Global Setup

Bill of Lading

Application Overview

 This feature is designed to print a Bill of Lading form used by trucking companies for shipping.  Our primary goal is to save time by filling out the Bill Of Lading forms for the shipping department staff.  In order to use this feature, users are required to have one of the following forms: 1) A short form which is seven inches long, RapidForm form number 25654, or 2) A long form which is 11 inches in length, form number 22824.  For the best result, the long form is recommended.  A sample of each form follows the last page of this enhancement. 

Run Instructions

 Before utilizing the function of printing a bill of lading, you need to set up Bill of Lading through the setup process.  You can choose to either accept the default settings or customize the printing.

 Elliott main menu à Util setup à Global Setup à Cop-Ctl à Bill of Lading     

Figure 4A.1 shows the setup screen for Bill of Lading.

1.       Form Length To Use?

This flag controls the type of Bill of Lading form to use (4A.2).  Enter “1” if you wish to use the RapidForms Short Form #2565, or “2” for the long form #2282.  For the best result, the long form is recommended. 

Figure 4A.2

2. Packages Printing Options?

On the Bill Of Lading form, the user has to specify the number of packages.  This question gives the user three options:

1)    Always Use Qty To Ship,

2)    Select During Order Entry, and

3)    Leave Blank.

4)    Qty-Ship/Item User Amount

If the user enters 1, the system will grab the Qty Shipped information from the Order Line Item file to put it on the form.  If you enter 2, system will require the user to specify the number of packages in the Order Line Item screen manually as is shown in Figure 4A.3. Choosing option 3 will leave the No. Packages column blank and the warehouse staff will fill it out manually.  Choose option 4 = Equal Qty-Ship/Item User Amount.  Item User Amount is a convention in Elliott to stand for Qty per Box for each item.  If you do specify this information, then system can automatically determine number of box for each line item when printing Bill of Lading.

3. Weight Printing Options?

This flag controls the weight printing on the Bill of Lading form.  You have three options:

1)       Item Weight,

2)       Leave Blank, and

3)       Manual Entry.

Option 1 basically will retrieve the Item Weight from the Item File.  Option 2 requires the warehouse staff to fill in the weight manually.  Option 3 will prompt you to enter the total weight for each line item during order entry.

 4. Description Lines To Print?

This flag gives you four options to control how the package description should be printed on the Bill Of Lading form.  They are:

1)       Line Item Desc 1 + Usr Def Code Desc,

2)       Line Item Desc 2 + Usr Def Code Desc,

3)       Both Line Item Desc + Usr Def Code Desc, and

4)       User Def Code Desc Only.

User defined code stands for the category of the item.  For example, if you are a monitor manufacturer, you probably will not put your item description of “Model 7682 1024x768 15” Flat” on the bill of lading since the trucker wouldn’t understand what it means.  Chances are, you will put something like ‘15” VGA Monitor’ on the bill of lading.  The trucker should be able to understand this and it conforms to the Department of Transportation’s regulation.  You will need to set up a user defined code of ‘15” VGA Monitor’ and indicate the item’s user defined code in item file maintenance.

 If you enter “1,”, the first line of the Line Item Description and the User Defined description will be printed on the form, wereas option “2” will make the system print the second line of the Line Item Description in the Order Line Item file plus the description in the User Defined File, or “3” for all the Line Item Description 1, 2 and the User Defined File description; option “4” will have only the User Defined Description printed in the Package Description column of the form.  When you specify “4,” the system can also consolidate bill of lading line items for line items on the order with identical user defined codes.

 5. Comment Code for Note That Will Always Print

If this is your first time using this enhancement, we suggest you leave this field blank and get familiar with our Note Function Enhancement first.  The code specified here refers to the notes associating with this code in the Note Windows.  This flag allows you to select a predefined note that will always print on the Bill of Lading.  This is a global setting. Once set, all bills of lading will be printed with this note.  If you do not have such a global note to always print on the bill of lading, you should leave this field blank.  More specific notes like order, customer, item or line item notes can also be printed on the Bill of Lading (refer to the Note Function Enhancement).

 6. Update Order Picking Date After Printing?

If you are using Bill of Lading as your picking ticket, answer “Y” to this question.  If you print a picking ticket separately from the Bill of Lading, you should answer “N.”

 7. Emergency Response Phone No.?

The Department of Transportation requires you to provide an Emergency Response Phone Number in case of a disaster, like a truck spill on the highway. 

 8. Warehouse Manager Name?

You can enter name of the person in charge of the organization’s shipments.  The name entered here will be designated as a contact person in the company for emergency dealings.

 9. Print Company Name?

Depending on whether you have a generic form or a pre-printed form with your company’s name and logo, you will answer “Y” or “N” accordingly.

 10. Print Date of Shipment?

This is a Yes/No flag triggering the printing of the shipment date on the top of the BOL.  The date will be entered during the printing routine.

11. Print Warehouse Address On Bill of Lading?

Answer “Y” if you wish to print the warehouse address on the Bill of Lading.

12.   Print Unit of Measure on Bill of Lading?

Answer “Y” to use this function.

13.   Print Item No. On Bill of Lading?

Answer “Y” to use this function.

14.   Print Purchase Order No. On Bill of Lading?

If you are using the Bill of Lading as a picking ticket, chances are you want to answer “Y” to print the customer purchase order on the Bill of Lading.

15.   Print Shipping Instructions On Bill of Lading?

Answer “Y’ to use this function.

16.   Print One Blank Line Between Each Line Item?

Answer “Y” to use this function.

USING BILL OF LADING 

Information On Bill Of Lading

There are two files that the user has to maintain to ensure the correct information will be printed on the bill of lading forms.  The first file is the User Defined File, and the second is the Item File.

 A. User Defined File-

The User Defined File controls the information printed on the bill of lading forms.  The records created in this file will be used in the Item File so that each individual item has clear information for the bill of lading.

As its name suggests, the User Defined File can be named by the user.  Usually the more descriptive the literal, the better it is for the user.  The literal defining of this file is done in Inventory Maintenance (please refer to that manual).  The user may either choose the default value or enter any custom literal.  In our example, we use the default code, User Defined Code, as the literal in the User Defined File.  The User Defined Code will later be used in the Item File for an item so that the corresponding User Defined Code Desc, User Defined Code Class, Hazardous Material, Item Category, and the ERG# information can be printed on the bill of lading forms.  Figure 30.1 illustrates what we have created for this file.

Figure 4A.5. A User Defined record has been built for the Item File to print the information entered here on the bill of lading forms.

1) User Def Code-- A code uniquely identifying each User Defined record.  It will be used in the Item File identifying which shipping category of the trucking company that a particular item belongs to.

2) User Def Code Desc-- A detailed description of a shipping category of the trucking company.  This piece of information will be printed in the column “KIND OF PACKAGE, DESCRIPTION OF ARTICLES, SPECIAL MARKS AND EXCEPTIONS” on the form.

3) User Def Code Class-- This field specifies which class of rate that the trucking company charges for the item’s corresponding shipping category code (equivalent to User Def Code in our example).  It will be printed in the column of “CLASS OR RATE” on the form.

4) Hazardous Material-- This field will be printed in the column of “HM,” which indicates whether the item’s corresponding shipping category code contains hazardous material or not.  The user answers either “Y” or “N” to this question.  If the shipment contains hazardous materials, the long form must be used.

5) ERG#-- This field has been regulated recently by the government.  It requires the user to enter a two-digit Emergency Response Group Code for emergency response personnel to provide proper services when there is a hazardous material spill.

B. Item File-

Once the user sets up the User Defined File, the records can be used to print useful information on the  bill of lading.  Figure 4A.6 shows that Field 4 contains the code description that we have seen in Figure 4A.5.  “90” is used for the Item No Clock.

Figure 4A.6 In the Item File, the user has to enter the code that he/she established in the User Defined File to print the information on the bill of lading.