EDI 944 Warehouse Stock Transfer Receipt Advice

The EDI 944 is the warehouse's receiving report. When a trailer of your stock arrives at your 3PL, the 944 is the record of what was counted into the building. Your ERP uses it to move inventory from in-transit to available, and to open a claim when the count comes up short. If the 944 is wrong or late, every downstream number (available to promise, the 846 inventory feed, the orders you release on 940s) is wrong with it.

This guide covers the 944 definition, what it carries, how it matches back to the 943 shipment advice, every segment you will map, a live example with a short line, and the errors that leave stock stuck in transit on your books.

What Is an EDI 944?

An EDI 944 is the Warehouse Stock Transfer Receipt Advice transaction set defined by the ASC X12 standards body. The receiving warehouse generates it to advise the depositor (the inventory owner), or the depositor's agent, that a transfer shipment has been received, with detail on the product received. In the X12 envelope it travels in a functional group with the code RE in GS01.

Authoritative references for 944 work:

• The X12 transaction set catalog defines the 944 and the other warehouse transaction sets
• GS1 US governs the UPC case codes, GTINs and SSCC pallet labels the warehouse scans at receipt
• Each 3PL publishes a 944 implementation guide stating what it sends: which identifiers, whether lots and pallet IDs are included, and how exceptions are reported

Who sends it? The warehouse: a 3PL, public warehouse, cold storage operator, or your own distribution center if it runs a separate WMS.

Who receives it? The depositor, into its ERP or inventory system.

When is it sent? After the receipt is checked and closed in the WMS. How soon after unloading is set in your warehouse agreement, so agree it before go-live.

What triggers it? Usually a 943 from the depositor, but not always. A 944 is also sent for supplier shipments that arrive without a 943, and for customer returns received into the warehouse.

How the 944 Answers the 943

The 943 says what left the origin. The 944 says what arrived. Matching the two is the whole point.

Your system should match each 944 to its 943 on the depositor order number, then compare line by line on item and lot. Every difference is either a carrier claim, a supplier claim, or a count error to resolve with the 3PL. Leaving differences unresolved is how in-transit balances grow for months.

Interactive Example: Receipt With a Short Line (944)

The Reno 3PL receives the Boise transfer announced in the 943 example. W17 reports a full-detail receipt dated 4 November, the warehouse's own receipt number RCV-50931, and echoes back the depositor's transfer number TR-260412 and shipment ID SHP-88412. Lines 1 and 3 arrived in full. Line 2 (almond butter) received 34 cases, and a W13 exception with condition code 02 reports 2 cases short. W14 closes with 106 cases received against 108 shipped.

Use the Plain English tab for a readable summary, or click any segment to break it down element by element.

944 Structure at a Glance

Key Segments Explained

W17: Warehouse Receipt Identification

W17*F*20261104*RCV-50931*TR-260412*SHP-88412~

If W1704 is blank, the warehouse received something it could not tie to a 943. That is worth an alert in your system, not a silent post to inventory.

W07: Item Detail for Stock Receipt

W07*34*CA*086123450021*VN*NFP-ALB-16~

Whether W0701 includes damaged units or only good stock varies between warehouses. Some report total received in W07 and the damaged part in W13. Others report only saleable stock in W07. Ask, and write the answer into your mapping notes, because it changes how you post the receipt.

W13: Item Detail Exception

W13*2*CA*02~

W13 is how a 944 tells you about a problem without a phone call. Route it to whoever files freight claims. A shortage noted on the carrier's delivery receipt at the dock is far easier to claim than one discovered later.

N9 at Line Level: Lots, Pallets and Serials

N9*LT*L2610B~

Line-level N9 segments carry the lot (LT), pallet or unit number (QQ), case number (97) and serial number (SE). Check that the lots on the 944 match the lots you shipped on the 943. A mismatch usually means the dock received against the wrong line, which will cause a pick error the first time someone orders that lot.

W14: Total Receipt Information

W14*106*108~

W1401 is a control total. Recompute it from the W07 lines when you load the 944, and reject or flag the document if it does not agree.

EDI 944 vs 861, 945 and 947

The 861 and the 944 both report a receipt, but between different parties. The 861 comes from a customer who bought your goods. The 944 comes from a warehouse holding your goods. If a discrepancy shows up after the 944 is sent (damage found during putaway, for example), the warehouse reports it on a 947 rather than resending the 944.

Where the 944 Sits in 3PL EDI

1. 943: depositor announces an inbound transfer
2. 944: warehouse confirms the receipt
3. 846: warehouse reports on-hand inventory, now including the receipt
4. 940: depositor orders shipments out of that stock
5. 945: warehouse confirms each shipment
6. 947: warehouse reports adjustments between receipts and shipments
7. 997: each side acknowledges every document it receives

Our guide to 3PL EDI integration covers how to stage these with a new warehouse.

Common 944 Errors and How to Prevent Them

944 Implementation Checklist

• Get the 3PL's 944 guide and a sample file from a real receipt
• Confirm it echoes your 943 depositor order number in W1704 and shipment ID in W1705
• Confirm how it reports damaged, short and over quantities (W13, W1403, or a separate 947)
• Confirm whether lots, expiry dates and pallet IDs come at line level
• Decide where damaged and held stock posts in your ERP
• Decide who gets alerted on discrepancies, and how fast
• Test a full receipt, a short receipt, a damaged receipt and a receipt with no 943 behind it
• Send a 997 for every 944 and watch for structural errors in the first weeks

For a list of every X12 document number and what it does, see our EDI document types reference.

Handling 3PL and Order Data With OrderSync

A clean 944 tells you what you have to sell. The harder part for most distributors is the orders that consume it: EDI 850s from retailers, PDFs and emails from smaller accounts, spreadsheets from reps, all of which have to be entered before the 3PL can ship.

OrderSync reads those orders in any format, matches customers, items and units to your catalog, and outputs clean data to your ERP or valid X12. Paste any 944 into the free EDI inspector to see it parsed segment by segment with a plain-English summary, read about multi-format order processing, or book a 15-minute walkthrough to see your own orders processed.

Frequently Asked Questions