Our interface has been designed primarily around creating and submitting a single shipment at a time. However for heavier users it is useful to process multiple shipments at once. Some users will regularly have a list of shipments that need to be submitted that has been produced by another system. In this document we will introduce a new feature aimed at addressing these cases.

What are Batch Shipments?

Each shipment in our system can be viewed and processed independently. However, shipments can also exist in containers called “Batch Shipments”. Working with shipments inside a batch allows one to modify, quote, ship and void multiple shipments at once.

In addition it is possible to import shipments into a batch from a CSV file which can be useful for integration with external order systems.

You can access the Batch Shipments through Home | Batch Shipments

 

During development this menu option is only available to partners but the URLs (/batch/new, /batch/1) are available to all shippers.

When you create a new Batch you will see the Batch Shipment page.

You can now add shipments to this batch in two ways:

Manual Entry

Click “Add Shipment” to add a shipment to the batch.  When you click the button a new row will be added and you can edit the fields directly.  Note that not all shipment fields are currently available in this interface but you can treat each shipment as a regular individual shipment by clicking on the Shipment Number (the first item in the row).

Importing from a CSV file

If you have a flat file consisting of one row per shipment, you can import it into the batch by clicking on “Import”.  When you do this you will be asked to upload the file.

The interface that appears once you upload the CSV file allows you to assign a meaning (field) to each column.  You do this by scrolling to the column of interest and selecting a field from the drop down box at the top of the column.

Each shipment you import will have the default shipper and consignee according to the user account that owns the batch.  (The owner is the user account that created the batch.)  Therefore you only need to import the columns that contain non-default data – typically the consignee address and package weight.

Saving your Field Map

If you do this import regularly you can save the map you have created by clicking “Save Map” and giving it a name.  After that you can click “Use a Saved Field Map” to retrieve it in future batch shipments.

If the CSV file you imported includes a header, remember to de-select that row.  Once ready you can click “Import Selection” to create the shipments.

When you have finished importing the shipments you can click “Return to Batch” to return to the batch shipment editor.

Editing Shipments

Each row in the Batch Shipment Editor can be modified.  If you enter data into the column header it is applied to all shipments in the batch.

Quoting Shipments

When your shipments are ready you can check them and click “Quote” to retrieve quotes.

Each shipment that has been quoted will have the quote options displayed in the last column.  By default the cheapest quote is selected.

Submitting Shipments

Once a shipment has been quoted you can “Submit” it which means it will become manifested and the waybills will be generated.

Each manifested shipment will have an icon beside the shipment status which provides access to the documents (waybills, manifests, etc).

You can also click “Download Waybills” to retrieve a single PDF containing every waybill for the shipments in this batch.

Exporting Data

The “Export” button produces a CSV file with data for each shipment, including status and tracking number.