Shipping Connector User Manual 11 12/12/2019 With single or multiple package shipments, the first package tracking number is the master tracking number and it will be written into the Package Tracking No. field on the Shipping and Billing fast-tab.
About this manual. This document attempts to provide general configuration and usage information for Shipping Connector. It is not a field ...
Shipping Connector for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Shipping Connector User Manual Version 3.0 Shipping Connector User Manual 1 12/12/2019 Contents About this manual ..................................................................................................................................................4 Overview .....................................................................................................................................................................5 What is the Shipping Connector? ...........................................................................................................................5 What the Shipping Connector is not... ...................................................................................................................5 Features ......................................................................................................................................................................6 Shipping Information Data Exchange .....................................................................................................................6 Rate Adjustments (aka, Freight Markup) ...............................................................................................................6 Address Verification ...............................................................................................................................................6 Rate Shopping.........................................................................................................................................................6 Premium .................................................................................................................................................................6 Sales Order Shipping...................................................................................................................................................7 Sales Order Shipping Workflow..............................................................................................................................7 Preparing to Ship with FedEx Ship Manager ......................................................................................................8 Ship with FedEx Ship Manager ...........................................................................................................................9 Import the Shipment Details onto the Business Central Sales Order ............................................................. 10 Ship the Sales Order in Business Central ......................................................................................................... 11 Voiding a Shipment.......................................................................................................................................... 11 Shipping Connector Fields on the Sales Order Page ....................................................................................... 11 Customer Card..................................................................................................................................................... 14 Ship-to Address Card ........................................................................................................................................... 15 Location Card....................................................................................................................................................... 16 Purchase Return Order Shipping ............................................................................................................................. 17 Purchase Return Shipping Workflow................................................................................................................... 17 Preparing to Ship with UPS WorldShip............................................................................................................ 18 Ship with UPS WorldShip................................................................................................................................. 19 Import the Shipment Details onto the Business Central Purchase Return Order ........................................... 19 Ship the Purchase Return Order in Business Central ...................................................................................... 21 Voiding a Shipment.......................................................................................................................................... 21 Shipping Connector Fields on the Purchase Return Order.............................................................................. 21 Transfer Order Shipping .......................................................................................................................................... 23 Transfer Order Shipping Workflow ..................................................................................................................... 23 Preparing to Ship with Stamps.com ................................................................................................................ 23 Ship with Stamps.com ..................................................................................................................................... 25 Import the Shipment Details onto the Business Central Transfer Order ........................................................ 25 Service Order Shipping ............................................................................................................................................ 28 The Service Order Shipping Workflow ................................................................................................................ 28 Preparing to Ship with FedEx Ship Manager LTL ............................................................................................. 29 Shipping Connector User Manual 2 12/12/2019 Ship with FedEx Ship Manager ........................................................................................................................ 30 Import the Shipment Details onto the Business Central Service Order .......................................................... 30 Ship the Service Order in Business Central ..................................................................................................... 31 Voiding a Shipment.......................................................................................................................................... 31 Shipping Connector Fields on the Service Order Page .................................................................................... 32 Carrier Billing Accounts ........................................................................................................................................... 34 Alt. Ship-from Address (Blind Shipments) ............................................................................................................... 35 Blind Ship Scenarios Supported........................................................................................................................... 35 Creating an Alt. Ship-from Address entry............................................................................................................ 35 Creating a Sender Entry in FedEx Ship Manager ................................................................................................. 37 Rate Adjustments (a.k.a. Freight Markup) .............................................................................................................. 38 Rate Adjustment Calculation ............................................................................................................................... 38 Rate Adjustment Discovery ................................................................................................................................. 38 Filter Criteria.................................................................................................................................................... 38 Matching Criteria............................................................................................................................................. 39 Directly Referenced Rate Adjustments ........................................................................................................... 39 Creating Rate Adjustment Entries ................................................................................................................... 39 Priority Based Ordering ................................................................................................................................... 40 Rate Adjustment Examples.............................................................................................................................. 41 Address Verification ................................................................................................................................................ 42 Rate Shopping.......................................................................................................................................................... 44 Addresses ........................................................................................................................................................ 44 Packages & Package Templates....................................................................................................................... 45 Shipping Agents ............................................................................................................................................... 46 Rate Filtering ................................................................................................................................................... 46 Rate Selection .................................................................................................................................................. 46 Applying a Rate................................................................................................................................................ 47 Server Messages .............................................................................................................................................. 47 Shipping Connector Setup Page .............................................................................................................................. 48 General ................................................................................................................................................................ 48 Numbering........................................................................................................................................................... 49 Web Services ....................................................................................................................................................... 50 Rate Shopping...................................................................................................................................................... 50 Address Verification ............................................................................................................................................ 52 Email and Email Message .................................................................................................................................... 53 Package Tracking & Notification.......................................................................................................................... 54 Installation and Configuration................................................................................................................................. 55 Install the Shipping Connector extension application......................................................................................... 55 Shipping Connector User Manual 3 12/12/2019 Register Shipping Connector ............................................................................................................................... 55 Configure a Web Service Access Key ................................................................................................................... 55 Configure Shipping Connector Setup (for Sales Order shipping) ........................................................................ 55 Shipping Connector Workstation Installation and Configuration ....................................................................... 57 The Shipping Connector Workstation Settings Dialog ........................................................................................ 58 About this manual This document attempts to provide general configuration and usage information for Shipping Connector. It is not a field itemization and reference for that please refer to the online help pages accessible from the Shipping Connector pages and field labels in Business Central (via Ctrl+F1 or selecting the "Learn more" option on a field label tooltip). Shipping Connector User Manual 4 12/12/2019 Overview What is the Shipping Connector? The Shipping Connector is an extension application that facilitates the exchange of shipping information between Business Central and third-party, external shipping software. The Shipping Connector has been verified to interface with FedEx Ship Manager (FSM), UPS WorldShip (WS), Stamps.com, and Endicia Pro. Integrations have also been made with other shipping software packages (e.g., Purolator). Automated configuration for FSM, WS, and Stamps.com is provided by the configuration utility, automated configuration for the other packages is not yet available they require a manual configuration step. In practice, the Shipping Connector can be configured to interface with any shipping software that can exchange data with an external database. This graphic provides a good visual ... What the Shipping Connector is not... The Shipping Connector is not a shipping application, it does not create shipping labels. At this time, the Shipping Connector does not manage line level order information i.e., it does not define packages into which items can be packed and linked with specific tracking numbers (though this feature is under consideration). Shipping Connector User Manual 5 12/12/2019 Features The following are the main features of Shipping Connector. Shipping Information Data Exchange As described above Shipping Connector is first and foremost a facilitator of data exchange between Business Central and external shipping software. Shipping Connector provides fields and options within Business Central to manage the type and content of the data that is exchanged. Shipping Connector integrates its data management features in Business Central in such a way as to leverage the built-in workflows for order processing. The primary goal of Shipping Connector is to enable shipping with external shipping software in such a manner as to make it feel well integrated and natural to the Business Central workflow. Data Exchange is a standard Shipping Connector feature. Rate Adjustments (aka, Freight Markup) Rate adjustments may be used to modify the shipping charge prior to placement on the order. Typically, rate adjustments are used to *pad* the shipping charge to recoup the cost of handling the product, but they may also be used for incentives and penalties. Shipping Connector provides a robust rate adjustment engine that can be used to manage shipping charge adjustments for a variety of scenarios. Rate Adjustments is a standard Shipping Connector feature. Address Verification Address Verification provides an integrated user interface to verify and correct destination addresses. When an address on a shipment is incorrect e.g., a suite number or apartment number is missing, or the address is misspelled the carrier may charge an address correction fee. If a company ships to new addresses on an ongoing basis, the Address Verification feature can save significantly. While shipping software frequently includes address verification, that software is not integrated with Business Central and hence does not provide a convenient interface to update the addresses in Business Central. This integrated feature provides distinct time and cost savings. Address Verification is an optional Shipping Connector feature. Rate Shopping Rate Shopping provides an integrated user interface to query rates from the shipping carriers. For companies that accept credit card payments and generate a Credit Authorization when the order is released, having a shipping charge line present is mandatory or else the Credit Authorization will not include the shipping charges. Rate Shopping provides a convenient user interface to solicit accurate rates for this scenario. As well, Rate Shipping may be used to find optimal shipping rates amongst the shipping carriers potentially saving significant costs over time. Rate Shopping is an optional Shipping Connector feature. Premium Business Central Premium edition includes support for Service and Warehouse Management. The Shipping Connector Premium option enables support for Service Order and Warehouse shipping. In addition, it includes Address Verification, Rate Shopping and enables Data Exchange with an unlimited number of companies. Shipping Connector User Manual 6 12/12/2019 Sales Order Shipping To provide an introduction to Business Central shipping using Shipping Connector we will process a sales order shipment. Doing so will introduce the basic features of Shipping Connector and provide a context to discuss the more detailed capabilities of the product. Sales Order Shipping Workflow As earlier noted, Shipping Connector taps into the standard Business Central workflows. So, to ship a sales order you would first prepare an order in the usual Business Central fashion i.e., 1. Create a new sales order 2. Specify a customer 3. Set or verify addressing information 4. Add product 5. Set shipping preferences 6. Release the order That would result in a sales order similar to this one: Shipping Connector User Manual 7 12/12/2019 In the above figure the fields pertinent to shipping are marked in red outline and numbered. When the user Releases the order, Shipping Connector automatically queues the shipping information for export. Subsequently, the Shipping Connector Workstation (SCW) application, installed on the same workstation as the shipping software, periodically retrieves the queued shipping information (via the Shipping Connector Web Service) and stores it locally on the shipping workstation. Preparing to Ship with FedEx Ship Manager The FedEx Ship Manager (FSM) application enables data exchange with external systems via its "Data Integration" feature. To enable FSM data exchange with Shipping Connector you must first turn it on as follows: · Click the "Integration" menu item (the Integration menu will display) · Select the "DynamicsImportExport" option Note: The DynamicsImportExport Integration option was installed during the Shipping Connector Workstation configuration procedure. If it does not appear in the menu then you will need to rerun the configuration procedure and "Copy" the FedEx map when on the "Data Maps" step. With Integration turned on FSM may then retrieve the shipping information from the SCW local cache and populate its data fields with the information. To initiate data exchange, enter or scan the Business Central order number into the FSM Lookup Value dialog. Note: If the Lookup Value dialog does not display press the "Clear Fields" button in the lower left of the FSM interface Shipping Connector User Manual 8 12/12/2019 Once the order number is entered the Business Central order information will populate as shown below. In this figure the fields from the sales order are populated into the fields of FSM with association identified by the numbering. With the data fields populated from the Business Central order information you may now interact with the FSM data fields as necessary to fully prepare the order to ship. The only restriction imposed by Shipping Connector is that the "Customer reference" field must not be changed else Shipping Connector will not be able to identify the associated shipment when it is processed. Note: A perceptive observer may notice that we specified "UPS Ground" as the shipping agent service to be used to ship the order. Shipping Connector passed that information to FSM however FSM does not recognize "UPS Ground" as a service so it populated its "Service Type" field with the default value of "FedEx Ground Service". Ship with FedEx Ship Manager When the shipment is ready to process press the "Ship" button in the lower right corner. Assuming all is in order FSM will print a shipping label and (importantly to us) export the shipment details to the Shipping Connector Workstation local cache. When this happens, you will notice the Shipping Connector Workstation icon in the system tray flash green while it relaying the information back to Business Central. Shipping Connector User Manual 9 12/12/2019 Import the Shipment Details onto the Business Central Sales Order We can now switch back to the sales order page in Business Central. If you have enabled "Auto Apply Shipping" in Shipping Connector Setup then the shipment details will automatically populate onto the sales order (you may need to refresh the page by pressing F5). Otherwise, you may initiate data exchange via the "Apply Shipping" action in the Shipping Connector menu on the Sales Order page. The shipment details will populate onto the sales order in the form of a shipping charge line, information (comment) lines, and updates to the Shipping and Billing fields as shown here: The information lines provide details for each package shipped including the ship date, shipping service, tracking number, and shipping charges. For a sales order, the shipping charges may be specified via a G/L Account number or a Resource - as defined in Shipping Connector Setup, discussed later. Shipping Connector User Manual 10 12/12/2019 With single or multiple package shipments, the first package tracking number is the master tracking number and it will be written into the Package Tracking No. field on the Shipping and Billing fast-tab. Once shipment details have populated onto the order, the user may modify, add, or delete any information. If the user desires to display the shipping information but either not charge for shipping or add to the amount generated from the shipping software, the line may be deleted or changed prior to posting. Note: A perceptive observer may notice that the shipping charge in the example above was $8.45 in FSM but was placed on the sales order with a value of $18.45. This was due to the influence of a rate adjustment. If we look at the off-screen information in the shipment detail lines... ...you can see that a rate adjustment entry has inflated the original shipping charge of $8.45 to the $18.45 value charged to the customer. We will discuss Rate Adjustments in more detail in a later section. Ship the Sales Order in Business Central At this point you can Post/Ship, Invoice the order. Doing so will create Posted Sales Shipment and Posted Sales Invoice entries in Business Central. The pertinent shipment details from the order will be transferred onto those entries making it available for subsequent recall. Voiding a Shipment If a shipment is voided/deleted from the shipping software prior to manifesting, the deletion will be passed to Business Central. In that event, clicking on the Apply Shipping button will cause the associated shipment details to be removed from the order (or they will be removed automatically if "Auto Apply Shipping" is enabled). Note: Manually removing the shipment detail from the Business Central sales order does not void the shipment in the shipping software. To prevent the carrier from attempting to pick up the package (and charging you to do so) you must void the shipment in the shipping software. Shipping Connector Fields on the Sales Order Page There are a number of Shipping Connector fields on the Sales Order page that we did not use in the above shipping scenario. We will elaborate on those now. This figure shows the Shipping Connector fields on the Sales Order outlined in red. Shipping Connector User Manual 11 12/12/2019 We should first note that many of these fields were populated from the Customer Card at the time the Sales Order was created. Also, there are two other influences that will determine the initial value of the Shipping Connector fields the Ship-to Address and the Location. The initialization of the Shipping Connector fields follows this logic: 1. Copy the Customer Card fields onto the order when the Sell-to Customer is specified. 2. Copy the Ship-to Address Card fields onto the order when a Ship-to Address is specified. 3. Copy the Location Card fields onto the order when a Location (warehouse) is specified. Thus, the Shipping Connector fields are updated when any one of the above three fields are specified with a "last one wins" priority. After the fields are initialized the user may modify them as needed. The descriptions below for the fields also applies to the same fields on the Customer Card, Ship-to Address Card and the Location Card. Ship-to Verification Status Provides indication of the current verification status of the Ship-to Address. Address Verification (an optional feature) can be initiated from the Shipping Connector action menu. In this example the address has been verified with USPS, UPS and FedEx on the date indicated with a USPS "Delivery Point" of 81 and "Carrier Route" of C061. If the address was also a residential address then the status would so indicate. Note: At this time only FedEx returns residential address indication. Free Shipping If this option is enabled then no shipping charges will be added to the order. Bill Shipping To Identifies who shall pay for the shipping charges. One of: · Sender - the Shipper's account will be used to pay the charges · Recipient - the Recipient's account will be used to pay the charges · Third Party (Bill-to Customer) - a Third Party account associated with the Bill-to Customer will be used to pay the charges Bill Shipping To Account Identifies the account to use when billing shipping (in the shipping software). Rate Adjustment Entry No. Identifies a rate adjustment entry to use for all shipping charges on the order Alt. Ship-from Address Id Identifies an alternate return address for the shipping label. Most shipping packages provide a way to display a return address on the shipping label that is not the address where the shipment originated. This is known as "Blind Shipping" or "Alternate Ship-from Addressing". Sender Account Id Identifies a send-from account in the shipping agent software. Some shipping packages provide a way to select a carrier billing account to be used as the sender account. The carrier billing account defines the shipment originating address and billing details. Note: At this time only UPS WorldShip is known to support this option via external data exchange. Delivery Instructions Instructions for the shipping agent courier that are displayed on the handheld Ship-to Residential Allows stipulation that the Ship-to Address is a residential address. Not all shipping providers (e.g., USPS, UPS) return residential designation when verifying addresses -- however, most providers will adjust delivery cost based on this classification. If you know the recipient's address is residential you may so state here. Saturday Delivery Some shippers provide an option for weekend delivery (FedEx) for a fee. This field indicates to the shipping provider that weekend delivery is acceptable. Shipping Connector User Manual 12 12/12/2019 Quoted Shipping Charges Billed Shipping Charges Provides a summation of the quoted shipping charges (if any) on the sales order. Provides a summation of the billed shipping charges (if any) on the sales order. These are the charges that have been billed to you (the sender) not including any rate adjustments thus providing you a way to track your actual shipping costs. Shipping Connector User Manual 13 12/12/2019 Customer Card Shipping Connector fields may be set on a per customer basis. Subsequently, when the customer is specified on an order (Sales Order or Service Order) the Shipping Connector field values from the Customer Card will be transferred to the order. This allows you to define customer preferences for options such as carrier billing accounts, shipping rate adjustments, delivery instructions or blind shipments. The Customer Card The Shipping Connector actions and fields are identified in red. We have described the fields in the previous section here we will elaborate on their use. Free Shipping There are a variety of scenarios where you may wish to offer your customers free shipping but need to manage it on a per customer or per order basis. For example, when a customer's total purchases have exceeded a specified threshold or they have achieved some other preferred status. For this you may use the Free Shipping option to avoid charging the customer for shipping. Bill Shipping To, Bill Shipping To Account If the shipping charges for shipments to a customer should be billed to the customer's carrier account (Recipient) or a different account (Third Party) then you can store the billing account information here. See also, Carrier Billing Accounts later in this document. Rate Adjustment If shipping charges for shipments to a customer need to be adjusted based on specific criterion (e.g., expedited processing) then you may wish to create a rate adjustment for that scenario and specify it here. The rate adjustment entry will be transferred to the order and used during rate calculation. Alt. Ship-from Id This is a lesser used feature and may require configuration in the shipping software. You can use this feature when you wish to label the shipment with an originating address different from the actual Shipping Connector User Manual 14 12/12/2019 shipper information. Normally this feature is used in a "fulfillment" situation where you are shipping product on behalf of a third party. For more details refer to the Alt. Ship-from Address discussion later in this document. Delivery Instructions This field allows you to state a short description of any special considerations the courier should observe when delivering the shipment. E.g., "Deliver to rear loading dock". Saturday Delivery This is a FedEx option for delivery. Some FedEx services will allow delivery on a weekend (for a fee) if given prior approval. Ship-to Address Card Shipping Connector fields may be set on a per ship-to address basis. Subsequently, when the ship-to address is specified on an order (Sales Order or Service Order) the Shipping Connector fields from the Ship-to Address Card will be transferred to the order. This allows you to define customer preferences for specific delivery locations. The Ship-to Address Card We should note that the Ship-to Address Code is specified on an order after the Sell-to Customer Code has been specified. Hence the preferences on the Ship-to Address Card, if set, will overwrite the Customer Card preferences. The descriptions and use of the Shipping Connector fields are provided in the previous sections. Shipping Connector User Manual 15 12/12/2019 Location Card The Location Card in Business Central is used to define a product depot, a.k.a. warehouse. You may use a location for inventory purposes and/or for product branding. For example, you may depot product for multiple companies -- Company X using Location X and Company Y using Location Y. When shipping product for each company, if you would like the shipping label to display a unique name and address for that company then you can use the Alt. Ship-from Id field to identify an originating address entry. Similarly, if you would like to use a specific sender account in the shipping software then you can use the Sender Account No. field to identify the sender account. Shipping Connector User Manual 16 12/12/2019 Purchase Return Order Shipping Purchase Return Shipping Workflow The Purchase Return shipping workflow runs through the Purchase Return Order - which can be created from purchase documents, Posted Purchase Invoice, Purchase Credit Memo or by manually entering the required fields onto a new Posted Return Order. Regardless of how the Purchase Return Order is created the steps in the workflow are similar to those of the sales order shipping workflow i.e., 1. Create a purchase return order 2. Specify a vendor 3. Set or verify addressing information 4. Add product to return 5. Select shipping preferences 6. Release the order to ship The above would result in a purchase return order similar to this one: Shipping Connector User Manual 17 12/12/2019 In the above figure the fields pertinent to shipping are marked in red outline and numbered. When the user Releases the order, Shipping Connector automatically queues the shipping information for export. Subsequently, the Shipping Connector Workstation (SCW) application, installed on the same workstation as the shipping software, periodically retrieves the queued shipping information (via the Shipping Connector Web Service) and stores it locally on the shipping workstation. Preparing to Ship with UPS WorldShip The UPS WorldShip (WS) application enables data exchange with external systems via its "Data Import/Export" feature. To enable WS data exchange with Shipping Connector you must first turn it on as follows: · Click the "Import-Export" menu item (the Import/Export toolbar will display) · Click the "Automatic Export" toolbar button · Select Automatic Export after Shipment Processing · Select "Dynamics Export" (if you don't see it select "More..") · Select "Keyed Import" · Select "Dynamics Import" (if you don't see it select "More...") Note: The Dynamics Import & Export data exchange options were installed during the Shipping Connector Workstation configuration procedure. If they do not appear in the menus then you will need to rerun the configuration procedure and "Copy" the UPS WorldShip map when on the "Data Maps" step. With Import/Export turned on WS will retrieve the shipping information from the SCW local cache and populate its data fields with the information. To initiate data exchange, enter or scan the Business Central order number into the WS Enter Import Key dialog. Note: If the Enter Import Key dialog does not display make sure Keyed Import is set to "Dynamics Import" Shipping Connector User Manual 18 12/12/2019 Once the order number is entered the Business Central order information will populate as shown below. In this figure the fields from the purchase return order are populated into the fields of WS with association identified by the numbering. With the data fields populated you may now interact with WS as necessary to fully prepare the order to ship. The only restriction imposed by Shipping Connector is that the "Reference Number 1" field must not be changed else Shipping Connector will not be able to identify the associated shipment when it is processed. Ship with UPS WorldShip When the shipment is ready to process press the "Process Shipment" button in the lower right corner. Assuming all is in order WS will print a shipping label and (importantly to us) export the shipment details to the SCW local cache. When this happens, you will notice the SCW icon in the system tray flash green while it relaying the information back to Business Central. Import the Shipment Details onto the Business Central Purchase Return Order We can now switch back to the purchase return order page in Business Central. Shipping Connector User Manual 19 12/12/2019 If you have enabled "Auto Apply Shipping" in Shipping Connector Setup then the shipment details will automatically populate onto the order (you may need to refresh the page by pressing F5). Otherwise, you may initiate data exchange via the "Apply Shipping" action in the Shipping Connector menu on the Purchase Return Order page. The shipment details will populate onto the purchase return order in the form of a shipping charge line, information (comment) lines, and updates to the Shipping and Billing fields as shown here: The information lines provide details for each package shipped including the ship date, shipping service, tracking number, and shipping charges. Shipping Connector User Manual 20 12/12/2019 With single or multiple package shipments, the first package tracking number is the master tracking number and it will be written into the Package Tracking No. field on the Shipping and Billing fast-tab. Once shipment details have populated onto the order, the user may modify, add, or delete any information. Ship the Purchase Return Order in Business Central At this point you can Post/Ship/Invoice the order. Doing so will create a Posted Purchase Return Shipment entry in Business Central. The pertinent shipment details from the order will be transferred onto those entries making it available for subsequent recall. Voiding a Shipment If a shipment is voided/deleted from the shipping software prior to manifesting, the deletion will be passed to Business Central. In that event, clicking on the Apply Shipping button will cause the associated shipment details to be removed from the order (or they will be removed automatically if "Auto Apply Shipping" is enabled). Note: Manually removing the shipment detail from the Business Central order does not void the shipment in the shipping software. To prevent the carrier from attempting to pick up the package (and charging you to do so) you must void the shipment in the shipping software. Shipping Connector Fields on the Purchase Return Order There are a number of Shipping Connector fields on the Purchase Return Order page that we did not use in the above shipping scenario. We will elaborate on those now. We first note that many of these fields are populated from the Vendor Card at the time the Purchase Return Order was created. Also, the Order Address Card, if specified, may determine the initial value of the Shipping Connector fields. The initialization of the Shipping Connector fields follows this logic: 1. Copy the Vendor Card fields onto the order when the Buy-from Vendor is specified. 2. Copy the Order Address fields onto the order when an Order Address is specified. Thus, the Shipping Connector fields are updated when either of the above three entries are specified with a "last one wins" priority. After the fields are initialized the user may modify them as needed. The descriptions below for the fields also applies to the same fields on the Vendor Card and the Order Address Card. Ship-to Verification Status Shipping Connector User Manual Provides indication of the current verification status of the Ship-to Address. Address Verification (an optional feature) can be initiated from the Shipping 21 12/12/2019 Bill Shipping To Bill Shipping To Account Delivery Instructions Saturday Delivery Total Shipping Charges Connector action menu. In this example the address has been verified with USPS, UPS and FedEx on the date indicated with a USPS "Delivery Point" of 99 and a USPS "Carrier Route" of C019. If the address was also a residential address then the status would so indicate. Note: At this time only FedEx returns residential address indication. Identifies who shall pay for the shipping charges. One of: · Sender - the Shipper's account will be used to pay the charges · Recipient - the Recipient's account will be used to pay the charges · Third Party (Pay-to Vendor) - a Third Party account associated with the Pay- to Vendor will be used to pay the charges Identifies the account to use when billing shipping (in the shipping software). Instructions for the shipping agent courier - displayed on the handheld Some shippers provide an option for weekend delivery (FedEx) for a fee. This field indicates to the shipping provider that weekend delivery is acceptable. Provides a summation of the billed shipping charges (if any) on the sales order. These are the charges that have been billed to you (the sender) not including any rate adjustments thus providing you a way to track your actual shipping costs. Shipping Connector User Manual 22 12/12/2019 Transfer Order Shipping The Transfer Order is all about moving inventory between warehouses. It has no direct impact on the G/L i.e., the lines of the Transfer Order do not create G/L entries. Transfer Order Shipping Workflow The Transfer Order shipping workflow is as follows: 1. Create a transfer order 2. Specify a transfer-from location 3. Specify a transfer-to location 4. Set or verify addressing information 5. Add inventory to transfer 6. Select shipping preferences 7. Release the order to ship In the above figure the fields pertinent to shipping are marked in red outline and numbered. When the user Releases the order, Shipping Connector automatically queues the shipping information for export. Subsequently, the Shipping Connector Workstation (SCW) application, installed on the same workstation as the shipping software, periodically retrieves the queued shipping information (via the Shipping Connector Web Service) and stores it locally on the shipping workstation. Preparing to Ship with Stamps.com The Stamps.com application enables data exchange with external systems via its "Data Source" feature (a.k.a. "Batch", a.k.a. "ODBC"). To enable Stamps.com data exchange with Shipping Connector you must define an "ODBC Data Source". A thorough guide for ODBC setup in Stamps.com is available under the Guides section of the website. For this discussion we'll assume that you have installed the "Dynamics" profile available during setup. Shipping Connector User Manual 23 12/12/2019 The Stamps.com application provides two options for order processing batch processing, available on the Orders tab, and individual order processing, available on the Packages tab. To enable data exchange for individual order processing you must enroll in their "Professional Shipper" plan. We will assume that is the case for this discussion. Data exchange will work for batch order processing without the Professional Shipper plan but only on the Orders tab. To import all orders from Shipping Connector (batch): · Click the "Orders" menu item (the Orders management screen will display) · The "ODBC: Dynamics" Data Source should be visible in the list of Profiles on the left-hand side Press the "Import Orders" button at the top-left of the toolbar. You should then see the order in the list. You may then select the order and set the shipping options as necessary. Shipping Connector User Manual 24 12/12/2019 To import a single order from Shipping Connector: · Click the "Packages" menu item (the Packages management screen will display) · Scan or enter the order number into the "Order ID" field then press the "Get Order" button (the order details will populate) You may now modify the shipment details as desired and press the "Print Postage" button when you are ready to ship the order (print a label). Note: The only restriction imposed by Shipping Connector is when you have enabled multiple companies during Shipping Connector Workstation configuration (i.e., you selected more than one company from the list on the Companies tab). In that case you must leave the company name displayed in the "Print Message" field. Shipping Connector requires this information in order to identify the Business Central company in which the order resides. Ship with Stamps.com When you are ready to print the shipping label press the "Print" button that will send the label to the printer and initiate "Postback" to the SCW data cache. The SCW icon in the system tray will flash green while it relays the information back to Business Central. Import the Shipment Details onto the Business Central Transfer Order We can now switch back to the transfer order page in Business Central. Shipping Connector User Manual 25 12/12/2019 If you have enabled "Auto Apply Shipping" in Shipping Connector Setup then the shipment details will automatically populate onto the order (you may need to refresh the page by pressing F5). Otherwise, you may initiate data exchange via the "Apply Shipping" action in the Shipping Connector menu on the Transfer Order page. The shipment details will populate onto the transfer order in the form of information (comment) lines and updates to the Shipping and Billing fields as shown here: Shipping Connector User Manual 26 12/12/2019 The information lines provide details for each package shipped including the ship date, shipping service, and tracking number. Remember that Transfer Orders don't post to the G/L so shipping charge lines are not added. With single or multiple package shipments, the first package tracking number is the master tracking number and it will be written into the Package Tracking No. field on the Shipping and Billing fast-tab. Once shipment details have populated onto the order, the user may modify, add, or delete any information. If the user desires to display the shipping information but either not charge for shipping or add to the amount generated from the shipping software, the line may be deleted or changed prior to posting. Shipping Connector User Manual 27 12/12/2019 Service Order Shipping If you have read the section on Sales Order Shipping then this section is going to look very similar. However, there is one significant difference between Shipping Sales Orders and Shipping Service Orders you don't actually ship a Service Order. In the Sales Order data model, you add shipping charges (Sales Lines) directly to the Sales Order. When you ship the Sales Order, a Posted Sales Shipment is created. In the Service Order data model, you add work items (Service Item Lines) to the Service Order and shipping charges (Service Lines) to the Service Item Lines via the Service Item Worksheet. When you ship the Service Order you actually ship each of the Service Item Worksheets that are Released for Shipping. The Service Order Shipping Workflow So, the shipping workflow for the Service Order looks like this: 1. Create a new service order 2. Specify a customer 3. Set or verify addressing information 4. Set shipping preferences 5. Add work items (Service Item Lines) 6. Release to ship (Service Item Worksheet) That might result in a service order similar to this one: Shipping Connector User Manual 28 12/12/2019 Preparing to Ship with FedEx Ship Manager LTL The FedEx Ship Manager (FSM) application enables data exchange with external systems via its "Data Integration" feature. To enable FSM data exchange with Shipping Connector you must first turn it on as follows: · Click the "Integration" menu item (the Integration menu will display) · Select the "Dynamics LTL" option Note: The "Dynamics LTL" Integration option was installed during the Shipping Connector Workstation configuration procedure. If it does not appear in the menu then you will need to rerun the configuration procedure and select the option to copy the FedEx LTL map when on the "Data Maps" step. With Integration turned on FSM may then retrieve the shipping information from the SCW local cache and populate its data fields with the information. To initiate data exchange, enter or scan the Business Central order number into the FSM Lookup Value dialog. Note: If the Lookup Value dialog does not display press the "Clear Fields" button in the lower left of the FSM interface Once the order number is entered the Business Central order information will populate as shown below. In the figure the fields from the service order are populated into the fields of FSM with association identified by the numbering. With the data fields populated from the Business Central order information you may now interact with the FSM data fields as necessary to fully prepare the order to ship. Shipping Connector User Manual 29 12/12/2019 Ship with FedEx Ship Manager When the shipment is ready to process press the "Ship" button in the lower right corner. Assuming all is in order FSM will print a shipping label and (importantly to us) export the shipment details to the Shipping Connector Workstation local cache. When this happens, you will notice the Shipping Connector Workstation icon in the system tray flash green while it relaying the information back to Business Central. Import the Shipment Details onto the Business Central Service Order We can now switch back to the service order page in Business Central and open the service item worksheet select the service item line on the service order then select "Service Item Worksheet" on the Line menu item. The Service Item Worksheet will display. If you have enabled "Auto Apply Shipping" in Shipping Connector Setup then the shipment details will automatically populate onto the Service Item Worksheet (you may need to refresh the page by pressing F5). Otherwise, you may initiate data exchange via the "Apply Shipping" action in the Shipping Connector menu on the Service Item Worksheet page (shown above). The shipment details will populate onto the service item worksheet in the form of a shipping charge line, information (comment) lines, and updates to the Shipping fields as shown below: Shipping Connector User Manual 30 12/12/2019 The information lines provide details for each package shipped including the ship date, shipping service, tracking number, and shipping charges. For a service order, the shipping charges may be specified via a G/L Account number or a Resource - as defined in Shipping Connector Setup, discussed later. Ship the Service Order in Business Central At this point you can Post/Ship/Invoice the Service Order. Doing so will create Posted Service Shipment and Posted Service Invoice entries in Business Central. Voiding a Shipment If the LTL shipment is voided/deleted from the shipping software prior to manifesting, the deletion will be passed to Business Central. In that event, clicking on the Apply Shipping button will cause the associated shipment details to be removed from the order (they will be removed automatically if "Auto Apply Shipping" is enabled). Note: Manually removing the shipment detail from the Business Central Service Order does not void the shipment in the shipping software. To prevent the carrier from attempting to pick up the shipment (and charging you to do so) you must void the shipment in the shipping software. With FedEx LTL the Package Tracking No. is the tracking id for all skids in the shipment, it will be written into the Package Tracking No. field on the Shipping fast-tab (as shown above) and also to the shipment detail lines that were added to the worksheet Once shipment details have populated onto the order, the user may modify, add, or delete the informational lines. If the user desires to display the shipping information but either not charge for shipping or add to the amount generated from the shipping software, the line may be deleted or changed prior to posting. Shipping Connector User Manual 31 12/12/2019 Shipping Connector Fields on the Service Order Page There are a number of Shipping Connector fields on the Service Order page that we did not use in the above shipping scenario. We will elaborate on those now. This figure shows the Shipping Connector fields on the Service Order outlined in red. We should first note that many of these fields can be populated from the Customer Card at the time the Service Order is created. Also note, the Ship-to Code field influences the initial value of the Shipping Connector fields. The initialization of the Shipping Connector fields follows this logic: 1. Copy the Customer Card fields onto the order when the Customer is specified. 2. Copy the Ship-to Address Card fields onto the order when a Ship-to Code is specified. Thus, the Shipping Connector fields are updated when the above fields are specified with a "last one wins" priority. After the fields are initialized the user may modify them as needed. The descriptions below for the fields also applies to the same fields on the Customer Card and the Ship-to Address Card. Ship-to Verification Status Provides indication of the current verification status of the Ship-to Address. Address Verification (an optional feature) can be initiated from the Shipping Connector action menu. In this example the address has been verified with USPS, UPS and FedEx on the date indicated with a USPS "Delivery Point" of 81 and "Carrier Route" of C061. If the address was also a residential address then the status would so indicate. Note: At this time only FedEx returns residential address indication. Free Shipping If this option is enabled then no shipping charges will be added to the order. Bill Shipping To Identifies who shall pay for the shipping charges. One of: · Sender - the Shipper's account will be used to pay the charges (FSM LTL: Payment Type = Shipper, Payment Terms = Prepaid) · Recipient - the Recipient's account will be used to pay the charges (FSM LTL: Payment Type = Shipper, Payment Terms = Collect) · Third Party (Bill-to Customer) - a Third Party account associated with the Bill-to Customer will be used to pay the charges (FSM LTL: Payment Type = Third Party, Payment Terms = Prepaid) Shipping Connector User Manual 32 12/12/2019 Bill Shipping To Account Rate Adjustment Entry No. Alt. Ship-from Address Id Sender Account Id Delivery Instructions Ship-to Residential Saturday Delivery Billed Shipping Charges Identifies the account to use when billing shipping (in the shipping software). Identifies a rate adjustment entry to use for all shipping charges on the order Identifies an alternate return address for the shipping label. Most shipping packages provide a way to display a return address on the shipping label that is not the address where the shipment originated. This is known as "Blind Shipping", "Drop Ship" or "Alternate Ship-from Addressing". Identifies a send-from account in the shipping agent software. Some shipping packages provide a way to select a carrier billing account to be used as the sender account. The carrier billing account defines the shipment originating address and billing details. Note: At this time only UPS WorldShip is known to support this option via external data exchange. Instructions for the shipping agent courier that are displayed on the handheld Allows stipulation that the Ship-to Address is a residential address. Not all shipping providers (e.g., USPS, UPS) return residential designation when verifying addresses -- however, most providers will adjust delivery cost based on this classification. If you know the recipient's address is residential you may so state here. Some shippers provide an option for weekend delivery (FedEx) for a fee. This field indicates to the shipping provider that weekend delivery is acceptable. Provides a summation of the billed shipping charges (if any) on the sales order. These are the charges that have been billed to you (the sender) not including any rate adjustments thus providing you a way to track your actual shipping costs. Shipping Connector User Manual 33 12/12/2019 Carrier Billing Accounts The "Bill Shipping To" and "Bill Shipping to Account" fields on the various pages allow you to specify the preferred bill-to party and associated billing account exported to the shipping software. If the bill-to party is not the "Sender" then the account number to be billed must be provided. To retrieve a bill-to account first set the "Shipping Agent" field on the order that filters the accounts for the selected carrier. Next, set the "Bill Shipping To" field to the preferred party. When set to anything other than "Sender" Shipping Connector will search the list of associated accounts and return the first account marked "Default" (or the first account if there are no accounts marked "Default"). To create a bill-to account entry click on New the Accounts dialog will display. · The "Entry Type", Code, Name and "Shipping Agent Code" fields will auto-populate from information on the page. · Enter the billing account number in the "Account No." field. · Select "Default" if you prefer this account over any other accounts (Shipping Connector uses this preference to find accounts when shipping fields are updated on the page). · Add a description for the account (optional). · If the account is for a third-party billing scenario you should add the third-party address information by clicking the ellipses (...) in the "Third Party Address" field. Most carriers require this information for third-party billing. · Click the OK button Shipping Connector User Manual 34 12/12/2019 Alt. Ship-from Address (Blind Shipments) Companies who ship from their warehouse on behalf of their clients frequently need the shipping label to display a return address for their client instead of the actual address of their warehouse. This is called the "Blind Shipment" or "Alternate Return Address" scenario. Shipping Connector supports blind shipments by allowing you to specify an "Alt. Ship-from Id" on the Sales Order. Blind Ship Scenarios Supported There are two blind ship scenarios currently supported: 1. Use a different return address for all shipments from a location (the "Virtual Warehouse" scenario) 2. Use a specific return address for all shipments to a customer (the "Virtual Company" scenario) To implement the Virtual Warehouse scenario, you define an "Alt. Ship-from Id" on the Location Card for the warehouse then specify that Location Code on the Sales Order. The location's "Alt. Ship-from Id" will be copied to the order. To implement the Virtual Company scenario, you define an "Alt. Ship-from Id" on the Customer Card then specify that customer as the Sell-to Customer on the order. The customer's "Alt. Ship-from Id" will be copied to the order. Important Note: Since both a Location Code and a Sell-to Customer can be specified on the Sales Order one must have priority over the other we define the Location as the higher priority. Thus, if both the Location and the Customer have alternate ship-from address information defined, the information from the Location will be used. Important Note: Blind shipping is currently only supported for Sales. It makes no sense for Transfers or Purchases. It may be useful for Services but to-date there has been no demand for it so it is not yet implemented there. Important Note: Stamps.com and UPS/WorldShip will allow you to set the return address on the shipping label by passing the address information from Business Central. FedEx Ship Manager however requires that you predefine the return address (in the Sender Account list) and specify the Sender ID for the account as the Alt. Ship-from ID. For FedEx the Alt. Ship-from ID is limited to 15 characters. (see below) Creating an Alt. Ship-from Address entry To create a new entry, select the dropdown for the "Alt. Ship-from Id" field and select New The Shipping Connector Accounts dialog will display. Shipping Connector User Manual 35 12/12/2019 Enter the Ship-from identifier in the "Account No." column. Select "Default" (optional) if you wish for the account to auto-populate during page initialization. Enter a description (optional). Enter the address information by clicking on the ellipses in the "Address Information" column the Address Information dialog will display Enter the ship from address information, then select OK. The Address Information column will display "Present" to indicate that address information has been provided. Press the OK button to save the changes. Shipping Connector User Manual 36 12/12/2019 Creating a Sender Entry in FedEx Ship Manager In FSM the return address information is displayed in the lower left area of the shipping interface it is labeled "Sender Information" / "Change return address". To create a return address entry in FSM you must open the Sender database (Sender option on the Databases menu) and then click the Add button (at bottom) to open the add Sender information dialog. The value you specify in the "Sender ID" field is the value you must enter into the Shipping Connector "Alt. Shipfrom Id" field (it is limited to 15 characters). Shipping Connector User Manual 37 12/12/2019 Rate Adjustments (a.k.a. Freight Markup) ** If you just want to see some rate adjustment usage examples then just skip down to the examples below. Rate Adjustment Calculation Rate adjustments are used to modify the shipping charge prior to placement on the order. Typically rate adjustments are used to *pad* the shipping charge to recoup the cost of handling the product, but they may also be used for incentives and penalties. When a rate adjustment is used to modify a shipping charge the following adjusting logic is applied: 1. First the charge is adjusted based on Adjustment Type Adjustment Type = None - no adjustment is applied Adjustment Type = Flat Rate - the shipping charge is set equal to the Adjustment Value Adjustment Type = Percent Markup - the shipping charge is increased by (Adjustment Value/100) % Adjustment Type = Fixed Markup - the shipping charge is increased by the Adjustment Value Adjustment Type = Free Shipping - the shipping charge is set to zero 2. Then the Additional Fee is added to the adjusted charge. Final charge = Adjusted original charge + Additional Fee Rate Adjustment Discovery To determine if a shipping charge should be adjusted Shipping Connector performs a search for an applicable rate adjustment entry. This is called the "Rate Adjustment Discovery" process. For the purpose of this discussion the terms "rule" and "rate adjustment entry" are synonymous. Shipping Connector implements a scope-based rule discovery algorithm that is, you define a set of rules, sort them by descending scope, then chose the first one where the rate adjustment filter and matching criteria compare positively with the details of the order. Scope is a measure of the applicability of a rule to an order. A broadly scoped rule applies to many orders while a narrowly scoped rule applies to fewer orders. The filter criteria fields listed below are used to define the scope of a rule. For example, a rule where the "Recipient No." is set to a specific customer number is narrowly scoped to orders for just that customer. Conversely, a rule where just the "Shipping Agent Code" is set to a specific shipping agent (e.g., UPS) is more broadly scoped to all orders that ship via that shipping agent. During the discovery process all entries not marked Active or Discoverable are ignored. Filter Criteria The following fields constitute the "Filter Criteria" for the rate adjustment (in descending scope order): Ship-to Address Code Recipient No. Shipping Agent Service Code Shipping Agent Code Document Type Applies-to Type (matches the Shipping Agent Code for Sales & Service documents and the Order Address Code for Purchase documents) (matches the Sell-to Customer No. for Sales & Service documents and the Buy-from Vendor No. for Purchase documents) (one of All, Sales, Purchase, Service or Transfer) (one of All, Shipment or Rate Quote) When a shipping charge is to be adjusted the set of all rate adjustment entries is winnowed to an applicable set of rules by sorting in descending scope order then, for each rule, comparing each filter criteria field to the corresponding field of the order - the rule is ignored if there is no match. Shipping Connector User Manual 38 12/12/2019 Note: When performing comparisons, a blank rate adjustment field is treated as a wildcard i.e., it matches all Matching Criteria After applying the filter criteria, the resultant (scope sorted) set of rate adjustments are then "matched" to the details of the order. The first rule that satisfies the matching criteria is then used to adjust the shipping charge. The following fields constitute the "Matching Criteria" for the rate adjustment: Start Date End Date Threshold Type Threshold The following logic is used to perform matching: · If the Order Date lies within the entry Start Date, End Date range then the entry matches A blank Start Date is equivalent to 2000-01-01 A blank End Date is equivalent to 3000-01-01 · If the rate adjustment entry Threshold Type is o None then the rate adjustment matches o Order$LT (order amount less than) and the (total excl. tax) amount of the order is less than the entry Threshold value then the entry matches o Order$GE (order amount greater than or equal to) and the (total excl. tax) amount of the order is greater than or equal to the entry Threshold value then the entry matches Directly Referenced Rate Adjustments Shipping Connector supports directly referencing a specific rate adjustment entry from an order. When a rate adjustment is directly referenced the discovery process is skipped - i.e., the filter criteria is not inspected. However, the matching criteria is inspected. Thus, a directly referenced rate adjustment may not be applicable if, for example, the order date falls outside of the Start/End Date range. If a directly referenced rate adjustment fails the matching criteria inspection then the discovery process is invoked to find a suitable rate adjustment (if any). Creating Rate Adjustment Entries Rate Adjustments are configured in the Rate Adjustments dialog which is accessible from Shipping Connector Setup (General/Rate Adjustments action) or from any page that references a rate adjustment entry. The Rate Adjustments dialog The Rate Adjustments dialog columns are arranged by scope from broader scope (on the left) to narrower scope (on the right). Note: The "Entry No." column is simply an identifier for the record and has no impact on scope. Likewise, the "Label" column also has no impact. Shipping Connector User Manual 39 12/12/2019 The following describes the rate adjustment fields: Name Usage Description Entry No. Label Active Discoverable Applies To Control Control Filtering A unique rule identifier A user defined description for the rule When disabled, the rule is ignored When disabled, the rule does not participate in discovery ALL, the rule applies to all Shipment, the rule applies only to shipments Rate Quote, the rule applies only to rate shopping Document Type Shipping Agent Code Shipping Agent Service Code Filtering Filtering Filtering ? The rule applies only to rates for the specified carrier The rule applies only to rates for the specified carrier service Recipient No. Filtering The rule applies only to the specified customer or vendor Ship-to Address Code Filtering The rule applies only to the specified Ship-to Address Code or Order Address Code Thresholding Matching The rule applies based on the order amount where: None, the rule applies to orders of any amount Order$GE, the rule applies to orders whose total value is greater than or equal to the amount specified in the Threshold field. Order$LT, the rule applies to orders whose total value is less than the amount specified in the Threshold field. Start Date End Date Adjustment Type Matching Matching Adjustment The rule applies if the order date is on or after the Start Date The rules applies if the order date is on or before the End Date Identifies the type of adjustment to perform, one of: None, no rate adjustment will be made Flat Rate, the charge will be set to the Adjustment Value Percent Markup, the charge will be marked up by a percentage Fixed Markup, the charge will be increased by the Adjustment Value Free Shipping, the charge will be set to zero Adjustment Value Additional Fee Adjustment The value to be used in the above formula Adjustment An additional fee to be added to the adjusted charge Priority Based Ordering Rules can be created randomly and (by default) are numbered and displayed sequentially. When you have a large number of rules it may be difficult to visualize which rule applies to a given criteria. To facilitate visualization of the scope of the rules you can press the "Sort by Priority" action. This will reorder the rules such that the narrowest scope (highest priority) rule is at the top and the broadest scope rule (lowest priority) is at the bottom. You can then walk the list to find the first rule whose criteria meets the conditions in question. Pressing the "Reset Sort Order" action will clear the sorting. Shipping Connector User Manual 40 12/12/2019 Rate Adjustment Examples Add a Handling Fee for all Sales This is an easy one, create an entry with values: Applies To = Shipment, Document Type = Sales, Additional Fee = $5.00 Then all shipments for sales orders will have $5.00 added to the shipping charge. Add a Percentage Markup for all Sales Similar to the above but use the Adjustment Type/Value fields: Applies To = Shipment, Document Type = Sales, Adjustment Type = Percent Markup, Adjustment Value = 10% Discount for Large Orders Shipping is free when the order amount exceeds $500 Applies To = Shipment, Document Type = Sales, Threshold Type = Order$GE, Threshold Value = $500, Adjustment Type = Free Shipping Free Shipping during Black Friday weekend Black Friday weekend is 11/29/2019 12/01/2019 Applies To = Shipment, Document Type = Sales, Start Date = 11/29/2019, End Date = 12/01/2019, Adjustment Type = Free Shipping Shipping Connector User Manual 41 12/12/2019 Address Verification When shipping via UPS or FedEx both carriers may charge a fee when the delivery address is incorrectly specified. The Shipping Connector Address Verification feature can help you avoid such fees. Address verification is useful if your company ships to new addresses frequently especially residential addresses. While WS, FSM and Stamps.com have address verification built into their software the Shipping Connector equivalent is well integrated with Business Central and allows you to update the addresses on the order and customer/vendor cards. Shipping Connector User Manual 42 12/12/2019 Address Verification can be invoked from the "Verify Address" action under the Shipping Connector menu on the dialogs that contain addresses used when shipping: · Customer Card · Vendor Card · Location Card · Ship-to Address Card · Order Address Card · Sales Order/Quote · Purchase Return Order · Service Order, Service Item Worksheet · Transfer Order · Rate Shopping When an address is verified it may be slightly modified to conform to the carrier address format. For instance, the word "Drive" may be changed to "DR", etc. It will also be capitalized. The postal code will usually be updated to include the zip+4 value. The Verification Status is displayed below the verified address and displays which carriers have verified it. It is possible that an address may verify with one carrier but not with others. This is not an unusual situation. Some carriers have different requirements from others or may not even deliver to a specified address. Occasionally (particularly with UPS), an address can be changed slightly and reverified and it will verify. If carriers fail to verify an address, notes will appear in box Address Verification Service Messages. If an address is updated with Address Verification on a Sales Order, when leaving the verification screen, a dialog will appear asking the user if they wish to update the Customer Card with the new address information. Lastly, if you are unsure as to the exact address, you can click on the hyperlink Show on Map to open a Bing/Google maps browser page with a search for the address. That may assist you in determining the correct address. Shipping Connector User Manual 43 12/12/2019 Rate Shopping Rate Shopping enables retrieval of shipping rates from the carriers via their web service APIs. To use rate shopping, you must first register for a Web Service Account with each carrier (USPS, UPS, FedEx). Instructions for registration are provided in the Guides section on the website. You must then configure your account information in the Setup page. To receive rates from the carrier web services the following information must be provided: sender account, shipfrom address, ship-to address, and package(s) definition. The Rate Shop dialog provides interfaces to manage that information. To invoke rate shopping for a Sales Order, click on Actions Shipping Connector Shop for Rates. The Rating Shopping dialog will display. Addresses The Ship-from Address (origin) and Ship-to Address (destination) are displayed at the top of the dialog. The fields are prepopulated from the information on the Shipping Connector Setup dialog (origin) and the Sales Order (destination). The verification status for each is displayed. Shipping Connector User Manual 44 12/12/2019 In order to retrieve accurate rates, it is necessary for the origin and destination addresses to be verified by the carrier. If either of the addresses have not been verified you may invoke address verification from the action menu: Ship-from Verify Address, Ship-to Verify Address. The Ship-to Address includes an option to require that the ship-to address verify with the carrier address verification service in order to retrieve rates for that carrier. This option enables you to ensure that you are retrieving accurate rates for the destination provided. Packages & Package Templates In order to shop for rates, you must define the dimensions and weights of the packages that you are shipping. You do that by adding packages. The Rate Shop dialog has a simple interface for defining packages with dimensions and weights and optionally an insured value. Packages may be added individually or from saved templates. If you wish to enter the information manually, click on Add a Package from the list of actions under the Package header or just start entering data into the next available empty line. Enter an identifier in the Label field and then enter width, height, and length (inches). Girth is calculated automatically. Enter a weight (ounces) for the package. You may optionally enter a package value if you wish to include insurance in the rate. Repeat the above steps for all packages. Package Templates If you repeatedly enter the same package details you may find it more efficient to save the package as a Package Template. You may retrieve a package template which will populate a new package line with the details from the template. Shipping Connector User Manual 45 12/12/2019 To save a package template select a package in the list then select the Save As Template action in the Packages menu. The Package Template dialog will open allowing you to provide a name for the template. To retrieve a package template, select the Add from Template action in the Packages menu. The Package Template dialog will open allowing you to select one or more templates from which to add new packages. Package Groups If you find that you repeatedly define the same set of packages you may wish to save that set as a Package Group. A package group is a collection of package templates and can be added to an order as a set. To create a package group, select a set of packages in the list then invoke the Save as Group action in the Packages menu. The Package Group dialog will display allowing you to define a label for the group. To add packages from a group, select the Add from Group action in the Packages menu. The Packages dialog will display allowing you to select the group to add. Shipping Agents The shipping agents (aka, carriers) from whom rates will be retrieved can be enabled or disabled by toggling them in the Shipping Agents section. The shipping agents available here are those that are enabled in the Setup page. Rate Filtering Rate filters provide a way to tailor the display for list of rates that are returned. Rate filters allow you to include or exclude specific shipping agent services for display. When you exclude a service, it will not display. Exclusion filters are accumulative i.e., more exclusion filters you define the fewer service rates will be displayed. When you include a service, it will display (if it was returned). However, when one or more include filters are defined the services that are displayed are only those in the list of include filters. Thus, include filters could be said to be `exclusive' but that is way too confusing. Rate Selection When you have address information, packages and shipping agents defined, can retrieve rates. On the ribbon, click on Rate Shopping Get Rates. Shipping Connector User Manual 46 12/12/2019 When rates are retrieved, they will be listed in the Rate Selection section. Applying a Rate To apply a rate to the sales order, select the rate from the results list by clicking on the desired line. A small arrow will appear in the leftmost column. Click OK and a rate quotation entry will be added to the sales lines. Note: Rate adjustments (discussed previously), if any, will be applied to the rate before the new sales line is created. Server Messages Any information or error messages returned from the carrier web service will be displayed in the Server Messages tab. The tab title will turn red when message have been received. Apply Shipping to a Sales Order with an existing Rate Quotation If you apply an actual shipment to a sales order that contains a rate quotation Shipping Connector will not modify the quoted rate, it will set the package tracking number on the rate quotation line and add the shipping details information lines. (Since updating the quoted rate would invalidate any credit authorizations already established for the order). Shipping Connector User Manual 47 12/12/2019 Shipping Connector Setup Page The Shipping Connector Setup page exposes options that globally affect the behavior of Shipping Connector. Those options are described below. General Auto Apply Shipping: When enabled, shipment details will automatically populate onto the Business Central order when the shipment information is imported from the carrier software. Clicking the Apply Shipping action on the page is not necessary. Note: If an order is on screen when shipment details are imported and Auto Apply Shipping is enabled then it will be necessary to refresh the page (F5) to see the changes. Prune Shipment History After (days): After applying shipment details to an order the Imported shipment record is preserved for a period of time for historical record. That interval is defined by this field. Processed shipment records aging beyond the defined period will be removed. Sales Orders - Free Shipping: If enabled, shipping charges will not be added to Sales Orders. Sales Orders - Update Shipping Agent: If enabled, the Shipping Agent Code and Shipping Agent Service Code fields on the sales order will be updated based on the shipment details returned by the carrier software. If you wish to retain the original field values unset this option. This option does not affect the informational lines added to the order. Shipping Connector User Manual 48 12/12/2019 Sales Orders - Consolidate Shipment Lines: If enabled, only the shipment charge line will be added to the order lines. Otherwise, shipment information lines containing the package tracking number, shipment date and carrier service type will be added. Purchase Returns - Free Shipping: If enabled, shipping charges will not be added to Purchase Return Orders. Purchase Returns - Consolidate Shipment Lines: If enabled, only the shipment charge line will be added to the order lines. Otherwise, shipment information lines containing the package tracking number, shipment date and carrier service type will be added. Service Orders, Transfer Orders The functions for Service Order and Transfer Orders are identical to those for the Sales Order. Note that when using Transfer Orders, shipping charges will never be injected. Numbering Sales Orders - Shipping Charge Type: Specifieds the type of entry to use when adding a shipping charge to a Sales Order. Possible values are: G/L Account, Resource, Charge (Item). Sales Orders - Shipping Charge No.: Identifies the charge entity to use when adding a shipping charge to a Sales Order. The entity type is dependent upon the previous field value. Sales Orders - Tax Group Code: Specifies the Tax Group Code to use when a shipping charge is added to a Sales Order. Purchase Return Orders, Service Orders The functions for Purchase Return Orders and Service Orders are the same as those for Sales Orders. Since no shipping charges are entered for Transfer Orders, no definitions are necessary. Shipping Connector User Manual 49 12/12/2019 Web Services Web Service URL: Displays the URL for the Shipping Connector Web Service. This value is used during configuration of the Shipping Connector Workstation application. Published State: Displays the published state of the Shipping Connector Web Service. The Shipping Connector Web Service Published State must be "On" in order for data exchange to function properly. The Published State can be toggled in the Web Services Management dialog. Rate Shopping If Rate Shopping has been purchased, this section will be editable and must be configured. Shipping Connector User Manual 50 12/12/2019 Ship-From Company: If enabled, the address information from the Company Information dialog will be populated into the Ship-From Address fields in the Rate Shopping section. Ship-From Address fields: Defines the originating address to be used when requesting rates from the carriers. Ship-From Verification Status: Displays the verification status for the Ship-From Address. Ship-To Address Must Verify: If enabled, requires that the destination address for rate requests MUST be verified by the carrier in order for rates to be returned. This option enforces the strict condition that all destination addresses must be recognized by the carrier. USPS Web Services Enabled: If enabled, USPS rates will be returned during rate shopping. Note: USPS Web Services are always invoked during Address Verification. USPS User Id: USPS Web Services account User Id. Required for access to USPS Web Services. Note: Please see the USPS Web Services Account Setup Guide for account setup details UPS Web Services Enabled: If enabled, UPS Web Services will be used when performing Address Verification or Rate Shopping. UPS Account Information: Account details for the UPS Web Services account to be used. Note: Please see the UPS Web Services Account Setup Guide for account setup details FedEx Web Services Enabled: If enabled, FedEx Web Services will be used when performing Address Verification or Rate Shopping. FedEx Account Information: Account details for the FedEx Web Services account to be used. Note: Please see the FedEx Web Services Account Setup Guide for account setup details Shipping Connector User Manual 51 12/12/2019 Address Verification Sales Orders Update the Customer Card: If enabled, when validated address information is updated on a Sales Order it will also be updated on the associated Sell-to Customer Card. If not enabled, a dialog will display to request if the Sell-to Customer Card should also be updated. Sales Orders Warn on Release: If enabled, a warning dialog will display when a Sales Order is Released with an unverified Ship-to Address. Purchase Return Orders Update the Vendor Card: If enabled, when validated address information is updated on a Purchase Return Order it will also be updated on the associated Buy-from Vendor Card. If not enabled, a dialog will display to request if the Buy-from Vendor Card should also be updated. Purchase Return Warn on Release: If enabled, a warning dialog will display when a Purchase Return Order is Released with an unverified Ship-to Address. Maps Display on Map Using: On the Address Validation dialog there is function to open a map web page to view an address. This field allows you to choose whether to use Bing or Google for map display. Shipping Connector User Manual 52 12/12/2019 Email and Email Message Shipping Connector provides an option to deliver email notification to the shipping recipient. The settings in this section control the behavior of that feature. Cc to Sender when e-mail sent: If enabled, when an email notification is sent include the sender on the Cc list. Show e-mail confirmation: If enabled, a confirmation dialog will display when notifications are sent. Send confirmation for Sales Orders: This field controls when an email notification will be sent for sales orders. The choices are Never or When Shipped (when the the sales order has been posted for shipment). Send confirmation for Purchase Return Orders Send confirmation for Service Orders Send confirmation Transfer Orders: Functions identically as with the above setting for Sales Orders. Message Type: Users may set up different email messages for the four different documents that can be used with the Shipping Connector: · Sales Orders · Purchase Return Orders · Service Orders · Transfer Orders Language Code: Messages may be configured in multiple languages. The language code of the recipient (customer or vendor) will be used when sending a notification. (The language code is defined in the Address & Contact section of the Customer/Vendor Card) Shipping Connector User Manual 53 12/12/2019 Subject Line: The subject line for the email notification. Message Body: The message body for the email notification. Note: Both the Subject Line and Message Body support a form of "mail merge" called "token replacement". Please refer to the online help page for a description of token replacement Package Tracking & Notification USPS Package Tracking URL: URL for USPS package tracking UPS Package Tracking URL: URL for UPS package tracking UPS Quantum View Notify: If enabled, UPS Quantum View will be invoked to send package delivery notification to the recipient. FEDEX Package Tracking URL: URL for FedEx package tracking FEDEX Ship Alert Notify: If enabled, FedEx Ship Alert will be invoked to send package delivery notification to the recipient. Note: The package tracking URLs are used during token replacement for the "TRACKINGURL" token. If the URLs are left blank (empty) in the Setup dialog then the following default tracking URL will be used: https://google.com/search?q=%1 where %1 will be replaced with the package tracking number Shipping Connector User Manual 54 12/12/2019 Installation and Configuration Install the Shipping Connector extension application Shipping Connector is available from Microsoft AppSource or, for on-prem users, you can download it from our website at https://shippingconnector365.com/download. Register Shipping Connector After installation you will need to start a 30-day free trial to obtain a registration: - Open the Shipping Connector Setup page (type `Shipping Connector Setup' in the Search box). - Click on the Registration option and then on the "Start 30-day Free Trial" action Configure a Web Service Access Key The Shipping Connector Workstation application (which is installed and run on the shipping workstation - we'll get to that below) communicates with Shipping Connector in Business Central via the Shipping Connector Web Service. To access the web service Business Central requires a Web Service Access Key to be generated. (Complete details are available here). For the purpose of this guide we'll give the condensed version follow these steps: In Dynamics 365 Business Central: - Choose the Lightbulb (Search) icon, enter Users, choose the related link, and then open the user account that you want to edit. - In the Web Service Access section, select the Web Service Access Key field. - In the Set the Web Service Access Key window, select the Key Never Expires check box. - Choose the OK button. - The access key is automatically generated and appears in the Web Service Access Key field. - We will need the key below Configure Shipping Connector Setup (for Sales Order shipping) Next, you will need to configure a few options such that Shipping Connector knows how to place shipping charges onto an order. We will describe the options for Sales Orders. The complete description of all options on the Shipping Connector Setup page is found in the online help here. For the purpose of this section we will keep it concise. - Open the Shipping Connector Setup page (type `Shipping Connector Setup' in the Search box) Shipping Connector User Manual 55 12/12/2019 - Scroll down to the "Numbering" fast-tab - Set "Shipping Charges Type" to "G/L Account" - Set "Shipping Charges No." to "40200" (or select an appropriate G/L income account) - Set "Tax Group Code" to "NONTAXABLE" (or select an appropriate tax group code) While we're on this page let's also copy & save the Shipping Connector Web Services URL we'll need it when we configure Shipping Connector Workstation in a later step. - Scroll down to the "Web Service" fast-tab - Copy the Web Service URL (double click to select all, then right-click and select Copy) - Save that value for the next step Shipping Connector User Manual 56 12/12/2019 Shipping Connector Workstation Installation and Configuration The Shipping Connector Workstation application must be installed on the computer where UPS WorldShip, FedEx Ship Manager (or other shipping software) is installed. The Shipping Connector Workstation application manages information exchange between the shipping software and the Business Central server. - Download the application installer from https://shippingconnector365.com/download. Note: After downloading, make sure to "unblock" the file: o right-click on the file, select "Properties" o check the "Unblock" checkbox if it appears at the bottom of the dialog o select OK to close the Properties dialog - Run the Shipping Connector Workstation installer (choose the option to run the configuration utility when setup completes) When the Shipping Connector Workstation Configuration wizard appears, we'll use it to setup a connection to the Business Central server. - In the Configurator select Web Services for the data exchange method - Select Next to move to the Web Services tab - Paste the URL you saved in the previous step into the Web Services URL field - Enter the Web Services Account Username (do not include a domain name) for which you configured a Web Services Access Key - Enter the Web Services Access Key - Press the Verify Web Service button Successful verification will be indicated and you will then be able to move to the next tab. Note: The `SQL Server' tab is present but is not used with Dynamics 365 Business Central in-cloud. Shipping Connector has been around since Dynamics NAV v3.7 (back then it was called Microsoft Business Solutions Navision) and the SQL Server data exchange option is still available for the on-prem environment. - Press the Next button to move to the Companies tab - Select the companies with which you would like to exchange data Shipping Connector User Manual 57 12/12/2019 - Press the Next button to move to the Schema tab The Schema tab is for informational purpose only no changes can be made - Press the Next button to move to the Configuration tab The Shipping Connector Workstation configuration will be saved, confirmation will be displayed - Press the Next button to move to the Data Maps tab - Press the Copy button in the UPS WorldShip area This will copy the import/export maps into the UPS WorldShip configuration Note: UPS WorldShip can be configured in client/server mode. If installing into a UPS client/server environment the map configuration must be performed on the UPS server workstation. - Press the Next button to move to the Finish tab - Select the startup options - Press the Finish button - Shipping Connector Workstation will display in the System Tray The Shipping Connector Workstation Settings Dialog When Shipping Connector Workstation is running its icon will appear in the tray . Double clicking on this icon will open the Shipping Connector Workstation Settings Dialog. Here you can configure a few parameters that affect the applications behavior as follows. Shipping Connector User Manual 58 12/12/2019 Shipping Information / # Orders (Released) this field displays the number of orders that have been retrieved from Business Central and are available to ship. Press the View button to view the list of orders. Shipping Information / # Shipments (last 30 days) this fields displays the number of shipments received from the shipping software during the last N days. Press the View button to view the list of shipments. Scheduling / "Update Orders every ..." - allows you to configure the frequency that Shipping Connector Workstation will poll for newly released orders in Business Central. The default setting is every 60 minutes but may be set for any desired frequency. Remember that this function will use system resources and shouldn't be set more frequently than necessary. A manual "synch" (poll) may be performed at any time, if necessary, by right-clicking on the icon in the tray and selecting Synchronize or by holding the CTRL key while left clicking on the Shipping Connector tray icon. Scheduling / "Prune Shipments after ..." - allows you to configure how long the Shipping Connector database will retain local records of processed shipments. The default setting will prune (delete) data after 15 days. This is done to prevent the local database from growing too large. There is really no reason to store this data after it has been processed except to visually inspect history of orders or shipments. Scheduling / "Compact database at startup" - when enabled Shipping Connector will compact the local database each time it starts up. The default is enabled and is recommended. Scheduling / "Delay before processing shipment" ... is the number of seconds Shipping Connector will wait after a shipment has been processed in the carrier software before it takes action to relay the shipment data to Business Central. This delay is necessary because it may take a bit of time for the carrier software to complete the shipment transaction. The default setting, 5 seconds, which is generally sufficient. The icon in the tray will flash green when data is being transacted and will return to the idle state when complete. "Server Information / Web Service" displays the URL used to connect to the Shipping Connector Web Service in Business Central. "Server Information / Company Name" display the name of the company enabled for data exchange. Shipping Connector User Manual --- End of Document --- 59 12/12/2019Microsoft Word 2019