Overview

Descartes Pacejet and ShipCentral Packing work together to streamline the warehouse packing and shipping process from cartonization through carrier execution. By using ShipCentral to capture carton sizes, item quantities, and package weights before the shipment reaches the Pacejet Shipping Workbench, teams can improve data accuracy, reduce manual entry, and move orders through fulfillment more efficiently. The end-to-end fulfilment process also ensures that completed shipping details like cost, price, tracking numbers and links are updated in NetSuite for fast, accurate downstream billing activities.

View a Video Demo of ShipCentral Integration with Descartes Pacejet Multi-Carrier Shipping

Access the ShipCentral Mobile Application for Setup and Testing

Access the ShipCentral mobile application under Setup --> Custom --> Mobile - App to test and become familiar with ShipCentral packing.

Create Package Types for ShipCentral

Package types are an important part of the packing workflow because they define the standard carton sizes available to warehouse users during packing. By creating these package types in advance, organizations can promote consistency in carton selection, speed up the packing process, and improve the quality of the shipment data passed into Pacejet. It is a good practice to create package types that reflect the most commonly used cartons in daily operations so packers can quickly select the appropriate option instead of manually interpreting package dimensions for each shipment.

Start the Packing Process with an Item Shipment at Status of "Picked"

The packing process begins only after the item shipment has reached the correct operational status. Using a status of "Picked" helps ensure that the order is physically ready for packing and that the mobile application only presents shipments that are ready for the next fulfillment step. This reduces confusion for warehouse users and prevents partially prepared shipments from entering the packing process too early.

Once the shipment becomes visible in the mobile app, the packer can begin the cartonization process with confidence that the fulfillment record is ready for processing.

Selecting Carton Sizes and Packing Items into Cartons

This step is where warehouse execution details are captured and translated into shipment-ready package data. As users assign items to cartons, they are building the package structure that will ultimately be sent to Pacejet for rating and shipping. Selecting the right carton size and entering accurate quantities and weights is important because these values affect carrier rates, service availability, and shipping documentation. For multi-carton shipments, the process also ensures that each carton is represented individually, giving Pacejet the package-level detail needed to produce accurate shipping results.

After selecting a carton, users can start selecting items to pack in that active carton.

A system prompt will appear to capture the quantity of items to pack for each item selected.
Users can then select the next item to pack into the current container.
When you've finished packing items into the current container, click Pack Carton to complete this container.
Enter the weight of the current container and optionally change the size by selecting a new carton size. Click the Pack Carton button to finish entering this container.
Now click the Add Carton button to add the next container.
As before, use the Select Carton Size drop-down to choose a predefined packing item.
Pack additional items into this container as before, and then click the Pack Container to close this final container.
As before, enter the weight and click Pack Carton to complete the process for the current container.
For shipments that require multiple cartons, users can repeat the same process for each additional package until all items from the shipment have been packed. This approach makes it easier to manage partial carton contents and ensures that each package is represented correctly when the shipment is transferred to Pacejet.
With all steps completed for both containers in this example, click the Next button to move to the next packing step.
Take note of the summary information about your packing process and click Complete Packing to finish this order.
Note: Before completing packing, users should review the summary carefully to confirm that the number of cartons, packed quantities, and entered weights match the physical shipment. This final review helps catch data-entry issues before the shipment advances to carrier processing.

With the packing process complete for the current order, you can move on to subsequent orders.
Click the Back button to begin again on the order type page.

Automatic Staging of Packed Item Shipments to the Pacejet Shipping Workbench

After you finish packing an order in ShipCentral, the status will change to "Packed" and the shipment will automatically be staged to the Pacejet Shipping Workbench. Once packing is completed, the shipment is automatically staged to the Pacejet Shipping Workbench so users can move directly into rating and carrier execution without re-entering package information. This handoff is a key benefit of the integration because it reduces duplicate effort and preserves the carton-level details captured during packing. In environments with multiple shipping workbenches, this process also supports operational flexibility by allowing teams to separate workflows based on shipping method, business unit, or warehouse throughput needs.

Reviewing the staged shipment in Pacejet.
This allows users to confirm that the package information sent from ShipCentral was transferred as expected. This includes carton count, dimensions, weight, and any optional package identifiers. Verifying this information before rating can help prevent downstream shipping errors and reduce the need for shipment corrections.
Multiple shipping workstations may be operating simultaneously, for example to improve throughput or to divide parcel and LTL shipping workflows for efficiency.
Users can click on or scan in the order they will process with carriers.
As you review shipments, notice the package details transmitted to Pacejet. In this example, both packages were transmitted to Pacejet including a Package ID (not required but can be setup for informational purposes), dimensions, and weight.
Other values like classification or commodity may be calculated or defaulted based on your workflow and Pacejet configuration.
Click Rate Shipment, make your selection (or let the system select), and click Ship to process the shipment.
Users can compare available carrier options, confirm the selected service, and complete the shipment in Pacejet. At this point, the integrated process moves from warehouse packing into transportation execution, helping teams maintain continuity from fulfillment preparation through label generation and shipment confirmation.

Shipment Confirmation and NetSuite ERP Upgrades

After finishing the shipping transaction, the Ship Confirmation page will be displayed with full details of the shipment.

After the shipment is processed in Pacejet, the final shipping details are written back to the originating transaction in NetSuite. This closes the loop between warehouse operations and ERP transaction management by updating the shipment with operational and financial details such as tracking information, shipping cost, and final shipment status. Automating this update reduces the need for manual follow-up, improves visibility for customer service and finance teams, and helps downstream processes such as billing and customer communication move forward with more complete data.

Conclusion

Using ShipCentral Packing with Descartes Pacejet gives fulfillment teams a connected process for cartonizing orders, staging shipments for carrier selection, and writing shipment results back to NetSuite. The integration supports both operational efficiency and data accuracy by carrying package details forward through each step of the workflow, reducing manual effort while improving visibility across packing, shipping, and ERP updates.