Advance Shipping Notice (ASN)
Also: Avis · Lieferankündigung · ASN · Advance Shipping Notice · Versandavis
An Advance Shipping Notice (ASN), in German "Lieferavis", is the electronic pre-notification of a shipment: the supplier tells the recipient before arrival which items are being delivered in which quantity, packaging and batch.
An Advance Shipping Notice (ASN) is a delivery announcement transmitted in advance, with which a supplier tells its customer which goods are on their way in which quantity, packaging and batch structure and when they are expected to arrive. It is typically sent electronically – classically via EDI as a DESADV message – and reaches the recipient before the physical shipment arrives. This lets goods receipt expect the delivery, plan for it and, on arrival, simply reconcile it instead of recording everything from scratch.
The English term is Advance Shipping Notice (ASN); in German-speaking countries "Lieferavis", "Avis", "Lieferankündigung" or "Versandavis" are also common. The ASN is thus the link between the purchase order and the actual goods receipt: it turns order data into concrete, shipment-specific information and makes goods receipt plannable, faster and less error-prone.
At a glance
- Electronic pre-notification of a shipment before its physical arrival
- Standard format in the EDI world: DESADV (EDIFACT), in English ASN
- Contains items, quantities, pack structure (SSCC/NVE), often batch and best-before date
- Speeds up goods receipt and reduces recording errors
- Basis for cross-docking and paperless receiving in the WMS
What does an Advance Shipping Notice contain?
An ASN bundles all the information the recipient needs for a smooth goods receipt. It first references the underlying purchase order and the delivery note and identifies sender and recipient. At line-item level it lists the individual items with their unique item number, often supplemented by the supplier’s GTIN/EAN, the announced quantities per unit of measure and – where relevant – batch number, serial number and best-before date.
The core added value, however, lies in the pack structure. A good ASN maps how the shipment is physically built: which items sit in which packaging unit, how many packages are on a pallet and which shipping unit number (SSCC, in German NVE) each package carries. This SSCC is usually printed as a barcode on the shipping label. At goods receipt the recipient can then simply scan the label and the system immediately knows what is inside that package.
How does an Advance Shipping Notice work technically?
In practice an ASN is created as soon as the supplier has picked a shipment and made it ready for dispatch. Its system generates the notice message and transmits it to the recipient, ideally at the same time as or shortly after goods issue. The recipient imports this data into its ERP or warehouse management system and creates an expected goods receipt from it.
DESADV and the EDI standard
In standardized data exchange the ASN is transmitted as DESADV ("Despatch Advice") in the UN/EDIFACT format – the international standard for electronic business messages. Large trading partners often make DESADV mandatory. Via EDI the data is exchanged in a structured, machine-readable way, so no manual re-keying is needed. Alongside EDIFACT there are industry-specific variants and modern API-based transmission routes that follow the same logic.
SSCC/NVE and the scan principle
The heart of the efficiency is the Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC), in German Nummer der Versandeinheit (NVE) – a globally unique 18-digit number per package. Because the ASN assigns each SSCC its exact contents, at goods receipt scanning the label is enough to call up the complete package information. That is the prerequisite for paperless, largely automated receiving.
Why the Advance Shipping Notice matters
The most important benefit is speed at goods receipt. Because the expected receipt is already stored in the system, on arrival the warehouse no longer has to record the delivery line by line but only reconcile the announced quantity against the one actually delivered. Discrepancies – shortfalls, overdeliveries, wrong items – show up immediately and can be documented, instead of only days later during invoice verification.
The ASN also improves planning: anyone who knows when which goods arrive in which quantity can schedule staff, dock doors and storage locations proactively. For the available-to-promise calculation and delivery capability, the announced receipt is a reliable figure. Not least, the notice is the basis for cross-docking, where incoming goods are turned around directly for the next dispatch without being put away – which only works if the contents of every package are known before arrival.
In DACH retail the ASN is in many places effectively mandatory: large retail and chain companies contractually require their suppliers to send correct DESADV messages and SSCC labels. Anyone who notifies incorrectly or not at all risks process-cost charges, because the goods then have to be received manually with great effort. Clean notification is therefore not just a question of efficiency but increasingly a prerequisite for working with large buyers.
The Advance Shipping Notice in the ERP system
In the ERP the ASN connects procurement with inventory management. On the purchasing side the system receives incoming notices from suppliers and creates from them an announced or expected goods receipt linked to the original purchase order. At physical goods receipt the ERP or the connected WMS reconciles the announced data against the real delivery by scanning and posts the stock in – including batch, serial number and storage location.
On the sales side, conversely, an ERP sends ASNs itself to its own customers as soon as a customer shipment leaves the building. Trading partners and marketplaces sometimes require such notices as binding. A continuous data flow is ensured by the EDI interface or middleware that translate DESADV messages into the internal data format. The prerequisite for clean notices is well-maintained master data, in particular consistent item, GTIN and packaging details.
Distinction: advance shipping notice, delivery note and purchase order
Advance shipping notice, delivery note and purchase order describe different points in the same process. The purchase order is the request to deliver triggered by the customer – it stands at the beginning. The ASN follows later and announces a specific shipment in advance and usually electronically, before the goods physically arrive. The delivery note, by contrast, is the document that physically accompanies the shipment, enclosed with the goods in the parcel or on the pallet, and documents the actual scope of delivery.
Put simply: the notice comes before the goods and serves preparation, the delivery note comes with the goods and serves verification. An ASN is also not an invoice – it has no price or tax details but describes quantities and pack structure. Equally to be distinguished is the mere parcel tracking of the carrier: it shows the transport status but does not provide the structured content and packing data of a real notice.
Example
Example: goods receipt at a retail company
A mid-sized fashion retailer orders 40 cartons of goods from a supplier, spread across two pallets. As soon as the supplier is ready to ship, its system sends a DESADV advance shipping notice: it names the order number, lists all items with sizes, quantities and colors and assigns every carton to an SSCC. The retailer’s ERP imports the notice and creates an expected goods receipt.
When the truck arrives, the warehouse worker only scans the SSCC labels of the cartons. The system immediately shows the target contents of each package and reports that one carton is missing. Instead of counting every line individually, the shortfall is documented and the rest is posted in within minutes – including correct storage locations. Without the notice, the team would have had to record the entire delivery manually and would have discovered the difference only during invoice verification.
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