Transportation Management

Outcome

A shipment is picked, packed, reported, and shipped.

• To control a physical shipment throughout the dispatch flow
• Can be used for customer orders, requisition orders, distribution orders, and manufacturing orders-only material issues

The following tables are updated:

• Shipments are stored in the DCONSI table.
• Routes are stored in the DROUTE table.
• Route dispatches are stored in the DROUDI table.
• Connections between shipment/deliveries and documents are stored in the DDOCUX table.
• Customer return headers are updated if a pick-up delivery is connecting the return and the specific shipment.
• The pick-up delivery status in the MHDISA table is updated when the pick-up delivery created for a transportation order is reported as started.

Before you start

No prerequisites are needed.

Structure

Shipment

Shipment in M3 is defined as a number of delivery numbers connected to one shipment. Use of shipment means that the dispatch flow (a number of delivery numbers) is controlled by the shipment. This is known as transportation management.

Shipment (DRS100)

• Only transportation management
• Grouped delivery numbers
• Freights documents
• Releases controlled by shipment

Customer order lines from different customers and for different delivery addresses (different deliveries in M3) can be added to a shipment, assuming that the places of unloading for these customer orders are defined on the shipment’s route setup.

If you do not want to track the progress of a physical shipment, then you should not use transportation management. Just issue the goods using the process described in Dispatch Handling. That flow is simpler than the transportation flow because there are fewer steps.

Transportation management works seamlessly together with the following areas:

Customer orders transaction type (3)

Requisition orders transaction type (4)

Distribution orders transaction type (5)

Manufacturing orders material issue.

Customer order returns

Transportation orders

Routes

Routes are used to define route departure, place of unloading, unloading sequence, lead time, etc. Route types are used to control the setup of the route and its application throughout the transportation management.

Every element does not need to be entered in the system to use route/route departure. For example, routes do not have to have unloading places. In that case, you create a route with route type 1=Open route.

A route always has a place of loading, and may have one or more places of unloading. The place of loading must match the place defined in ‘Warehouse. Open’ (MMS005). If the place of loading and the place of unloading, as defined in ‘Place. Open’ (MMS008), are in the same country, the transportation documents will be different than if these places are situated in different countries. If the route is a domestic route, another CMR document will be generated. Note that in the definition of the places, a time zone can be entered to cover time zone conversion.

The route and route departure are retrieved by the system via the settings on the F panel in ‘CO Type. Update Field Selection’ (OIS014) and ‘Route Selection Table. Open’ (DRS011).

The code for the route can, for example, be geographical (Spain, Sweden, etc.) or it can be named after the forwarding agent that carries out the transport operations.

Document handling

Delivery document(s) are connected to a delivery. The following standard documents can be connected to a delivery:

• Delivery note
• CMR
• Swedish CMR
• EUR1 – document
• Unit document
• Pro forma invoice.

Delivery numbers uses

• Separate the logistical (delivery numbers) element from the commercial (order numbers) element.
• A unique delivery number should be used instead of a delivery index. The delivery number is always created/updated online when maintaining order lines. The primary key is consignor (warehouse), consignee (receiver), dispatch policy, planned departure time and transportation requirements.
• All further dispatch activities (allocation, picking, packing and shipment assembly) will be controlled by the delivery number instead of the order index.
• The delivery number contains all required data for dispatch handling, such as consignee, date and time, weight, volume, transport method and term, and so on.

Shipment number uses

A shipment number contains several delivery numbers connected to one shipment. Use of a shipment number means that the dispatch flow (a number of delivery numbers) is controlled by the shipment. This is known as transportation management.

The system can be set up to automatically assign new delivery numbers to a shipment. The test that follows determines whether this automatic connection should be made.

All of the following statements should be true:

• The requested delivery’s route and route departure should be suitable for the shipment.
• The requested departure date and time should be suitable for the shipment.
• The remaining capacity of the shipment should be sufficient for the delivery.

Back order preselection logic

Back order deliveries have been changed to respect route preselection logic. The requirement that the new solution meets is the possibility to reschedule a back order to the next best possible departure occasion. This is activated by performing so-called route preselection for any action in the dispatch flow that triggers creation of a back order delivery number.

Before this functional change was performed, a back order delivery was always placed on the same departure date and time as the original delivery number. This caused inaccurate departure dates and times and transaction dates and times. Moreover, no consolidation of back order deliveries to one future delivery was performed.

The following dispatch flow action may create a back order:

• Picking list creation using (MWS010–300), Closing point=2
• Picking list issue of last picking list suffix inside a delivery number
• Manual close from (MWS410) using option 37=Close delivery
• Manual close from (MWS420) using option 13=Close delivery
• Manual close from (DRS100) using option 37=Close shipment.

The back order delivery number that is created will be connected to the route, route departure, departure date and departure time that the route preselection logic calculates based on the point of time when the back order is reported. Normally this would find the same route but possibly a new route departure number, and most likely a new departure date and time will be calculated.

The rescheduling of the back order delivery will also affect the calculation of the transaction date and time, presented in 'Delivery. Open Toolbox' (MWS410/E), that affects the automatic picking list creation.

The rescheduling will not change any information on the underlying order line (CO/DO/RO/MO). The route, route departure, departure date and departure time will keep the original values.

Workflow

• Create shipment before or after picking lists are created

  The order lines are connected to a new or existing shipment number. The picking lists are created per shipment number

  If you do not have your own fleet of trucks, you may want to consider transportation management (creation of a shipment) before picking lists are created. In this case, you can book transport with the forwarding agent in advance so that when the empty trucks arrive at your warehouse docking area, they only have to be loaded.

• Create shipment after picking lists are created

  You create picking lists per delivery number and thereafter connect deliveries to a shipment.

  If you have your own fleet of trucks, you may want to consider transportation management (creation of shipment) after the picking lists have been created, after packing is completed or after picking lists are picked and reported. Then you can control the workload at the docking area yourself.

• Create shipment before picking lists are created

  1. Create an order (in this documentation, it is a customer order).

  2. Manually or automatically connect a delivery to a shipment.

  3. Work with the dispatch flow for the shipment from (DRS100).

  

• Create shipment after picking lists are created

  1. Create an order (for example, a customer order).

  2. Allocate and release for picking by delivery.

  3. From now on you can connect a delivery to a shipment, or you can continue to work with the delivery without connection to a shipment. Four alternatives ("connection points") are valid (see preceding figure).

  4. Manually connect a delivery to a shipment.

  5. Work with the dispatch flow for the shipment from (DRS100).