Load plan, load, and shipment maintenance

In the Load Building module, you can maintain load plans, loads, and shipments. Load plans, loads, and shipments created by the load building engine in the Generate Plan (fmlbd0280m000) session are stored and maintained in the Plans (fmlbd0110m000) session, the Loads (fmlbd4100m000) session, and the Shipments (fmlbd3100m000) session. In these sessions, you can also manually create load plans, loads, and shipments.

Note:

Although typically Freight must perform transport planning because of its advanced planning functionality, Warehousing can change the shipments and loads created by Freight, or replace them with loads and shipments of its own. Warehousing might be required to change or replace loads or shipments if unexpected situations arise, such as damage to the goods, insufficient transport capacity, and so on.

Shipments and loads based on freight orders that have been created from originating orders cannot be processed in Warehousing if the originating orders have not been released to Warehousing. Loads and shipments based on manually created freight orders cannot be processed by Warehousing either. The reason for this is because warehousing orders cannot be created from manual freight orders and to process loads and shipments, Warehousing requires warehousing orders.

Load plans

Load plans are maintained in the Plans (fmlbd0110m000) session. In this session, you can manually create new plans, modify existing plans and change the plan status to Actual or Expired.

If you change a load plan to Actual, the loads and shipments belonging to the load plan also become Actual. Load plans that have been made Actual are passed on to Warehousing for further processing. You can make load plans Actual if you select Actualize Plan from the appropriate menu in the Plans (fmlbd0110m000) session. You cannot change Actual load plans. To change an Actual load plan, you must select the Undo Actualize option first. This option is available on the appropriate menu of the Plans (fmlbd0110m000) session.

If you set a load plan to Expired, the load plan cannot be used for transportation planning. You can make a load plan Expired in the Plans (fmlbd0110m000) session.

You can delete a load plan if the load plan is empty. A load plan is emptied after the loads and shipments attached to the load plan are deleted. You can also manually create empty load plans.

If a load plan is Planned, you can change the following data of the load plan:

The setting of the Carrier/LSP Selection Criterion check box.
The setting of the Calculate Additional Costs check box.
The setting of the Expired check box.
The setting of the Means of Transport in Multiple Plans check box.

You can use the Clear Plans (fmlbd0205m000) session to delete load plans.

Loads

Loads are maintained in the Loads (fmlbd4100m000) session. In this session, you can manually create new loads, modify existing loads, and change the status of Confirmed loads to Shipped or Completed. In addition, you can calculate the freight costs of a load in this session.

Loads with statuses ranging from Actual to Shipped are deleted if Warehousing sets these loads to Replaced or Ignored. For further information, refer to Load plan, load, and shipment statuses. If load building or replanning is carried out for a load whose shipment lines are changed or deleted, the load is deleted. If you manually change or delete the shipment lines of a load, the load is kept. If the Update Actual Load Data field is set to Manual Replanning or Automatic Replanning, this also applies to Actual loads. For further information on changes made to freight order lines and replanning, refer to Freight order maintenance and Load and unload date/time tolerances.

You can delete loads manually if the status of the loads is not beyond Actual. If you delete a load manually, a warning appears if shipments and shipment lines are attached to the load. You can ignore the warning and delete the load. The shipments and shipment lines are also deleted.

You can also delete empty loads that are created manually.

You can change loads manually if the status of the loads is not beyond Actual. The following load data can be changed:

Route Plan
Standard Route
Carrier/LSP
Standard Route
Carrier Tracking Number
Transport Means Group
Means of Transport
Estimated Freight Cost
Invoice-from Business Partner
Invoice-from Business Partner
Payment Method

Note:

You must not change this data if the Payment Method and the Payment Method related to the carriers, route plans, and standard routes of the load do not match the Payment Method and the Payment Method of the carriers, standard routes, and route plans related to the other loads of the load plan.

In addition, the addresses of the standard route of the load must be within the address range of the standard routes of the other loads of the plan.

Shipments

Shipments are maintained in the Shipments (fmlbd3100m000) session and shipment lines are maintained in the Shipment Lines (fmlbd3150m000) session.

A shipment consists of a shipment header and one or more shipment lines. A shipment heading consists of some general information, such as the delivery date and the names and addresses of the ship-from and ship-to business partners.

In the Shipments (fmlbd3100m000) session, you can manually create new shipments and modify or delete existing shipments. However, the extent to which you can modify a shipment depends on the shipment status. If the rating level is set to shipments at carrier level in the Carriers/LSP by Shipping Office and Planning Group (fmfrc0160m000) session, you can calculate the freight costs of a shipment in this session.

Shipments are deleted under the same conditions and circumstances as those described for loads.

If the status of a shipment is not beyond Actual, you can change the planned load and unload date. If the changed planned unload date of the shipment is outside the loading or unloading time window of the corresponding load, the time window of the load is adjusted. You can also change the freight costs of the shipment.

Shipment lines

A shipment line includes an item, several properties of the item, such as the quantity, the price, the aggregated weight, dimensions, and so on.

Component item lines for items that consist of one or more component items are added to the shipment lines when the load plan is made Actual. Load building is based on main item data, and real life shipping data is based on component item information.

In the Shipment Lines (fmlbd3150m000) session, you can manually create new shipment lines and modify or delete existing shipments. However, the extent to which you can modify a shipment depends on the shipment status.

Shipment lines are deleted under the same conditions and circumstances as those described for loads.

If the status of a shipment line is not beyond Actual, you can link another freight order or freight order line to the shipment line. However, the Payment Method and the Transport Type of the new freight order or order line must match the Payment Method and the Transport Type of the freight order or freight order line that you are replacing, or it must have no Payment Method and Transport Type. In addition, the departure and destination addresses must be identical or must be within the route plan or standard route. You can also change the aggregated dimensions of the item and the freight costs of the shipment line.

Note:

Completed load plans and loads are set to Closed when the carrier invoice is approved in the Accounts Payable module of Financials. The related shipments and shipment lines are automatically set to Closed as well. Closed shipments and shipment lines can only be deleted if the corresponding load is deleted.