Shipwell has integrated a flexible template builder that allows you to modify versions of Shipwell’s templates along with doing completely brand-new templates to be leveraged as documents and labels within Shipwell. The benefit of this capability is that it allows significant flexibility for different customer preferences. The underlying technology being leveraged will allow us in the future to more easily expand document offerings but also leverage the same technology for customized emails, messages, and tracking links as a few things that we envision.
On top of the Template Builder itself, we have integrated the ability to configure when documents can be automatically generated to save your people time. These initial key shipment lifecycle events include:
Shipment creation
Shipment carrier assignment*
Invoice received
* Note Shipment carrier assignment represents when a shipment tender has been accepted, shipment bid has been accepted, shipment has been actually assigned without agreement, and shipment instant rate selected.
Once Template Builder has been activated for your account then you will be able to access it via Manage → Company → Templates. This will bring you to your template library. Initially you will only see the Shipwell created templates, and all templates will be inactive until you activate them.
The initial templates being released include:
Bill of Lading (Standard)
Bill of Lading (Blind)
Inventory Release
Invoice
Rate Confirmation
Shipping / Pallet Labels (4” x 6”)
Soon to follow templates being released include:
Bill of Lading (By stop)
Commercial Invoice
Packing Slip
When template builder is activated, you must first go in and activate the templates you want to use and identify what modes it should apply along with which events, if any, the template should be auto generated.
Do this by selecting the template that you want to update the settings for by selecting ‘Edit Settings’ within the actions dropdown.
You must select a) Document Type; and b) Status. Optionally you can select a) Modes; b) Event Generation; and c) enter a Description.
Templates are not viewable to be used unless they are ‘Active’ AND they have a mode defined that matches with the shipment. You CAN have multiple templates with the same document type and the same mode that are active. Further, templates are only auto generated when they: 1) are Active, 2) have a matching mode of a shipment; and 3) have a matching event triggers the template’s auto generation for a shipment. Once this happens the document will auto generate and be saved either within the shipment (all document types but invoice) or settlement documents (Invoice only).
Update a Template
While you cannot modify the name of the shared templates we provide, you can create a copy of them and name them as you wish as a private template that only your organization has access. You do this by selecting the template that you want to customize.
This will open the template editor window with the selected template. Since you have selected a Shipwell shared template you first will need to create a copy of this template to customize so you can save any changes. Do this by selecting ‘File’ → ‘New’.
Choose the template that you want to start with or choose ‘Blank template’ to start with a blank page.
In this case we are choosing the ‘Bill of Lading (Standard) (SW)’ file as a starting template.
A. Select the file name to rename the file. This file name is what will be displayed for end users so make it easily understood.
B. Leverage the options at the top of the template to modify text format, sizing, and alignment.
C. Leverage the components on the lefthand side and place on the template where you would want to use.
D. Here we selected the text box component and dragged this onto the bottom of the template.
E. Click on the component
F. Select ‘Insert Data Field’ on the righthand panel or double click within the component.
G. A window populates where you can choose from the following data currently.
‘company_logo’ that represents company logos that have been saved for your company. If you do not see this option, talk to your Customer Success Manager to get these uploaded.
‘freight_invoice’ that represents the data fields potentially available as respects invoices that are generated.
‘shipment' that represents the data fields potentially available as respects shipments that are generated.
In the future additional data objects will be leverageable.
H. When you expand the parent object you will see the additional fields and sub-objects that can be available.
I. In this case we are choosing the ‘name’ field under the ‘customer’ within the ‘shipment’ data. For many of these fields there are example data provided to understand what data might be available.
J. Once the field is added then it will be sent when documents are generated as displayed in the template.
K. Once you have saved the document then after the table is refreshed it will show this new template that has been created that would have been updated as we have demonstrated above. Note the table refreshes once an hour currently.
Export and Import Templates
Template Builder allows you to export and import templates easily. This will allow you to export templates from one environment (e.g. Sandbox) and import it into another environment (e.g. Production). It will also allow you to keep a prior version of a template and reimport it into the same environment.
Steps to Export Template:
In order to export a template simply go to ‘Manage’ → ‘Company’ -> ‘Templates’ and select the template you wish to export. Once you are in the template then select ‘File’ → ‘Export’.
At this point it will download the template in your browser and available in the Downloads section of your browser and in your Downloads file within your computer storage.
At this point we suggest you take the file from your downloads and rename it so it is more meaningful. Generally providing the name you used within Shipwell for file name along with a reference to the date downloaded will allow you to better reference this later especially if you have multiple versions of this file.
Steps to Import Template:
In order to import a template simply go to ‘Manage’ → ‘Company’ -> ‘Templates’ and select any template which will bring you into the template interaction interface. It does not matter which template you select to enter this interface. Once you are in the template then select ‘File’ → ‘Import.
You have two options when importing a template: 1) import a new template wherein the file will be a new template added to your list of template options; 2) import a template that will replace or override an existing template. Here are the steps to do both.
New Template Import:
After selecting ‘Import’ an ‘Import template’ popup box will populate.
Select the ‘SELECT A TEMPLATE TO IMPORT’ button. This will open your file finder. Navigate to the template file you have saved that you want to import and select ‘Open’.
Now you will see the name of the file you selected to import under the ‘SELECT A TEMPLATE TO IMPORT’ button. Select ‘Import’ when you want to import the file.
At this point it will import the new file and navigate to this page. If you want to edit, rename, or perform other actions on this template at this point you can do like you normally can. It is important that you should keep your file names unique within Template Builder to make sure you and your users understand which templates are which.
As a reminder that since this is a new template you will need to set the configurations for this template on what type of document type and modes it corresponds and if it should auto generate and other configurations you would typically do. You access this via ‘Manage’ → ‘Company’ → ‘Templates’. As a reminder though that it will take up to 15 minutes from the time you performed this import for it to show up in here.
Override an Existing Template Import:
The steps to import an existing template to override a previous template are similar to the steps above. Note once a template is overridden that it cannot be recovered. If uncertain on if you will need a version of the existing template then we suggest you export the template and save it prior to overriding it.
However, the key difference is after selecting the ‘File’ → ‘Import’ that you will select ‘Override an existing template' checkbox AND choose a ‘Select Template to Override’ from the dropdown list. You will only see templates able to override as templates that your organization owns. No Shipwell system wide templates are shown as these cannot be overridden as they are shared between Shipwell tenants.
You can follow the same other steps as indicated above in ‘Steps to Import Template’.
Generate Shipment Documents
The preferred way of generating documents is simply by having the documents auto generate based on a designated event. However, you can also manually generate shipment documents by going to the Shipment Details page and selecting the righthand side panel. Choose the document name you want to generate under ‘Generate Documents’ and it will be generated and saved within your Shipment documents with the data from the shipment.
The document has been generated based on the updated template with the name of the company inserted based on the data for this shipment’s account.
The template builder will continue to be enhanced to offer additional auto generation capabilities, additional templates, and more. Contact your Customer Success Manager to get access to the Template Builder. Note customers that migrate onto the Template Builder will have this being utilized instead of the old document service we utilized.
Disclaimer Notes:
Whether this access is available depends on if this functionality has been activated for a client. If you do not see a user permission that is listed above, contact your Customer Service Representative expressing interest in access to the area not being managed.