How To Guide

Setup of Parcel Rate Shopping

Table of Contents

OVERVIEW ..................................................................................................................... 2
SETUP ............................................................................................................................ 2
PACKAGES - GESTPA ................................................................................................................................ 2
PRODUCT INFORMATION - GESITM ............................................................................................................. 3
SERVICES/SHIPPING MODE - GESTMD ....................................................................................................... 4
SERVICE LEVEL EQUIVALENCIES - GESXCJ ................................................................................................. 5
CARRIER SETUP - GESBPT ........................................................................................................................ 6
FREIGHT ZONE MAPPING - GESXCK ........................................................................................................... 7
FREIGHT BOOK (PARCEL CARRIER/SERVICE RATE TABLES) - GESXCU ........................................................ 7
CUSTOMER DISCOUNTS BY CARRIER - GESXCU ......................................................................................... 9
FUNCTIONAL ............................................................................................................... 10
SALES ORDER PROCESSING ...................................................................................................................... 10
MANUAL FREIGHT SHOPPING ..................................................................................................................... 11
AUTOMATIC FREIGHT SHOPPING ................................................................................................................ 13
FREIGHT SHOPPING INQUIRY - CONSXCW................................................................................................ 14

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 Parcel Rate Shopping

Overview
Parcel rate shopping is provided with Sage ERP X3 Premium Editions Order Entry function for customers
that have licensed the freight module. Rate Shopping occurs when a generic freight service type is
identified on the Freight Mode assigned to an order. As a sales order is either created, the rate shopping
is kicked off, and returns to the order a specific carrier as well as freight charge. The X3 Parcel Rate
shopping tool relies on several factors to create a rough estimate of the freight charges.

Product Packing Characteristics

Product Dimensions
Product Packaging Type
Product Packages
Typical Order Packaging Configuration
Services/Shipping Mode
Service Level Equivalencies
Carrier Setup
Carrier/Service Rate Tables
Customer Discounts by Carrier (if applicable).
The accuracy of the rate estimate depends on your products and how they are packaged, how much
repacking is performed and how many multi-package shipments are processed. This is essential
because to shop the rates, the system must generate an estimated number of packages and also the
dimensions of the package. These factors affect the number of packages, weight of a package and also
the size of the package. The size dictates if the package is considered oversize and therefore subject to
additional surcharges.
You must review your business considering parcel volume, order and product characteristics to determine
if the use of rate shopping tool will be beneficial.

Setup
Packages - GESTPA
An important part of the parcel rate shopping is determining if surcharges or dimensional weight
needs to be applied/used. To do this, the size of the package must be estimated. In order to do this,
packages must be defined in the

system.

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 Parcel Rate Shopping

Product Information - GESITM

Key data for parcel rate shopping is defined on the products Unit of Measure Tab. The Item Weight is
used during the parcel shopping.

The algorithm for determining the number of packages is based on a products assigned package and
package capacity.

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 Parcel Rate Shopping

Services/Shipping Mode - GESTMD

Details on the setup of the services/shipping mode can be found in the document HTG Service and
Carrier Setup. Most of the new fields appearing on the service are for use by the parcel rate-shopping
feature.
To perform rate shopping, the services to be shopped/compared must be defined. First you must define
the generic service that initiates the rate shopping activity. The generic service is not associated with a
specific carrier; it just denotes the type of service you wish to shop (example: Ground, Air, etc.). The
example below illustrates the setup for a generic service to shop standard ground delivery.

In addition to the generic services, you also need to define your specific service type shipping modes.
These modes are services offered by a specific carrier (UPS, FDX, etc.) for which you have
setup/defined rates. The examples below show services defined for UPS and FDX standard ground
delivery.

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 Parcel Rate Shopping

When defining services you need to pay particular attention to the parcel shopping data and parcel
charges. The values that are required may vary based on the service (domestic vs. international) or
(ground vs. air). You need to check with your carriers to validate these settings. The same is true for the
fees associated with the additional handling and oversize packages. Since Sage X3 is estimating the
package count and package size, the only reliable way to know when to apply these charges is by setup.
Checkboxes on the product indicate that these charges should be considered during rate shopping.

Service Level Equivalencies - GESXCJ

The service level equivalency allows you link a shopping code (generic service) to specific carrier
services. The examples in this document show how to compare ground parcel services provided by two
different carriers. You may also use a generic service to provide a grouping that allows you see/compare
the charges associated with many different services provided by the same carrier. Using in this manner
st nd
allows a user to see the difference in cost of the different carrier services (ex: 1 Day, 2 Day Air, ground,
etc.).

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 Parcel Rate Shopping

Carrier Setup - GESBPT

To use a carrier for parcel rate shopping, you must define them as a parcel carrier. A field has been
added to the carrier to denote their type.

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 Parcel Rate Shopping

Freight Zone Mapping - GESXCK

The parcel carriers define rates using postal code ranges with each service to map an area to a zone.
The rate tables are then defined using a zone code, weight and service. To use the parcel rate shopping,
you must define your freight zone mapping. This mapping will vary based on shipping warehouse. So
you must define this mapping for all warehouses from which you will ship. The sample below illustrates
the mapping for standard ground service of UPS and FDX. This mapping must be defined for each of the
services for which you plan to rate shop.

The carrier/service zone map is provided to you by the carrier. It is based on the zip code of your
shipping warehouse. Since it is warehouse based, the site appears as part of the key to the table. You
must define this mapping for each of the warehouses that will participate in rate shopping.

Freight Book (Parcel Carrier/Service Rate Tables) - GESXCU

Rate based Freight Books should be created for each specific shipping mode service previously identified
that will be part of parcel rate shopping. The books need created for each site that the service applies to.
You may wish to include the freight service name when assigning a new Freight Book. In the event that
the carrier provides different rates for commercial and residential addresses, you have a flag to indicate
which is appropriate. This setting relates to the residence flag on the customer address and is used for
the rate lookups.

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 Parcel Rate Shopping

Rates are typically defined in increments of one pound. This goes up to a maximum of 150 lbs. Once the
threshold is reached a shipment is automatically rated using the dimensional weight. The rate to use for
dimensional weight is defined by entering the dimension rate as the value and then double clicking in the
price per column. This entry is then used for over 150 lbs by virtue of the table setup and it also marks
the record for a zone so that it can be applied to lower weight shipments with large cubes.
The example below shows the rates for the high end of zone 2. Note the last record defines the rate to
be used for dimensional calculations. The value is applied on a per pound basis (actual weight or
dimensional weight).

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 Parcel Rate Shopping

Customer Discounts by Carrier - GESXCU

When you provide a carrier with sufficient volume, they may offer you a discount on their standard rates.
If this is the case, these discounts can be defined and taken into account within rate shopping. The
discounts are defined in a manner that is similar to the actual rates. They may also be defined with the
residential and commercial distinction. See the example below:

The next example show discounts for professional or non-residential deliveries.

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Functional
Sales Order Processing
Rate shopping is automatically triggered when you create or save a sales order and the sales order has a
generic service. If the order has a specific service assigned, it is not re-shopped. If you want to re-shop
the order, you must reset the service to a generic one. Another option is to manually review the freight
rates and choose the least cost carrier.
To shop an order, an estimate of the number of packages, size of each package and weight of each
package is created. The algorithm that is used is dependent on the presence of multi-channel.

The algorithm for determining the number of package is based on a products assigned package,
package capacity and the products volume (calculated from its dimensions)

If the product does not have a package and package capacity defined, the product will be treated like a
repack and added to the repack total using the extended (product volume * line quantity) volume.

Example: Assume the largest package has a volume of 5000.

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 Parcel Rate Shopping

Line Product Ord Qty Volume Package Capacity # of Pkg Repack

Total
1000 0445 10 960 10# 4 2 1920
2000 0545 5 900 10# 4 1 2820
3000 2FEL 10 80 5# 5 2 2820
4000 0645 2 1000 8# 4 0 4820
Full Pkg: 5
Repack Pkg: 2
Repack Package = Repack Total / Largest Package (4820/4500 rounded up = 2)
Total Pkg = Full Package + Repack Package (5 + 2 = 7)
Each individual package is processed through the rate calculation to determine the estimated freight
charges. This is done for each service/carrier that is setup for rate shopping. The service/carrier that
provides the lowest total cost is selected. These values are updated on the order header and the order
lines.

Manual Freight Shopping

You have two options for rate shopping an order. The first is available from within an order. The Freight
Rate option is available on the Option pull down menu.

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 Parcel Rate Shopping

When Freight Rate is selected, the rate shopping window appears.

The least cost carrier will appear first in the list.

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 Parcel Rate Shopping

Automatic Freight Shopping

When you initially create a Sales Order, the order will be shopped. If you make changes to the order and wish to
have it re-rated or shopped, you have two ways to initiate this process.

Change the shipping mode/service to a generic one and save the order. NOTE: If the weight of the order did not
change since it was previously shopped, then the freight amount will NOT be overwritten unless the Rerate Checkbox
on the miscellaneous tab has been checked.

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 Parcel Rate Shopping

Freight Shopping Inquiry - CONSXCW

The freight shopping inquiry is identical to the Manual Freight Shop provided within order entry. The
primary difference is that the user has to provide the sales order number and can only a view the estimate
parcel freight charges. You cannot affect a change of service/carrier from the inquiry. After entering the
sales order number, the rates are displayed.

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