What is the Export Setup?

The Export Setup is a configuration element within Ship On-premises that dictates how shipment data is extracted and formatted for export. It's linked to specific levels within your Ship hierarchy: Installation, Location, Actor, Carrier, SubCarrier, and Product.

The software applies the Export Setup closest to the product level. If the nearest Export Setup is disabled, no export is performed for that product.

The Export Setup is a configuration utility designed to manage the export of data from the Ship system. Data can be exported when shipments are printed or transmitted. 

General Tab

This section introduces the fundamental settings that controls the export process, focusing on activation, output destination, and file details.

The General tab allows you to enable or disable the export function entirely using the "Export active" checkbox; this must be checked for the export to function.

You can further refine the activation by choosing to export when a shipment is submitted, when it's transmitted, or both, by checking the corresponding boxes labeled "Active at submit" and "Active at transmit."

To specify the destination for exported files, use the "Output folder" setting and click the "Folder" button to browse and select the desired directory; an example would be C:\Data\Export,

Finally, the "Exported File Details" section allows you to customize the exported files themselves. You'll enter the desired file extension (such as .csv or .txt) in the "File extension" field and select the appropriate character encoding (like ANSI or UTF-8) from the "File encoding" dropdown.

You then have several options for file creation: you can choose to overwrite the same file with each export, create a new file each time, generate a unique filename for every export, or even use the order number as the filename.

Layout Tab

This section focuses on defining the structure and formatting of the exported file, giving you control over field separators, delimiters, and layout options.

To define separators and delimiters, start by selecting the fields you want to export. This is done in the "Export Fields Setup" window, where you can choose data points from categories such as Line, Package, Sender, Receiver, and more. In this window, you can select the fields you need, arrange their order, and optionally set fixed field lengths.

In the Layout tab, you’ll configure how multiple values within a single field are separated using the “Multiple value field character separator” setting. For example, you might choose a semicolon (;) to separate items within a field.

Next, specify the character that will separate individual fields in the exported file through the "Character separator" setting. A common choice for this is a comma (,) when generating CSV files.

Alternatively, you can specify fixed field lengths for separation using the "Specified in field length" option, though this is typically used in more advanced scenarios.

The "Start and End Characters" section allows you to enclose individual fields or entire lines with specific characters, although this is generally not needed and is left blank in most cases.

Moving to the "Exported File Layout" section, you'll determine the fundamental structure of the exported data, deciding whether each line in the file should represent a single shipment, package, order, or individual item (referred to as a "goodline").

Common selections include "One line per shipment" or "One line per package," depending on the desired level of the exported data.

The “Format” section allows you to determine the type of file that will be exported, the default being a CSV file.

If you require a different format, you will need to select the file type here, in addition you also need a “XSLT file”.

You have the option to export only newly added packages (in case of shipment completion) by checking the "Only added packages" box, and finally, you can configure a counter for inclusion in the file name if needed using the “File name counter” drop down menu.

Units Tab

This section provides the controls to specify the units of measurement and date formats to be used in the exported data. The Units tab focuses on ensuring data consistency by allowing you to select the appropriate units for weight, volume, and length from dropdown menus.

You can choose kilograms for weight, cubic decimeters for volume, and centimeters for length, for example. Furthermore, you can define the decimal separator to be used, choosing between a period (.) or a comma (,), and select the desired date format from a list of options such as dd/mm/yyyy or mm/dd/yyyy.

FTP Transmission Tab

This section details the configuration of settings required for automatically transmitting the exported files via FTP to a remote server.

The FTP Transmission tab enables you to send exported files directly to another server; you'll begin by checking the "Enable export by FTP" box to activate this feature. Next, you’ll configure the server settings in the "FTP Server Settings" section. This involves selecting the protocol (such as FTP or SFTP), entering the server address and port number, specifying the remote folder on the server where files should be uploaded, and choosing between passive mode or binary transfer if necessary.

The "Login Info" section is where you provide authentication credentials if required by the FTP server. You’ll check the "Authentication is required" box, and then enter the username and password for the FTP account.

For enhanced security, the "Security" section allows you to configure SSL certificate authentication. You can check the "Use SSL certificate when authenticating" box and then specify the certificate file, key file, and password associated with the certificate.

Finally, the tab offers buttons to access additional FTP options, test the connection to the server, and manage saved FTP profiles for easy reuse.

Options Tab

This section presents additional options to customize the export process, focusing on country code formats and compatibility settings.

The Options tab offers several general options to fine-tune the export process. You can choose to export country codes using the ISO 2-letter standard by checking the "Export country codes to ISO 2 letters code" box.

To ensure compatibility with Microsoft Excel, you can check the "Excel CSV compatibility" box.

Finally, if child shipments are missing data, you can opt to use data from the completion main shipment instead by checking the "Use data from completion main shipment when missing on child shipment" box.

Maintenance Tab

This section describes how to configure automated maintenance tasks for managing exported files, including deleting old files and organizing them into archive folders.

The Maintenance tab enables you to automate file management tasks. First, you'll need to activate maintenance by checking the "Active" box. Then, you can configure settings to delete files older than a specified number of days, delete files in batches of a certain size, and specify a wait time between batch deletions.

You can also choose to move files to subfolders based on a specified naming convention, such as the maintenance date, and define the parent folder for these subfolders.

For scheduling maintenance, the "Recurrent" section allows you to set up recurring tasks. You can choose to run maintenance once, at a specific interval, or on specific days and times.

The "New", "Delete", and "Clear" buttons are used to manage the creation, deletion, and removal of these different maintenance options allowing you to have different maintenace options for different situations.

Images of the Export Setup