Customize Interface

ShipGear allows you to customize the way data is translated between Sage 50 source documents (Sales Orders, Invoices, and Customers) and the carrier's shipping screen. Customize Interface defines what information populates the shipment fields, and how the data is interpreted into accepted shipment values. This set of field maps and value translations comprise the "Interface".

ShipGear comes with a predefined interface called "My Interface" that installs default field maps for Sage 50 documents, which you can then customize. You can also create multiple interfaces for use with different companies if you plan to map user-defined fields that vary between companies.

In summary, the interface defines :

• Field Mapping : how shipment fields are mapped to your financial system sources

• Value Translations: how values are translated between your financial system and carrier shipment fields

You can customize the interface as follows:

• Map any carrier shipment field to a fixed value or to an available Sage 50 field. You can view a pre-defined list of Sage 50 fields for each document by clicking on the magnifying glass icon next to the Sage 50 Source field.
• Map user-defined fields to the carrier shipment fields.
• Customize value translations for field mappings such as “Ship Via” (in Sage 50) to "Service” fields (in the carrier system).
• Map Contact Fields to import contact information.

Change the carrier

You can map and customize fields for both carriers on the Customize Interface screen. To change the carrier, select from the Carrier drop-down list.

Field Mapping

This example shows you how to map a user-defined field containing Salesperson information from the Sage 50 Sales Order to a reference field on a carrier shipment screen.

1. In Customize Interface, select the document (Sales Orders, Invoices, etc.).
   
   
   
   
2. Select an Input Field group from the left pane. Here, we will choose Reference because we want to map our Sage 50 field to a field on the Reference tab in WorldShip.
   
   
   
3. In the center panel, identify the exact shipment field to map. We selected Reference 3 below.
   
   
   
4. Next, select the Source, on the right pane. Our selection will be Sage 50, so that the value will come from the Sage 50 Sales Order.
   
   
   
5. Select the Sales Order field to map; here we will select the Sales Rep ID. (You could also select a Fixed Value, in which case you would type in a value.)
   
   
   
6. Click Apply to save the field mapping.
   
   

Value Translations

Many fields in Sage 50 are mapped by default as part of the basic interface (My Interface). If you want more control over how data is translated from Sage 50 into shipment fields, you can add or customize field mapping and value translations to suit your company's needs.

For example, a common field map is from "Ship Via" in the financial system to a type of service field in the carrier system, such as Domestic Service. You can customize this field map based on the carrier values set up in Sage 50, as shown in this example.

1. If you are not already there, click Customize Interface (as in Step 1 above) and select the document (Sales Orders, Invoices, Customers).
2. Click on the Service Input Field group on the left.
   
   
   
3. In the center pane, click Domestic Service.
   
   
   
4. In My Interface, the Source is set to Sage 50 and the source document field (Sales Order field, etc.) is set to Ship Via by default. Click the "Click here to update value translations" link in order to modify or add values.
5. The Value Translations dialog shows you the way Ship Via is currently mapped to the carrier system fields. You can translate the values from the current field to values in the carrier system by making selections from the drop-down lists.
   
   
   
6. Click OK and then click Apply to save your changes.