Freight Maintenance Overview
The software features a freight maintenance system that enables the calculation of freight charges during customer order processing in Order Entry. The main objective of the freight calculation feature is to facilitate the calculation or assessment of freight charges on a customer’s order while the customer service representative is processing the order. All freight charge calculations are based on the shipping location of each order line.
The Additional Charges tab in Order Entry includes a Freight button, which you can use to perform freight calculations. The calculations are accomplished by predefining shipper ID’s with rules for shipping based on their upper weight limits, upper volume limits, and shipping zones.
Automatic Freight Calculation Feature Setup
Automatic freight calculation is set up in several locations in the software. To set up automatic freight calculation:
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In Customer Service Control Maintenance, select the Use Automatic Freight Calculations check box on the Order Entry tab to enable the freight calculation feature.
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In Shipper Selection Rule Maintenance, set up shipper selection rules.
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In Shipper Zone Maintenance, set up shipper zones.
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In Shipper Rate Maintenance, set up shipper rates.
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In Product Maintenance, enter the shipping weights and volumes for all products in the Unit Gross Weight and Volume fields on the Warehouse tab. The weight and volume must be entered for the shipping rules to take effect. The shipping weight should include packaging, and be entered in the product unit of measure. The shipping volume should include packaging, and be entered in the product unit of measure.
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Set up price matrices with any freight free price breaks. The various price matrix setup programs have a Breaks - Freight tab that can be used to automatically mark line items as freight free based on the quantity break ordered.
Freight Options
There are four possible scenarios based on what occurs during order entry:
|
Scenario |
Shipper Specified |
Freight Button Clicked |
|
1 |
Yes |
No |
|
2 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
3 |
No |
No |
|
4 |
No |
Yes |
The following tables summarize the four scenarios.
Scenario 1 (Shipper is Specified and Freight Button is Not Clicked)
|
Options |
Description |
|
Order add-on |
Not created |
|
Pick Demand Create |
Nothing done |
|
Pick Demand Confirm |
Calculates freight based on the specified shipper and what was confirmed as picked, and creates a pick demand add-on |
|
First invoice of this order |
Freight charged for what was picked Note If more than one package is created for a pick demand, the system calculates freight for each package separately, and sums up the freight amounts to determine the total amount (instead of calculating freight for all the products on the pick demand). |
Scenario 2 (Shipper is Specified and Freight Button is Clicked)
|
Options |
Description |
|
Order add-on |
Created for the freight of the entire order |
|
Pick Demand Create |
Nothing done |
|
Pick Demand Confirm |
Nothing done |
|
First invoice of this order |
Freight charged for the entire order (regardless of what was shipped) |
Scenario 3 (Shipper is Not Specified and Freight Button is Not Clicked)
|
Options |
Description |
|
Order add-on |
Nothing done |
|
Pick Demand Create |
Determines the shipper for what is being picked based on the shipper selection rules |
|
Pick Demand Confirm |
Calculates freight based on the shipper determined in Pick Demand Create and what was confirmed as picked, and creates a pick demand add-on |
|
First invoice of this order |
Freight charged for what was picked Note If more than one package is created for a pick demand, the system calculates freight for each package separately, and sums up the freight amounts to determine the total amount (instead of calculating freight for all the products on the pick demand). |
Scenario 4 (Shipper is Not Specified and Freight Button is Clicked)
|
Options |
Description |
|
Order add-on |
Created for the freight of the entire order by determining the shipper based on the shipper selection rules |
|
Pick Demand Create |
Nothing done |
|
Pick Demand Confirm |
Nothing done |
|
First invoice of this order |
Freight charged for the entire order (regardless of what was shipped) |
How the Freight Calculation Works
For total orders, when you click Freight on the Additional Charges tab in Order Entry, the freight calculation routine is called and calculates freight for all products on the order.
Freight Free Functionality
The software allows you to ship orders free of freight charges for the full order, or for specific line items. You can select the Orders Default As Freight Free check box on the Options tab in Customer Maintenance if you want all orders for a customer to default as freight free.
Note The customer setting may be overridden by the freight free setting for the freight collection terms on an order.
You also can use the Freight Free check box on the Main tab in Order Entry to indicate whether a specific order is freight free or not (before any line items are entered). If this check box is selected, the check box is selected in the Freight Free column for all line items in O/E Line Item Entry. The check box in this column is also selected if an ordered product is set up as freight free in a price matrix. The check box can be cleared to indicate that the selected line item is not freight free. If at the line item level, the check box in the Freight Free column is changed, any change to the Freight Free check box on the Main tab in Order Entry does not override the line item based changes. If the Freight Free check box on the Main tab in Order Entry is selected or cleared after order lines have been entered, only the lines that have not been overridden during line item entry are changed.
Freight Calculation from Order Entry
The following data is passed to the freight calculation routine during order processing:
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The total chargeable weight from the order based on each line item’s shipping location.
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The carrier entered in the Shipper ID field on the Main tab in Order Entry.
Calculations are based on the shipping weight on each line item of the order. Lines that are freight free are not included in the freight calculation. Drop ship line items are also not included. If the order is being shipped from multiple shipping locations, the calculation routine will be passed the chargeable weight for each shipping location on the order.
Example If there are two lines on an order from two different shipping locations, then there will ultimately be two additional charges added to the order.
Shipper ID’s are usually assigned to customers in Customer Maintenance, and this defaults to the order. If a valid shipper ID on the order is in the shipper selection rules table, then the defined rules are used to determine the calculation of freight. If one is not found, a message will appear after Freight is clicked. If the shipper ID on the order is different than the customer default, that is, the carrier was changed on the order; the carrier on the order is used to calculate the freight without using the shipper selection rules table.
After the freight and carrier are returned to the order from the freight calculation routine, the following should occur:
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The chargeable freight amount is stored in the order record.
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The carrier is loaded from the freight calculation routine into the additional charge type.
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An additional charge record is added to the order on the Additional Charges tab in Order Entry.
Pick Demand Creation
There are two possible scenarios for the pick demand creation process:
-
A shipper is already on the sales order.
-
A shipper is not on the sales order.
If there is a shipper already on the order, it is assumed that the customer specifically wanted to use that shipper and no attempt is made to find another more suitable shipper.
If there is not a shipper on the sales order, the freight routine determines a shipper based on the total shippable amount. The total shippable amount is calculated using the weight of all available (allocated) products. The result of this calculation will populate the ship-via field in the pick demand table.
If the shipper is left blank on the order and no shipper can be found in the shipper weight tables, then the shipper ERROR prints on the invoice and displays in Pick Demand Confirm. Only the shipper, not the freight charges, is determined during this process.
This freight routine will cause first time orders as well as backorders to recommend the proper shipper by warehouse location.
Pick Demand Confirmation
There are two possible scenarios for the pick demand confirmation process:
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A freight charge is not on the sales order.
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A freight charge is on the sales order.
A freight charge is calculated (and additional charges are passed to the pick demand and invoice) based on the weight of the shipment, the shipper, and the ship-to postal code only if there is no freight charge on the sales order.
There are two possible scenarios for a freight charge on the sales order:
-
The freight additional charge is set up with a one time frequency.
-
The freight additional charge is set up with an every time frequency.
One Time Frequency
The entire freight amount of the sales order is an additional charge added to the first pick demand and invoice.
Every Time Frequency
The amount of the additional charge is based on the originally calculated freight amount (stored in the order record) distributed to the shipped items. The distribution will be in a weight ratio. After the entire order is invoiced, the entire original freight amount will have been invoiced.
To simplify, if the ship confirmation total does not equal the order total (that is some products are on backorder), freight is calculated for the amount shipped. Then, if the remainder of the order is shipped, it will allocate the remaining freight charges. If the backorder is cancelled, the freight associated with the backordered items is not charged.
|
Example
|
If backorders are cancelled, then the total freight calculated during order entry may not be fully invoiced to the customer.
Freight Calculation Methods
There are four freight calculation methods that can be selected for each shipper in Shipper Maintenance.
Calculation Method #1: Cost/100 Weight
This method is for hundredweight-based freight calculations, that is, any shipper ID that uses hundredweight rate structures. The carrier provides the weight in this rate structure.
|
Example The rate table is set up as follows:
An order is created for a shipping weight of 175 lbs. For a shipment to shipping zone 2, the calculation is: 175 /100 * 10.50 = $18.375. |
Calculation Method #2: Cost/100 Weight plus Volume
This method is the same as Calculation Method #1 except volume charges are added (similar to weight charges).
Calculation Method #3: Cost/Container
This method is used for package-based weights. In this method, the weight of the package is rounded up to the next pound and the shipping charge is returned without additional calculations.
|
Example The rate table is set up as follows:
An order is created for a shipping weight of 100 lbs. For a shipment to shipping zone 2 and average container weight of 27.3, the calculation is: 100 / (Average Container Weight) = 100 lbs. / 27.3 = 3 boxes 28 * 3 boxes = 84 lbs. 100 lbs. - 84 lbs. = 16 lbs. = 1 box The shipment contains 3 boxes at 28 lbs. and 1 box at 16 lbs. The shipper rate for this shipment is: (3 * $5.60) + (1 * $3.50) = $20.30. Note The average container weight of 27.3 is entered for the shipper ID in Shipper Maintenance. |
Calculation Method #4: Straight Rate
This method is for straight weight freight calculations, that is, any shipper ID that uses a weight rate structure.