A warehouse management system (WMS) is a software application, designed to support and optimize warehouse or distribution center management. They facilitate management in their daily planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling the utilization of available resources, to move and store materials into, within, and out of a warehouse, while supporting staff in the performance of material movement and storage in and around a warehouse.

Early warehouse management systems could only provide simple storage location functionality. Current WMS applications can be so complex and data intensive that they require a dedicated staff to run them. No matter how simple or complex the application is, the goal of a warehouse management system remains the same - to provide management with the information it needs to efficiently control the movement of materials within a warehouse.