
The following are some suggestions to try out Clipper's capabilities
for yourself (you may want to print these instructions to have them to hand.
You may, also, want to reduce the size of your Fonts to the smallest size
(or size 8) to see more on a screen.):-
- First, click
here to Log in. Enter 'demo' for both Userid and Password and
then click on the 'Next' button (you will only be able to view the 'demo'
shipments).
- You are now in the
Query Input Screen. First of all lets just view all of the demo shipments,
to do this click on the 'Submit' button without entering or changing anything
else - this will display a summary of all shipments. (Note the 'r/R' at
the left of some shipments, denoting that there are some 'remarks'). This
screen may show you all that you want know, particularly the current status
of the shipment.
- If you want to see
a shipment in more detail just click on the HBL #. Try this with shipment
81026750 to see the full detail - Note that the extra detail is in
four sections, (1) Basic Information, (2) Additional Information, (3) Remarks
and History, (4) Client References
There are 3 'Client Reference' numbers beginning 'E154'. (A Client Reference
can be anything that you want to use to identify a shipment such as an invoice
number, part number etc). Note, also, that one of the Remarks is for the
foreign agent's eyes only (not for the customer!) this is denoted by a star
(*) in the left column.
- Very often you will
want to select just one or a few shipments. Let's see what is happening
to the shipments for a customer called 'HAL SYSTEMS'. Return to the Query
screen and enter 'hal' into the 'Shipper' field and then click on
'Submit' - Note that only those shipments being exported by H A L SYSTEMS
are shown and that Clipper has picked up H A L, H.A.L and
HAL (ie 3 variations of the name).
- Mostly, customers will
want to follow progress of their shipments using references with which they
are familiar, such as Commercial Invoice Number, Part Number etc. This is
no problem (in fact, Clipper is designed around this requirement).
Return to the Query screen, clear the shipper name and then enter 'e154'
into the 'Client Reference' field (you do not have to enter the full reference
nor does it have to be in capital letters) and click on 'Submit', - Note
that the fifth column of the summary has changed to show Client References
and that only those shipments that have a reference that begins E154 are
displayed. 81026750 (amongst others) is displayed 3 times because it has
3 reference numbers. Also note that there are 3 references to E1541/1, two
for our shipper H A L SYSTEMS and one for LEVON CORP.
- We obviously do not
want one shipper to see shipments for another customer. Clipper
uses unique userids and passwords to guard against this. Return to the Login
screen and enter a Userid of 'hal' and a password of 'demo'
and then click on 'Next'.
- Now enter 'e154'
into the 'Client Reference' field again - This time, only the H A L shipments
are displayed. (Thus your customer sees only his own shipments).
Click on the HBL # 81026750 and see that, this time, the forwarder only
remark does not appear.
- Remember the 'r/R'
to the left of some shipments in the Summary Listing? They have remarks,
the 'R' denotes recent remarks and 'r' older ones. On the whole customers
want to see all of those shipments with recently added remarks and Clipper
makes it easy for them to do so.
Return to the Login screen and log in again as 'demo'. In the Query
Input Screen, click on the 'radio button' to the left of 'Remark Additions'
in the top section, and then click on 'Submit' - Note that only those shipments
that have had remarks added within the last 5 days (denoted by an 'R' in
the left hand column) are displayed. You can set the number of days to between
0 and 99. This is how, with 2 clicks, you can see what is not going according
to plan.
There are a number of other 'One-Click' options including all status changes
and all shipments currently 'In-Progress'.
- Now it is time to see
some reports.
Return to the Login screen, enter 'demo' for Userid and Password,
click on the 'Reports' radio button' and then click on 'Next'. A number
of report options are displayed. Try selecting a Report, the DIY report
is a good one.
Note that, for any report, you can send it to an email address if you wish.
Also, the information is displayed in such a way that you can easily print
it.
- You can also send an
email request for a report; so you don't even need a browser to use Clipper!
- Next, let's follow
the progress of a Purchase Order from the time it is raised (ie before it
becomes a shipment). Return to the Login screen again, enter 'demo'
for userid and password and select 'Make a Query'.
- Click on the 'Purchase
Orders' radio button on the right hand side of the first table and then
click on the 'Submit query' button.
- You will see that a
summary of Purchase Orders is displayed. This screen is very similar to
the Shipment summary screen, the main difference being that the 'number
of shipments' that make up the PO is displayed.
- Click on Purchase Order
123456 and you will see that the full detail of the PO is displayed. Again,
this is very similar to that for Shipments with 2 differences. The first
is that the dates relate to Purchase Order actions and the second is that
a summary listing of all Shipments for that order is displayed. You can
then click on any HBL # to see more detail on a particular shipment.
- You may have noticed
that some of the fields on the Query Input Screen have 3 dots after them.
This denotes that these fields take multiple values. For instance, you may
want to see just those shipments going to either Melbourne
or Sydney. To do so make sure you are viewing Shipments in
the top section and enter 'mel:syd' in the 'Destination' field. Clipper
will display all shipments for either Melbourne or Sydney.
- There are plenty of
other features of the Clipper Tracking System, you can sort
on fields, you can select shipments at a certain status and a whole lot
more, just experiment to see what it can do.
If you would like to find
out more about Clipper, please contact Corunna on:-
Email: info@corunna.com
Tel: +44 (0)844 33 086 13
Fax: +44 (0)1223 460178
Copyright Corunna Systems
Ltd © 1997-1999