Frequently Asked Questions¶

General questions¶

What is Zora Tech?¶

Zora Tech is a warehouse and transportation management platform for small and medium-sized logistics businesses.

Who should use this platform?¶

3PL providers, warehouse operators, distribution centers, e-commerce fulfillment operations, and manufacturing facilities that manage their own inventory.

How do I get access?¶

Contact your system administrator or email support@zoratech.io for account creation.

Mobile app¶

Do I need to install an app?¶

No. Open the mobile app in your phone's browser, and add it to your home screen if you want quick access.

Does the mobile app work offline?¶

Only for reading. Pages you've already opened stay viewable in a dead spot, but anything you record while offline fails and is not saved for later. There's no sync queue. Step back into coverage before confirming a pick, a receipt, or an adjustment.

What devices are supported?¶

iOS devices (iPhone, iPad) with Safari, and Android phones and tablets with Chrome.

Barcode scanning¶

What barcode formats are supported?¶

Code 128, Code 39, EAN-13, UPC, and QR codes.

My barcode won't scan, what should I do?¶

Check these four things, in order:

1. Improve the lighting.
2. Hold the scanner steady.
3. Wipe the barcode label clean.
4. Type the number printed under the barcode instead.

Can I use a dedicated barcode scanner?¶

Yes, you can use handheld barcode scanners that connect via Bluetooth or USB.

Inventory management¶

How often is inventory updated?¶

Inventory is updated in real-time as transactions occur (receiving, picking, adjustments).

Can I track inventory across multiple warehouses?¶

Yes, the platform supports multi-warehouse inventory tracking with the Global Warehouse Context feature.

How do I perform a cycle count?¶

Go to Inventory → Cycle Count, scan the location, and count each product. The system calculates any variances. See Cycle Counting.

What is the difference between quantity, allocated, and available?¶

• Quantity is the total on hand.
• Allocated is the portion already committed to orders.
• Available is quantity minus allocated — what is free to commit to something new.

A location can show plenty of stock and still allocate nothing, if all of it is already spoken for.

Serial & lot tracking¶

What is the difference between serial and lot tracking?¶

Serial tracking follows individual items — one serial number per unit, each unique. Lot tracking follows batches — many units share one lot number, typically a production run.

Use serial tracking for high-value or warranty items such as electronics. Use lot tracking where a recall or an expiration date applies to a whole batch, such as food, pharmaceuticals, or chemicals.

Can one receiving order contain several lots of the same product?¶

Yes. Add a lot line per lot, each with its own lot number, expiration date, and quantity. The total across the lot lines should match the expected quantity for that product.

Are lot numbers case sensitive?¶

No. LOT-A and lot-a are treated as the same lot.

Can a receiving order mix tracked and untracked products?¶

Yes. You are only prompted for serial or lot details on the products configured to require them.

Can I change a serial number after saving it?¶

No. Serial numbers cannot be edited once saved, and each must be unique — the system rejects a duplicate. If you have saved a wrong serial, raise it with your supervisor rather than trying to receive the item again.

Do I have to enter an expiration date?¶

Only lot numbers are required on lot-tracked products. Expiration dates are optional, but without them FEFO allocation and expiry warnings have nothing to work from — so record them for anything perishable.

See Serial & Lot Tracking.

Allocation¶

What is the difference between FIFO, FEFO, and LIFO?¶

They decide which stock gets picked when an order is allocated:

Where is the allocation strategy set?¶

Per warehouse, not per product or per customer. All allocation in a given warehouse follows that warehouse's strategy. See Warehouse Management.

Should I use FEFO or FIFO?¶

Use FEFO if expiration dates matter to your operation — it is the only strategy that considers them. Use FIFO otherwise. Note that FEFO relies on expiration dates being captured at receiving; without them it cannot order stock correctly.

Why was expired stock allocated to my order?¶

FEFO picks the earliest-expiring stock, which can include stock already past its expiration date. Allocations containing expired inventory are flagged with a warning for review rather than blocked, so check flagged allocations before picking.

Warehouses¶

Does each warehouse have its own timezone?¶

Yes. Each warehouse carries its own IANA timezone (for example America/Los_Angeles), set when the warehouse is created. This matters for operations spanning regions — a receipt logged at 8am local time in one warehouse and one in another are recorded against their own local days.

Why can't I see any inventory?¶

Most often the warehouse selector at the top of the screen is set to a different warehouse. Inventory, receiving, and orders are all scoped to the active warehouse. If switching does not help, your account may have a data filter limiting you to particular customers.

Orders¶

How do I create a new order?¶

Go to Orders → New Order, select the products, enter the quantities, and confirm. See Order processing for the full walkthrough.

Can I change an order after creation?¶

Yes — you can edit an order until it enters picking.

How do I track order status?¶

Open the Orders page to see live status. An order moves through Pending, Allocated, Picking, Ready to pack, Packing, Ready to ship, and then the shipping statuses, ending at Delivered. The order processing guide lists every one.

Receiving¶

What is an ASN?¶

Advance Shipment Notice — an electronic notification a supplier sends ahead of a shipment. It is a common industry term, but the Zora platform does not consume ASN feeds. Receiving orders are created manually or by bulk upload.

How do I create a lot of receiving orders at once?¶

Use bulk upload. Receiving orders can be created from a spreadsheet, and they are the one entity type that also supports importing from a source document. See Bulk Upload.

How do I receive serial-tracked products?¶

Scan each serial number individually during the receiving process. The system validates that each is unique.

What happens if the shipment does not match the order?¶

Record a discrepancy against the receiving order. Three types are available — shortage, overage, and damage — and you can attach photos as evidence. The platform records the discrepancy; pursuing a claim with the carrier or supplier happens outside it.

There is no receiving order for a shipment that just arrived. What now?¶

Create one. Blind receiving covers shipments that arrive unexpectedly — enter the sender's details and receive against the new order, then flag it for supervisor review.

Billing¶

How often are storage charges billed?¶

Three frequencies are available per customer:

Split Monthly exists so a customer whose goods arrive late in the month is not billed a full month for a few days of storage.

Why does one billing event produce several invoice lines?¶

An invoice line is created per charge dimension, not per event. A receiving event priced on both pallets and lines produces two lines. Each line keeps its link back to the event it came from.

Can I see how a charge was calculated?¶

Yes. The tier breakdown is stored on the billing event, so you can open the event and see exactly which rate tiers produced the total — which is what you want when a customer queries an invoice.

Does creating an invoice send it to QuickBooks?¶

No. Export to QuickBooks Desktop is a separate, deliberate action — generating an invoice in Zora does not post it to your accounting system.

See Billing & Invoicing.

Customer portal & delivery requests¶

What is a delivery request?¶

A request to have goods delivered out of the warehouse. Requests can be raised by warehouse staff or by customers themselves through the customer portal — the same feature in two modes.

Can customers raise their own delivery requests?¶

Yes, through the customer portal. See Delivery Requests — Customer Portal.

What can a customer see in the portal?¶

Only the customer accounts their login is authorized for. A portal user carries a list of customers they may view and a list they may submit requests for — the two can differ, so read-only access to an account is possible. They cannot see requests belonging to any other customer.

How do staff handle an incoming request?¶

Through the staff-facing view of the same feature. See Delivery Requests — Staff Guide.

Technical issues¶

The site is loading slowly¶

Work through these in order:

1. Check your internet connection.
2. Close unused browser tabs.
3. Clear your browser cache.
4. Try a different browser.
5. Contact support if it's still slow.

I can't log in¶

Check that your email and password are correct — passwords are case-sensitive — and that Caps Lock is off, then confirm you're using a supported browser. Still stuck? Contact your administrator to reset your password.

I see an error message¶

1. Note the exact error message text.
2. Take a screenshot if you can.
3. Note what you were doing when it happened.
4. Contact support with all three.

Data & security¶

How is my data protected?¶

Your data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS) and at rest, backed up regularly, and hosted on AWS infrastructure.

Can I export my data?¶

Yes. You can export most reports and data to CSV or Excel.

Who can see my data?¶

Only users in your organization with appropriate permissions can access your data. Each customer has a completely isolated database.

Billing & plans¶

How is the platform priced?¶

Contact sales@zoratech.io for pricing.

Is there a free trial?¶

Yes. Contact sales to request a demo instance.

Still have questions?¶

Email support@zoratech.io, browse the user guides, or check the troubleshooting guide.