Concepts

Terms that are commonly used in the system. What they mean and how they work.

Imported Shipments

During EDI reconciliation you will provide the system with a carrier billing data file containing information on shipments billed in a specific period. The system matches these shipments to your existing shipment records by tracking number. However, what does it mean if the tracking number has no match?

This can happen for two reasons:

1. The carrier has used a tracking number to represent some non-shipment charge. This could be a pickup fee or some ancillary charge.

2. Someone has used the account outside the system.

In case (1) the best way to handle the charge is to treat it as a shipment and assign it to the appropriate customer to pass the charges on. In effect though, your actions will be similar to case (2).

We call these shipments “Imported Shipments” because they are imported from an external source rather than being produced using the system.

You will need to import them in to a suitable Holding Account and then Assign them to the appropriate customer. See EDI Reconciliation / Importing. See also Tracking Pool and Assignment.

Tracking Pool

The Tracking Pool is a record of shipment tracking numbers that do not yet exist in the system. Each record in the pool includes the identity of the customer to whom the shipment should be assigned when it is Imported. When the shipment is encountered while importing shipments it will be automatically assigned to the correct customer rather than the Holding Account.

If you become aware of a shipment created outside the system, you can enter the tracking number into the pool at any time. Here is an example of why and how the pool would be used:

A customer is using a different system for manifesting shipments on your account but you wish to bill them through the system. You can require that a list of all issued tracking numbers be provided periodically and enter them in to the Tracking Pool. As long as the tracking numbers are entered before reconciliation of their bill is undertaken, you will not have to go through assignment saving a considerable amount of time.

Pending Shipments

Pending is one of the states a shipment can be in (the others being Manifested, In-Transit, Void and Exception). While Pending the following become true:

1. The shipment will not qualify for billing (it will not appear in an invoice)

2. The shipment can be Assigned to another customer

3. The price can be edited

When you Import a shipment from a billing file it will initially be Pending. In order for it to qualify for billing the shipment must be Approved. You can only Approve a shipment if it can be priced for the customer. This means the customer it is currently assigned to must have a suitable Offer.

Typically the role of the reconciliation operator is to go through all the pending shipments and assign them to customers or a Holding Account in another operator’s Scope (so they can identify the customer). In cases where the customer does not have an offer, the customer must be reconfigured or the price must be set manually.

Associate / Association

An Associate is a level in the hierarchy of users below Partner and above Reseller. Associates are typically Cost Partners (which means they pay the courier cost price for shipments).

Sometimes it is useful to group your customers by some property and use the functions of an Associate to manage them. You can do that without a relationship with an actual Associate - it is just a name after all. The term for that entity is an Association (of customers).

Associates have various properties that apply to the customers within them. Many of these are default settings that the customer accounts can override.

Partner

The Partner is the top level in the hierarchy of users, above Associate. Partners are responsible for Courier Accounts. Partners are completely isolated from one another. Their users cannot interact in any way with other partners - not even to transfer shipments. Partners are necessarily also Cost Partners and therefore price the shipments at cost, according to the carrier’s bills.

Partners manage Associates, which can be business relationships or simply collections (an Association) of customers with some common properties.

Cost Partner

This term refers to a Partner or Associate who pay shipment prices at cost. Cost Invoices, which are a means of managing bill payments through business relationships, can be produced only for Cost Partners.

For Cost Partners, the profit on a shipment is the difference between the Cost and either the Reseller or Customer prices (depending on whether a reseller is involved). This means Cost Partners access additional cost information in shipments and reports that are not visible to Resellers and Customers.

Cost Invoices

Every shipment has a value which is represented by a number of transactions. There are Cost transactions and Customer transactions. If the customer has a reseller, then there are Reseller transactions too.

Every one of these transactions must eventually be posted to an invoice. This is the most reliable way to ensure that every shipment is billed and none left out.

A Cost Invoice is an Invoice containing the Cost transactions on shipments. Each shipment is assigned to one Associate (in a path leading from the Shipment, through the Customer). Each Associate has a Billing Customer which is responsible for posting Invoices. Every Billing Customer that is associated with a shipment will receive an invoice of all the shipment costs. This invoice is called the Cost Invoice.

Reconciliation

Shipments can only be billed when they are Reconciled. There are a number of ways to Reconcile a shipment. It can be done manually (by simply using the Mark Reconciled command) and through EDI Reconciliation. When shipments are encountered in EDI reconciliation they will be automatically marked Reconciled unless a Correction is necessary. Completing a Correction will then lead to being marked Reconciled too.

Essentially Reconciliation is the process of confirming which shipments are actually billed and at what price.

Scope

Every Association has a Management Account which is responsible for posting invoices for all the customers in their Scope. The Scope of a Billing Customer is defined as any customer in any Associate who shares that Billing Customer. So one account can be the Billing Customer for several Associates.

(Diagram needed)

Assignment

Assignment is a step in EDI Reconciliation where an operator has to identify the customer for a shipment, and then assign the shipment to that customer.

Select Invoices

Invoices are simply a collection of transactions, identified by a unique invoice number. Typically one creates an invoice for a customer that comprises all qualifying, un-posted transactions for that customer.

A Select Invoice, by contrast, has only specified (selected) transactions on it. This allows you to put a specific charge on a separate invoice. That transaction still has to be qualifying and un-posted.