Simplifies on-the-fly shipment consolidation

CMS WorldLink’s Ship With Other Shipments module enables shippers to consolidate orders on the fly, while also giving you the ability to automatically and easily update your Host database records with shipment information.

Shippers can consolidate invoices via three options: 

• Combine multiple invoice contents (or partial contents) into one box
• Put shipments on hold, as boxes are processed throughout the day, for later consolidation
• Search to discover if there are other orders for a specified buyer that could be consolidated

Ship With Other Shipments differs from International Consolidation. With the latter, the consolidation process solely manages the paperwork when it generates a combined Commercial Invoice. In contrast, Ship With Other Shipments gives you the ability to consolidate the box contents while still maintaining the integrity of the shipment information that is passed back to your Host.

Ensures compliance with large buyers

If your company is rallying to implement radio frequency identification (RFID) capabilities into your distribution system, then you’ll appreciate CMS WorldLink’s RFID module. You’ll gain the ability to easily generate shipment specific RFID tags, allowing you to implement the greater efficiency, accuracy and security demanded of your buyers and your own corporate processes. CMS WorldLink’s RFID module allows you to scan your shipment and pull shipment information from your Host system. The module then sends appropriate instructions to your RFID label stock. You will find this capability beneficial if your company ships a mixture of shipments, some with conventional labels and some RFID. You can also create both conventional (or human-readable) labels and RFID labels for the same shipment.

Enhances customer service with package tracking details

CMS WorldLink’s WorldTrack module automates package tracking and stores the results in the shipping history. Shipping managers can analyze the results to prepare carrier evaluations, while customer service representatives will gain fast answers to customer queries about package locations. Additionally, shippers or customer service representatives can elect to receive email notifications for late deliveries, allowing them to easily and proactively notify recipients.

Enhance customer relations

CMS WorldLink’s Ship As Bill As module gives your company the ability to ship a package at one rate and bill at another. CMS WorldLink further extends the benefits by storing the published and discounted rates for both the Ship As Bill As shipping methods. Customer service representatives will highly value the Ship As Bill As functionality as an ideal tool to smooth the ruffled feathers of disgruntled customers – or to reward important customers by charging a lower shipping rate on selected packages. For example, suppose an inventory backlog has resulted in the late shipment of a package to an important customer. To avoid angering the customer, your customer service representative upgrades the shipping method to overnight but only charges the customer ground rates. Your customer doesn’t even need to know! The Ship As Bill As module even allows you to select different carries in the Ship As and Bill As fields. So if your customer prefers Carrier A’s rates while you prefer Carrier B’s service, you can ship via B while billing at A’s rate. Nor do you have to have the higher-priced delivery method in the Ship As field. The choice for Ship As and Bill As is completely at your discretion. Additionally, because CMS WorldLink saves both rates in the shipping data, your management team retains the ability to analyze real rates used versus extended discounts.

Billing reconciliation plugs a UPS shipping cost drain

CMS WorldLink UPS e-bill module gives your company the ability to reconcile your electronic UPS bill to your shipping manifest on a per-package basis. This valuable capability allows you to tighten your upstream processes so you can avoid incurring preventable costs due to package misclassifications, penalties and other issues. An example of a package misclassification includes the failure to rate and mark a package as a residential delivery. An example of an unexpected cost might include fuel surcharges or other penalties. Since billing departments usually invoice customers at the time of shipment — or in advance of the receipt of their UPS bill — the shipper may fail to recoup the full shipping cost from such erroneously billed customers. With CMS WorldLink's UPS e-bill module, shippers will be able to amend customer invoices to reflect the true cost of shipping. Third-party fulfillment companies will find UPS e-bill to be particularly valuable.

Assures a safe test environment

CMS WorldLink Test Licenses allows companies to upload and test software upgrades and new add-on modules in protected test environments rather than in live shipping environments.

Adjust freight tates

This module allows for the user to specify additional charges or discounts based on several different types of criteria. Once the shipment matches the criteria, the Bill As rate is adjusted accordingly. This feature can also be used for applying fuel surcharges and customer discounts.

Tailor your reports

Companies that want to build custom reports ought to take advantage of the Custom Reports Utility. CMS WorldLink uses Crystal Reports as a standard template writer. The Custom Label utility includes a library of sample compliance labels for various retailers.

Distinguish cost

This module allows you to create “what if” scenarios, such as comparing the freight cost of specific shipments to actual customers, versus hypothetically using another carrier’s service.

Labels made easier

A customizable screen that can be used to print packing labels outside of the shipping process as well as setting the custom label names that can be printed at the time of shipment.

Returns made simpler

Allows for user to associate a return address with a customer code that is different than the return information that is pulled from the organization/site. This unique feature can be specified via multiple parameters.

Ship on a future date

The Future Ship module allows users to ship on a future date. The advantage of this option is that it allows you to ship packages in advance, set for release on a specific date. Future Ship is ideal to help your company prepare for impending higher-volume seasonal shipping, allowing you to pre-stage these shipments and distribute all or much of your high volume activity during slower, less pressured time periods.

Combine your shipments

CMS WorldLink can create VICS compliant documentation including bill of lading, master bill of lading and all supplemental pages. Shipments can be consolidated based on user defined criteria. Furthermore, freight charges are calculated for both published and discounted rates and can include customer defined adjustments.

Enable usage at many different sites

Allows the user to configure multiple sites in the CMS WorldLink system. Without this module, only one site can be used within CMS WorldLink.

Customizations within the application

This module allows custom scripts to be defined that allow customizations to be made to CMS WorldLink. These include customizations to the screen as well as performing tasks based on events that occur in CMS WorldLink.

Packing allows product details from host orders to be packed in boxes via CMS WorldLink. This great feature is also available for Ship With Other Shipments (SWOS) groups.

The CMS WorldLink API Calls module allows you to use CMS WorldLink in a black box environment. This allows you to take advantage of CMS WorldLink’s features, while using your current host system or other front end. The API Calls module can be used for rating, tracking and shipping. This module gives you complete flexibility and is easy to implement and maintain.

UPS Mail Innovations is a high-volume mailing serviced provider offering an efficient and effective way of delivery your mail. From postal costs to time in transit to packaging labor, you can streamline, optimize and synchronize your mailing process. Both domestic and international locates are serviced, with bulk mail solutions that can increase efficiencies and cut mailing costs.

In-motion shipping for a hands-free environment

CMS WorldLink’s e-Motion module is the industry’s first enterprise, in-motion shipping application that weighs, labels, manifests, and sorts parcels. For packages requiring labels, e-Motion’s sophisticated technology manages a stunning 1,200 to 1,500 packages per hour on a single conveyor belt – and there are no limitations on the number of conveyors e-Motion can supervise.

Since e-Motion is an add-on module to CMS WorldLink, you retain all the benefits associated with the application, as well as, benefits unique to in-motion functionality. As each package moves down the conveyor belt, e-Motion automatically:

• Scans the package bar code identifier and verifies label data
• Verifies package weight and auto-rejects improperly weighted boxes
• Prints and applies high-quality shipping labels
• Sorts packages to appropriate carrier lanes or other according to other sorting criteria you define

e-Motion also easily supervises exception handling for your packages so your warehouse will suffer little lost time due to problem packages. For example, e-Motion diverts packages with no labels, freight verification failures, those with multiple label requirements, duplicate packages, those with no package identifier, and other exceptions to user-defined rules.

e-Motion’s multi-threaded capabilities monitor and manage all your in-motion hardware in real time – including conveyor belts, inline scales, scanners, and label applicators – allowing your shippers to initiate immediate action for hardware events to ensure your company’s packages keep moving.

For example, e-Motion monitors the label stock on the label applicator and alerts an operator when stock becomes low. The application monitors the pressure in the air supply, again notifying an operator when the pressure becomes low or unstable. e-Motion also monitors the numbers of packages being diverted into a single lane, and once a lane reaches capacity, the application directs packages to another lane.

Helps shippers contain costs

Companies with stringent delivery timeframes or that are cost-conscious will value CMS WorldLink’s BestWay module. Your shippers can rate packages via:

• Deliver date, balancing delivery speed versus shipping cost : For example, if your shipper indicated a package must be delivered within two days, BestWay will determine all delivery methods meeting the criteria and, depending upon the zone, this might include overnight, two-day, and even ground delivery methods. BestWay will further show you the associated shipping costs for each method, allowing you to make your optimum choice.
• Delivery method, comparing shipping cost for a stipulated delivery method : For example, if your shipper indicated a package must have overnight delivery, BestWay would determine the shipping costs for all your carriers offering this domestic service such as UPS, FedEx, or DHL, and any other carriers you use. The figure below reflects the BestWay results for such an overnight service comparison.

BestWay even accounts for your preferred carrier in the rating analysis by using user-defined Carrier Preference Factors. Within your user-defined price differentials, BestWay will favor your higher-priced but preferred carrier.

As your company adds new carriers and delivery services, BestWay automatically incorporates these new services in subsequent rate shopping evaluations.

Cuts down on customer inquiries

CMS WorldLink’s Email Shipping Notification (ESN) module will lower your incoming call volumes from customers seeking information about the delivery status of their packages. You can use the module to launch shipping notification emails to your customers that contain any information captured by CMS WorldLink, such as ship date, delivery method, tracking number and COD costs.

Additionally, CMS WorldLink gives you the flexibility to optimize customer communications by creating customer emails, tailored to groups of customers or individual templates for specific customers.

Shippers also have the flexibility to select when and how you’ll send ESN’s. You set the time emails will launch such as when you post a shipment or at a specific time. The latter is ideal because it allows you to retain the option of voiding a package without already having sent an email.

You also have the ability to choose how to send an email, selecting between:

• Sending no ESN’s
• Per package, in which case each individual package will launch an ESN (where an email address is available) : For example, if you ship a three box shipment to a customer, this sending option would bundle information on all three boxes into a single email
• Consolidated, in which you would send a single email to a recipient for all packages sent to him or her : For example, suppose if you sent 100 packages in a given day to a single recipient. Even if your shippers processed packages to the customer throughout the day, this email option instructs CMS WorldLink to bundle all package information into a single email for your customer, preventing your recipient from being inundated with 100 separate emails on all its packages.

Variable business rules augment business flexibility

With CMS WorldLink’s Multiple Organizations module, you gain the ability to have different business rules assigned to different organizations. Companies that will find this module invaluable include:

• Third-party logistics providers that have multiple customers
• Large corporations with independently operating divisions

Because Multiple Organizations is scalable, you have the flexibility to add as many, or as few, as your operations require – and you can add them at any time.

Verify address data on your shipments

The CMS WorldLink Address Verification module is a powerful tool that allows you to verify the address data on your shipments, providing the following benefits :

• Save money spent on carrier address correction fees
• Ensure addresses are accurate and deliverable
• Automatic correction of incorrect addresses (including spelling and abbreviations)

Carriers require that all of the information on your packages is correct, and charge expensive fees if any mistakes are made. With its Address Verification module, CMS WorldLink can check that your addresses are valid, from the street number and name to the zip code, and make the necessary corrections. In addition to saving carrier fees, the address accuracy achieved with Address Verification ensures a deliverable address will be used. This prevents packages from being delayed, lost or returned.

CMS WorldLink gives you flexibility on how to use Address Verification. You have the option to automatically validate all shipments or to run address checks on demand. You can also use CMS WorldLink’s APIs to do address validations pre-shipment. In addition, CMS WorldLink provides reporting that shows you all of the addresses that had issues and were corrected, allowing you to see the value provided by Address Verification.

Address Verification is provided through our partnership with Satori Software, a market leader in the addressing and mailing industry.

Consolidated customs clearance

Simplify customs clearance by grouping several shipments destined for one country or the entire European Union into a single shipment. This service is available throughout North America, Central and South America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Each UPS World Ease shipment :

• Clears customs as a single unit, reducing documentation and saving time
• Provides guaranteed time-in-transit times
• Offers detailed tracking visibility for every package in the shipment
• Enables customs brokerage savings for UPS Standard shipments

Accelerates documentation compliance

• Custom Reports Utility
  • Companies that want to build their own custom reports, utilizing the data stored in the shipping history, will benefit from the Custom Reports Utility

• Custom Labels Utility
  • Enables a company to create its own custom labels for a variety of uses, including its own internal purposes or to meet customer compliance requirements. The utility includes a library of sample compliance labels for various retailers

• Forms Template
  • Enables a shipper to create standard forms necessary for ancillary shipping documentation. Examples of such include Commercial Invoices or NAFTA forms. The module includes a variety of miscellaneous forms a shipper can use as is or modify to suit its needs

• Scripts
  • The Scripts module provides both client-side and server-side scripting capabilities
  • Client-side scripts enable instructions between the client and user. Examples of client-side scripts include logic sets for shipping, manifesting, viewing shipments and searching for records
  • Server-side scripts are Visual Basic or Java custom programming events that CMS WorldLink launches at various points (or hooks) in the application. This allows the system to be tailored to your specific user-defined needs. Examples of server-side scripts include package voiding, getting or sending data and more.
  • Also included in the Scripts module is WorldLogic, which enables you to write server-side scripts from a drop-down menu