An advance ship notice (ASN) is an electronic document a supplier or 3PL sends when a shipment leaves their dock, telling the receiver exactly what shipped, how it is packed, which carrier is moving it, and when to expect it. In practice, an ASN means the receiving team knows what is coming before the freight arrives.
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What information does an ASN contain?
An ASN carries five field groups, and an advanced shipping notice template is those groups laid out in the order a trading partner's routing guide requires.
- Shipment identity.A unique shipment ID (sometimes called the ASN number) plus the ship and expected delivery dates.
- Order references.The purchase order (PO) number or numbers the shipment fulfills, the reference the receiver checks arrivals against.
- Packaging structure.How the goods are physically organized, from the whole shipment down to pallets, cartons, and the items inside them, with quantities at every level.
- Carrier and transit.The carrier, a tracking or PRO number (the freight equivalent of parcel tracking), and the bill of lading (BOL) reference.
- Labels.GS1-128 (UCC-128) barcodes on cartons and pallets, which let the receiving team scan each carton and match it to the ASN's lines.
How does an ASN work?
In the inbound process flow, an ASN sits between the purchase order that authorized the shipment and the receipt that closes it out. Six steps connect them.
- The buyer issues a purchase order. The PO is the reference every later document points back to.
- The supplier ships and sends the ASN. As the shipment leaves, the supplier or their 3PL generates the ASN at carton-level detail and transmits it, most often as an EDI 856.
- The receiver's systems record an expected arrival. The ASN lands ahead of the goods, and the open PO gains a line for what is coming and when.
- The warehouse prepares the dock. The receiving team schedules the delivery window and stages labor for what the ASN says is coming.
- Receiving scans against the ASN. Workers in warehouse receiving scan the GS1-128 label on each carton and compare the shipment with what was declared, instead of counting blind.
- Receipts close the loop. Posted quantities land against the ASN and the PO. Shortages, overages, or substitutions surface immediately because the ASN set a baseline to compare against.
EDI 856: the ASN as an EDI transaction
The EDI 856, formally the X12 Ship Notice/Manifest, is the standard EDI transaction that carries an ASN between trading partners. EDI itself is a decades-old standard that retailers, distributors, and suppliers use to exchange order paperwork machine to machine, and the 856 is one transaction in that set.
An 856 document mirrors the physical shipment in a nested hierarchy of five levels, and a retail program's routing guide dictates which of them it requires.
Shipment.
Ship-from, ship-to, dates, carrier, and the BOL number.
Order.
Each purchase order the shipment covers.
Tare.
The pallets, when the program requires pallet-level detail.
Pack.
Each carton, identified by the serial number on its GS1-128 label.
Item.
The SKU or UPC and quantity inside each carton.
Not every ASN travels as an 856. Suppliers also send ASNs through APIs, supplier portals, and flat files. The 856 dominates wherever a retail or distribution program mandates EDI, and connecting to those programs is the job of managed EDI.
An advanced shipping notice example
In advanced shipping notice format, a single-PO shipment carries these values.
| Field | Example value |
|---|---|
| Shipment ID (ASN number) | 000482 |
| Ship date | May 12 |
| Expected delivery | May 15 |
| Purchase order | PO-118276 |
| Carrier and reference | Less-than-truckload carrier, PRO 5501984412 |
| Pallets | 4 |
| Cartons | 96, each with a GS1-128 label |
| Contents | 2,880 units across 12 SKUs, quantities listed per carton |
The same shipment as an EDI 856. As an EDI 856 example, the shipment flattens into nested segments, from the ship dates and carrier at the top, through one order segment for PO-118276, down to the 4 pallets, 96 cartons, and the SKU quantities inside each carton.
ST*856*0001start of the ship noticeBSN*00*000482*20260512*1400ASN number 000482, shipped May 12HL*1**Sshipment levelTD1*CTN*9696 cartonsTD5*B*2*SCACthe LTL carrier's codeREF*CN*5501984412PRO number 5501984412DTM*067*20260515expected delivery May 15HL*2*1*Oorder levelPRF*PO-118276the purchase order it fulfillsHL*3*2*Ttare level: one of the 4 palletsMAN*GM*00081234550000000018the pallet's GS1-128 serial numberHL*4*3*Ppack level: one of the 96 cartonsMAN*GM*00081234550000000025the carton's GS1-128 serial numberHL*5*4*Iitem levelLIN**UP*012345678905the SKU's UPCSN1**30*EA30 units of this SKU in this cartonThe tare, pack, and item segments repeat for every one of the 4 pallets, 96 cartons, and 12 SKUs.
Why ASNs matter in retail and ecommerce
In supply chain and logistics, an ASN means the receiving team works from a list instead of guessing at a truckload. The payoff shows up three ways.
Receiving speed.
Docks are scheduled and labor staged before the truck arrives, and scan-to-receive against the ASN replaces manual counts and keying.
Retail compliance.
Major retail programs require ASNs and charge suppliers back for late, missing, or inaccurate ones, as SPS Commerce's EDI 856 guide documents. For a supplier, ASN accuracy is margin protection.
Inbound inventory visibility.
Expected arrivals tell inventory planners how many units are on the way, not just how many sit on the shelf. Sellers then base each delivery promise on freight still in transit.
Inbound visibility has one precondition: the systems that plan inventory, promise orders, and receive freight all read the same ASN. An 856 that sits unread in an EDI mailbox changes nothing downstream, and the warehouse counts cartons by hand anyway.
How Pipe17 orchestrates ASNs, arrivals, and receipts
Pipe17 puts inbound supply on the same platform that routes your sales orders. An ASN, its arrival, and its receipts sit next to the orders they feed.
- Every ASN becomes an arrival.Pipe17 creates the arrival, its record of the inbound shipment, whether the 856 comes in over a managed EDI connection or the supplier's or 3PL's system pushes the notice through the platform's API.
- Receipts post against the declared shipment.ASN and arrival tracking pairs what actually landed with what the ASN said was coming, so shortages and overages are visible the day the goods arrive, not at the next cycle count.
- Availability stays inbound-aware.Arrivals feed inventory visibility alongside on-hand and committed stock, and planners and sellers work from one count that includes what is still arriving.
Advance ship notice FAQs
Who sends an ASN, and when?
The supplier, or the 3PL shipping on their behalf, sends the ASN to the buying organization at the moment the carrier picks up the shipment. Retail routing guides require the ASN to arrive before the freight does, since everything an ASN enables (dock scheduling, staged labor, scan-based receiving) depends on that head start.
What is the difference between an ASN and a bill of lading?
An ASN is the electronic notice that describes a shipment's contents and packaging for the receiver's systems, while a bill of lading is the legal contract of carriage between the shipper and the carrier. A packing slip lists the same items but rides inside the shipment on paper; the ASN arrives as data ahead of the truck.
Do ASNs have to be sent through EDI?
ASNs do not have to travel by EDI, because the ASN is the information rather than the pipe. Suppliers also deliver ASNs through APIs, supplier portals, and flat-file uploads. The EDI 856 dominates in retail and distribution programs that mandate EDI, where EDI integration is a condition of doing business.
Why do retailers require ASNs?
Retailers require ASNs because their distribution centers plan and receive against them; without one, freight sits at the dock while someone works out what it is. Compliance programs back the requirement with chargebacks for ASNs that arrive late, go missing, or disagree with the shipment itself.
What does ASN stand for?
ASN stands for advance ship notice, and the same document is also written as advanced shipping notice or advance shipping notice; the underlying X12 standard calls it the 856 Ship Notice/Manifest. In IP networking, ASN instead means autonomous system number, an unrelated term that happens to share the acronym.