VITRAC Vitran Canadian LTL online tracking for the Internet. User's Manual (Revision 2 June 2001)

Transcription

1 VITRAC Vitran Canadian LTL nline tracking fr the Internet User's Manual (Revisin 2 June 2001)

2 Table f Cntents Intrductin... 3 Prerequisites... 4 Registratin... 5 Online Tracking... 7 Web Reprting Inf Mail Shipment Management Reprt Web Scheduler Page 2 f 19

3 Intrductin Vitrac allws Vitran's custmers t track their shipments cnveniently and quickly using the pwer f the wrld wide web. In additin t displaying the current status f yur shipments, Vitrac als links t Vitran's state f the art dcument imaging system allwing access t cpies f the bill f lading and/r prf f delivery dcuments. This manual prvides a quick verview f Vitrac's functinality and briefly explains hw t use the system. Currently Vitrac cnsists f tw cmpnents; nline tracing and web reprting. Online Tracking Online tracking allws yu t interactively query the status f individual shipments. Yu can specify a bill f lading number, purchase rder number r pr number t lcate a shipment and display its status in yur web brwser. Dcument images can be viewed seamlessly inside yur web brwser using Adbe's Acrbat viewer. Web Reprting Web reprting allws yu t specify grups f shipments and generates a reprt listing the status f the matching shipments. A reprt cnsists f an message sent t yu cntaining the requested infrmatin. The message will usually have an attached file (such as an Adbe Acrbat PDF r Micrsft Excel spreadsheet) that yu can view r manipulate with yur PC wrkstatin. InfMail is used t autmatically ntificatins f deliveries t yu as they ccur. Yu can chse t receive status infrmatin nly, r yu can have prf f delivery dcument images ed t yu as well. Yu can enable delivery ntificatins nly fr specific shipments, r fr all shipments. The Shipment Management Reprt lists the status f a grup f shipments that yu select. Flexible selectin criteria allw yu t custmize this reprt t suit a wide variety f needs. The reprt can be run interactively, r yu can save yur selectins and schedule the reprt t be ed t yu autmatically at predetermined intervals. As the Vitrac system evlves new infrmatin will be dcumented in the frm f n line help and FAQ (frequently asked questins) files which can be viewed n the web site by clicking ne f the varius help icns. Please take a mment t view the nline help when new features appear. The nline help files will cntain links t a current cpy f this dcument. Since Vitrac is evlving, sme f the illustratins in this manual may be different than what yu actually bserve n the web site. Page 3 f 19

4 Prerequisites Befre yu can start using Vitrac tw prerequisites must be met... First, yu must cntact yur Vitran sales representative and request a Web accunt. Yu will be assigned a web accunt and passwrd which will be used t identify yu t the Vitrac system. Yur web accunt ensures that all f the infrmatin yu require is made available t the Vitrac system. Yur passwrd ensures that nly yu will be able t retrieve that infrmatin. Secnd, yu must register yurself with Vitrac using the web accunt and passwrd assigned t yur firm. Rather than frce yu t lg in each and every time yu visit the site, Vitrac sends a tken (knwn as a ckie) back t yur brwser when yu successfully lg in. Yur brwser, in turn, will use the ckie t identify yu n subsequent visits t Mre infrmatin n ckies and hw they are used by Vitrac is included elsewhere in this dcument. In additin there are tw sftware prerequisites which must be met... Since Vitrac uses ckies, yur web brwser must supprt ckies. Vitrac makes dcument images and printed reprts available as Adbe Acrbat PDF files. If yu wish t access these features, yu must acquire and install Adbe's Acrbat reader sftware. Page 4 f 19

5 Vitrac Registratin As mentined earlier, yu must cntact yur Vitran sales representative and request an Vitrac accunt. Yu will be assigned a web accunt and passwrd which will be frwarded t yu by when yur accunt is set up. After receiving yur web accunt and passwrd, visit Vitran's hme page at Click n the Canadian LTL link, and then the Tracking link t get t the page belw. Figure 1 - Vitran Tracking Web Page Clicking n the Vitrac Registratin link takes yu t the screen belw. Yu can nw register yurself with Vitrac, by entering yur web accunt and passwrd in the screen belw. Yu are nw ready t begin using Vitrac. Figure 2 - Vitrac Registratin Page 5 f 19

6 Vitrac registratin was designed t be a cmprmise between ease f use and security. T much security wuld have made the system either cmplex and difficult t cnfigure r cumbersme and awkward t use. Little r n security wuld nt have been acceptable either. Yur web accunt cde determines what infrmatin is available fr retrieval. If yur firm has multiple lcatins each with different requirements, yu may require multiple web accunts. Please infrm yur sales representative f yur requirements s that yur Vitrac accunt can be cnfigured accrdingly. When yu successfully lg in t Vitrac's registratin screen, Vitrac sends a tken (knwn as a ckie) t yur web brwser which stres the ckie n yur hard disk. The ckie is just a number that is used t identify yur cmpany t the Vitrac system. Whenever yu return t t request infrmatin frm Vitrac, yur brwser sends yur ckie alng with yur request. Since the ckie is unique t yur accunt, Vitrac is able t determine which infrmatin yu are authrized t retrieve, s there is n need t lg in each and every time yu visit ur site. ckies, as used by Vitrac, have the fllwing prperties... ckies will expire 90 days after yu discnnect frm ur site ckies are refreshed fr anther 90 days each time yu use Vitrac t track a shipment if yur ckie expires, yu will need t reregister ckies are encrypted and therefre meaningless t anyne ther than Vitrac yur brwser will nly send the ckie t nt t any ther web site yu must register each wrkstatin yu will be using Vitrac n. Yu can register as many cmputers as yu like using the accunt and passwrd given t yu. All wrkstatins will have access t the same infrmatin. changing the passwrd fr a web accunt invalidates all existing ckies immediately. All f yur wrkstatins must reregister with the new passwrd t gain access t Vitrac. (If yu wuld like t change yur passwrd, send t webmaster@vitran.cm, r cntact Vitran's MIS department.) Page 6 f 19

7 Online Tracking Users that d nt have a web accunt have restricted access t the system. They can track by pr number nly as shwn in figure 3. Yu may als see this screen if yur ckie has expired, r if this is yur first visit t Vitrac after registering. If yu just finished registering, clicking yur brwser's refresh buttn shuld bring yu t the screen in figure 4. Figure 3 - Vitrac fr unregistered users Figure 4 - Vitrac fr registered users In additin t being restricted t tracking ne pr at a time by pr number, nn-registered accunts will nt be able t view dcument images and nly a subset f the shipment status infrmatin is available. Registered users are able t track by cnsignee's PO number, shipper's bill f lading r pickup date as well as by pr number as shwn in figure 4. Althugh the frm allws yu t input up t fur search criteria, nly ne item at a time can be used t lcate a shipment; remaining items are ignred. Yu can enter ne f the fllwing items: Pr Number is Vitran's pr number which uniquely identifies exactly ne shipment. Pickup Date is the date the shipment was picked up. Bill f Lading is the shipper's bill f lading number. Custmer PO is the cnsignee's purchase rder number. When specifying a pr number, Vitrac always tries t lcate exactly ne shipment. If a shipment is fund, its status will be displayed. If n shipment is fund an errr message will be displayed. The remaining search fields behave differently. Althugh there is nrmally nly ne shipment per PO number r bill f lading, this may nt be the case. Therefre, Vitrac will display a list f shipments which can be brwsed t find the shipment f interest. After entering yur search criteria, click the Submit buttn t retrieve the shipment infrmatin. If yu use Vitrac a lt, yu may want t bkmark this page fr easy access. Page 7 f 19

8 Figure 5 - Shipment Listing Figure 5 is an example f a search by bill f lading number. If an exact match fr the bill f lading had been fund, the shipment status wuld be displayed. In this instance, either the bill f lading entered was nt fund, r the user nly entered a partial bill f lading number s a list f shipments is displayed. Nte that the list is rdered by the search parameter (bill f lading in this case) and the first shipment displayed is the ne that mst clsely matches the search parameter. Mst f the table entries are themselves hyper links that yu can click n t refine yur search. Since there is a ne t ne crrespndence between shipments and pr numbers, clicking a link in the Pr N. clumn will display the shipment's status. Clicking a link in the Pickup Date, Bill f Lading r Custmer PO clumns is the same as perfrming a new search with the displayed value. A new list is displayed rdered by the clumn the link was in and starting with that value. This allws yu t quickly rerder the list. This feature can facilitate lcating shipments when yu are unable t precisely specify the search parameter and can help vercme incnsistencies in data entry. Clicking the frwards and backwards buttns mves thrugh all f the shipments yu have in ur system. The system retains shipment infrmatin fr apprximately tw years. Page 8 f 19

9 Figure 6 - Shipment Status Display Figure 6 displays a sample shipment status. Althugh mst f the infrmatin is self explanatry, a few cmments are in rder. infrmatin which is nt relevant r nt available will nt be shwn. In this example, the shipment has been delivered, s the ETA date is nt displayed. in the example, there is nly ne PO number and BOL number fr the shipment. Althugh this is the nrm, there are ften many PO's r BOL's crrespnding t ne shipment. If a large number f PO number f BOL numbers need t be displayed they will be listed at the bttm f the display. if dcument images are available yu can click n ne f the hyper links t view the dcuments. This is cvered in mre detail belw. Vitrac's database is updated fur times daily. Three times during business hurs and nce during the evening. Als, new dcument images culd becme available at any time. If yu view a shipment's status and then return t view the same shipment status later in the day, the infrmatin may have changed. T ensure that the mst up t date infrmatin is displayed click yur brwser's refresh r relad buttn. since there may be a shrt delay retrieving dcument image infrmatin, Vitrac initially attempts t estimate hw large the dcument image (PDF) files will be using system averages (20 Kilbytes fr a POD and 60 Kilbytes fr a BOL). Yu can use these numbers t get a rugh estimate f hw lng it will take t dwnlad the images. If yu click yur brwser s refresh r relad buttn an exact file size is shwn when the images becme available. Page 9 f 19

10 Figure 7 - Displaying Prf f Delivery in Abbe Acrbat Reader As mentined earlier, yu must install Adbe's Acrbat reader in rder t view dcument images. When yu install Adbe Acrbat it will install a plug-in which allws yu t view PDF files within yur favrite web brwser. Figure 7 shws a prf f delivery being displayed within Netscape cmmunicatr using Adbe Acrbat Reader versin 4.0 Yu can use the Acrbat tlbar immediately abve the image t zm in r ut, save the PDF t a disk file r print the image t yur printer. Acrbat stres images using efficient methds, s dcuments can be viewed with minimum delay. Typical dcument dwnlad times are shwn belw. Dcument Type Average Size Dwnlad Time (56K mdem) Prf f Delivery 25 Kb 5 secnds Bill f Lading 75 Kb 15 secnds In additin, there will be a small delay while the dcument is retrieved frm the imaging system. This is nrmally 10 secnds r less, but may vary cnsiderably if a dcument cntains many pages r the web site is particularly busy. New dcument images may becme available at any time. Typically, the bill f lading will becme available within 24 hurs f when the shipment reaches ur dck, and the prf f delivery within 24 hurs f when the shipment is delivered. Page 10 f 19

11 Web Reprting Vitrac's Web Reprting feature allws yu receive status infrmatin abut yur shipments autmatically by . Althugh reprts can be requested interactively, yu will prbably prefer t precnfigure Vitrac t autmatically send yu the infrmatin yu require n a daily, weekly r mnthly schedule. Once cnfigured, Vitrac will cntinue t send yu reprts until yu recnfigure it t stp sending them. A menu f available reprts is displayed when yu click n the Web Reprting icn at Any new reprts added in the future will appear in this menu as well. Figure 8: Web Reprting Menu Page 11 f 19

12 InfMail Figure 9: InfMail Parameters InfMail is used t ntify yu by as sn as yur shipments are delivered. Figure 9 shws the varius parameters used t cnfigure InfMail. The Actin item indicates what actin will be taken when yu click n the submit buttn. Enable Ntificatins Fr All Shipments will enable delivery ntificatins fr all f yur shipments. Any shipments picked up after yu enable this ptin will be flagged s that yu will be ntified when they are delivered. Disable Ntificatins Fr All Shipments will disable delivery ntificatins. Yu will still receive any delivery ntificatins that are pending. Hwever, any new shipments picked up will n lnger be flagged fr ntificatin. Delete Pending Ntificatins deletes all pending delivery ntificatins. This includes all shipments that were flagged as a result f enabling ntificatins n all shipments as well as any shipments that yu may have entered manually. Ntificatins nly fr shipments listed is used if yu d nt want t be ntified abut all shipments in general, but have ne r mre ht shipments yu need t keep track f. Page 12 f 19

13 The Dcument Images check bx determines whether the prf f delivery will be sent alng with the delivery ntificatin. Check this bx if yu wuld like t receive a cpy f the prf f delivery fr each shipment alng with the delivery ntificatin. If yu selected All Shipments this applies t all delivery ntificatins. If yu selected Specific Shipments, this applies nly t reference numbers entered while this bx was checked. Please nte that: Each prf f delivery is apprximately 25 Kb in size. The prf f delivery dcument may nt be available until a few hurs after the shipment has been delivered, s the initial delivery ntificatin and the prf f delivery may arrive in different messages. The lwer sectin f the frm is used nly if the selected Actin is Ntificatins Only Fr Shipments Listed. Reference Type The reference number yu enter can be either a bill f lading number, a purchase rder number, r a Vitran pr number. Yu must indicate the type f each reference number s that the system is able t perfrm the crrect lkup. Reference Number The reference number fr the shipment f interest. Page 13 f 19

14 Shipment Management Reprt Figure 10: Shipment Management Reprt Parameters The shipment management reprt has quite a few parameters, s it can be a little cnfusing. Hwever, if yu take a few mments t becme familiar with the varius parameters and hw they are used, this reprt can satisfy a variety f needs. The parameters are described belw. Starting and Ending Dates This is the range f dates t be included in the reprt. Yu can select a range f Pickup, Delivery r Appintment dates by changing the Date Type t the left f the starting date. When Pickup is selected as the date type, nly shipments picked up between the tw dates entered are included in the reprt. Similarly, if Delivery is selected as the date type, nly shipments delivered between the tw dates are included. When Appintment is chsen as the date type, nly shipments that have appintments between the specified dates are selected. Shipments that d nt have appintments will nt be included in the reprt. Nte that appintment dates are unique in that it is pssible fr appintment dates t be specified as smetime in the future (fr example, yu may want t knw abut all appintments scheduled fr the upcming week). When selecting pickup r delivery dates, dates that are in the future are still accepted; hwever, there will never be any matching shipments. If yu arrive at this screen by chsing the web scheduler's Edit Jb ptin, the starting and ending dates will be calculated frm the scheduler's Duratin parameter (current week, previus mnth etc). Page 14 f 19

15 Origin and Destinatin State r Prvince By default, all shipments are selected. If an rigin r destinatin is selected, shipments are restricted t include nly the specified state, prvince r cuntry. Include The include parameter is used t further restrict the reprt t nly include shipments f interest. Yu may chse t include All shipments Delivered shipments includes all shipments that have been delivered t the cnsignee. If a beynd carrier is used, this als includes shipments delivered t the beynd carrier s dck. In Transit shipments includes all shipments except Delivered Shipments. Undelivered shipments that are late includes the subset f intransit shipments where the nrmal dr t dr delivery duratin has been exceeded. Undelivered shipments with appintments includes the subset f in transit shipments that have appintments. Srt By Use this ptin t select the rder in which the shipments will appear n the reprt. File Frmat The shipment management reprt can be generated in ne f three frmats. Adbe Acrbat Prtable Dcument Frmat (PDF). When selecting PDF, a reprt is generated cntaining Vitran's pr number and shipment status infrmatin fr yur shipments. The reprt cnsists f the mst ften requested infrmatin and shuld satisfy mst requests. It can be viewed n screen r printed n letter size paper. The cntents f the PDF reprt are fixed. Sme items f infrmatin (such as the bill f lading number) d nt appear in the PDF reprt and it is nt pssible t mdify the reprt t include them. If the infrmatin yu need des nt appear n the PDF reprt, yu may need t select ne f the ther file frmats which allw yu t select which items appear in the reprt. Micrsft Excel 4.0 Spreadsheet (XLS). Excel 4.0 is an lder versin f Micrsft's spread sheet prduct, s any spreadsheet applicatin in use tday shuld have n difficulty lading the spread sheet. Cmma Separated Values (CSV) This is a simple text frmat cmmnly used t imprt data int database r spread sheet applicatins. Fr bth XLS and CSV file frmats, yu must use the varius check bxes in the lwer prtin f the frm t select which pieces f infrmatin yu wuld like t include in the spreadsheet. Reprt T All reprts (r spreadsheets) will be ed t the address that yu specify here. Please take a secnd t cnfirm that the address is crrect. Page 15 f 19

16 Once yu have selected the reprt parameters, yu can elect t generate the reprt immediately by clicking the Submit buttn. Befre prceeding, Vitrac first cunts the number f matching shipments and gives yu an pprtunity t cancel yur request if the reprt is empty r if it is t large. Even if yu plan t schedule the reprt t run autmatically, yu may want t try submitting it nce r twice just t make sure that yu have selected the parameters crrectly t get the results yu want. Schedule This buttn gives yu the ptin f scheduling the reprt t run autmatically at daily, weekly r mnthly intervals. Scheduler parameters are described belw. Figure 11: Scheduling Parameters fr Shipment Management Reprt Descriptin Please take a few secnds t think up a meaningful descriptin fr the reprt. This descriptin will appear as the subject line f the message sent t yu, and is used t identify the reprt t yu in Vitrac's Web Scheduler. It als appears at the tp f each page in PDF reprts. Page 16 f 19

17 Reprt Duratin When scheduling reprts the starting and ending dates yu entered n the previus page are nt applicable since it is nt knwn when the reprt will be created. Yu must specify a range f dates which is relative t the date n which the reprt is run. Yu can chse frm ne f the predefined date ranges r yu can specify a specific number f days. If the N f Days field is nt empty, it will be used. Otherwise the predetermined Reprt Duratin is used. Reprt duratin can be: Current day, week, mnth r year selects the perid which includes the day n which the reprt is run. Previus day, week r mnth selects the perid which precedes the date n which the reprt is run. The Fllwing day r week selects the perid fllwing the date n which the reprt is run. Nte that Fllwing dates are nly applicable t appintment dates since they are in the future. When applied t pickup r delivery dates, an empty reprt will always result. N. f Days can be used if nne f the abve ranges are suitable. Fr example, if yu select 7 days, the ending date will be the date n which the reprt is run, and the starting date will be 7 days earlier. Scheduled Date This parameter specifies n which days the reprt will be run. The chices are mstly self explanatry. One f the chices (Dn't Schedule - Save Only) des nt schedule the jb t run repeatedly, but instead simply stres yur selectins in the Web Scheduler's database. This allws yu t use the Web Scheduler t trigger the reprt manually at an arbitrary time withut having t reenter all f the reprt parameters. Yu can als use the Save Only ptin t temprarily disable existing scheduler entries. Simply use the Web Scheduler t edit the jb and change the Scheduled Date t Save Only. T re-enable the reprt change it back t sme ther value. Scheduled Time Chse ne f the specified times fr the reprt t run. Again the chices are self explanatry. Nte that times are always eastern standard time. Schedule Click n the Schedule buttn t g ahead and save yur chices. Yur scheduled jb shuld nw appear in the Web Scheduler. Page 17 f 19

18 Web Scheduler Figure 12: Vitran Web Scheduler Yu can use Vitran's web scheduler t manage any reprts yu currently have scheduled. Use the selectin bx t highlight the reprt yu want t manage. Nte that the descriptin yu entered when yu initially scheduled the reprt appears here t identify the reprt fr yu. Edit Jb Use this ptin t mdify a reprt's parameters. The parameters that were saved when yu scheduled the reprt will be displayed as a starting pint. Yu can make changes and then save them by scheduling the reprt again. If yu wuld like t temprarily disable a reprt, yu can d s by editing it and changing the scheduled date t Save Only. The reprt parameters will be retained in the scheduler's database, but the reprt will nt be sent t yu autmatically. T re-enable the reprt, edit it again changing the scheduled date t sme ther value. Delete Jb Run Nw Use this ptin t delete the jb frm the scheduler's database. Use this ptin t run reprts interactively. This is useful if yu want t test a reprt t see if yu have cnfigured it crrectly t get the results yu want befre scheduling it t run autmatically. This can als save yu time and give cnsistent results if yu nly want t create a reprt ccasinally, but d nt want t reenter all f the parameters each time. Page 18 f 19

19 Shw Histry Use this ptin t display a histry fr the reprt. The histry lg is used t lg errrs when they ccur. If yu d nt receive a reprt that yu are expecting the reasn will be recrded here. Fr example, if a reprt is empty because n shipments matched yur search criteria, n reprt will be sent. Hwever, and errr will be lgged here. The histry lg is purged autmatically nce a week. When it is purged it leaves behind nly the mst recent entries. Page 19 f 19