The Shipments module is your central hub for monitoring the entire lifecycle of your orders on the Locad Control Tower, from the moment they are booked for pickup until they are delivered to your customer. This guide will walk you through the key sections: the Shipment Dashboard, Pending Pickups, and Track Shipments.



TABLE OF CONTENTS


The Shipment Dashboard: Your High-Level Overview

The Shipment Dashboard provides a summary of all shipments created in the Control Tower. It is the best place to get a quick, visual understanding of your overall shipping performance.

Key features include:

  • Status Cards: A real-time count of shipments in various stages like PENDING_PICKUP, IN_TRANSIT, and DELIVERED.

  • Ageing Reports: See how long shipments have been waiting for pickup or are in the delivery process, helping you identify potential delays.

  • Volume Share Charts: Visual breakdowns of your shipment volume by destination, pickup location, and carrier, allowing you to analyze trends over time.


Pending Pickups: Managing Orders Before They Ship

Navigate to Shipments > Pending Pickups to see a list of orders that have been successfully booked but are still awaiting collection by the carrier.

In this section, you can perform critical pre-shipment actions:

  • Print Waybills: Download and print the airway bill that needs to be attached to each parcel.

  • Cancel Bookings: You can cancel the pickup and carrier booking directly from this page.


Important Note: Once you have downloaded the airway bill for an order, you will no longer be able to cancel the pickup from the dashboard.



How to Cancel a Shipment Booking

You can cancel a booked shipment directly from the OMS as long as it is still in the Pending Pickup status. There are two ways to do this:

Method 1: From the Pending Pickups List

This method is best for quick cancellations, including in bulk.

  • For a single shipment: Locate the order in the list and click the red Cancel carrier booking icon on the far right of the row.

  • For multiple shipments: Select the orders you want to cancel using the checkboxes on the left. A Cancel Shipments button will appear at the top. Click it to cancel all selected shipments at once.

Method 2: From the Shipment Detail Page

This method is useful if you are already reviewing an order's details.

  • From the Pending Pickups list, click on the Order Number of the shipment you want to cancel.

  • On the Shipment Order Detail page, scroll to the bottom and click the Cancel Carrier Booking button.


Track Shipments: Following Parcels to Their Destination

Once a parcel is picked up by the courier, you can monitor its journey in the Shipments > Track Shipments module. This is your main tracking center for all active and completed orders.

  • Main View: The main page provides a searchable and filterable list of all your shipments, showing key information like Order Number, Carrier, Destination, and current Shipment Status.

  • Detailed View: To see detailed information, click on any Order Number. This will take you to the Shipment Order Detail page, where you can find:

    • Carrier Details: Including the official tracking number and a direct link to the carrier's tracking website.

    • History Lines: A complete, timestamped log of every status change the shipment has gone through.

    • Addresses: Both the delivery and pickup address details.

    • Waybill Document: A button to download the airway bill for your records.



FAQs:

  1. What's the difference between "Pending Pickups" and "Track Shipments"?
    Ans - Pending Pickups is for managing orders before the carrier has collected them from the warehouse. Track Shipments is for monitoring orders after they have been picked up and are on their way to the customer.

  2. I need to cancel an order that's already been booked. Where can I do that?
    Ans - You can cancel a booking from the Pending Pickups module, but only if you have not yet downloaded the waybill for that order.

  3. How can I get a detailed history of a shipment's status changes?
    Ans - From the Track Shipments page, click on the specific Order Number. The detail page will show a "History Lines" section with a complete, timestamped log of all status updates.

  4. Where can I find the carrier's official tracking link?
    Ans - On the Shipment Order Detail page (accessed by clicking any order number), the carrier's tracking number is listed. Beside it is a green icon that will redirect you to the carrier's own tracking website.