TABLE OF CONTENTS
Overview
When creating shipments, manifest/shipment references are a mandatory field (but they aren't required to be unique).
If you have no intended naming convention, you can have SpeEDI automatically generate an incrementing value to save time, create unique references for record keeping and quickly recall manifests.
How it works
When activated and creating a manifest/shipment, the Manifest Reference field will be replaced with a checkbox labelled Auto-Number. Upon saving, it will grab the next pending value from the record, and increment the value for the next manifest.
You can untick this checkbox to apply a manual reference as per the standard functionality.
Steps to Configure
- Go to Settings > General Settings
- Press Edit
- Tick "Auto-Number Manifest References" and set a start number
- Save
FAQ
Is there any distinction between Inbound and Outbound shipments?
No, if the start number is 5, and you create an auto-numbered inbound shipment, it will get the number 5, if you then create an auto-numbered outbound shipment, it will get the number 6.
Can I override the auto-numbering with a manual reference as required?
Yes, when creating a manifest, untick the "Auto-number" checkbox and the Manifest Reference field will be restored for normal use.
Can I add a prefix/suffix or any sort of non-numeric values to the reference?
No, it is a simple function with purely numeric incremental values. If there is demand for this feature, please let support know and we can log a feature request for future expansion of this function.
Are there fixed character or maximum character limits for the references?
No [at least, not realistically], being a purely numeric value, you can assign character counts/limits based on the start value of the function. If you need a fixed character count of 7, for example, start at value 1000000 and you will have to create 8999999 shipments before that clocks over to 8 characters.