Integrating your Orders with Shipping Software

Shipping your orders is a vital link in your operation. You need to get the orders on their way to the right location with a minimum of hassle and paperwork. You need to calculate the right shipping charges, produce shipping labels and tags, report the shipments to the shipper, and keep a history of the shipment for later review. There are specialized software packages to handle the shipping functions, but how can you integrate this with your order information?

With SouthWare’s Shipping Interface you may interface order-related information to and from a third-party shipping software package for a seamless order fulfillment system. You get the powerful features and options of a specialized shipping system, and you get the benefits of this shipping information in your order processing.

With Shipping Interface, you can:

• Pass order shipping address information from SouthWare to your specialized shipping software
• Pass the shipping method to the shipping software
• Quickly access the third-party shipping software from your SouthWare system to enter the boxes to be shipped for any order n Use your shipping software to process the shipments
• Receive back box information from the shipping software
• Know the correct shipping charges for each order as computed in the shipping software
• Optionally charge your customers for the actual shipping charges or a multiplier of the actual shipping charges
• Inquire into box history information for an order Save time, simplify your shipping paperwork, and integrate your specialized shipping software into your SouthWare system.

Key Features of Shipping Interface

Easy Set Up
• Simple Interface Configuration Records
• Optional Configuration per Workstation
• Specify shipping product software code for each shipping method

Multiple Product Interfaces
• Interface to/from StarShip™ (by V-Technologies)
• Interface to/from Clippership™ (distributed by Evcor)
• Open interface can be utilized by other shipping software that supports ASCII file transfer/polling

Seamless Access to Shipping Entry
• Access shipping software entry program from Order Entry
• Access shippng software entry program from special Interface search program
• Option to interface shipments not related to orders for complete shipping history

Flexible Billing of Shipping Charges
• Optional multiplier to determine amount charged to customer
• Freight code and accounting is definable per Interface Configuration

Box History Inquiry
• Option to search for box information by:
• Shipping Control Number
• Customer Number
• Order Number
• Ship Date
• Tracking Number
• View box information/charges provided by shipping software

Sample situations you can handle include:

• Allowing your shipping department to enter an order number in SouthWare to automatically display the box entry screen in your shipping software
• Looking up the tracking numbers for boxes on a particular order
• Providing the shipping address and method to your shipping software without any data entry
• Accessing the weights and charges for boxes you’ve already shipped
• Notifying operators when an order to be invoiced has not yet been updated with shipping information
• Charging your customers a markup of actual shipping charges