FS-DOC-03Operations
Process Runbook / SOP
Multichannel Inventory Sync
[YourCompany.com] · Fulfilment Department · Prepared by FullSpec · [Today's Date]
This runbook is the day-to-day operating guide for the Multichannel Inventory Sync automation. It tells your fulfilment team exactly what the system does on its own, what the one remaining human step looks like in practice, how to handle anything unusual, and who to call when something needs attention. FullSpec builds, monitors, and maintains the automation end to end. Your team's role is limited to reviewing flagged anomalies and keeping the configuration inputs, such as reorder thresholds, up to date.
01Process overview
The Multichannel Inventory Sync automation watches every connected sales channel and the warehouse management system for any event that changes stock. The moment an order is placed, a return is confirmed, or a purchase order is marked received, the automation pulls the current on-hand figures from Linnworks, calculates the correct new quantity for every affected SKU, and pushes those quantities to Shopify and Amazon Seller Central simultaneously. It then logs the movement to the master Google Sheet, checks each updated SKU against its reorder threshold, fires a Slack alert to the buying team if stock is running low, and posts a journal entry to Xero, all within seconds and without anyone touching a spreadsheet. The only time a person needs to act is when the system detects an anomaly, such as a quantity that would calculate to below zero, and holds the update until a member of your team has reviewed it.
Process name
Multichannel Inventory Sync
Trigger
A new order, confirmed return, or purchase order receipt is detected on Shopify, Amazon Seller Central, or Linnworks
Final output
All connected channels updated, audit row written to Google Sheets, Slack low-stock alert sent where applicable, and Xero inventory journal posted
Agents running
Stock Level Sync Agent; Reorder Alert and Finance Sync Agent
Tools involved
Linnworks, Shopify, Amazon Seller Central, Google Sheets, Slack, Xero
Weekly volume
Approximately 80 stock-change events/week (~320/month across all channels)
Human checkpoint
Review and resolve anomaly flags (negative or implausible quantity results) before the update is released to live channels
Process owner
Fulfilment Coordinator
Process Runbook / SOPPage 1 of 4
FS-DOC-03Operations
02Step-by-step: what happens and who acts
What you actually need to do: Your only active step in this entire process is Step 5, anomaly review. When the system flags a quantity it cannot safely confirm, it sends a Slack notification directly to the Fulfilment Coordinator. You review the flagged SKU in the Google Sheet audit log, decide the correct quantity, update it in Linnworks, and mark the flag as resolved. Every other step runs automatically with no action required from your team.
Step
What happens
Who acts
Type
1
The automation platform detects a triggering event: a new order on Shopify or Amazon Seller Central, a confirmed return logged in Linnworks, or a purchase order marked as received. The workflow starts immediately without any manual initiation.
Automation
Automated
2
The Stock Level Sync Agent queries Linnworks via its API to retrieve the current on-hand quantity for every SKU affected by the triggering event. Linnworks is the single source of truth for all stock figures.
Automation
Automated
3
The agent applies the quantity change: it subtracts units for orders, adds units back for confirmed returns, and adds inbound units for purchase order receipts. It checks whether each resulting quantity is valid (zero or above). Any result below zero is held and a flag is raised instead of proceeding.
Automation
Automated
4
For all valid quantities, the agent pushes the updated stock level to Shopify via the Inventory API and to Amazon Seller Central via the Listings API at the same time. Both channels are updated within seconds of the triggering event.
Automation
Automated
5
If a quantity calculated in Step 3 is below zero or otherwise anomalous, the automation does not push the update. Instead it writes a flagged row to the Google Sheet audit log and sends a Slack notification to the Fulfilment Coordinator. The coordinator reviews the SKU, determines the correct quantity, corrects it in Linnworks, and confirms resolution. The sync then completes for that SKU.
Fulfilment Coordinator
Human
6
A timestamped audit row is appended to the master Google Sheet for every processed SKU, recording the SKU reference, the event type (order, return, or PO receipt), the previous quantity, the new quantity, and whether the update was sent or flagged.
Automation
Automated
7
The Reorder Alert and Finance Sync Agent reads the updated quantities and compares each SKU against its reorder threshold stored in the Google Sheet reference tab. If any SKU is at or below its threshold, the agent posts a structured Slack message to the buying team channel listing the SKU name, current quantity, and reorder point.
Automation
Automated
8
The agent posts a stock movement journal entry to Xero for each processed SKU, reflecting the change in inventory asset value. This replaces the end-of-week manual reconciliation and keeps the finance record current in real time.
Automation
Automated
Process Runbook / SOPPage 2 of 4
FS-DOC-03Operations
03Handling exceptions
Situation
What the system does
What you do
A stock-change event arrives but a required field is missing, such as a SKU reference or quantity value
The automation cannot process the event and writes an incomplete-data error row to the Google Sheet audit log. It sends a Slack notification to the Fulfilment Coordinator naming the event type and the missing field.
Open Linnworks or the relevant channel and locate the order or return record. Add the missing information, then save the record. The next triggering event for that SKU will process normally. If the SKU was genuinely absent from Linnworks, add it with the correct quantity before re-triggering.
The same stock-change event is detected more than once, for example a webhook fires twice for a single order
The automation checks the audit log for a row with the same event ID before processing. If a duplicate is found, the second run is skipped and a duplicate-skipped note is appended to the existing audit row.
No action is needed. Review the audit log if you notice an unexpected duplicate note, and contact FullSpec at support@gofullspec.com if duplicates are occurring more than once per day, as this may indicate a webhook configuration issue.
A SKU referenced in an order or return does not exist in Linnworks
The automation cannot pull a stock figure for the SKU and logs a SKU-not-found error row to the Google Sheet. A Slack alert is sent to the Fulfilment Coordinator with the unrecognised SKU reference.
Check whether the SKU was recently created and not yet added to Linnworks, or whether there is a naming mismatch between the channel and the warehouse system. Add or correct the SKU in Linnworks, then manually re-trigger the sync by updating the quantity in Linnworks directly. The system will pick up the next event for that SKU automatically.
The Fulfilment Coordinator does not review or resolve a flagged anomaly within a reasonable time
The automation holds the update for that SKU and does not push it to any channel. After 4 hours without resolution it sends a second Slack reminder. The SKU remains in a held state in the audit log until a person acts.
Check your Slack notifications and the flagged rows in the Google Sheet. Resolve the anomaly by correcting the quantity in Linnworks and confirming the resolution in the audit log. If you are unsure what the correct quantity should be, contact your Warehouse Manager to perform a physical count before releasing the update.
Shopify or Amazon Seller Central returns an API error when the automation attempts to push an update
The automation retries the failed push up to three times with a 2-minute gap between each attempt. If all three retries fail, it logs a channel-push-failed row to the Google Sheet and sends a Slack alert to the Fulfilment Coordinator naming the channel and the affected SKUs.
Check whether the channel is experiencing a known outage by visiting the Shopify or Amazon Seller Central status pages. If the channel is down, the quantities will need to be updated manually once the channel is restored. Contact FullSpec at support@gofullspec.com if the error persists after the channel reports normal service, as the API credentials may need refreshing.
Xero is unavailable when the automation attempts to post an inventory journal entry
The automation retries the Xero posting up to three times. If all retries fail, it logs the failed posting to the Google Sheet with the journal details preserved, and sends a Slack alert to the Finance Manager. The stock channel updates are not blocked by a Xero failure and proceed normally.
Check the Xero status page. Once Xero is back online, forward the failed-posting Slack alert to FullSpec at support@gofullspec.com. The FullSpec team will replay the queued journal entries from the audit log. In the meantime, do not manually post the journal entries in Xero, as this may cause duplicates when the replay runs.
04Who to contact and when
Fill in the name and contact detail columns once your team is confirmed. The FullSpec rows are fixed and do not need editing. Use this table as the first reference whenever something unexpected happens during a sync run.
Role
Name
How to reach them
Fulfilment Coordinator (process owner, anomaly review)
[Your name]
[Rep email]
Warehouse Manager (stock counts, PO receipt queries)
[Your name]
[Rep email]
Finance Manager (Xero journal queries, end-of-month checks)
[Your name]
[Rep email]
Buying Team Lead (low-stock alert recipient, reorder decisions)
[Your name]
[Rep email]
FullSpec builder (technical issues, credential refresh, workflow changes)
FullSpec team
support@gofullspec.com
FullSpec support (general questions, anomaly replay requests, error investigation)
FullSpec support
support@gofullspec.com
Process Runbook / SOPPage 3 of 4
FS-DOC-03Operations
05Ongoing maintenance
Whenever a new SKU is added or an existing SKU is retired
Add the SKU to Linnworks with the correct opening quantity before it goes live on any channel. Set a reorder threshold for the SKU in the Google Sheet reference tab. Retiring a SKU: zero the quantity in Linnworks first, then delist from channels. The automation will handle the sync from that point.
Fulfilment Coordinator
Whenever a reorder threshold needs changing
Update the threshold value for the relevant SKU in the reorder threshold tab of the master Google Sheet. The Reorder Alert and Finance Sync Agent reads this tab on every run, so the change takes effect immediately with no workflow restart needed.
Fulfilment Coordinator
Monthly spot-check (first working day of each month)
Open the Google Sheet audit log and review the previous month's rows. Confirm that the run count is in line with expected order volume. Check for any recurring error types that appear more than twice. Spot-check three to five SKU quantities by comparing the audit log figure against the live Linnworks count.
Fulfilment Coordinator
Weekly error-log review (every Monday morning)
Filter the Google Sheet audit log for any rows with a status of flagged, skipped, or failed from the past seven days. Confirm each was resolved. If any unresolved rows are found, action them or escalate to FullSpec at support@gofullspec.com.
Fulfilment Coordinator
Whenever a team member changes role or leaves
Update the contact table in this runbook with the replacement person's details. Notify FullSpec at support@gofullspec.com so that Slack alert routing can be updated to the new recipient if needed. Remove system access for the departing team member through your standard offboarding process.
Process owner / manager
Quarterly volume and threshold review (every three months)
Review whether the SKU count, channel list, or order volume has changed significantly. If you have added a new sales channel, opened a new Linnworks location, or your SKU count has grown by more than 20 percent, contact FullSpec at support@gofullspec.com to assess whether the workflow configuration needs updating to handle the new scope.
Fulfilment Coordinator and FullSpec team
The most common maintenance issue for this process is reorder thresholds that are out of date. When seasonal demand shifts or a supplier lead time changes, the threshold values in the Google Sheet become stale and the Slack alerts either fire too early or too late. A quick review of your top 20 SKUs by volume at the start of each new season will prevent most missed reorder situations. This takes around 15 minutes and is the highest-value maintenance task your team can perform.
Process Runbook / SOPPage 4 of 4