Shipping via Distribution List

Shipping via Distribution List


Introduction

Info
Freight by Cart must be enabled for this feature to be used.

This feature caters for orders that require deliveries to be sent to a large number of different addresses. At quote or job stage, a distribution CSV can be downloaded from the system, populated, and then imported back in:


On import, a list-style view of all products will be displayed, along with the product titles, descriptions and quoted quantities. Allocated quantities for each product are also displayed here:


Quote

To access the CSV file for distribution, go to the Order Summary/Checkout screen on a quote. Go to Freight/Shipping and click ‘Manage Distribution’. This will give you access to the export options:


Info
Click on the ‘Help’ button to display a modal explaining the fields in the csv

The csv template contains fields for delivery details from columns A to Q on row 9:


Columns R on rows 1-8 are header rows for the product details:


Column S, rows 1-8 contain the product details:


Warning
The quote number in the header row of the CSV must an exact match to the quote the CSV is being imported to, or it will fail.

These rows will be repeated when there are multiple products on the quote. This can be seen in the image above.
Once the csv has been populated and saved, choose the file and import it into the quote. 
Click ‘Verify’ to run checks, which ensure the file has been correctly populated, and no mandatory data is missing:


If there are any issues with the file, a warning will appear listing the issues and the fields that need attention. If it is all correct and no mandatory date is missing, you will see a ‘Confirm import’ button:


Once confirmed the deliveries will be created. This can take some time when a lot of new addresses are being added, and freight integrations are used to calculate pricing. Once complete you will see a green success box and a ‘Click here to view’ button:


A list of all items along with the allocated quantities will display:


Items can have quantities over and under allocated. 

Alert
Quotes can be accepted by ‘staff’ users only.

Quotes can be accepted with quantities not fully allocated. This can be done at the job stage instead, as the complete distribution list may not be available at acceptance time.

When all quantities are fully allocated this will show in blue with a tick icon:

When the quantity is under allocated against the ordered quantity, it will show in blue without a tick:


When a quantity has been over allocated against the ordered quantity, it will show in orange with a warning icon:


A shipping/freight price override can be set in the CSV (on column Q – Delivery Cost) or shipping can be calculated by printIQ or an active freight/shipping integration.
To calculate a shipping price at quote stage, click the ‘Shipping ‘Estimate’ button which is the calculator icon:


This will calculate a total price for all deliveries currently on the order:


This will also be added to the shipping price in the quote/estimate summary:


Internal/staff users will be able to accept the quote when distribution mode has been selected for shipping/freight. 

Customer Users and Distribution

Customer users can export the distribution CSV from the system, but they do not have the ability to import it. They will need to contact their account manager to import the distribution list and if updates to the data are required:


Customer users do not have the ability to accept quotes that use a distribution list for shipping. The account manager, or any staff user, must do this:


This is to prevent quotes being accepted without the freight/shipping costs being fully calculated. 

Once a quote has been accepted, customer users will be able to see delivery details and statuses, on the Order Details screen:


Production

After a quote has been accepted and it becomes an order, navigate to the job or sales order details screen.
There are 2 sub-tabs under the Shipping/Freight tab. They are Awaiting Distribution (terminology can be changed on the Terminology screen) and Distribution Ready, this displays as Pending on the Dispatch Board. A ‘count’ of the number of deliveries in each status is shown to make tracking easy. 
All deliveries that were imported at quote stage will display under the ‘Awaiting Distribution’ tab. 
If all quantities were not fully allocated before quote acceptance, ‘Shipping not Complete’ will display on the shipping/freight tab on the job or sales order. All deliveries linked to this product will be listed here.

Job Details


Sales Order



You can update the Distribution List as more addresses and delivery details become available.
To add more deliveries to an order click the ‘Shipping not Complete’ button on the Shipping/Dispatch tab. A modal will appear displaying items allocated to deliveries. Click the ‘Manage Distribution’ button to access the CSVs. Click the Export button to get a CSV containing existing deliveries. This will need to be updated with new delivery information. A message will appear to tell the user that all previous deliveries will be replaced with the newly imported ones:


The concept is that with mass shipping, deliveries are sent out in stages. This may be by the required date of each delivery or by postcode/suburb/state.
By having all deliveries start in a status of ‘Awaiting Distribution’, you can filter to specific deliveries and move them to ‘Distribution Ready’ as they become ready to distribute.
You can use the search field to filter to addresses and then click the ‘Distribute Filtered’ button to change their status to ‘Distribution Ready’:


This will update the status, and the counters will update to reflect the changes made:


All deliveries can be set to ‘Distribution Ready’ on one click by using the ‘Distribute All’ button:


Warning
This can take time to set if we are calculating freight or linking to a freight/shipping integration.

Editing Deliveries at Job Stage

To add or edit deliveries on an order the edit shipping/freight button needs to be clicked. If there are items on the job without delivery details, this button will display as ‘Shipping not Complete’:


If all items have delivery information and have priced successfully, the total delivery price for the order will display on the edit button. The button will also display green:


Click this button to open the freight/shipping modal:


Click ‘Manage Distribution’ and the modal will change to allow you to export/import the distribution list for the order:


Use the csv to edit any existing delivery information or add new deliveries. Import the file back into the job to update the distribution list.

Shipping/Dispatch Board

The Dispatch/Shipping board can be used to manage large distribution lists. The filter ‘Awaiting Distribution’ can be used to view all deliveries at this status: 



Multiple delivery lines can be selected and updated to ‘Distribution Ready’:


This will update the delivery status for these deliveries to ‘Pending’ and move them into the Distribution Ready tab on the jobs/orders.

Blind Shipping

Blind Shipping can be used in conjunction with Mass shipping. 
Access is controlled by a role based setting:


Info
This setting can only be accessed by printIQ support staff

If your user has access to Blind Shipping you will see this option in the Export dropdown selector:


The ‘Export with blind shipping’ csv, contains additional columns:


Info
The blind ship address must be configured against the customer. You cannot create single use blind ship addresses via the CSV

If you try upload a blind ship address that does not exist, you will get the following error:


If the address exists on the customer record, it will be flagged as a ‘Blind Ship’ address:


Once the CSV has been imported, the export option will go back to a single export only:


The exported csv will now include the blind ship columns:



Warning
If logging in as a ‘Customer’ user and if the setting ‘Role Based Blind Shipping‘ does not allow customer role based blind ship access, the blind ship columns will not display in their export.
Customer users can still make changes to the csv and re-import with new data but any blind ship details will need to be managed internally by a staff member.
We try to retain as much blind ship address details as possible but this should be checked internally when you have given a customer access to view and edit shipping/ freight.

Job Status Automation

All deliveries need to be Distribution Ready before any automatic status changes can happen on a job or sales order. For backorder automation on Sales Orders, if configured to:

‘All orders – Split and place required stock order on backorder for all orders’

Or

‘On Acceptance – Split and place required stock order on backorder only on acceptance’

the entire order will go to backorder on acceptance and no splitting will occur automatically.


Invoicing

All deliveries on an order set to be dispatched through Distribution mode must be ‘Distribution Ready’ before any part of the order can be invoiced.
If there are still some deliveries at the status ‘Awaiting Distribution’ the system will stop the user from creating an invoice. A warning will appear on-screen like the one shown in the image below:



Once all items are on a delivery, and all deliveries are Distribution Ready, the order can be invoiced as normal.

For further information on invoicing click here.