Now that you have setup the various shipping options you need a way to ship product or other material to your customers. In order to do this you need to get the information about orders from the PrimeDownline system to your shipper. This is accomplished through extracting that information into an extract file/s. Your shipper will then use this file to ship your product. After your product is shipped they will need to communicate which orders were shipped and the tracking numbers associated with those shipments back to the PrimeDownline system in the form of a shipping verification import file. We will discuss the options available in creating the shipping Extract file below and the shipping verification import in the next step.
By default the PrimeDownline system can produce two options files for export. You will need to ask your shipper which method they prefer before choosing.
Option 1: Multiple Files
This option will create 3 files. The Order Header file, Order Lines file, and the Payment file. Typically, only the header and lines files are sent to the shipper.
The Order Header file contains the main order details.
The Order Lines file contains the individual line items on the shipment.
The columns, column names, delimiter, and name of the file are configured in the Shipping Extract Setup screen in the Admin system. You can navigate here by expanding the “System Config” menu in the left menu and then clicking on the “Shipping” Icon. once that screen is displayed, choose the “Setup Shipping Extract” link from the “Shipping Options” menu on the far right.
The Payment file contains the payments for the order and is rarely sent to the shipper. If your shipper is preparing a detailed invoice, rather than printing and using the PrimeDownline generated invoice, then you need to consider having the Payment file sent to them as well.
Setup option located in the System Config --> Shipping icon. Click Setup Shipping Extract on the right.
The files are named in the following format.
SHP_HDR_<~DATE (YYYYMMDD)><~TIME (HHMMSSD)>_<WHS>.TXT
SHP_LINE_<~DATE (YYYYMMDD)><~TIME (HHMMSSD)>_<WHS>.TXT
SHP_PAY_<~DATE (YYYYMMDD)><~TIME (HHMMSSD)>_<WHS>.TXT
Option 2: Single File
This option will create a single file that has both the header and line items in a single file.
There are 2 options on how to configure this option.
Configuration 1: Single Row
In this configuration, each row has both header and line information.
Configuration 2: Multiple Rows
In this configuration, each there are multiple rows containing header, line, and payment information. These rows are identified by the H, L, & P identifier for each order number.
The file is named in the following format.
SHP_FILE_<~DATE (YYYYMMDD)><~TIME (HHMMSSD)>_<WHS>.TXT
Now that we have the files configured, we need to get them to the shipper. There are two options available.
Option 1: Manual Transfer
This options does not allow for an automated delivery of the file/s to the shipper.
Option 2: Automated Transfer via the FTP protocol
This option allows the system to transfer the shipping extract file to the shipper. You will need to contact your shipper and determine if they have the ability to setup an FTP server and authentication credentials for you.
In the setup you can specify an FTP server to transfer each of these files to. You will need to create a folder called "From PrimeDownline" on the FTP server. We will upload the files during the nightly posting process. The orders will be moved from a status 3 (paid) to 4 (printed) at this time and then added to these files. Once shipping has taken place you might want to provide a tracking number with the order. Please see the Ship Verification step for more information on that process.
This page specifies which data fields is required to extract for third party shipping software to process shipments. By default we have selected and set the typically required fields to active. Click on "Not Needed" to de-select any fields not required. Under the column "Use Custom Label" to enter the field names required by third party software.
FTP
Folder name "From_PrimeDownline"