Why is no work created for my wave in D365?
The order is released to the warehouse, the wave exists, but there is no work on the scanners. The wave almost always tells you why, if you know where it writes it down.
First: was the wave processed at all?
Open Warehouse management › Outbound waves › Shipment waves › All waves and look at the wave status:
| Wave status | Meaning |
|---|---|
Created | Not processed yet. Nothing has tried to create work. |
Executing | Being processed, usually by a batch job. Wait, or check the batch job (below). |
Held | Processed, work created, but not released. Nobody sees the work yet. |
Released | Work is available on the mobile devices. |
If waves stay in Created or Held, it is the wave template, not an error. Three settings on the template decide what happens automatically: Automate wave creation, Process wave at release to warehouse and Automate wave release. With any of them off, someone has to select Process or Release on the wave.
Find the real error message
When processing fails, D365 writes the reason down, but not on the wave itself:
- Action center (the bell icon): messages such as No work was created for wave, with the step that failed.
- Wave batch job details on the wave's Action Pane: with Process waves in batch on, the batch log holds the errors. The most useful line is usually at the bottom.
- Warehouse management › Outbound waves › Wave processing history log: only filled when Create wave processing history log is on in Warehouse management parameters. Switch it on while you troubleshoot, off again after.
The message points to one of the causes below.
1. No work template matches
Work is created from the first work template, by sequence number, whose query matches the shipment: work order type, warehouse, and whatever else is in the query. A new warehouse, a new order type or a too-specific query can leave a line with no template at all. Check Warehouse management › Setup › Work › Work templates for the work order type (for example Sales orders) and walk the queries in sequence order, the way the system does.
2. The location directive finds no pick location
The stock exists, but not in a location the pick directive is allowed to use. Typical reasons:
- the stock is in a bulk location and the directive only searches pick locations;
- the directive's site, warehouse or query does not match this order;
- the directive lines have a From quantity, To quantity or unit that does not cover this quantity, for example lines only for full pallets and an order for 7 pieces;
- the stock has an inventory status or batch the directive's query excludes.
With Inventory Hover you can hold Alt over the item number to see how much stock each warehouse has before you start reading directive queries.
3. There is no put location for staging or the bay door
A pick needs a put. If the work template's put line has a directive code, D365 only looks at location directives with that code, not at the sequence of all directives. A directive code that has no put directive for this warehouse, or one that points to a staging location that does not exist, stops the work as surely as a missing pick location.
4. The stock is only in bulk and replenishment is not set up
When pick locations are empty, wave demand replenishment can create replenishment work from bulk first. It needs three things: the Replenish method on the wave template with a wave step code, a replenishment template of type Wave demand with that code, and location directives for replenishment. Without them, the wave cannot allocate. With them, the picking work is created but stays blocked until the replenishment work is done, which looks like "no work" on the scanner.
5. The stock was gone by the time the wave ran
Between release and processing, another wave, a movement or a count can take the stock the directive found. With Continue wave processing when work creation fails set to No on the wave template, the wave fails; with Yes, the work is created with a blank location for the warehouse to resolve. When two waves process the same item at the same time, one can fail on a lock: the batch log says so, and processing the wave again is the fix.
6. Invalid load lines
Found invalid load lines in wave. Please remove the invalid load lines. means the problem is in the load, not in work creation. The wave processing history log (or the Action center) lists the status per load line, so you can fix all of them before you process the wave again.
If the wave seems stuck in Executing
Rarely, wave processing ends in an inconsistent state: the batch job looks busy, but nothing happens. Select the wave and use Cleanup wave data on the Wave tab of the Action Pane, then process it again.
Before the wave: is the line reserved?
A wave only works with what was released to the warehouse. If the order line was never reserved, start one step earlier: Why is my sales order line not reserved in D365? If it was never released, see Why won’t my sales order release to the warehouse?
Menu names and behaviour can differ between D365 versions and your own setup. Check in your environment before you act.