Shipping

Direct Delivery process variant "Ship on Behalf of"

Direct Delivery is a specific type of goods distribution that is supported now. In this business process, the supplier does not keep goods in stock but instead transfers customer orders and shipment details to the sub-supplier, who then ships the goods directly to the customer. The Advance Shipping Notice (ASN) is sent to the customer and to the supplier. Invoicing is arranged between sub-supplier and supplier. Optionally, the sub-supplier can ship to the customer on behalf of the supplier.

The “Ship on Behalf of” scenario is an optional process variant that needs to be used if the end-customer must not be aware that the goods are shipped from the sub-supplier and not from the supplier.

In this process the sub-supplier must act as if goods are shipped from the supplier’s facility. All customer facing documents such as container labels, packing slips, waybills, etc. must use the supplier and ship from information from the supplier party and not from the sub-supplier. This includes also identification numbers like DUNS or ID’s given by the end-customer to identify the supplier, which are printed on paperwork and published in the ASN.

The new Ship on Behalf of check box in the detail view of the Ship From Information page is used to activate the “Ship on Behalf of” business process.

The complete ship from and supplier address information can be maintained now including the DUNS Number and the External Supplier Number. The address information of the supplier (the seller from the customer’s perspective) must be specified in the new field set Supplier Address. This information is used to replace the address data from the sub-supplier in shipping documents and in the ASN.

If the “Ship on Behalf of” business process is activated, the entered Ship From Address and Supplier Address information is transferred to the shipper and stored on the Manage Shippers page, in addition to the ship from and supplier address information received from LN (Sub-Supplier role). You can check this address information in the field sets Ship From (Ship on Behalf of) Information and Supplier (Ship on Behalf of) Information in the detail view of the Manage Shippers page.

New parameters have been introduced in the Customers code list to activate the “Ship on Behalf of” functionality for a certain group of documents to be printed, customer facing documents, carrier facing documents, and customs documents:

• Print "Ship on Behalf of" Address for Customer facing Documents
• Print "Ship on Behalf of" Address for Carrier facing Documents
• Print "Ship on Behalf of" Address for Customs Documents

If activated, the supplier address is used instead of the sub-supplier address in shipping documents and the ASN.

ASN Copy

Typically, an ASN must be sent to the receiver of the goods. If it is required in the business scenario, also other parties must be informed about the executed shipment. Up to three ASN copies can now be created and sent to different message receivers involved in the supply chain.

The number of ASN copies must be defined in the parameter Number of Copies in the Customers code list. If Number of Copies is 0, no ASN copy is created.

Shipping creates a corresponding number of ASN requests for Transformation Services in addition to the ASN request based on the selected ASN Type. The original ASN is sent to the customer.

For each shipment copy, a separate Partner ID configuration must be created in Transformation Services. The Message Type must be Shipment Copy 1 - 3. The other Partner ID settings must be the same for the regular ASN and the ASN copies.

In the corresponding transformation rule, the required EDI format is defined. Each copy can be created in a different EDI format such as EDIFACT DESADV, ASC X12 856, and VDA 4913. The transformation rule must be defined with a matching Partner ID, Message Direction and Message Type.

In Transformation Services, one message is created for each defined Message Type Shipment Copy 1 - 3.