Back office for 3PL warehouses — orders in, invoices out.
Order intake, WMS updates, inventory reporting, billing and customer service for 3PL warehouse operators.
Overview
3PL warehouses win contracts on service level and lose them on billing errors, inventory disputes and slow order updates. Operanta's 3PL desk absorbs the back-office workload — order intake, WMS updates, inventory reconciliation, storage / handling billing and customer service — so your local warehouse team can focus on the physical operation.
Why the 3PL desk works
The 3PL back office is high-volume, deadline-driven and rewards process discipline. A dedicated offshore desk brings that discipline at 55–60% of local cost, with SOX-equivalent controls and audit-ready archives.
- Order intake from EDI, portal and email
- WMS updates, cycle-count reconciliation and inventory reporting
- Storage / handling / value-add billing per contract
- Customer service on inventory, order and inbound questions
- Vendor and carrier coordination for inbound / outbound
- SOX-equivalent controls and audit-ready archives
3PL back office scope
Orders & inventory
- Order intake (EDI 940 / 943 / 944, portal, email)
- WMS updates and status maintenance
- Cycle-count reconciliation and inventory adjustment
- Damage / short-shipment claim first response
- Inventory reporting to customer cadence
Billing
- Storage-day billing per contract
- Handling, pick / pack and value-add billing
- Accessorial and pallet-count reconciliation
- Customer invoicing and revenue recognition
- Billing dispute preparation
Customer service
- Inventory and order enquiry response
- Inbound receipt notification
- Outbound shipment notification
- Damage / short claim triage
- Weekly customer scorecard
How we onboard this desk
Discovery
30-minute call to scope volume, TMS, SOPs and offshore-able tasks.
Workflow audit
We document your as-is process and highlight high-leverage offshore work.
SOP build
Co-authored SOPs, screen recordings, quality gates and QC framework.
Pilot (30 days)
Single specialist runs a controlled pilot on a sub-set of work.
Scale
Phased ramp to full team strength with named team lead.
Monthly review
Scorecard, optimisation opportunities and capacity planning.
Industries we serve with Warehouse & 3PL Back Office
- International freight forwarders (Tier 1 and SME)
- Non-Vessel Operating Common Carriers (NVOCCs)
- Customs brokers and trade compliance practices
- 3PL, contract logistics and warehousing operators
- Digital freight platforms and forwarders
Frequently asked questions
Which WMS do you work in?
Manhattan, HighJump / Körber, SAP EWM, Deposco, 3PL Central (Extensiv), Softeon, Snapfulfil, ShipHero and bespoke WMS platforms.
Can you handle EDI order intake?
Yes — EDI 940 / 943 / 944 / 945 / 947 and bespoke flat-file / API integrations are all routine.
Do you support pallet-level and unit-level billing?
Yes. Storage-day (pallet, cube, SKU), pick / pack (case, each), value-add and accessorial billing per contract are all supported.
How do you handle inventory disputes?
Every dispute triggers a documented root-cause investigation (receiving error, cycle-count variance, pick-error) with a case file routed to the owning team and a target SLA to customer.
What is the typical 3PL desk size?
3–8 specialists for a single-site 3PL, scaling to 20+ for a multi-site network.
Back office for your 3PL — orders in, invoices out.
Book a discovery call. We will scope your 3PL workflow and propose a 60-day plan.