Warehouse management system (WMS)

The difference between “we have 40 cartons” and “we have 40 cartons in aisle B, rack 3” is the difference between a balance and a managed warehouse.

A warehouse management system (WMS) tracks every item from the receiving door to its bin location to issue or transfer, and turns the stock-count into a continuous process rather than an annual event. Fahim delivers this system over WhatsApp: the storekeeper records a receipt with a photo or a voice message, and the manager asks for any item's balance and location from a phone. It suits small and mid-sized Saudi businesses with one warehouse or more — a distributor, a wholesaler, a contractor with a materials store, or a factory with raw and finished stock — that want a system inside the accounting, not beside it.

What the system covers

• Receiving — matching what arrived against the purchase order and recording shortfalls and damage at the door, not a week later.
• Bin locations — every item has a defined location, so searching ends and picking speeds up.
• Issues and transfers — between warehouses and branches, on documents logged against who requested and who handed over.
• Stock-counts — periodic or cycle counts with item-by-item variances, instead of an annual count that shuts the warehouse.
• Reorder points — warning before depletion, not after.
• Dead and slow-moving stock — a report exposing the cash frozen on the racks.

Where capture usually fails — and how it is solved

A storekeeper does not sit at a screen. So in Fahim goods are received by sending a photo of the delivery note or an Arabic voice message, and quantities are recorded and locations updated. This is the point at which most warehouse systems fail — not at reporting.

And because the warehouse sits inside a full ERP, receiving updates purchasing and accounting, and issuing updates cost — with no monthly reconciliation between two systems.

Who this system is for

• A distributor or wholesaler receiving from several suppliers and issuing to dozens of customers a day, who needs an accurate balance at every moment.
• A company with more than one warehouse or branch where goods move between them and the balance gets lost in transit.
• A contracting company with a materials store issuing to projects, that needs to know who took what and for which project.
• A factory separating raw, work-in-progress and finished stock and wanting a balance and a location for each.

An automated warehouse with conveyors and robots needs a specialised system, and is better served by integrating through the API than by replacing it.

A working day in the warehouse

For example: a food distributor's warehouse with around 600 items and 3 branches drawing from it. This is how the day runs:

• 7 a.m.: the supplier's truck arrives. The storekeeper photographs the delivery note and sends it. The system matches it against the purchase order and shows a shortfall on two items, so the difference is recorded at the door.
• 9 a.m.: the second branch asks by message “transfer us 20 cartons of item X”. A transfer document is issued in the requester's name, deducted from the warehouse and added to the branch on delivery.
• Noon: a sales rep asks “where is item X and what is its balance?” and receives “aisle B, rack 3, balance 40 cartons”.
• Afternoon: the storekeeper counts one aisle and sends the quantities by voice. The system shows a variance on 3 items and records the adjustment in his name.
• Evening: Moeen sends the day's summary: what was received, what was issued, 5 items below their reorder point, and two items that have not moved for 90 days.

The numbers are hypothetical, but the idea is the same: every movement is recorded the moment it happens and in its author's name.

How it works, step by step

1. Define warehouses and locations: each warehouse with its aisles and racks, and each item with its default location.
2. Opening balance: one initial count gives the system a correct starting point.
3. Receiving: a photo of the delivery note is matched against the purchase order, and shortfalls and damage are recorded.
4. Issues and transfers: a document per movement, deducted from one location and added to another.
5. Cycle counts and reports: one aisle at a time, and the dead-stock, low-stock and count-variance reports requested by message.

What regulation requires and how it is covered

The warehouse itself does not issue invoices, but it feeds what does. Every issue to a customer becomes a tax invoice with 15% VAT per the requirements of the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA), which made e-invoicing mandatory in Phase 1 since 4 December 2021 and Phase 2 (integration) in waves since 1 January 2023. Every receipt from a supplier records input VAT from its invoice. Wages for warehouse staff fall under the Wage Protection System through the Mudad platform, so the upload file is built from the approved payroll run. And the employee and customer data held in the system is handled in line with the Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL).

Compared with spreadsheets and disconnected systems

• A spreadsheet or the warehouse ledger: knows the balance as of the last update, but not the location or who issued.
• A warehouse system separate from accounting: accurate on balance but needs a monthly reconciliation with purchasing and cost, and time is lost in the gap between the two.
• A desktop ERP: links everything, but capture lags because the storekeeper is not standing at a screen.
• A system that runs from WhatsApp inside the accounting: capture at the door the moment goods arrive, and balance, cost and purchasing as one number.

What Moeen adds

Moeen is the personal assistant included in the Moeen and Fahim plans. It sends a morning summary of the receipts expected today and the items below their reorder point, alerts you when a supplier is late or a count variance recurs in the same aisle, and prepares the purchase order for you to review before sending. It takes no action without your permission.

Permissions come in 5 roles: general manager, sales manager, accountant, warehouse supervisor and employee. So the warehouse supervisor receives, issues and counts but does not see purchase prices, and the sales rep sees the balance but cannot change it. Alongside Moeen, 4 AI agents work on sales, finance, purchasing and market.

Plans and trial

The Essential plan at SAR 75 per user per month gives you the full system from the browser, with the warehouse as part of it rather than a module bought separately. The Moeen plan at SAR 375 adds WhatsApp and the personal assistant. The Fahim plan at SAR 935 adds AI that modifies the system on request: you ask by message for an expiry-date field on receiving or a movement report by aisle, and it is applied within minutes. Larger companies have the Enterprise plan on request. Prices exclude 15% VAT, the first month is free, and with the Golden Guarantee you get a full refund within 30 days. Start from the free trial page.

Implementation plan

1. Setup: define warehouses, aisles and racks, load items from a file, and add users with their roles.
2. Opening count: one count that fixes the balance and location of every item.
3. Run one warehouse: receiving and issuing from WhatsApp until the storekeepers are used to it.
4. Roll-out and review: the remaining warehouses and branches, then cycle counts aisle by aisle and the dead-stock report every month.

The free month is usually enough for the first three steps, so you decide having seen a real balance with its location.

Read next

• Warehouse operations from WhatsApp
• Stock discrepancies
• Reorder point and safety stock