stock)
  • Parent/child units (e.g. carton vs each)
  • Tracking type: Standard, Batch, or Serial
  • Allocation strategy: FIFO, LIFO, FEFO, or LEFO

Correct configuration here ensures that receiving, allocation and picking behave as expected.

2. Set up warehouse locations

• Go to the Locations section.
• Create your core locations, such as:
  • Pick faces (forward picking locations)
  • Bulk storage (reserve stock)
  • Staging docks (for inbound receipts)
  • Packing benches (for packing and shipping)
  • Other special locations (returns, quarantine, quality control, equipment)
• For key pick faces, set minimum and maximum levels if you plan to use replenishment workflows.

3. Configure inbound basics (optional but recommended)

• Set up Suppliers in the Suppliers section.
• Create a test Purchase Order to understand the PO lifecycle.
• Walk through a small receiving and (if needed) putaway process to confirm stock movements.

4. Test an end-to-end order

1. Create a test order in your ecommerce platform or Starshipit.
2. Confirm it appears in the WMS in the orders dashboard.
3. Release the order to create a pick job.
4. Pick, pack and ship the order, then confirm:
   • Inventory is reduced correctly in the WMS.
   • The order is marked as shipped in both Starshipit and WMS.

Interactive tutorials

Three in-app guided tutorials are available to walk you step-by-step through key workflows:

Tutorial	What it covers
Locations	How to create and configure warehouse locations
Kitting	How to set up and run kitting and bundle assembly jobs
Inbound / Receiving	How to receive purchase orders and put away stock

Tutorials highlight relevant UI elements and provide contextual instructions. You can access them from within the app when working in the relevant area.

Customising your workspace

Starshipit WMS includes several options to tailor the interface to your team's needs:

• Customisable sidebar navigation — Show or hide sidebar items through the Nav Customisation dialog. Each user can tailor the sidebar to display only the sections relevant to their role. A "Reset to Default" button restores the original layout.
• Resizable table columns — Drag column borders to resize them on key dashboards (Orders, Inventory, Products, Picking, Allocations, Replenishment, Stock Movements, Stock Adjustments and the Pack Screen).
• Session state persistence — Filter selections, active tabs and page sizes are saved in your browser session, so navigating away and returning restores your previous view.

Jobs and staff management

A Staff Management section is available under the WMS dashboard. It provides:

• A list of all WMS users for the account.
• A peak activity chart showing when each staff member is most active.
• The ability to click into a staff member to view their individual activity timeline and metrics.

Jobs (pick, pack, putaway, replenishment, cycle count and kitting) can be assigned to staff members directly from the relevant dashboard. All jobs are created with a default priority of 0, and you can adjust priority from the dashboard to surface high-priority work first.

Mobile companion apps

Starshipit WMS has companion apps for mobile devices:

• iOS — Download directly via the iOS download button in the app.
• Android — Find links and information in the Apps section under Settings.

Mobile devices are automatically detected and redirected to a mobile-optimised experience. The mobile packing view supports loading jobs by packing bench and looking up pack jobs by order number.

In-app chat support

An Intercom chat widget is integrated into the WMS. You can access in-app chat support directly from the application without needing to navigate to an external support portal.

FAQ