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Process documentationEditing of a Forwarding Order Locate this document in the navigation structure

 

After you have created and saved a forwarding order, you can use this business document to perform further actions, such as the following:

  • Create freight units

  • Determine route

  • Start transportation planning

  • Create freight documents

  • Calculate transportation charges

  • Create forwarding settlement document

Process

The following describes an example of a process for editing the forwarding order and starting the transportation planning:

  1. Creation of Freight Units

    If the freight units are not created automatically after you save the forwarding order, you trigger the creation manually on the user interface for the forwarding order (Follow-Up Actions menu). In this case, the system considers either the freight unit building rule (FUB rule) or the condition for determining an FUB rule that you have specified in Customizing. A prerequisite for the creation of freight units (automatically or manually) is that all required data has been entered in the forwarding order.

    You can have the system create the freight units per order item, for example, or define that the system merges as many order items as possible into one freight unit. For more information, see Creation and Editing of Freight Units.

    After the system has created the freight units, the life cycle status changes from New to In Planning.

  2. Manual Transportation Planning

    You call the transportation cockpit. You enter your planning profile and selection profile and start the planning. The freight units created by the system are displayed in the transportation cockpit.

    You can now execute manual transportation planning by pulling the freight units to the resources via drag and drop. The system then creates a freight order, which is displayed in the document flow for the forwarding order.

    For more information about transportation planning, see Planning.

    As an alternative to manual transportation planning, you can proceed as follows:

    • Determination of a route

      You can have the system determine a route. In doing so, the system generates several alternative routes for each freight unit, one of which you can then accept. In Customizing for the forwarding order type, you can determine whether only the freight units (that is, only the route) are to be saved when you accept the route or whether the freight orders (that is, the planning) are to be saved as well. The system adjusts existing freight units.

      If the freight orders are also saved, the life cycle status changes to Planned after you accept the proposed route. The route is displayed in the forwarding order in the form of stages. For more information, see Determination of the Route and Generation of Transportation Proposals.

    • Automatic planning

      You can use the VSR optimizer to perform automatic planning from the transportation cockpit. For more information, see VSR Optimization.

    • Direct creation of freight documents

      Directly from the forwarding order, you can already create freight documents, such as freight orders or freight bookings for the transportation stages defined in the document. You can also select available freight bookings. For more information, see Direct Creation of Freight Documents and Selection of Schedules.

    When all freight units of the forwarding order have been planned, the life cycle status changes to planned.

  3. Calculating Transportation Charges

    If the transportation charges were not calculated automatically after you saved the forwarding order, you can have the system calculate these from the forwarding order or you can enter the costs manually in the forwarding order. The system recalculates the transportation charges each time the forwarding order is saved again. However, transportation charges that you entered manually are fixed by the system and are kept during recalculation.

    For more information, see Charge Calculation.

  4. Creating a Forwarding Settlement Document

    Based on the transportation charge calculation, you can create a forwarding settlement document from the forwarding order (menu Follow-Up Actions). For more information see Forwarding Settlement.

  5. Printing Documents

    You can print the forwarding order directly or after previewing it. The default printout contains information such as item descriptions and weights. If you have entered your order items in an item hierarchy, information about the lower hierarchy levels are also displayed.

    The print history is displayed in the forwarding order under Output Management. This history also contains information about all the documents you have faxed or sent by e-mail or EDI.

  6. Editing or Canceling the Forwarding Order

    You can edit the data in the forwarding order, such dates and quantities, at any time. The system adjusts the freight units to the changes accordingly. The life cycle status can then change back to In Planning. In this case, you have to perform a new planning.

    You can also cancel a forwarding order. Depending on your Customizing settings, you can enter a reason code that is then displayed in the General Data area of the forwarding order. For more information, see Customizing for Transportation Management under   Forwarding Order Management   Define Cancellation Reason Codes  .

    After the cancellation, the planning is invalid and the system deletes the freight units. The life cycle status changes to Canceled.

    Note Note

    The cancellation of a forwarding order cannot be changed. A forwarding order cannot be canceled if it has been assigned a freight document.

    End of the note.

    For more information, see Processing of Changes and Deletion of Forwarding Orders and Forwarding Quotations.

  7. Executing a Forwarding Order

    You can use SAP Event Management to monitor the further execution of the forwarding order. To do this, you need to have set the corresponding indicator in Customizing for the document type. The forwarding order receives a tracking number (tracking ID) upon creation. You can provide this number to your ordering party, who can then use it to track the execution of the order on a special Web user interface. The system later creates event handlers for the follow-up documents freight unit and freight order. For more information, see Integration with SAP Event Management.

    Irrespective of SAP Event Management, the system displays the execution status in the forwarding order. It reflects the execution status of the freight order (or rather, the cumulated execution status if several freight orders exist for the forwarding order).