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ISTech Support Forum
http://www.istechforum.com/YaBB.pl Evo-ERP and DBA Classic >> Sales >> Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware required? http://www.istechforum.com/YaBB.pl?num=1403181456 Message started by PROBES on 06/19/14 at 05:37:36 |
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Title: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware required? Post by PROBES on 06/19/14 at 05:37:36 We had our UPS tech reps in last week to help with some importing and exporting of information between EVO and UPS. The UPS import is working well and we have not had any problems. When the UPS tech was working on the exporting of data from UPS to EVO he stated we couldn't do a straight export because of the logic that was involved. Reference: https://evoerp.com/wiki/index.php?title=Evo/DBA_Shipping_information_to_UPS_%26_pass_freight_%26_Tracking_number_back My question is this: Is it required to have a 3rd party software like UPS Crossware setup to perform this export operation, or is their something simple my UPS tech missed? :o I know this topic has been discussed a couple of times in the past but most discussions were from 2005. Both EVO and UPS Worldship have been updated since then. -Mike |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by Mike_Habich on 06/19/14 at 08:01:30 We set this up in 2005, and the same method works now with current WorldShip, DBA, and Win 7. No external software is used. First set up the ODBC database (Control Panel, ODBC...) In UPS Worldship, create an export map like this: Field Mappings: WorldShip Field (Container::Field) ODBC Data Source Field (Table::Field) Package::Tracking Number BKARDESC::BK_DESC_NOTES Shipment Information::Service Type BKARDESC::BK_DESC_NOTES Shipment Information::Void Indicator BKARDESC::BK_DESC_NOTES Shipment Information::Collection date BKARDESC::BK_DESC_NOTES Package::Reference 2 BKARDESC::BK_DESC_NUM Still in Worldship, set up Auto Export, Export after shipment processing for this export map. When you enter a shipment, DBA SO number goes into UPS shipment reference field 2 (this could be changed in above map) Result in DBA Classic notes looks like this: 1Z6566X90156041201 UPS Next Day Air 20140618 I do have two problems that I'd really like resolved: The Evo wiki ( https://evoerp.com/wiki/index.php?title=Evo/DBA_Shipping_information_to_UPS_%26_pass_freight_%26_Tracking_number_back ) explains that the note should start with Tracking #. I can't find a way to put text at the beginning of the exported note. The note is only in DBA classic note form. It can't be edited in Evo if you're using Evo Notes. This is the only thing that makes us still have to use DBA classic. |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by btaylor on 07/23/14 at 10:36:48 Depends on what you are trying to do I guess. We currently have a customer that we drop ship for that requires a UPS tracking # on an ASN transmitted through EDI. We currently have Worldship set up to export the tracking # to the table ISSOBOX, field ISSO_BOX_TRACK. Once the order is completed and billed the information moves into ISSOHBOX. From there EDI pulls the tracking # from ISSO_BOX_TRACK and adds it to our ASN which is sent out and our customer pulls it into their SAP system. This workaround works in this situation but the drawback is no DBA/EVO forms seems to be able to read the ISSO_BOX_TRACK field so I can't customize a form to include it. If our customer calls looking for a tracking # I have to go in through Pervasive and export the entire ISSOHBOX table and search the info through Excel. Unless I am missing something obvious it would seem that DBA and/or EVO are not set up to handle tracking #s with any semblance of elegance. |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by Lynn_Pantic on 07/23/14 at 17:01:52 The update released in June 2014 uses a field in the sales order header BKAR.INV.TRACK that is populated in SO-E and passes to the invoice header during invoice posting. This field and the BKAR.INV.SHPVIA can be printed on any of the sames forms. The Wiki instructions need to be updated to reflect this new location for the tracking information. |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by btaylor on 07/24/14 at 07:54:03 Excellent. Thanks Lynn. It would be nice to see the Wiki updated but in the meantime I'll play around with this. Should be very helpful and make it much easier for our customer service reps to get the info to our customer in a more efficient manner. Thanks again for the heads-up! |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by btaylor on 07/24/14 at 12:26:39 In thinking back to when we were setting this up I remember trying to use the BKAR.INV.TRACK field for my purpose but discovered that a major drawback of UPS Worldship is that it cannot update existing records, only append. This is why we had to use ISSOHBOX, a table we currently don't use for anything else. Worldship will export to this table fine I just have the problem of no readily available visibility. I was digging through the other tables and stumbled across BKARRINV and it was clean and had a tracking # field so for the heck of it I linked Worldship to export the same info (as it exports to ISSOHBOX) to this table as well. Checking in Pervasive it is sending the information there as well so I tried to add the BKAR.INV.TRACK from BKARRINV to our invoice form (T6SOF3) but that didn't work either. Thoughts? Our current method is working fine for exporting the tracking #s via EDI but our customer still calls looking for them sometimes (even though they are supposed to be in their system). I am just looking for a relatively simple way to provide our users some sort of easy visibility. Any ideas? |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by David Waldmann on 07/28/14 at 04:24:03 btaylor wrote:
This is another level to your workaround, but there should be no need to export the entire ISSHOBOX box table and search through it. You can connect directly to the table with Excel and make a query to extract the data you want. I can't tell you how to do that, but I know it can be done. I, personally, would use Crystal Reports. You could even get your CS crew Datalink Viewer, which is a low cost application that can update parameters, refresh and read CR files. |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by David Waldmann on 07/28/14 at 04:29:15 Lynn_Pantic wrote:
If I'm understanding correctly, the update works to associate a Tracking Number with a Shipment, so that multiple shipments on a single SO get their own TN? We recently set up UPS Online Worldship to import address information, but hadn't done anything with exporting TNs back because of the Classic/Evo Notes situation. It appears that this new process doesn't use the Notes at all, but: btaylor wrote:
I believe this is true. So, is the new process helpful to UOW importing? Or is it so far just an improvement for manually entered TNs? |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by David Waldmann on 07/28/14 at 04:36:06 Lynn_Pantic wrote:
So, unposted invoices can't get it? |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by Lynn_Pantic on 07/28/14 at 07:10:12 Unposted invoices do not exist. They are still Sales Orders at that point. The information is in the SO Header and when the invoice is created by posting in SO-G it passed to the invoice. |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by David Waldmann on 07/28/14 at 07:24:09 Lynn_Pantic wrote:
I see what you mean, but we generally only print "Invoices" that are not yet posted to send to the customer, and we would want the TN on those. We only reprint Posted Invoices if someone lost theirs, or to look at some detail not easily obtainable elsewhere. So apparently, whatever you call these "invoices that are not really invoices yet" can have the TN printed on them from the SO header. Then, when the actual invoice is created, that data is passed to the invoice header and, either A) deleted from the SO header so additional shipments can have unique data added, or B) it's left there and overwritten only if new data is entered. ? |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by Lynn_Pantic on 07/28/14 at 07:32:41 It is cleared from the SO header after it is passed to the invoice. |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by btaylor on 08/08/14 at 09:30:47 David Waldmann wrote:
This is another level to your workaround, but there should be no need to export the entire ISSHOBOX box table and search through it. You can connect directly to the table with Excel and make a query to extract the data you want. I can't tell you how to do that, but I know it can be done. I, personally, would use Crystal Reports. You could even get your CS crew Datalink Viewer, which is a low cost application that can update parameters, refresh and read CR files.[/quote] Thanks David. I was able to open up a connection between the table and Excel but can't seem to see the data. We are actually at the peak of our year for sales so I don't have any time to play around but plan on attempting to refine the process when it slows down in late Oct or Nov. On another note our UPS acct rep was in yesterday and I sat down with him for a while to talk about the setup. Our acct rep is great because he used to be one of the Worldship tech guys for several years before he was promoted to acct rep so he has an incredible amount of tech knowledge and is not just a smiling hand-shaker (as most of the reps tend to be). After our discussion he set it up to have someone from their Crossware tech team contact me sometime next week so we can look into using Crossware to export tracking # to the same table and record we import from after the shipment is processed in Worldship. If you (or anyone else for that matter) are interested in how it works out/possibly implementing it at your facility I would be happy to post back with the outcome in a couple of weeks, good or bad (our rep seems pretty confident that it can be accomplished with minimal effort but as they have separate specialized techs for Crossware outside of the standard Worldship tech crew he wasn't thoroughly knowledgeable of the finer points of Crossware, he only knew the basics). |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by David Waldmann on 08/08/14 at 09:39:27 We're not currently using Crossware, but would consider it if the desired results can be obtained. Definitely interested in hearing your experience. |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by btaylor on 08/25/14 at 06:45:25 OK so I spent a couple of hours on the phone this past Thursday with a Crossware tech. He banged out some script while we were on the phone and we tested everything. The net result is now after we process a shipment the tracking # writes back to BKAR_INV_TRACK in the same record we import from. I added the BKAR_INV_TRACK field to a couple of forms and now the tracking # is visible on those. I am still exporting tracking # to ISSOHBOX for EDI purposes but now when I want to quickly look up a tracking # for our customer I can pull up a form and see it right there instead of having to export ISSOHBOX, bring it into Excel, and search the Excel file. |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by David Waldmann on 07/31/15 at 10:23:52 The Wiki Page doesn't mention Crossover. Is it still necessary? https://evoerp.com/wiki/index.php?title=Evo/DBA_Shipping_information_to_UPS_%26_pass_freight_%26_Tracking_number_back It's dated 9/17/14. |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by David Waldmann on 09/04/15 at 04:16:49 So I just tried setting up the Tracking Number Export from UPS. I don't think it's working properly, as it's adding a new record to BKARINV rather than updating the field. The new record is just the SONUM and TRACK fields. I didn't actually test the report to see if it worked, because it just doesn't seem right. Further to the point, if I we were also exporting the Freight cost, it would also be putting it in the new record, and the original "real" one would still be 0. How do you get the UPS system to overwrite the data rather than create a new record? |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by btaylor on 10/26/15 at 10:53:10 How do you get the UPS system to overwrite the data rather than create a new record? I don't think there is any way without Crossware. Without Crossware it will always create a new record. Still a major limitation of Worldship. I have it working with Crossware. If you are interested in pursuing that route, let me know and I can give you more detail. This is another level to your workaround, but there should be no need to export the entire ISSHOBOX box table and search through it. You can connect directly to the table with Excel and make a query to extract the data you want. I can't tell you how to do that, but I know it can be done. I, personally, would use Crystal Reports. You could even get your CS crew Datalink Viewer, which is a low cost application that can update parameters, refresh and read CR files. On another topic, I did eventually get this working. I can pull everything directly into Excel now. Just took some playing around. |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by David Waldmann on 10/26/15 at 13:39:13 Email sent. Thx, |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by David Waldmann on 02/25/16 at 07:28:05 I talked to my UPS rep and she said Crossware is overkill and too expensive for how little I want to do with it. Somewhere I heard about OzLink. In addition to a free utility they offer for getting prices from various carriers, they also have some integration tools. However, I just got a quote from them and they want $2000 plus $100/mo for life. I do have a "technology allowance" from UPS that will cover about half the up-front cost, but I'm not spending $100/mo for life. There's got to be a better way. How expensive is Crossware? |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by Lynn_Pantic on 02/25/16 at 16:03:39 Our Java programmer was looking on the UPS web site and says there is an API to the UPS data through their website that bypasses Worldship, Crossware and all that and we could potentially write something where you could access your UPS account (obviously you would need to log in using the appropriate credentials, etc.) and process something through our own app. If there is interest we can pursue further. Your "Technology Allowance" would probably more than cover the development, then $0 per month ongoing, how does that sound? |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by David Waldmann on 02/26/16 at 05:12:22 I'm definitely interested, pending more info as to how it works. I'm not sure if our UPS subsidy would cover it - it's for "UPS approved vendors". But we may be able to get a waiver. Our rep is also looking into some other options; not sure what those are at this point. |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by btaylor on 02/26/16 at 09:53:41 David Waldmann wrote:
Not sure what your rep is talking about as far as "too expensive". I didn't pay anything for Crossware or the scripting. |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by BurrKing_Mfg on 02/26/16 at 10:11:49 Crossware and the programming didn't cost anything for us either. Its a blessing to have it not only export the tracking, but import the ship to from the sales orders. WE have it setup to import ship to info from the Sales orders or the Quotes. We offer a testing service where the customer sends their parts to us for evaluation and we process and return. Saves sooooo much time and now we only can blame one person for the mistake if the shipping address is not correct. One thing that we did learn was after the import in Worldship the shipper could accidentally scroll the mouse wheel and selected a different address from the Worldship Address book. Easy fix. "clip the red wire" on the mouse scroll wheel and disable it. |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by David Waldmann on 02/26/16 at 11:48:39 btaylor wrote:
BurrKing_Mfg wrote:
Good to know. I'll bring that up with them, The only thing I can think of is that because of volume you had more money available and it covered it. We spend less than $50k per year on UPS. BurrKing_Mfg wrote:
We currently use the native UPS Worldship Import mapping to enter the SO # and get the address in. We don't have a problem with scrolling to select another customer because we set up a Custom Tab Order. It starts at the Package Size, then goes to weight. Nothing else on the first page, as that takes care of 99.9% of shipments. Before we started importing we had the tab order start at the Customer ID field, then go to Package Size and Weight. |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by David Waldmann on 02/26/16 at 12:11:53 I just talked to someone at a higher level at UPS. They told me that for the simple thing I need done, Crossware would only cost about $2500. We could apply our technology allowance towards it, and pay for the rest through our package pricing. I took that to mean that they would take away part of our discount until it was paid off... They also said that it may be possible to write the data to another (new) table that Evo wouldn't know anything about, and have some kind of automated script update the existing Evo table. Is that something Pervasive can do? If so, does that seem feasible, and further, how would I get it done? I might be willing to pay a guru if I even knew where to look. Actually, I think I will ask my daughter. She's somewhat familiar with Pervasive (she worked here for a few years) and is pretty database savvy. Other ideas welcome. |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by btaylor on 02/26/16 at 12:41:33 Nah, what you spend annually shouldn't matter. Definitely push your rep on this. I'm not entirely sure your rep fully knows what Crossware is, especially based on their "overkill" comment. It is just some middleware with custom scripting so it can be as simple or complex as need be. The guy that did the tracking number script for me was actually assigned to it because he only had two weeks left in the Crossware division before moving on to a different team at UPS. His boss just had him working on small, easy jobs at that point. He banged out the script for me in a couple of hours. I'm also bringing orders in natively in Worldship, no Crossware. Just a keyed import from our DBA/Evo SO#. I set the Worldship mapping on that one up myself as it was pretty straightforward. We just put in a new Worldship station a couple of weeks ago and our rep is setting up a time with someone from Crossware because we have to copy it over to the new station. When he is in here next time I will double-check with him but as far as I know, there should be no way that you should have to pay anything. I'll let you know what he says about it after I talk to him. |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by David Waldmann on 02/26/16 at 12:47:43 btaylor wrote:
Yes, that is what we're doing currently. I did have "help" from a tech (remotely), but I did most of the work... btaylor wrote:
Thanks - I appreciate it. |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by btaylor on 03/02/16 at 12:26:31 So I called my UPS rep yesterday evening to ask about Crossware. He told me that in the past they might charge for Crossware if the procedure(s) being implemented were really complex but generally didn't charge in the past for relatively simple stuff. However, this has changed recently as they found out that their main competitor (obvious but I won't name) was charging for implementation of these types of things so they are now as well. That being said I questioned him about the $2500 given the fact that I went through it and saw how quickly the script was put together. He agreed that the price seemed awfully high for just that and was guessing that maybe the rep was ballparking it without fully understanding the relative simplicity. Even more simple in that I have already had this done and like I said in a previous post they save all the scripts so outside of a couple of tweaks that may need to be made for your system the heavy-lifting is already done. In a nutshell yeah I guess they charge for more and more now but there is no way, in both my opinion and the opinion of my rep, that the price tag should be that high (or even close to that high). |
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Title: Re: Exporting UPS tracking to EVO-crossware requir Post by David Waldmann on 03/02/16 at 13:24:51 I just met with my rep this afternoon and conferenced in the "Product Specialist" or something. The PS estimated $3-5k(!) but said that a Crossware tech will do an "analysis" and give me a firm price... They confirmed that we can pay for it by reducing our discount, which they try to make sound like it's "free", but it's not any different than an interest free loan IMO. I talked to my daughter about the idea of an extra table in Pervasive that would update to BKARINV and she thought it should be possible, as in - that would be a typical database functionality. But I don't see doing it myself, and how much time am I going to spend trying to find someone, plus pay them $100-200/hr. I'd ask my daughter, but she just got married last fall and bought a house at the end of the year, so she has her hands pretty full right now. At this point I'm just going to wait until I get something firm from Crossware and decide where to go from there. |
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