Key items to assess include dock door counts and yard capacity, proximity to major highways and regional railheads, WMS functionality (batching, FIFO/LIFO support), API/EDI connectivity for order flow, and carrier networks for LTL/FTL and last-mile carriers. Also verify inbound staging, cross-dock ability and available value-added services to support returns and kitting.

Measure baseline metrics (average transit time, landed cost, pick-and-pack cost per order, inventory carrying cost, fill rate) and compare projected 3PL rates, regional transit reductions, and improved utilization. Use a 12-month TCO model including handling, transport, storage, connectivity and transition costs to quantify savings and ROI.

Negotiate clear SLAs for order accuracy, on-time shipments, order cycle time, inventory accuracy, and claims resolution. Typical KPIs to include: perfect order rate, same-day processing window, dock-to-stock time, picking accuracy, and chargeback thresholds. Define penalties and remediation steps for SLA breaches.

Onboarding typically runs 8–12 weeks for standard integrations: 1–2 weeks for requirements and mapping, 3–4 weeks for WMS configuration and API/EDI testing, 2–3 weeks for physical receipt and cycle-count validation, and 1–3 weeks for cutover and monitoring. Complex assortments, VAS or multi-node setups may extend timelines.