This is your link to the Parcel Carrier module - It’s an optional module that you can use to electronically submit consignments to parcel and pallet carriers to return a consignment number. Labels are also returned and stored in Warehousing which will automatically print when you want to apply them, for example when you pick the orders.

For details on which parcel carriers you can link to then click this link: Carrier Integration

A quick link to the sections available on this page is shown below:

Initial setup

In order to use, the ‘External Carrier Configuration’ first you must set it up in the Site Maintenance, see: Sites | Goods Outwards.

If using Distribution and you plan to submit delivery orders to the carriers, the same setup is also required in Depot Maintenance, see Depot. Please note, these options may not be visible in your current version, if this is the case then set up Warehousing first and contact our support team to replicate the setup across.

Delivery orders

Delivery orders are those which the warehouse organises the transport for and typically uses its own carrier account. If you plan to submit international consignments, you may first have to set up the external carrier options in Customer Maintenance > Goods Out, see: Goods Out.

If using Vision Distribution, set up the Delivery Areas to define which carrier delivers for each of the source depots, or leave it blank to signify that own transport will be used instead. See Delivery Area for more information.

Open

When orders are saved, this is checked to determine if the order will be routed through to the Carrier Submission screen, or straight through to picking (to be planned as a normal - non carrier - delivery).

If not using Vision Distribution, the Site Maintenance > Goods Out > Use Simple Order Planning option should be set to ‘Always use’.

Open

This will result in all saved orders initially landing in the Simple Order Planning screen so an appropriate carrier can be set manually:

Collection orders

Collection orders are those where the customer decides which carrier to use and wishes for the warehouse to submit them but using the customer’s own carrier account details. These require initial setup in Customer Maintenance > Goods Out, see: Goods Out.

Collection orders require a ‘Collection Group’, which tells us which carrier will handle the delivery. A list of the Collection Group codes (known as CollectionDeliveryArea in EDI) can be found in SO Code Lists - See section E.

For customers who submit their orders via EDI, some extra information is required in the message they send, please refer to SO XML Structure | XML HO (Header Options) Segment for more information.

Carrier Submission screen

Awaiting

When the screen has opened all orders pending submission are displayed (status ‘Awaiting Carrier Submission’), they’re grouped by carrier and account in the top grid which can be clicked to show all its orders in the bottom grid.

Coloured fields cannot be changed, and white fields (such as the service codes, additional service codes, pickup date & time) can be edited prior to submitting.

Click any Carrier in the given list to see the list of orders included in the selected carrier right below.

You are provided with the buttons to Select All orders and Deselect All orders. You can select which orders should be allowed to be submitted to carrier.

Submitting to parcel carriers

Press the submit button to send the orders to the carrier.

If there are no problems, the consignment numbers and labels will be automatically returned and stored, the order will be sent for picking.

Submitting to pallet carriers

This process is much the same however the following screen will be displayed allowing you to edit the quantities and define the pallet types etc beforehand.

Submission Issues

If there are any issues with the data submitted, a webpage will be opened showing you the errors returned by the carrier, here you can amend the order data and resubmit. Once all orders with problems have been successfully submitted, click the ‘Finish’ button to return to Warehousing.

For APC specifically, if the account in question has an unpaid bill then they will receive the following error on submission:

The unpaid bill will limit all access to the submission API and must be resolved first.

Bypass carrier submission

If you prefer not to send one or more of the orders in the bottom grid, click the button at the end, this will send the order through to picking.

Consignment Labels

These are produced automatically and at a time of your choice whether you are using the Flex e-fulfilment options or running it manually you can configure the point when labels are printed in the Goods Out tab within Site Settings.

Submitted

You can view all submitted orders and the information received from the carriers in this tab, including the consignment numbers.

In the bottom grid, there are three buttons beside each consignment.

Request Additional Consignment

If you use the option this allows you to add additions onto the existing, so all the details of the original consignment are pre-loaded you just need to enter some basic information and save to request an additional consignment.

The new consignment will then be visible in the submitted tab.