What is an advance ship notice?
An advance ship notice (ASN) is an electronic document a supplier sends before a shipment arrives, telling the receiving warehouse exactly what is coming: which items, how many, in what cartons, on which pallets. The warehouse uses it to plan dock time and to check goods in quickly against a known manifest.
Know what is arriving before it hits the dock.
Without an ASN, a truck shows up and the warehouse opens boxes to discover what is inside. With an ASN, the receiving team already knows the full contents, so check-in becomes verification against a manifest rather than blind discovery.
- Sent ahead of the goods
- The supplier transmits the ASN when the shipment leaves, so it arrives before the truck does.
- A full manifest
- It lists items, quantities, and often the carton and pallet structure, down to what is in each box.
- Drives faster receiving
- Receivers scan against the expected contents, flag shortages and overages instantly, and putaway sooner.
What an ASN typically carries.
An ASN is structured data, not a packing slip in a box. Its hierarchy describes the shipment from the truck down to the individual item.
- Shipment and order references
- Which purchase order it fulfills, ship-from and ship-to, carrier, and expected delivery.
- Pack hierarchy
- Pallets, then cartons, then items, so a receiver can scan a pallet or carton label and know its contents.
- Item detail
- SKU, quantity, and often lot or expiry data for each line in the shipment.
The 856 transaction.
In retail and B2B supply chains, an ASN is usually exchanged as an EDI document. The standard transaction set is the 856.
- EDI 856
- The X12 transaction set for an ASN. Trading partners and retailers frequently require it as a condition of doing business.
- SSCC labels
- Cartons and pallets carry serial shipping container codes the receiver scans to tie a physical unit to its ASN line.
- Compliance
- Large retailers fine suppliers for late, missing, or inaccurate ASNs, so getting the 856 right is a revenue issue.
How a warehouse system uses an ASN.
A WMS that ingests ASNs turns inbound from a guessing game into a planned, verified flow.
- Pre-receipt creation
- The ASN creates an expected receipt in the system before the goods arrive, ready to receive against.
- Discrepancy detection
- Scanned quantities are compared to the ASN, so shortages, overages, and wrong items surface at the dock.
- Directed putaway
- Once verified, the system directs each unit to its storage location, often guided by lot or velocity.
Answered plainly.
ASN stands for advance ship notice. It is an electronic notification a supplier sends ahead of a shipment to tell the receiving warehouse what is arriving, in what quantities, and in what packaging.
A packing slip is a paper document inside a box. An ASN is structured electronic data sent before the shipment arrives, describing the full pallet, carton, and item hierarchy so the warehouse can plan and verify receiving.
EDI 856 is the standard X12 transaction set used to transmit an advance ship notice between trading partners. Many retailers require an accurate 856, often with SSCC carton labels, as a condition of doing business.
ASNs let a warehouse schedule dock time, staff receiving appropriately, and check goods in by verifying against a known manifest instead of opening boxes blind. They speed receiving and catch shortages and overages immediately.