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Explore Delivery Estimation Prerequisites and Architecture

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you'll be able to:

  • Identify the Order Management System data model objects used in Delivery Estimation.
  • Describe the relationship between the Delivery Estimation objects: Setup record, Location Groups, Locations, Shipping Carriers, Shipping Carrier Methods, and Location Shipping Carrier Assignments.
  • Configure the Order Management Delivery Estimation prerequisites.
  • Describe the steps to turn on the Delivery Estimation service.

The Delivery Estimation Data Model

Delivery Estimation depends on six types of objects in OMS. Understanding how these objects work together helps you plan your configuration.

Delivery Estimation Setup Record

The Delivery Estimation Setup record stores service-level settings that apply to an entire location group. Each Delivery Estimation Setup record associates with one sales channel and one location group.

When your B2C Commerce storefront makes an API request to the Commerce Delivery Service (CDS), CDS calculates the processing time using the configuration you set in the Delivery Estimation Record. The record tells CDS which location group to query, what routing rules to apply, how much processing time to add, and what business hours to use. All are included in the calculation that determines the delivery estimation.

Location Group and Locations

A Location Group represents a collection of fulfillment locations, such as warehouses or retail stores. The Delivery Estimation Setup record associates with one location group, which defines the set of locations that can fulfill orders for that sales channel.

Each Location within the group represents a specific fulfillment site.

When CDS calculates a delivery estimate, it queries Omnichannel Inventory (OCI) for inventory at all locations in the location group, applies routing rules to identify which locations can fulfill the order, and uses that location's address to calculate proximity and transit time.

Standard Routing Logic

Routing logic for fulfillment locations is determined by your Delivery Estimation Setup record. Standard routing relies on inventory, proximity, and splits.

Minimize Splits Rule

This rule identifies the fewest locations needed to fulfill an order by first checking for single sites with total inventory before evaluating combinations of two or more locations.

Closest Proximity Rule

This rule ranks location sets by calculating the shortest average straight-line distance from a location's Visitor Address to the recipient's postal code.

Fulfillment Source Selection

CDS queries OCI for real-time stock, applies the splits rule to find viable sets, and uses proximity to rank them. The top-ranked available set becomes the fulfillment source for the estimate.

Get Hands-on with a Trailhead Playground

Now that you understand what location groups, locations, and routing logic do, create them in your Trailhead Playground to explore how they work.

To follow along and try out the steps in this module, create a new Trailhead Playground now. Scroll to the bottom of this page, select the playground name, and then select Create Playground. It typically takes 3–4 minutes for Salesforce to create your Trailhead Playground. You also use the playground for the other hands-on exercises in this badge.

Note

Yes, we really mean a brand-new Trailhead playground! If you use an existing org or playground, you can run into problems completing the challenges.

In this hands-on experience, you’re the Order Management admin for a sporting goods wholesale company. The company has just launched a new B2C online storefront to sell a limited selection of sporting goods directly to consumers. To support the new sales channel, the company has opened a new warehouse in St. Louis, MO. Your goal is to configure Order Management to display accurate delivery estimates on the online store’s product detail pages.

You start by creating a new location for the St. Louis warehouse. Complete these steps in your Trailhead Playground.

Create a Location

Add a location in Order Management that syncs with OCI.

  1. Open the App Launcher, and then search for and select Order Management.
  2. Select the down arrow on the top level tab and then select Locations.

If the locations pane shows in a split view, select the Locations tab to expand to full view.

  1. Select New.
  2. In the New Location window, enter these values.
    • Location name: St. Louis Warehouse
    • Location Type: Warehouse
    • External Reference: st-louis-warehouse
  3. Leave the remaining fields as they are and save your work.
  4. Select the edit icon in the Visitor Address field.
  5. In the updated view, select the Visitor Address field, select New Address, and enter these values.
    • In the Parent field, select: St. Louis Warehouse
    • Location Type: Warehouse
    • Country: United States
    • Address: 1234 Commerce Road
    • City: St. Louis
    • State/Province: Missouri
    • Zip/Postal Code: 63102
  6. Save your work.
  7. In the updated view, select Sync with OCI.
  8. Save your work.

Create a Location Group

Add the Location Group option to the dropdown menu.

  1. Select the down arrow next to the Locations tab and select Edit.
  2. Select Add More Items.
  3. In the list, select Location Groups.
  4. Select Add 1 Nav Item.
  5. Save your work.

Now create a location group for the new warehouse and other fulfillment options as they come online.

  1. From the Locations tab, select the down arrow and select Location Groups.

If the Location Groups pane shows in a split view, select the Location Groups tab to expand to full view.

  1. Select New.
  2. In the New Location Group window, enter these values.
    • Location Group: 00002
    • External Reference: 00002-online-store-fulfillment
  3. Select Sync with OCI.
  4. Select Enabled.
  5. Save your work.

You've created a location group that represents your online store fulfillment network. The external reference 00002-st-louis-fulfillment is the unique identifier you use to connect this location group to B2C Commerce. Turning on Sync with OCI makes this location group's inventory data available to Omnichannel Inventory. Now that your location group is set, you can add locations that can fulfill orders for the location group.

Add a Location to the Location Group

Add a new location for the warehouse.

  1. In the 00002 location group, select the Related tab.
  2. Select New.
  3. Select the Location field, and then select St. Louis Warehouse as the location.
  4. Save your work.

Order Management automatically generates a location group assignment name. This is the number listed in the Location Group Assignment Name field.

You've added a location (St. Louis Warehouse) to the 00002-online-store-fulfillment location group. Each location has one or more associated physical addresses. CDS uses the physical addresses to calculate distance from the location to the shopper. For example, when a shopper in Los Angeles requests a delivery estimate, CDS measures the distance from St. Louis to Denver and uses that distance in the proximity routing rule.

Notice that you didn't enter a Time Zone yet. You add that field in Unit 3 when you configure the location for delivery estimation. For now, the location has the essential information—name, address, external reference, and OCI sync turned on.

Shipping Carriers

A Shipping Carrier represents the company that transports orders to shoppers, carriers such as FedEx, UPS, USPS, Canadian Post, or Royal Mail. Order Management supports both managed and static carriers.

  • Managed carriers: Order Management works directly with these carriers to provide accurate, precomputed transit time data based on origin and destination postal codes. Managed carrier data reflects real carrier performance rather than estimates. Currently, managed carrier transit times are available for the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), and Canada.
  • Static carriers: These include all of the other carriers. For static carriers, you manually enter minimum and maximum transit times, which CDS uses as a fixed fallback.

The carrier's country setting determines where shipments originate. This affects transit time calculation, since shipping from a US location to a US address uses domestic transit times, while shipping to an international address uses international transit times.

Shipping Carrier Methods

A Shipping Carrier Method is a specific delivery option offered by a carrier, such as FedEx Ground, FedEx Overnight, UPS 2-Day, and so on. Each method represents a different speed and cost tier.

When you create a shipping carrier method, you link it to a Managed Shipping Carrier Method (for managed carriers) or enter static transit times (for static carriers). The managed shipping carrier method connection tells CDS which precomputed transit time table to use. For example, if you link your method to “FedEx Ground,” CDS retrieves the FedEx Ground transit time for the origin-destination pair.

The scope setting (Domestic, International, or Domestic and International) determines whether the method applies to domestic shipments, international shipments, or both. CDS filters shipping methods based on the shopper's delivery address country.

When a shopper requests a delivery estimate, CDS calculates a separate estimate for each applicable shipping method, so the shopper can compare delivery speeds. For example, Ground arrives March 14–17 and Overnight arrives March 10–11.

Location Shipping Carrier Methods

A Location Shipping Carrier Assignment links a location to a shipping carrier method. This record tells CDS which carriers and methods are available for shipments from each location. The assignment also stores the carrier pickup time—the cutoff time when the carrier collects packages from that location each day. Pickup time affects when the order ships, which affects the delivery date.

Now that you understand how shipping carriers and methods power the transit time calculation, you can create one in your Trailhead Playground. You set up FedEx Ground Economy with a domestic scope, shipping out of your St Louis warehouse. The transit times are 3–5 days.

Configure a Managed Shipping Carrier with a Location Assignment

Complete these steps in your Trailhead Playground.

  1. On the Location Groups tab, select the down arrow and then select Order Fulfillment Setup.
  2. Select the Carrier Management tab.
  3. Select New.
  4. In the Information section of the New shipping method window, select the Shipping Carrier field | New Shipping Carrier. Enter these values.
    • Managed Shipping Carrier: FedEx
    • Ship From Country: United States
    • Name: FedEx Ground US Central
    • External Reference: fedex-ground-us-central
  5. Save your work.
  6. In the remaining Information fields in the New shipping method window, enter these values.
    • Managed Shipping Carrier Method: FedEx Ground Economy
    • Name: FedEx Ground US Central
    • External Reference: fedex-ground-st-louis
    • Shipping Scope: Domestic
  7. In the Transit Times fields, enter these values.
    • Minimum Transit Time: 3
    • Maximum Transit Time: 5
    • Transit Time Unit: Days
  8. In the Processing Time fields, enter these values.
    • Processing Time: 2
    • Processing Time Unit: Hours
  9. In the Assigned Locations fields, enter these values.
    • Location: St. Louis Warehouse
    • Pickup Time: 11:00 PM
  10. Save your work.

You've created a managed shipping carrier for FedEx Ground operating in the US West region. You selected FedEx Ground Economy as the managed shipping carrier method, and linked this carrier to Order Management's precomputed transit time tables for FedEx shipments. To calculate a delivery estimate for a shopper in Los Angeles, CDS:

  • Queries OCI for inventory at the St. Louis warehouse.
  • Determines that St. Louis can fulfill the order.
  • Calculates the distance from St. Louis to Los Angeles.
  • Retrieves the FedEx Ground transit time for that route.
  • Adds processing time and accounts for the 11 PM pickup cutoff.
  • Returns the estimated delivery date.

The pickup time matters for delivery date calculation. If a shopper places an order at 10 PM, the order misses today’s 11 PM pickup. The order ships tomorrow, which pushes the delivery date back by one day. CDS factors pickup time into the processing time calculation to give shoppers accurate delivery dates based on when they order.

You now have a complete shipping configuration for your online sporting goods outlet.

  • Shipping Carrier: FedEx US (managed carrier with real transit time data)
  • Shipping Carrier Method: FedEx Ground (domestic shipments, 3–5 day fallback)
  • Location Shipping Carrier Assignment: St. Louis Warehouse, FedEx Ground (11 PM pickup)

Diagram of CDS processing delivery estimation requests using OCI stock, OMS routing rules, and carrier transit data.

[AI-generated image using Claude.]

External Reference Alignment

External references uniquely link records across OMS, CDS, and B2C Commerce. For example, a location identified as SF1 in OMS must use the same SF1 identifier in B2C Commerce. When a storefront requests a delivery estimate, CDS uses these references to retrieve the correct OMS configuration.

Mismatched references lead to API failures because CDS can’t locate the configuration. To ensure system alignment, establish a naming convention and document references for all locations, carriers, and shipping methods before creating records.

Next

In this unit, you configured the Order Management prerequisites to use Delivery Estimation in your org. Next, you use the objects you configured to populate the Deliver Estimation Setup record in your Trailhead Playground.

Resources

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