eCargo

Firstly, we promise not to talk about the economy! With Christmas long gone let’s focus on what we’re going to achieve this year .

In this newsletter we'll cover new, upcoming features in the eCargo Premium application, announce a major new customer, continue our regular tips series, and update you on our search for software testers.

Read on...

 

Foodstuffs Chooses eCargo

Grocery giant Foodstuffs New Zealand have chosen eCargo to deliver an online Freight Management System for their primary freight programme.

This is a major win for eCargo and strengthens our growing presence in the FMCG marketplace. Well done to the entire eCargo team who worked tirelessly on this project!

Watch this space for a press release to follow shortly.

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Upcoming New Features

A new release of eCargo Premium is scheduled for mid April. This release will include the following:

• Refreshed look: eCargo will be given a minor makeover to make it easier for you to find, manage and execute your freight movements.
  
• Hazardous Goods: You will now be able to enter Hazardous Goods Classes and descriptions for consignments, this detail will also print out on your consignment note.
  
• Protection Types: Consignments can be given a protection type (Ambient, Chilled or Frozen) with the default type being Ambient.
  
• Real DIFOT: Carriers will now be able to enter the actual quantities delivered to the customer, which allows for a real Delivered In Full On Time report. Please contact us if you’d like us to configure the Real DIFOT report.
  
• Enhanced Container Management:We are enhancing our container management functions, making it easier for you to track your container movements and the orders packed into those containers.

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Changes to Reporting

As a result of us upgrading the reporting in eCargo all reports currently provided via the Advanced Reporting function in Premium will be moved to web-based reports online.

The Excel spreadsheet-based reporting will no longer be available, however users will still be able to export data into Excel spreadsheets for ad-hoc analysis. If you have any queries or concerns about these changes, or wish to make some suggestions on new reports you would find useful please contact eCargo Support.

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Testers Required!

Over the course of this quarter, we've been working on a number of new features and enhancements, as described above. Many of these are a result of the feedback we’ve received you, our customers. Before we go live with these changes we'd like some experienced, and not so experienced, users of eCargo to put these new changes through their paces. We’re also just looking for general feedback and ideas on how we can further improve our user experience.

If you’re interested in becoming an eCargo Tester and having a say in the future direction of eCargo please send through your details to eCargo Support.

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Did You Know..?

This month we return with two new tips in the 'Did You Know..?' series:

• Advanced Search: This can often be overlooked, especially when the Summary screen gives a quick-glance display of jobs in varying statuses on a per-site basis - but what if you wanted to list all jobs to a certain  destination up to a certain date? Or the total amount of jobs for all sites in 'Confirm Dispatch' status? The Search box provides you with a wealth of criteria to streamline information for your needs. Need help? Check here for a run-through.
  
• Forgotten Password: A downside of our increasing online society is that we have many logins and passwords to remember, and of course we don’t always remember them all! In the unlikely event that you forget your eCargo password you can easily retrieve it by:
• Going to www.ecargo.co.nz, then clicking the Login button at the top of the screen.
• Clicking the Forgotten Your Password? link below the password box. Enter your email address and eCargo will then automatically send you your password.
• If you’ve forgotten your email address also, please contact eCargo Support  for assistance.

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That's it for this month - see you again in April!

Regards,
The eCargo Team

While the Quick Search boxes in the Summary screen are great for bringing up a specific job or manifest, often more general criteria is required, such as a date range or a common delivery point. This is where the 'Advanced Search' box comes in handy. 

Delivery Number
If you know the actual delivery number of the job then enter this directly into the Delivery No. field (A). NOTE: It’s often advisable to click the Clear button (D) before entering delivery number in case existing criteria excludes your job.

Pickup or Deliver To sites
You can define which sites the job(s) you are looking for came from or were being delivered to. Click on the Business Search button (E) to find the particular site or customer you’re looking for.

Action (Status)
The Action options (B) represent the next action to be performed on the job. This is in fact the job status. Narrow your search down by selecting the specific status(es) the job is expected to be in.

Additional Options
To search for other items such as Purchase Order No, Sales Order No or Container No then select the ‘More’ button (H) to show these extra search fields.

Date Ranges
Narrow down your search criteria by selecting the dates the job was planned to be picked up and/or delivered (C). You can further refine your search by looking for the dates the jobs were actually pickup and/or delivered by specifying them as Actual dates (F).

Vehicle
Enter the name of the vehicle on the jobs you are searching for (G). You do not need to enter the full vehicle name, it will find partial matches. If you wish to narrow this down to the particular vessel for an export job, enter this here too.

Performance Search
You can quickly search for jobs that are either late for pickup or late for delivery by selecting either option in the Performance criteria (I).

Carrier or Sub-contractor
To view a list of jobs assigned to a particular carrier or sub-contractor. Click on the business search button and enter their name (J).

I recently came across in interesing report on Australia's transport and logistics industry.

The report, highlighting the participation and importance of Australia's transport and logistics industry, was created by the Australian Logistics Council, in association with Queensland Transport and the Transport and Logistics Industry Skills Council.

The purpose of the report was to quantify the size of the Australian workforce participating in T&L activities and to provide some insight into its structure.

Some of the reports major findings were:

• Transport and Logistics workforce participation was approximately 1,246,406 persons as at August 2006.
  
• This number equates to 13.9 percent of the national workforce aggregate;
  
• 72.4 percent (or 847,582 persons) were attributed to the freight sector, 9.4 percent (or 109,781 persons) to passenger transport while the remaining 18.2 percent (212,406) could be attributed to either the freight or passenger sectors.
  
• The largest single educational level is year 10 or below which constitutes 35.5 percent of those participating in T&L activities.
  
• 33.0 percent of all participants attained an educational level greater than year 12.
  
• More than three quarters (76.7 percent) of those participating in T&L activities are male.
  

This is useful information for businesses such as eCargo, as many of these these people are our end users - the people who would use eCargo. It tells us our target market makes up a large proportion of the workforce (we'll assume a similar proportion in NZ) and that the majority are male.

You can view the full report as a PDF file here.