UPS Shipping Interface setup

The purpose of the UPS Shipping Interface is to send information about a mail order that has been shipped via a UPS shipping method in PrismCore to a computer running the UPS WorldShip software, and to receive a UPS tracking number in return. The interface is run as a service in WPServer. Unlike many services in WPServer, the UPS Shipping Interface does NOT use FTP. Instead, WorldShip and PrismCore share information using a shared directory.

When this service is running, PrismCore periodically creates an export file that contains basic information about the mail order shipment (e.g. receipt number, customer's account number, shipping address information, total weight, transaction total, shipping charge, date) and puts it in a designated shared directory. This file is picked up from the directory by the UPS WorldShip software. This enables the user to print a UPS shipping label through WorldShip with all the appropriate information on it. The UPS WorldShip program then creates a file with the receipt number and UPS tracking number, which it puts in the directory. From there it is imported by WPServer into PrismCore.

• The user needs to contact UPS Customer Support for assistance in setting up the UPS WorldShip software on a PC in their store.

• They also need to send their UPS rep the import/export formats for the interface files going between PrismCore and UPS WorldShip:

Formats

The UPS export file contains the following fields. Each field is enclosed in double quotes (") and is delimited with a comma.

'MAILORDER', Mail Order Number
'FILLER', Unused
'CUSTOMER', Customer Account Number
'SHIPNAME1', Customer Name
'SHIPNAME2', Customer Name
'SHIPADDRESS1', Customer Address
'SHIPADDRESS2', Customer Address
'SHIPCITY', Customer City
'SHIPSTATE', Customer State
'SHIPZIP', Customer Zip Code
'SHIPCOUNTRY', Customer Country
'SHIPPHONE', Customer Phone
'SHIPMETHOD', Shipping Code Description
'SHIPWEIGHT', Total Shipping Weight
'SHIPTOTAL', Transaction Total
'FILLER', Unused
'Y', Always Y
'SHIPCOMMENT', Shipping Comment
'EMAIL', Always EMAIL
'EMAILYN', Y/N if email included
'EMAILADDRESS', Customer Email Address
'NUMBEROFSHIPMENT',Number of Items in Shipment
'TODAY', Current Date MM/DD/YYYY
'FILLER', Unused
'FILLER', Unused
'FILLER' Unused

The UPS import file contains the following fields. Each field is enclosed in double quotes (") and is delimited with a comma.

'MAILORDER', Mail Order Number
'TRACKNUMBER', UPS Tracking Number
'SECNUM', ???
'FILLER', Unused
'METHOD', Shipping Method
'WEIGHT' Total Shipping Weight

1. A shared directory for the interface files to reside in must be set up on either the PrismCore server or the UPS WorldShip PC. If the directory is set up on the PrismCore server, the WorldShip PC must be able to map to that directory. If it is set up on the WorldShip machine, the PrismCore server needs to map to the directory on the WorldShip machine. [Programming knows that shared drives can spread viruses, but he says not all WorldShip machines will run FTP, so he's using file sharing, instead.]
2. In WPAdmin, access Mail Order General Parameters and check the Shipping Software Interface check box for whichever locations are needing the interface.
3. In WPAdmin, access the Shipping Codes module. Now that you have enabled the Shipping Software Interface field, a new Shipping Software field appears in each shipping code record. For the UPS shipping codes, select 'UPS Interface' from the combo box. For non-UPS shipping codes, select 'No Interface'.
4. The UPS interface is a standard WPServer interface. UPS interface lines have to be added to your WPConsole by programming. Call PrismCore Support when you are ready for this step. Once UPS lines have been added to WPServer, you will need to configure that service. You can use our suggestions of file names for the import and export files, or some other name, if desired.
   1. Set the interval at which the service is to run (e.g. every 5 minutes). We don't have any recommendation as to how often to run it. This may need to be coordinated with UPS to see how often they want to pick our files and give us theirs.
   2. UPS Export Path The fully qualified directory name where the export file will be created (this is the shared directory mentioned above). The path can be a mapped drive or UNC name.
   3. UPS Export File Name The file name that will be created or appended to (e.g. EXPORT.TXT).
   4. UPS Import Path The fully qualified directory name where the import file is located (this is the shared directory mentioned above). The path can be a mapped drive or UNC name.
   5. UPS Import File Name The name of the file to be imported (e.g. IMPORT.TXT).
   6. Check the Activate Service checkbox, and OK the dialog.
5. At this point, each time the service runs, an EXPORT.TXT file will be created and put in the shared directory. If UPS has put an IMPORT.TXT file in that directory, it will be imported into PrismCore.