Overview

This article covers the following:

Batch-By-Item Processing Overview

Batch-By-Item Processing is a licensed feature designed for batch shipping of single, identical items, typically entered by retail customers via an eCommerce website. This feature is designed for small parcel shipments. It provides the ability to isolate small (single item/single package) orders and process these orders in a single batch process that then rates, ships, prints, and writes the shipment information back to the ERP with a single button click.

This feature includes the following:

• User interface (UIs) that consist of a Batch Processing User Interface and a Batch-specific Workbench view

• Shipment tags that help easily identify orders that have been assigned to a batch

• Shipment Rule to automate creating and populating a batch.

Methods for Creating the Batch

The batch processing runs similarly to Auto Ship, processing the batch shipments, printing labels, and initiating ERP updates for every shipment in the batch.

Batch-by-Item processing uses various methods for creating the batch or adding the items to a bulk shipment:

• From the Workbench, search for item numbers and quantities and then add those shipments to the batch.

• A Post-Import Shipment Rule that allows batches to be created or appended based on criteria specified in the rule (item, quantity, or (optionally) container).

• Using the Batch ID field imported from the ERP.

Regardless of the method used to create or modify the batch, the user can view the unprocessed batches from the Batch Processing menu.

After Batch Creation

Ater the batch has been created, it can be added to (using any of the methods listed above) or have orders removed from it.

Manual Batch Creation

The following fields in the Workbench provide for creating a Shipment Rule and the API changes to store the batch identifiers. The Batch-by-Item standard view is designed specifically for manually creating single-item batches. These fields can also be used to create custom views.

The view will not alter the user's currently selected default view and will not become the default view unless selected by the user.

Follow the steps below to manually create a batch-by-item.

1. From the Workbench, search for the Item Number and Total Quantity.

Additionally, you can search for the container.
This is a single-item-only search; if other items are contained in an order, that order is not included in the search results.
If multiple items are being shipping in a single container, each item and the item's quantity must be searched.

2. After you have the search results for the items you plan to include in the batch, click the Batch icon .
The Create/Add Batch dialog window is displayed.

3. Do one of the following:

• • Enter a name for the bath you plan to create.

  • Seelct an existing batch.

    • If there is a mismatch between item numbers and/or quantities, a warning message is displayed: "The item(s) or quantity in the specified order do not match with the existing batch that you have selected. Do you wish to continue with this selection? "

      • Select Yes to add the orders to the batch.

      • Select No to remove the warning message and cancel adding orders to the batch.

4. Click Save.

Columns included in the Batch-by-Item Workbench view are as follows:

Batch-By-Item Processing Steps

he Batch-By-Item screen is a single screen that allows users to search for batches, select individual batches for deletion, and select a single batch for processing.

All batch processing options (ship, edit, delete, etc.) are selected from a screen displayed when a batch is selected from the parent Batch Processing screen.

1. From the Transactions menu, click to select Batch processing.

2. Click the Batch ID column link to select a single batch for editing or processing.
   Only one batch can be processed at a time.

3. In the Workstation drop-down list, select a workstation.
   The Workstation drop-down list is included in the footer of the batch screen, allowing the workstation to be selected for each batch.

4. Do one of the following:

   • Click the delete icon to remove single orders from the batch.
     If an order is removed from a batch, the Batch Shipment tag is removed from that order.

   • To select a single order to use as a template for selecting the batches' CCoS and/or container type, click any link (DO) for the order and go to Configuring a Template Order below.
     This opens the order on the Rate & Ship page in a new tab and selects the order as the batch template order.

   • Click Start Processing.

     • Notes:

       • If shipping errors are encountered by one or more batch shipments, the batch stays displayed in the list, and the Shipment Errors column is populated with the number of errors encountered. Example: 3 Shp Errors.

       • After Start Processing has been selected, the orders are processed with one of the methods listed below (for more information, refer to Application Settings to Determine Printing Process, Shipping Rate, etc. below).

       • 
         

- The Batch Processing screen displays a progress bar in the Progress column.
- If shipping errors are encountered by one or more batch shipments, the batch stays displayed in the list, and the Shipment Errors column is
populated with the number of errors encountered. Example: 3 Shp Errors.
- After Start Processing has been selected, the orders are processed with one of the methods listed below (for more information, refer to
Applications Settings to Determine Printing Process, Shipping Rate, etc., below)

Configuring a Template Order

1. From the Rate & Ship page, modify the Carrier Class of Service (CCoS) and/or Container Type.

2. Click Set as Batch Default .

   • Do one of the following:

     • Select Apply to set the Container and/or CCoS to all orders in the batch.

     • Select Cancel to close the Select Template Values dialog window without making any changes.

Only the Container and CCoS values from the template order are used for the remaining orders in the batch. If the user changes other fields in the template order, those changes are not saved to the other batch orders.

All unprocessed batch orders are displayed in a grid with the following columns:

Pacejet standard records per page are displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Created By:

If an order identified as belonging to a batch is processed manually (not using the batch process), that order is removed from the batch, and the Batch ID is removed from that order's record.

Validation

All batches must be assigned a unique batch name; Batch IDs assigned to completed batches cannot be reused. The Batch-By-Item process includes necessary error checking, such as validating all items in a batch, ERP update error handling, etc.

- Only one batch can be run at a time; additional batches can be configured and submitted to run, but those batches can only start once the
current batch has completed all processing.
- If a batch has been submitted to be processed while another batch is in process, that batch's status is set to Pending.

Application Settings to Determine Printing Process, Shipping Rate, etc.

When shipping using the Batch-by-item process, Pacejet looks for the printer designated for that batch. This prevents other orders (such as labels and documents) from reaching the printer's queue while the batch order is printing.

Follow the steps below to setup the printing process in Application Settings:

1. In Application Settings, on the left-hand side of the screen, click Batch Processing.

2. From the Batch Processing Batch Method drop-down list, select one of the following:

   • Stepped Shipment Processing - With this setting selected, the Waves batch processing is emulated, with all shipments in the batch completing the Rate & Ship process, then all labels print, and then all shipments are updated in the ERP. In other words, the printers are locked only when printing. This is the default setting.

   • Individual Shipment Processing - With this setting selected, the Interval batch processing is emulated, with each shipment rating, shipping, printing, and updating ERP happening before beginning to process the next shipment. In other words, the printers are locked until all shipments have been processed.

3. Click Save.

Select and Process One Order in a Batch

You can use the Workbench and Rate & Ship page to select and process orders included in a batch. This may be needed if a specific order needs to be shipped before the entire batch is processed. This also allows any orders in a shipping error state to be individually corrected and shipped. The BatchID value is removed from the order when it has been completed outside the batch process.

Shipment Tags

Shipment tags help identify a batch. If an order is removed from a batch, the Batch Shipment tag is removed from that order. Two shipment tags apply to Batch-By-Item processing:

• Batch Shipment: This tag applies to all orders included in a batch, whether manually created or created using a shipment rule.

• Not Added to Batch: This tag is applied to orders created using one of the batch shipment rules, and the rule could not be added because of a duplicate Batch ID.