The cloud-based version of Ship is accessed via an internet browser and is closely integrated with nShift Portal. Everything is in the cloud and automatically updated.
This article is a tutorial for new Ship users. It will take you through the most basic features and help you get started:
nShift Portal
Ship is accessed by logging into nShift Portal:
- Go to nShift Portal.
- Enter your Username and click Next. Enter your Password and click Sign in.
- The starting page (Track) contains a dashboard with key statistics and a search field. Use the search field to search for shipments. You can enter any search word related to a shipment, e.g. shipment or package number, order number, receiver name, receiver city, or street name. You also have access to our Help Center with more than 500 articles and guides, and direct access to contact our Customer Service.
- To access Ship, where you can create new shipments, click on the product selector icon in the top right corner and select Ship.
Example showing the starting page in nShift Portal:
Menu items overview
This section will give you a short overview of the menu items in Ship:
New
Where you can create new shipments.
Inbox
Contains imported shipments that have not been set to autoprint. This is used if you need to fill in additional information before print.
Draft
If you save a shipment before it is printed, you can find it here. Click on a draft to open it and finish creating the shipment.
Error Handling
Here you can find imported shipments that have failed the shipment validation. Click on a shipment to open it in production view and fill in any missing information before clicking the Print button.
Outbox
After print, a shipment is placed in Outbox. From Outbox, you can transmit data (EDI files) to carriers.
Manifests
Contains a list of all your transmitted batches. A batch consists of shipments transmitted together. After transmit, the shipments will disappear from Outbox and be placed in Manifests.
Print boxes
Print boxes are virtual containers where you can place your shipments until you are ready to print them. Read more about this feature here: Using Print boxes in Ship.
Address Book
Contains your saved contacts. If you frequently create manual shipments, it is a good idea to organize your contacts into lists. This allows you to quickly fill in all customer details for a new shipment by simply entering the customer number.
Configuration
Access to Settings where you can manage printing settings, display units, time zones, and more. For a detailed guide on the Settings tab, read this article: The Settings tab in Ship.
Depending on your subscription, you will also have access to Shipping Rules, Actors and Carriers and Price Calculation.
Creating a shipment
Follow these steps to create a shipment:
- To create a shipment, go to Ship > New in the top menu. This will send you to the production view. (Click on the image for a larger view).
- Select a product under the Carrier tab. The product drop-down list contains all the products available in your Ship. Also, check any additional services needed here.
- Fill in information about the Receiver: name, address, postcode, city, and country. Additional contact information such as phone number and email might be required. If you are missing information required by the carrier, you will get an error message when trying to print.
- Many customers have a default sender address added to their configuration. If this is the case for you, you can skip filling in the sender address as this will be prefilled.
- Fill in information about the goods such as the number of packages, content, weight, etc.
- If it is relevant to your shipment, you may fill in additional information in the References, Messages, COD and IF Insurance tabs.
- Click the Print button when you are ready to print the label. With default settings, Ship will open the label in a PDF reader. If you have a thermal printer, please see the article about Printer Setup in Ship.
- When you click Print, the validations on the required fields will show you if you are missing some. Fill out the missing information and click Print again.
Transmitting data to carriers
After you have printed the label, the shipment is placed in Outbox. Ship supports carriers requiring data (EDI files) and web service carriers who automatically receive the necessary data when the label is printed.
If you are using EDI carriers, it is important to remember to transmit data from Outbox or set it up to transmit automatically. Follow these steps to manually transmit data to the carrier:
- In Ship, go to Ship > Outbox.
- Check the stack containing the shipments you want to transmit. You may select multiple stacks or select all. The number in brackets next to a stack shows how many shipments are waiting to be transmitted.
- If you only want to transmit selected shipments, you can check individual shipments in the shipment list and leave the stacks unchecked.
- Click the Transmit button once you have made your selection.
- Click Yes in the confirm box.
- Upon successful transmit, the shipment list on the right side is cleared.
If you want to set up automatic transmit of EDI files, please read this article: Setting up auto transmit of EDI files in Ship.
Integration
Ship can be fully integrated with your WMS or ERP system through file-drop integration or database integration. The Drop Zone application must be installed on your local network if you need integration and auto print.
Part of a Ship integration must be made by a technical consultant from nShift who has access to the server. Please contact nShift Customer Service if you wish to set up an integration or hear more about the possibilities.
We also recommend reading these articles for more information:
Configuration of file-drop import in Ship (Drop Zone)
Configuration of ERP integration in Ship (Drop Zone)