How to Create a Shipment / Trip Entry

The following article will walk you through the steps of creating your first shipment in IDS.

We recommend that you print off this article and have it beside you while you learn IDS: Trip Entry Cheat Sheet

PLEASE NOTE! There is no standardization in the Delivery of Goods Industry. Therefore, your Trip Entry Screen set up for your company will be different. For example you will have different Service Levels and Package Types. Please use this article as a guide.

Step-by-step guide

After you have logged into IDS's PC Client

Go the IDS's Window Dropdown menu and select Trip Entry.

You will notice in your dropdown that there is an F Key mapped to the Trip Entry Screen. For example, in the above screen shot, our F key mapped to the Trip Entry Screen is "F11", yours maybe different. If you press that F key on your keyboard, your Trip Entry Screen will open.
With the Trip Entry Screen now appearing, press your Alt and N button at the same time to create a new shipment.
1. This will clear the fields.
2. provide you with a unique TripID number
3. place your cursor in the "Account" field.
You can also use the following to create a new trip, however, for the most efficient data entry, we recommend learning and using the hot keys
1. by pressing
2. or by clicking your right mouse button (not inside a field)
Start typing the same of the account that will be charged for the trip. This will bring up a dropdown menu:
Tricks to use any dropdown that you see in IDS:
1. If you type a few letters quickly, the dropdown will highlight the first account with those letters.
2. If you pause, then type, you will reset the above, and then find the first account with those letters.
3. you can use your keyboards up and down arrow keys, instead of your mouse.
You can also type in an Account's code, then press the Alt and a button (or the "Find Account" button).
Once you have selected the select, press the enter button. Then the following will happen:
1. The Call Date and Time will default to the current Call Date and Time as displayed on your computer.
2. The Pick up and the Delivery Addresses will automatically be filled in with the Account's default addresses.
3. The Ready Time and the Due by will default to the current to the current Call Date and Time as displayed on your computer.
4. The cursor will move into Caller Name field.
The rest of this tutorial will now move along in the order of the fields; however, you can jump around quickly by doing the following:
1. Press your keyboard's tab button to move 1 field forward
2. Press the shift and tab button at the same time to move 1 field backwards.
3. Press Alt and X to jump to the next section of the screen.
4. Select any of the following hotkeys (you can see these hot keys in your right click menu button as per 3b above)
Enter in a Caller Name if needed.
You can change the Company Phone for this 1 trip if needed.
Enter in a Caller Phone number if needed.
Call Date and Time can be edited to back date this trip. This should never be used to future date a shipment. If you need to future date a shipment please read this article: How to Schedule a Shipment.
1. To back date the date, click your mouse into the date field and select a future date.
2. To back date the time, click your mouse into the time field then:
  1. use the up and down arrow keys on the screen or on your keyboard.
  2. You can also just type in the time.
Please note: Even if you change the Call Date, the shipment's audit will display the original date and time the shipment was created.
Both the Pick Up and Delivery Address section work the same way, which is as follows:
1. By ticking the box beside the company name field, you are making the selected address the account's default pick up and/or delivery address. Only tick this box if you mean to change the default.
2. Start typing an address in the Company field, a dropdown will appear. Use the same tricks for this dropdown as you did in points 4 and 5 above.
3. Some key functionality to be aware of for this section.
  1. If you wish to type in a new address, the Company needs to be new and unique. If you don't, you will change the street address of an existing record.
  2. To update an existing Address, first pull up the address, then simply type over the old street address.
  3. The displayed address book contains two sets of addresses, the common address previousily shipped to by this customer's account and the global address book which inserts an address into every account's address book.
  4. Both the Delivery and the Pick Up address books are the same.
4. Enter in a Name into the field below the Company field. This field:
  1. Should be the name of the contact for that address to be used by the dispatcher and driver.
  2. Is remembered the next time you create a shipment with this address for this account.
  3. Will be displayed to the driver on his IDS App.
5. Enter in a Phone number into the field below the Name field. This field:
  1. Should be the phone number of the contact for that address to be used by the dispatcher or the driver.
  2. Is remembered the next time you create a shipment with this address for this account.
  3. Will be displayed to the driver on his IDS App.
6. Enter in a Notes into the Address Notes Field.
  1. Whatever note you put into this field, will appear the next time you make a new shipment for this address and this customer account.
  2. Dont put into this field anything that is only specific for this one shipment. Put in notes that need to be remember the next time you make a shipment for this address and this customer account.
7. Remember for Street Address fields:
  1. If this is a new address AND you have a new Company in the Company field, you can just type in the address
  2. BUT, if the Company field contains an existing Company, then you are telling IDS to update the address record.
8. The Postal/Zip field and the Zone field work together:
  1. When you put in a Postal or Zip Code into the Postal/Zip field, then press tab, IDS will try and match and fill in the Zone Dropdown.
  2. If IDS does find a Zone, check to make sure if its correct. If not correct or if its blank select the correct Zone.
  3. IDS recommends that your set up allows Call Takers to Type into the Postal/Zip field a Zone, for when the Call Taker is not provided a Postal or Zip Code by the Shipper.
  4. If the Postal/Zip field AND the Zone field are populated, then the next time you use this address to make a shipment, IDS will remember both those fields for you.
9. Enter any Shipment specific note into the Pickup or Delivery Notes field.
  1. This field can be seen by the Dispatcher, the Driver and the Customer.
  2. It has a 255 Character Limit.
10. Now navigate to the Package Section. This will look different to you as there is no Standardization in the Delivery of Goods Industry, so every client has set up IDS differently.
11. By ticking the boxes beside Pieces and Weight/Volume you are making whatever is entered into these fields your default. Only tick these boxes if you mean to change the default.
  1. If and when you need to reset the default Pieces and/or Weight/Volume field, select IDS's Help dropdown menu, then select reset field defaults.
12. Enter in the your Piece Count and/or your Weight Amounts.
  1. Pieces cant have a decimial as you cant have half a shipment.
  2. Pieces cant be 0 as you cant ship nothing.
  3. The Piece field is an extra field. Meaning, your set up may not show a piece field.
  4. Weight can contain a decimial
  5. Weight cant be 0 as you cant ship nothing.
13. If your company's set up includes the showing the pallet field, enter in the total number of pallets.
14. Enter into the reference field any alphanumeric (numbers and letters) code that you wish to attach to this shipments. Only use numbers and letters. Dont use any special characters.
  1. Some examples of references are:
    1. Purchase Order Numbers.
    2. Billing Codes
    3. 3rd Party Tracking Numbers. Example, Purolator, Fedex, UPS, USPS, etc.
    4. Barcodes that are affixed to the package.
  2. References can be used to:
    1. Track. Both you and your clients can track shipment by the reference code that is places into this field.
    2. Barcode Scanning. Provided that you have entered in a unique barcode into the reference field that matches a unique barcode affixed to a package, IDS App's barcode features will work with this unique barcode.
    3. Invoicing. This barcode can be shown on an IDS invoice.
15. DIMS. If your set up includes the:
  
  Then you can DIM the total Dimension of all pieces in a shipment.
  1. IDS 2 allows for per piece DIMS.
  2. The DIM formula is based on what is set up with IDS. If you need to change the formula, please Contact IDS Support Directly
  3. Enter in the Length (L), Width (W) and Height into each field.
  4. Enter in the Original Scale Weight into the Orig Wgt Field.
  5. Press the calc button.
  6. If the DIM weight is greater than the Orig Wgt, then the Weight / Volume field will be automatically updated to reflect the DIM weight.
16. By ticking the boxes beside Package Type, Service Level, Ready Time, Due by you are making whatever is entered into these fields your default. Only tick these boxes if you mean to change the default.
17. Select your Package Type.
  1. You can tab into this dropdown, then start to type in the Service Level. You dont need to use your mouse.
  2. The most used package type should always be on the top, the least used on the bottom of the dropdown menu. If this is not the case, please ask your IDS Admin to reorder the dropdown using the Rate Wizard.
18. Select your Service Level.
  1. You can tab into this dropdown, then start to type in the Service Level. You dont need to use your mouse.
  2. The most used Service Level should always be on the top, the least used on the bottom of the dropdown menu. If this is not the case, please ask your IDS Admin to reorder the dropdown using the Rate Wizard.
19. Enter in the Ready Time also known as Pick Up by
  1. To change the date you can click the down arrow beside the calendar.
  2. Or just type in a new date
  3. To change the time you can click the up and down arrow keys
  4. Or tab into the time field, then use the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard. You can also use your left and right arrow keys on your keyboard to switch between hours and minutes.
  5. Or you can type in a new time
20. Enter in the Due By also known as Delivery Time by:
  1. To change the date you can click the down arrow beside the calendar.
  2. Or just type in a new date
  3. To change the time you can click the up and down arrow keys
  4. Or tab into the time field, then use the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard. You can also use your left and right arrow keys on your keyboard to switch between hours and minutes.
  5. Or you can type in a new time
21. Quick Schedule has the following functionality, use only if you understand how it works.
  1. Will hide the shipment from the Dispatch Screen until 1 minute past midnight.
  2. Your staff can still see these shipments in the Search Screen and the Scheduling Screen
  3. This is not for reoccurring shipments.
  4. This is not for auto dispatching to routes or for drivers.
  5. Never use this function to backdate a shipment, it will only work for future dated shipments.
22. To Quick Schedule a shipment do the following:
  1. Tick the box beside Quick Schedule
  2. Then select the future date for the shipment by clicking the down arrow and selecting a date from the calendar
  3. Or by typing in a new date
  4. Return Trip, Mail Drop and Request POD fields are legacy and are no longer used with new clients. Ignore unless specifially trained to use by an IDS Staff Member.
  5. Now Update Trip to save your shipment by
    1. pressing Alt and U
    2. pressing
    3. or by clicking your right mouse button (not inside a field)

IDS 1 Knowledge Base

How to Create a Shipment / Trip Entry

Step-by-step guide

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