Service Capabilities

Delivery Manager

Delivery Manager is where Carriers, Warehouses, Allocation Rules, Users and many other settings are added to power the following Products:

• Delivery Options
• Shipping Labels
• Returns Labels
• Tracking File
• Delivery Intelligence

Delivery Manager includes the following capabilities:

Carriers – the integration, validation and allocation of carriers, including;

• Carrier Account Setup: Setup and manage over than 450 carriers and 5,500 delivery and return services in more than 100 countries. Assign unique carrier accounts to each carrier, service, warehouse, brand, and any combination to track and allocate shipping costs. Delivery Manager supports all Carriers, Carrier Services, and additional services found at https://data.metapack.com/, new Carrier Services may be added for the fees specified in the Carrier Development Order Form.
• Carrier Service Validation: Delivery Manager automatically validates all Carrier Services and will exclude services that are out of the service territory or exceed the service weight or size limits.
• Carrier Service Allocation Rules: Allocation Rules allow Customers to further exclude, discourage, or encourage the use of specific Carrier Services when using Shipping Allocation Filters, Booking Codes, or Delivery Options. Rules can be based on carrier, carrier service, warehouse, day of week, ship to country or area and user definable fields.
• Service Groups: Create Service Groups that reflect the shipping services you offer during checkout and automatically compare delivery or returns services and select the lowest cost option that delivers each order on time when using Shipping Allocation Filters, Booking Codes, or Delivery Options
• Transit Times: Delivery Manager automatically calculates and provides transit times based on carrier service, warehouse hours of operation, carrier service cut-off time, and ship from/to postal codes.
• Costs: Specify shipping costs for each delivery service, ship from location, and ship to country/zone using parcel, consignment or volumetric weight, parcel count (multiple parcels per consignment), fuel surcharges and proof of delivery. Costs are used to select the lowest cost delivery service that meets the delivery date requirement when using Shipping Allocation and Delivery Options.
• Charges: Specify shipping charges to display in Delivery Options using the same calculation engine.
• Cut-off Times: Specify carrier collection times and days of week, shipping allocation cut-off times, and web cut-off times by ship from location (e.g. warehouse or store). Allocation cut off times are used to select the optimal delivery service when the warehouse uses Shipping Allocation.
• Audit History: View carrier selection for a shipment and configuration audit history that includes; carrier, carrier service, warehouse, date/time, user, and a description of the change that was made.

Warehouses and Stores – the configuration of all data relating to shipping origins, including;

• Warehouse Setup: Create and manage warehouses in all countries where you ship orders. Set default ship from and return to addresses for all countries and specify operating days of week and holidays used to determine delivery date when using the Allocation feature described in the Shipping product section.
• Return Addresses: Create advanced rules to dynamically change return warehouse address for each shipment based on ship from warehouse, carrier service, or ship to country (e.g. shipments to Australia can be returned to a consolidation point for bulk return for all carriers, one carrier, or even one carrier service).
• Importer of Record: Create advanced rules to dynamically change the importer of record for each international shipment based on ship from warehouse, carrier service, or ship to country.

Users – the configuration, management and auditing of users, including;

• Accounts: Create user accounts and assign each user to user groups and one or more warehouses or stores.
• Groups: Create user groups with varying levels of access to functionality in your Metapack account. Select from over 100 access rights that include ability to manage carriers, warehouses, users, shipping manifests, reports, file formats, reports, and most other shipping features.
• Activity: View user activity details that include time, day, functionality (carrier and warehouse), and activity (viewed vs changed).

Other

• Consignments: Consignments may be created, updated, voided, and deleted using Delivery Manager. Customers may select the warehouse, add complete recipient address, add parcel details, select a carrier service, and print all labels and customs documents These activities may also be performed using the Shipping Application Programming Interface (API).
• Manifesting: Delivery Manager can manifest consignments to carriers and allows filtering by warehouse and dispatch date. Customers may also view a history of manifests, collections, and all parcels that are ready to collect. Manifesting may also be performed using the Shipping API.
• Data Export: Delivery Manager allows Customers to create unlimited data export templates to csv that can be scheduled for automatic creation at daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly intervals and will email the user when the report is available. The export contains most fields including the warehouse, complete recipient address, carrier details (name, service, costs, charges, transit times), parcel details (weight, sizes, and product details), custom fields, and tracking statuses. Filters can be used to limit the dataset and include options to limit to specific warehouses, carriers, tracking statuses, consignment statuses, and much more.
• Custom Fields: Name up to 10 custom fields that can be used in Allocation Rules
• Currencies: Track and manage multiple currencies in your Metapack account for use when converting currencies on customs forms.

Delivery Options

The Delivery Options API provides accurate shipping options based on individual products or shopping baskets. This product provides shipping services, drop-off options and store collection locations alongside calculated delivery dates and charges.

A summary of the Delivery Options API capabilities are as follows:

• Provide, in any combination, delivery options for home delivery, drop-off locations (PUDO) or a Customer’s stores.
• For PUDO and Customer stores the Delivery Options API is able to provide opening times, address, latitude, longitude and accessibility.
• Customers can maintain the list of their stores and the data pertaining to those stores via either an API or by providing Metapack with a file (in either JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) or Comma Separated Value (CSV) in the specified format.
• The Delivery Options API allows for filters to include and exclude specific service groups (for example; sameday, next day or standard), collection & delivery slots, the maximum number of Customer stores to display and the search radius from a specific location for both PUDO and Customer stores.
• The Delivery Options API allows for responses to be provided in either grids or lists. For grids the response will include options for the next 20 days and can be sorted by either cost or score. For lists the response will include options for earliest carrier collection date and time and can be sorted by cost or score.
• Further details on the Delivery Options API are specified at http://docs.ddo.metadev.io/

In order to work effectively Delivery Options requires that integrated Customers include the following details in the Delivery Options request:

• Delivery Options require that all warehouses, carriers, carrier services, cut off times, and allocation rules are configured in Delivery Manager and will pass all requests to Delivery Manager’s allocation engine for response.
• The Delivery Options API require that the Customer specifies the warehouse where the order will ship from. The Customer Web Front-End (WFE) or Order Management System (OMS) must determine the warehouse. Delivery Manager will review all Service Groups configured for the specified warehouse and return all available Carrier Services based on the Return Type and Option Type requested.
• The Delivery Options API requires that the Customer specify the recipient country and address or geolocation to accurately determine availability of carrier services, carrier service transit times, Pick up Drop off (PUDO) locations, and Customer stores.
• Customer can provide item data, including weights and dimensions to further improve the accuracy of the Delivery Options’ API responses.
• Customers are not permitted to cache Delivery Options responses.

Shipping

Shipping allows shippers to create shipments, assign parcels to shipments, assign shipments to carriers, print carrier-compliant shipping labels for all parcels, and to manifest shipments to the carrier. These requests and documents are created via the Metapack Shipping API.

A summary of the Shipping Labels capabilities are as follows:

• Shipments may be created, verified, updated, voided, and deleted using the Shipping API.
• Shipments may be allocated to a carrier service using Allocation Filters or Allocation Booking Codes using the Shipping API. Delivery Manager will first exclude Carrier Services based on Delivery Managers Carrier Service validation and Allocation Rules, then will select from the remaining services based on the Customer specified Allocation Filter or Allocation Booking Code.
  • The Allocation Filter allows Customers to specify a particular Carrier, Carrier Service, Service Groups, or ServiceType along with acceptable or unacceptable collection and delivery dates and times, and defaults for the Filtering and Sortation of the outcomes. If there are multiple results the allocation engine will choose the first Service in the Sorted results as the Service to allocate the shipment to. The allocation filter has a number of filtering and sortation options, which creates a flexible and scalable solution.
  • The Booking Code is similar to the Allocation Filter in that it allows Customers to specify a particular Carrier Service or Service Group, acceptable collection or delivery dates, and Allocation Filters. The Booking Code option must be used when a shipment is to be delivered to a PUDO.
• Parcels may be added, updated, and deleted to a shipment prior to manifesting using the Shipping API and products may be added or deleted from parcels to ensure accurate customs documents.
• Carrier labels, CN22, CN23, and Commercial Invoices may be printed, or reprinted, using the Shipping API. Customers may specify the type (label / customs) and format (ZPL, PNG, PDF). Commercial Invoices may only be printed on A4 and label sizes and formats vary by carrier, with global support for 10cm x15cm (4”x6”) ZPL/PDF. Printed labels are automatically marked as Ready to Manifest.
• Manifests may be sent to the carrier using the Shipping API, may be setup in Delivery Manger to automatically be sent to carriers at the specified collection days and time or be sent manually.
• More details on the capabilities and the technical integration specification for Shipping Labels can be found at http://dev.metapack.com/devcentre/documentation/

In order to work effectively Shipping Labels has some configuration pre-requisites:

• The Shipping Labels requires that all warehouses, carriers, carrier services, cut off times, and allocation rules are configured in Delivery Manager.
• The Shipping API quires that the Customer specify the warehouse where the order will ship from. The Customer’s Warehouse Management System (WMS), Customer Web Front-End (WFE) or Order Management System (OMS) must determine the shipping origin. Delivery Manager will review all Service Groups configured for the specified warehouse and return the Carrier Service based on the Allocation Filter or Booking Code.
• The Shipping API requires that the Customer specify the complete recipient name, address, country, and postal code as well as the weight, size, and product contents of each parcel to accurately determine availability of carrier services and meet customs requirements.

Returns

Returns are created using the Shipping API, which allows Customers to create shipments and parcels, assign shipments to carriers, print carrier-compliant shipping labels for all parcels, and manifest shipments to the carrier.

• Return labels are created, allocated, printed, and manifested using the same methods as the shipping label. There will be one shipment for the shipping label and a separate consignment for the return label. The return shipment addresses should be reversed from the shipping shipment to reflect the return journey.
• A return shipment can then be allocated to a carrier service using the same validation rules, allocation rules, and filters or booking code discussed in the Shipping Label section.
• Similarly, carrier compliant labels and carrier manifests for return shipments also use the same capability as defined in the Shipping Label section.

Tracking File

The Tracking File allows Customer systems to be populated with tracking data. This data may be used to update order status, update internal reporting tools, trigger consumer messaging (SMS, email, etc), or populate customer support tools.

• The Tracking File collects tracking events for all labels created in Delivery Manager for all tracked Carrier Services and translates them into 61 normalised set of Parcel Status IDs and Parcel Status Names
• Tracking data is provided at a parcel level to allow for mapping for both single and multi-parcel consignments
• The Tracking File contents can be configured to include certain data and to filter out events based on specific Parcel Status IDs, specific carriers and from origin warehouses.
• The Tracking File contains all new events for all live parcels (without an “end-of-life” event) since the last file was generated
• The Tracking File can be generated at a time interval defined by the Customer, every 5, 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes. A file can be configured to be generated or cancelled when there are no carrier events to communicate.
• Tracking Files are in CSV format with UTF8 encoding and can only be collected by Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). Multiple Tracking Files can be setup for a third party and populated on a single SFTP user account.

In order to work effectively Tracking File has some configuration pre-requisites:

• The Customer must provide an IP address for whitelisting, so that this SFTP site can be accessed.
• The Tracking File is only available to Metapack Shipping Labels customers for shipments created on the Metapack platform.
• Metapack is reliant on carriers for the timeliness and quality tracking data. Metapack will help identify issues and work with Customers and Carriers to resolve any tracking data quality issues.

Delivery Intelligence

Delivery Intelligence (DI) provides insight for Customers to measure and improve warehouse or store operations, carrier delivery performance and the entire customer delivery experience.

• Delivery Intelligence includes the prebuilt reports that are developed on an ongoing basis. At a minimum these dashboards will cover the following areas:
  • Shipments Insight
  • Shipment Profiles
  • Carrier Delivery Performance
  • Carrier & Warehouse Delivery Exceptions
  • Tracking Quality & Latency
• All Delivery Intelligence reports have the following capabilities:
  • View Details – Customers can view parcel details in all reports where data for the report is limited to 50 days.
  • Save Dashboard Views – Customers can save reports where filters have been customized, making to easier to access in the future.
  • Share – A link may be shared with other Delivery Intelligence users to access a dashboard.
  • Download – Extract underlying data for the report in either CSV or PDF formats. The downloads can also include data such as the order reference and promised delivery date where provided to Metapack in the Shipping API call.
• Delivery Intelligence data is updated hourly from 08:00 to 00:00 UTC and maintains 50 days data at a package level granularity and 3 years data at an aggregated level.
• Customer will receive unique user credentials to access Customers Delivery Intelligence reports. Customers may limit users access rights to specific reports and/or origin warehouse.
• Data in most Delivery Intelligence dashboards can be limited using one or more of the following filters: Date, Origin, Destination, Service Group, Carrier, Carrier Service, Weight Range and Volume Range.

There are some important external constraints on Delivery Intelligence:

• Delivery Intelligence is only able to report on shipments, carrier labels, and manifests are created in Delivery Manager, and will use this data and the associate tracking events from the Carrier to populate report content.
• Delivery Intelligence accuracy may be impacted by tracking event delays, untracked services and unexpected non-working days.
• Metapack is reliant on carriers for the timeliness and quality tracking data. Metapack will help identify issues and work with Customers and Carriers to resolve any tracking data quality issues.

Returns Portal

The Returns Portal is a branded portal which allows end consumers to select the previously purchased item(s) they wish to return, give the reason for the return, and select a convenient return’s method. It includes the following features;

• A multilingual, consumer-facing returns portal with options to customise to your brand, return reasons, carrier services, return pricing, returns policy details and support details.
• Integrating an order feed (with details such as; order number, recipient, shipping address and product details) from the Customers system can provide features like basket view of purchased products, prefilled customs forms and free shipping by product.
• Multiple carrier integrations across the popular global trade lanes allowing a retailer to choose which carriers and carrier services to implement on the return’s portal.
• Integrated with a 3^rd party payment gateway supporting all major payment methods, which allows a consumer to pay for the return without leaving the portal.
• Customer communication & tracking that includes confirmation email, options to send SMS messages at different stages of the return and to direct consumers to a portal view of the status of their return.
• Reporting suite includes reports on billing, returns requested, returns in transit, received returns and return reasons.

Customer Success

Metapack has three Customer Success Plans available to Customers. The features of each support plan are set out below. For the avoidance of doubt, the Customer shall only receive the benefit of those features associated with their contracted support plan as specified in the Order Form.

	Basic Plan	Premium Plan	Enterprise Plan
Hours of Operation	Mon – Fri (Local) 9am to 5pm	24/7	24/7
Case Severity & Response Time	Guidance ≤ 24 hr Impaired ≤ 1hr Down ≤ 15 mins	Guidance ≤ 24 hr Impaired ≤ 1hr Down ≤ 15 mins	Guidance ≤ 24 hr Impaired ≤ 1hr Down ≤ 15 mins
Communication Methods	Customer Support Portal only	Customer Support Portal or Phone	Customer Support Portal or Phone
Priority Handling	NA±	Included	Included
Annual Solution Audit	NA±	NA±	Included
Solution Architect	NA±	Available – T&M	5 days per annum
Professional Services	NA±	Available	5 days per annum

Definitions

Metapack Support has three different incident severity types, which have differing response times;

• “Guidance” means any inquiry regarding system functionality or a minor production issue that results in inconvenience. Response times are limited to Local Business Hours only for all plans. Updates will be provided as required.
• “Impaired” means that an important function of the Metapack platform is unavailable or significantly degraded. Metapack will use reasonable endeavours to resolve “Systems Impaired” incident within less than eight hours, however, should Metapack fail to achieve the timescales set out above Metapack shall have no liability.
• “Down” means one or more systems are unusable or unavailable and is causing major business impact. Metapack will use reasonable endeavours to resolve “Systems Down” incident within less than four hours and to provide updates every 30 minutes, however, should Metapack fail to achieve the timescales set out above Metapack shall have no liability.

“Hours of Operations” describes the hours that Metapack Support will actively work to resolve Impaired and Down incidents. All other support will be provided during “Local Business Hours” which are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, in the UK (GMT), EU (CET), and USA (PST). Out of hours support is any period outside normal office support hours. Public holidays in each location shall constitute out of hours’ periods in that location.

“Communication Methods” describes the method by which the Metapack Support service will be provided. The Customer Support Portal is our web-based support and implementation portal where all cases are initiated and managed. The portal is located at www.metapack.com/support. If your plan includes phone support the phone number to contact support will be provided to You.

“Priority Handling” means that your tickets will be prioritised above all other tickets of the same type.

“Annual Solution Audit” is a remote review carried out by a Solution Architect of the following aspects of your Metapack Implementation:

• Current issues and challenges.
• How you are currently integrated including any current issues and errors found in logs / data.
• Your current configuration compared to Metapack’s current recommended implementation strategy.
• Your strategy and roadmap and its alignment to Metapack’s solution footprint and roadmap.

The review is delivered as a presentation of findings where Metapack will make recommendations which could include;

• Configuration changes that may resolve current issues and / or improve the efficiency / performance of your Metapack application.
• Configuration changes that would align you with Metapacks current recommended implementation strategy.
• Recommended changes to the integration layer.
• An overview of how Metapack’s current solutions footprint and roadmap may be aligned to your strategy and roadmap

“Solution Architect” and “Professional Services” are a pool of days each rolling 12-month period and are subject resource availability, planning and does not roll over to the next year.