FS 324096 Pall-Ex Interface
The Client Name
Pall-Ex Interface
CALIDUS ePOD
26th May 2013 - 0.1
Reference: FS 324096
Contents
Functional Overview
Client Requirement
AE Parker will be rolling out CALIDUS ePOD to their fleet and will need to send ePOD information/confirmation on deliver completion through to Pall-Ex systems.
Solution Overview
Process:
- The new partner A.E.Parker will be set up with a new partner code within CALIDUS ePOD, will be configured for their use following the standard configuration. This partner will be configured for export to the TMS system in use.
- Pall-Ex specific reason codes will be set up as required by the Pall-Ex TWINE system.
- New Pall-Ex Jobs will be sent to Partnerlink through the existing JobShare format, or directly to the back-end TMSs.
- When planned, these jobs will be sent to CALIDUS ePOD through the existing interface in use for the existing partners, and will be identified with a new Job Group e.g. PALLEX. Note: This will require change to the sending process from the TMS system to accommodate this new job group.
- The jobs will be completed like any other normal delivery.
- When jobs are completed, the existing AutoExport functionality will update the Partners (identified through their Partner Codes) using a flat-file export of the job details in OBS Logistics' XML format, as it does with each existing partner.
- The AutoExport process will also export the files to Pall-Ex TWINE system, identified through the Job's Group and the configuration attached to it.
- The AutoExport functionality will store the success or failure of the export, along with any of the returned reasons from the export.
The Admin Export Configuration screen will be changed to allow the parameters for the new Pall-Ex extract to be specified against it.
The Partnerlink Import process will be modified to add a field to the import process to identify the Pallet System in use (for example, Palletforce, Pall-Ex, Fortec).
The new Pall-Ex Export process will work as follows:
At least 2 messages will be sent to update the Pall-Ex TWINE system, by connecting through three methods of their existing webservice:
- AddEpodPallet – One message sent per pallet on the consignment, to update a pallet and consignment with delivery and signatory information.
- AddEpodConsignment – One message sent per cancelled consignment, to update the consignment as cancelled delivery, with an appropriate reason code.
Warning: It is possible that the TMS systems may not be able to accurately identify the actual Pall-Ex pallet identity for the individual pallets. In this case (decided at functional specification stage), the process may be amended to always use this webservice to confirm the consignment as delivered rather than the above AddEpodPallet webservice. - AddMPodImage – to upload the signature image from the delivery to the consignment.
The process will check the responses of sending these messages to the webservice, and will store the results in the Audit tables within CALIDUS ePOD. Messages that process in error will be marked as such, so that they may be identified and reprocessed manually if required.
Scope
Assumptions:
- Jobs will be sent to Partnerlink and through to CALIDUS ePOD using the existing JobShare interfaces.
- Pallets for these Pallet Networks will be labelled with their own network's pallet labels, and not Partnerlink labels, like PalletForce. It is expected that pallets will be created by CALIDUS ePOD in the normal way, identifying the individual pallets by assigning each pallet a unique ID, counting from the 1 to the total number of pallets.
- The new partners will accept updates into their Transport systems from CALIDUS ePOD in the standard OBS format - the pallet network system will be updated separately. This will require a modification to identify consignments as being completed for Pall-Ex.
- The Consignment will already exist within the Pall-Ex TWINE system, ready for updating with POD information from CALIDUS ePOD.
- AE Parker will be assigned a Partner Code by Partnerlink, which will be provided to OBS Logistics prior to implementation of this change.
Changes will be made to latest version of CALIDUS ePOD only, and will require an update to all application components and full system and user acceptance testing.
This process is dependent on multiple reason codes for pallet networks change, specified in EST 318572 PART Job Group Level Clausing - No Duplicates. The work for this change must be completed before or as part of this change.
The reason codes used by Pall-Ex are not currently used in the Partnerlink system (2 character numeric values from 01 to 19), so these will not cause any contention in the system. It has been confirmed that
This process is dependent on jobs being received into CALIDUS ePOD through the standard Partnerlink interface, changes to which have been specified in FS 326965 Partnerlink EPOD Interface. This change to the inbound interface may require changes to the Partner TMS systems to allow the new fields to be specified. The changes for this have been specified here for completeness. Note that no changes will be necessary to Partner TMS systems if those systems are used solely by partners that do not complete Pall-Ex jobs or have no requirement to specify linked (consolidated) jobs.
Additionally, jobs will be exported through the standard interface (also specified in the same document). As the latest version of the system is being used for the basis of this change, this may require changes to the partner TMS systems to extract the information in the new format. Note that only new fields have been added - fields have not been changed for purpose or function.
Note: This change requires integration with another system, so up to 1 day has been added to the specification and testing time to allow for this. If the specification time increases beyond this time allowed due to additional work required during this stage, the estimate will be increased to cover the actual time taken.
Set-up
Pre-requisites
Menu Structure
Data
Warning:
- New Partner Codes - New Site Configurations
- New Pall-Ex job group configuration
- New Export configuration
Functional Description
Admin
Auto-Import
Auto-Export
Warning: Generic changes to autoexport
New Pall-Ex Auto-Export Process
Warning: Assuming we will have to do consignment level debriefing, as the pallet level webservice may not be working, and we may not have the Pall-Ex pallet IDs or know the format, and we may not get the information from Mandata anyway.
Appendix A: TEST PLAN
| Test Script / Scenario Reference | Pall-Ex Interface | Call Number(s): 324096 |
| Test Script / Scenario Description | description of what is to be achieved | PASS / ISSUES / FAIL |
| Menu Access | Where on the menus the item can be found | |
| Pre-requisites | The prerequisites of the test | Tested By: |
| Test Objective | The details of what each group of tests is to achieve | Date: |
| Step | Action | Result | Remarks | P/F |
| 1 | Area being tested in this cycle | |||
| Any notes or prerequisites for the tests following. | ||||
| 1.01 | The actions to follow | The expected result | ||
| 1.02 | The actions to follow | The expected result | ||
| 1.03 | The actions to follow | The expected result |
Appendix B: Quote & Document References
| Cost Details | ||||
| Activity | Estimate No. of Days |
No. of Days | Rate per Day (£) | Cost (£ Exc. VAT) |
| Requirements | 0.00 | 0.00 | 650 | £0.00 |
| Change Request Evaluation | 1.25 | 1.25 | 650 | £812.50 |
| Functional Specification | 2.00 | 2.00 | 650 | £1,300.00 |
| Technical Specification | 1.50 | 1.50 | 650 | £975.00 |
| Development | 7.75 | 7.75 | 650 | £5,037.50 |
| Testing and Release | 1.50 | 1.50 | 650 | £975.00 |
| Implementation | 1.00 | 1.00 | 650 | £650.00 |
| Project Management | 1.00 | 1.00 | 650 | £650.00 |
| TOTAL | 16.00 | 16.00 | £10,400.00 | |
| Estimate excludes training, release to live and go live support. |
B.1 References
| Ref No | Document Title & ID | Version | Date |
| 1 | EST 324096 Pall-Ex Interface | 1.0 | 30/03/2015 |
| 2 | FS 326965 Partnerlink EPOD Interface | 1.0 | 22/05/2015 |
B.2 Glossary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| EPOD | Electronic Proof of Delivery. The OBS EPOD system is CALIDUS ePOD. |
| CALIDUS eSERV | The OBS mobile system to complete Service functionality in the field. This is part of the CALIDUS ePOD system. |
| PDA | The mobile device on which the C-ePOD system will run in the field. This can be a Phone, EDA or industrial PDA, running Android. |
| DAL | Data Access Layer. A mechanism for accessing data by the system that is removed from the application, allowing for simplified access and providing protection to the data, as only approved DAL methods can be used to modify it. |
| GPS | Global Positioning System. A mechanism of retrieving accurate positioning information in the form of Latitude and Longitude (Lat-Long) co-ordinates from a device. |
| GPRS, 3G, HSDPA, Data Service | All terms referring to mobile device network connectivity, and the speed at which the device connects to the internet. |
B.3 Authorised By
Matt Turner | OBSL Account Manager | _____________________________ |
John Davidson | Partnerlink Director | _____________________________ |
