MacroPoint Integration Update: Tracking That Manages Itself

Descartes MacroPoint and Tai now work together the way your team does. MacroPoint sees where the truck is, whether it will make the appointment, and whether the load can be tracked at all. Tai turns each of those signals into something you can act on: an alert on the load, an automated workflow, a clean shipment record, and a live map your shipper can open.

The result is tracking you don't have to babysit. Your team spends its time on the loads that need it.

• Know which loads need you, and act automatically. Late, can't-make-it, untracked, possible-fraud and temperature signals from MacroPoint now become shipment alerts, and any of them can trigger a Workflow Automation.
• Tracking that runs itself. Tracking completes on its own when the load delivers, every update lands on the right stop, and only the last drop marks a load Delivered.
• Visibility you can share. Open MacroPoint's live map from the shipment in one click, and share it with your shipper in the Customer Portal.

MacroPoint's warnings used to arrive as status text on the shipment. Now each one raises a shipment alert, so the problem shows on the load, in your alert views, and in your workflows.

Schedule alerts, at every stop

• Behind Schedule: MacroPoint reports the driver is behind for a stop, by any amount.
• Cannot Make It: MacroPoint reports the driver can't make the stop on time.
• Past Appointment Time: MacroPoint reports the driver has missed the appointment.

Each schedule update applies to the stop MacroPoint is reporting on, including middle stops, and the activity note names that stop and its ETA in the stop's local time. An On Time update clears all three alerts. A Behind update clears Cannot Make It and Past Appointment Time, and a Cannot Make It update clears Past Appointment Time. More than one can be open at once, and you can resolve any of them yourself from the shipment's Alerts panel.

Using Shipment Delayed today? MacroPoint schedule updates now raise Behind Schedule, Cannot Make It and Past Appointment Time instead of Shipment Delayed. If you have workflow automations or reports that watch Shipment Delayed for MacroPoint loads, point them at the new alerts.

Tracking problem alerts

• Load Track Exception: raised when MacroPoint can't track the load with the details it was given. Examples are an incompatible phone, an invalid truck, trailer, bill of lading, PRO, air waybill or container number, or an unsupported carrier. The reason shows as the latest update in Shipment Detail > Location History. Tracking stays active, so fix the details with the carrier rather than starting over.
• Possible Fraud Detected: raised when MacroPoint flags the tracking session as a possible risk of fraudulent data. It shows as a red alert on the shipment. Contact your carrier directly and verify the load before relying on the tracking data. Your team can also add this alert to a shipment by hand.

Each alert is raised once while it's open. Repeat messages from MacroPoint don't create duplicates.

Temperature alerts

For reefer loads with temperature reference numbers, MacroPoint's readings raise Above Temperature Threshold, Below Temperature Threshold or In Temperature Threshold. Raising one clears the other two, so the shipment always shows the current state.

This is where the integration gets powerful. Every alert above can start a Workflow Automation, so you build the response once and let it run on every MacroPoint load.

1. Create a workflow that starts on Shipment Alert Added.
2. Add an Alert Filter for the alert you care about, for example Cannot Make It.
3. Add a Send Email Action to the people who should know.

Ideas to start with:

• Cannot Make It: email the customer and the account rep so the appointment can be moved early.
• Above Temperature Threshold: email your cold-chain team the moment a reefer leaves range.
• Possible Fraud Detected: email your carrier-relations team so someone verifies the load.
• Load Track Exception: email dispatch so the carrier corrects the phone or truck number before the load goes untracked for hours.

Workflows can also start on Shipment Alert Resolved, for example to let the customer know a late load is back on time. See the workflow automation article for building workflows.

• Tracking completes at delivery. When the shipment is set to Delivered, whether by the driver departing the last drop or by your team, Tai stops the MacroPoint order and marks tracking Completed. The last drop needs a POD arrival or departure time; if you set Delivered without one, tracking completes as soon as you enter it. The Activity Log reads "Tracking has been completed because the shipment was delivered."
• Only the last drop delivers the load. Departing a middle drop-off records that stop's times and leaves the shipment In Transit.
• Updates land on the right stop. Arrivals, departures and schedule updates apply to the stop MacroPoint names, including middle stops.
• Status only moves forward. A late or out-of-order update never moves a shipment backward, and a stop time that's already recorded is never overwritten.
• You can see who reported each stop time. Each arrival and departure note says whether it came from the driver, the carrier, the customer or MacroPoint, along with MacroPoint's confirmation status.
• Driver comments are saved. A message the driver sends through the MacroPoint app is added to the shipment's Activity Log as a private note starting "Driver Comment via MacroPoint:". Private notes aren't shown to your customer.

• When tracking starts, Tai saves MacroPoint's live map link for the load.
• To open it, go to Shipment Detail > Location History and click Open Live Map, to the right of Cancel Tracking. The button shows while MacroPoint tracking is active.
• To share it with your shipper, turn on Display in Front Office for the Third Party Tracking Link Public reference in your Reference Settings. Your shipper then sees an Open link button on the shipment in the Customer Portal. If you already share another tracking provider's links this way, MacroPoint links appear there too.
• Cancelling tracking removes the MacroPoint map links from the shipment.

Want your shipper to see the new alerts as well? They're for your team by default. Go to LSP > Shipment Alerts, find the alert, click Copy Reference Setting, turn on Display In FrontOffice and save.

Tai now sends MacroPoint a more complete picture of every load, so MacroPoint can track it more accurately:

• Each stop is sent with its real type: pick stops as pickups, drop and both stops as drop-offs.
• Every stop carries a name: its company name, or its city and state when the company name is blank. We recommend naming every stop so drivers see a recognizable location.
• Every stop carries its country, and times are converted from each stop's own time zone, including stops in Canada.
• The carrier's DOT number and SCAC are sent when the carrier has them.
• Your GeofenceInMiles arrival radius now takes effect on every stop, so arrival and departure events follow the radius you configured.

Add these to your MacroPoint integration source (Integration Sources), typed exactly as shown. They're all optional; if you leave one out, the default applies.

• MaximumTrackDurationInHours (whole number, 1 to 168): the longest MacroPoint will track any load. If not set: tracking runs until 72 hours after the last drop's delivery appointment or estimated delivery time, or 72 hours when there is no delivery date. When set, the track lasts the shorter of the two.
• DelayedArrivalInMinutes (whole number, 1 to 120): the late-arrival allowance MacroPoint uses when deciding whether a driver is late. If not set: it isn't sent, and MacroPoint uses its own default.
• MaximumAllowableDrivingHoursPerDay (whole number, 1 to 24): the hours a driver can drive in a day, which MacroPoint uses to work out ETAs and schedule status. If not set: it isn't sent, and MacroPoint uses its own default.
• ShipperReferenceNumber and CustomerPONumber (true or false): send that reference number to MacroPoint with the load. If not set: false.

A value outside its range is refused when you save the integration source, and the message tells you the allowed range.

• Link reference numbers in the Customer Portal now show as an Open link button instead of the full web address.

• If you move a Delivered shipment back to an earlier status, tracking doesn't restart. Start a new tracking request.
• Driver comments come into Tai, but you can't reply to the driver from Tai.
• The live map link covers the whole load, not individual stops.
• ETAs appear in the MacroPoint Schedule Update notes, not as a separate field on the shipment.
• Cancel Tracking still shows on a completed track. You don't need to click it once tracking has completed.

Why don't late MacroPoint loads raise Shipment Delayed any more?

MacroPoint schedule updates now raise Behind Schedule, Cannot Make It and Past Appointment Time, which tell you more precisely what's happening. Update any workflows or reports that watched Shipment Delayed for MacroPoint loads.

Do I still need to cancel tracking after a load delivers?

No. Tracking completes on its own once the shipment is Delivered and the last drop has a POD arrival or departure time.

Can my customer see the live map and the alerts?

Yes, if you choose. Turn on Display in Front Office for the Third Party Tracking Link Public reference to share the map, and Display In FrontOffice on any alert in LSP > Shipment Alerts to share it.

A load shows Load Track Exception. Do I need to restart tracking?

No. Tracking stays active. Check the reason in Location History and work with the carrier to correct the phone, truck, trailer or reference details.

My integration source won't save.

Check that MaximumTrackDurationInHours, DelayedArrivalInMinutes and MaximumAllowableDrivingHoursPerDay are whole numbers within their ranges.

For setup and day-to-day use, see Macropoint - Shipment Load Tracking. Still stuck? Contact Tai Support with the shipment ID and what you expected to see.