Shipping Solutions Professional includes
an Integration Utility that allows you to link the
software with your company’s accounting, order-entry
or ERP system. This powerful utility allows you to
import an entire order or set of orders from your
accounting system into Shipping Solutions Professional
to be able to produce your export documents, file
your SED information electronically through AES,
and fulfill your export compliance requirements.
There are three primary advantages for using the
Integration Utility:
- Dramatically reduce the time it takes to complete
your export documents. By importing an entire order
into Shipping Solutions Professional, a company
may import 50% to 75% of the data required to complete
the various export forms.
- Eliminate redundant databases. Because you
are importing an entire order into Shipping Solutions
Professional, you are typically importing all
the contact and product information from your accounting
system. This eliminates the need to import, store
and update your contact and product information
in the Shipping Solutions databases. (Since most
accounting systems don’t allow you to store
intermediate consignee and freight forwarder information,
you may still find it advantageous to use those
databases in Shipping Solutions Professional.)
- Reduce data entry errors. Because you are
importing data from your accounting system, you
don’t
need to retype important information. No retyping
means no chance of typos.
In order to import your orders into Shipping Solutions
Professional, you actually need to import two sets
of files: the document header and the line item information.
The document header file contains all the information
that applies to your entire shipment including exporter,
consignee and shipping information. The line item
data includes information related to each separate
line item of your order. Every order can have multiple
line items.

Setting Up Shipping Solutions
Professional’s
Integration Utility
- Select Field Delimiter—Your first
choice on the Integration Utility Setup Window
is to select the type of delimiter that divides your
data fields: comma, tab or pipe.
- First line of data contains
field names—Check
this box if the first line of your data files includes
titles for each of your fields. If they did, these
field names will be displayed to make it easy to
map the data in your files with the Shipping Solutions
Professional fields.
- Locate Header File—Click
this button to display a Search window that will
allow you to navigate through your computer to
locate the header file of your shipment. (The header
file will typically include all your order information
not specifically related to your products.) Once
you have located it, click on the file and then
click on the Open button to select it.
- Locate Details File—Click this
button to display a Search window that will allow
you to navigate through your computer to locate
the line item details file of your shipment. (The
details file will typically include the information
specifically related to the line items in your
shipment.) Once you have located it, click on the
file and then click on the Open button to select
it.
- View File—Once you have selected
your header file, you can click this button to
view the contents of the file.

The Integration Utility includes
a screen to map the data fields in your
accounting system with the data fields in Shipping
Solutions Professional.
- Field Mapping—Click on the Field
Mapping button to open a mapping window that displays
a table with three columns:
- SS Pro Fields—This column lists the
Shipping Solutions Professional fields that
contain the header information for your order.
- Your Fields—Use this column to select
the appropriate data field in your header
information file for the various Shipping Solutions
Professional field. Clicking in one of these
fields will bring up a drop-down menu from
which you can select the field from your data
file that should be imported into this particular
field in Shipping Solutions Professional.
- Linking Fields—Click on the one field
from your data file that is used to link
the data with your header information with the
data fields in your line item file. By identifying
the correct Linking Field, you are ensuring that
the line items for a particular order will always
stay tied to that order.
- Locate Details File—Now repeat
the above steps with your line item data file to
locate the data file and map the data with Shipping
Solutions Professional.
- Save—By clicking on the Save button,
you are saving this integration setup so that every
time you run the import process, Shipping Solutions
Professional will know where to go to retrieve
the data and where to insert the data in Shipping
Solutions. Click on the Cancel button to cancel
the setup process without saving it.
(For a complete list of data fields for both the
Header File and Line Item Detail File, go to the
Integration File Structure page.
Run Integration Utility
Once you have set up the Integration Utility, you
can now import your orders from your accounting,
order-entry or ERP system by simply clicking this
button. When completed, Shipping Solutions Professional
will display a message stating how many documents
were imported.
You can now go to the EZ Start screens to review
and edit your data. Since most accounting, order-entry
and ERP systems are designed for domestic orders
and shipping, you will need to review each screen
and enter in the remaining data such as intermediate
consignees and forwarding agents; export license
numbers and types (if required); and inland, ocean
and/or air waybill information. However, in a typical
setup, the import process will replace most of your
manual data entry.
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