If you find that you use certain routes and stages often, you can define them in Customizing. This way, you spare yourself the unnecessary effort of creating and re-creating the same stages. You can find more information in the Define routes and stages section of the Implementation Guide (IMG).

You can enter the route manually in the shipment’s general header data. All stages of the route, including their detail screens, are then copied into the shipment automatically. The system also copies data (such as service agent, shipping type, distance and planned duration) from the route header into the shipment document header. This only occurs when the relevant fields in the document header are blank or originate from the old route. Manual entries have priority.

You can control which stages are to be transferred by maintaining the Adopt route control parameters in Customizing for the shipment type. The control parameters can have the following values:

• blank All stages are copied over from the route (standard)
• ‘1’: Only stages that have the exact same leg indicator that appears in the transport header of the current transport document are copied from the route. This is useful when you want to copy only the preliminary legs of a route into a preliminary shipment which itself is part of a transportation chain, for example.
• ‘2’: No stages are taken from the route. In this case, the route is only a classification characteristic in the shipment header.

In the shipment header, you can also display which route stages are to be copied over by choosing Control on the general header screen.

If you change the route in the shipment document, the system automatically deletes the stages of the old route and adds the stages of the new one.

You can automate route entry by choosing the Route from del. option in Customizing for the shipment type. When you set the status to Planned in the shipment document, the route is automatically adopted from the deliveries into the shipment document (provided it is unique). The data transfer described above (route stages and route header data) then occurs automatically.

The service agent field can also be automatically filled in for the stages. For this, you only need to enter the service agent in the shipment header. It is also automatically copied into all existing legs that have no service agent.

If you change the service agent in the shipment header, the system also substitutes the new service agent for the old one in the stages. You can also make the service agent entry happen automatically if you choose the Frwd. agent delivery indicator in Customizing for shipment types. As in route processing, when you set the status to Planned, the forwarding agent is automatically adopted from the deliveries into the shipment document (and, in turn, into the stages). This can only occur if the forwarding agent is unique.