Questions to ask in a 3PL WMS demo

Most demos are a tour. The presenter clicks through screens that were set up to look good, and you leave with a feeling rather than an answer. You can change that by walking in with your own material.

This page is a plan for a single demo of a 3PL warehouse management system: who comes, what you bring, what you ask, and how you write it down so you can compare one session with the next.

Before the call: build three scenarios

Pick three situations from your own building that have caused trouble. Write each on half a page, with the client's rules in plain words. Here are three hypothetical ones to show the idea.

Scenario A, the awkward client. A client sells small candles and gift sets. They ship single parcels all week, but twice a month they send a pallet order to a retailer who requires a specific label. Their gift sets are made from three items you also store separately.

Scenario B, the shared item name. Two clients both call their best seller "BLUE-L". They are different products. A new picker must never mix them.

Scenario C, the short delivery. A client says they sent thirty cartons. Your receiver counts twenty-seven and one carton is crushed.

Send these to the vendor two or three days ahead and ask them to run the demo on your scenarios. A vendor who says "we will cover that in the general walkthrough" has told you something.

Who from your team should attend

Three people are enough.

• The person who runs the floor, because they will notice a screen that needs too many taps.
• The person who sends invoices, because a billing gap is easy to hide in a demo.
• You, or whoever signs the cheque, to ask the awkward business questions.

If you serve clients who log in to look at their stock, ask one customer service person to join too.

Ground rules for the session

Say these at the start, politely.

• You want to see the product working, not slides.
• If something is not built yet, say so and note it. "On the roadmap" counts as a no for today.
• You will record the session if the vendor agrees, or take written notes.
• You will ask the same questions of every vendor.

Questions about clients and stock

• Show me scenario B. Two clients, same item code. Receive both, then try to pick one for the wrong client.
• Where is the client name on a stock record? Can I filter by it on every screen?
• Can I set rules per client, such as pack with a certain insert, or hold stock for inspection?
• How do I move stock from one client to another, and who is allowed to do that?

Questions about the dock

• Run scenario C. Show me the expected shipment, the count, the shortage and the damaged carton.
• Where does the damaged carton sit afterwards? Can anyone pick it by accident?
• What does the client see, and when?
• Can I attach a photo from a phone or a handheld?

Questions about orders and picking

• Show me an order arriving from a store connection, not typed in by hand.
• What happens if the stock for one line is short? Show me the picker's screen.
• Show me scenario A's retailer pallet order with the required label. Where is that label format stored, and who can change it?
• How does a kit get built from items that are also stored on their own?

Questions about charges and invoices

Keep this at the level of "does it capture what I need". Formulas and rate cards belong to your billing review, not this call.

• Which events does the system record that I could charge for? Show me the list.
• Can I see all the events for one client for one week on one screen?
• Can I correct an event before the invoice goes out, and is the change logged?
• How does the data leave the system and reach my accounting tool?

Questions about the day after you sign

• Who can change a setting, a report or a label, and do I need to ask the vendor each time?
• Who owns the data, and in what form can I export all of it?
• What happens to my data and my access if I stop using the product?
• What does a bad day look like: if the connection to a store breaks, how do I find out?

Ask to see it live, not described

Use this simple rule. If an answer starts with "yes, it can", reply with "show me". Phrases that deserve a second look:

• "You can configure that." Ask who configures it and how long it takes.
• "We have an integration for that." Ask to see a record that arrived through it.
• "Our reports cover that." Ask to open the report with test data in it.

Keep a dated answer log

Use one sheet per vendor. For every question, write three things: what you were shown, what you were only told, and the date. Add the name of the person who said it. After a few weeks, memory blurs, and a dated line is what you will trust.

A simple layout:

At the end of each session, spend ten minutes with your team marking each scenario as passed, partly passed or failed. Do it the same day, while you still remember.

What to do after the demo

Send a short email recapping what you understood, especially anything described but not shown. Ask the vendor to correct anything you got wrong. That reply is useful later if a promised feature turns out to be something else.

Then decide whether the product earns a second, deeper session or a trial with your own data. A good outcome is not "we liked it". A good outcome is "scenarios A and B passed, C partly, and here is what is missing".

Software is not the only route. A one-time custom build, no per-seat, per-truck or per-client fees, is another option, and it should answer the same three scenarios in the same way.

A final check

Before you leave the call, ask yourself whether you could explain, in two minutes, how your hardest client would run in this system. If you cannot, ask for another session on that client alone. It is better to spend one more hour now than to find the gap after go-live.