This article will cover the following items for creating a shipment using Electronic Dispatching:
- Sending an electronic dispatch directly to the carrier via EDI or API (General Overview: API vs EDI)
- 'Ready' status change
- Carriers will always utilize at least 1 method of dispatch via EDI or API.
- Once a shipment's status is updated to 'Ready' the system will automatically send a dispatch (pickup request) to the carrier; this is the shipment status that triggers dispatch. If a shipment is not put in this status, or if it is put in the status 'Dispatched' without having been in 'Ready,' then it will not dispatch.
- If the shipment fails to dispatch, the alert "Rejected By Carrier" will be added, and the shipment status will be automatically set to "Sent." In this situation, you will see a "Dispatch Again" button, which allows you to attempt to dispatch the shipment one more time.
- API is completely automated, and, once configured, requires very little human interaction.
- EDI is not automated, and requires human interaction; EDI is best thought of as if you were sending an email to the carrier, that they would then have to manually open and process, so this is usually a slow method and delays up to 3 hours have been seen in the past. It is not abnormal for a carrier to have significant delays when working with EDI.
- You can request more information about which carriers have which integrations by reaching out to IT.