Several of our customers have provided us with specific shipping instruction documentation. These documents range from 1 page to 20+ pages. We are looking for a way to attach these documents to the customer, easily viewable from Customer Tracker, so that shipping doesn’t need to hunt them down in a shared folder.
The caveat here is customer branches. For example, we have one customer that has given us a shipping document, but they have over 100 branches set up in our system. We cannot entertain manually attaching their document to each branch, because it gets updated pretty regularly and it would take too much time to update that attachment several times a year.
Is there some kind of functionality that can help us? We considered creating a link to either a file server or intranet website on each branch, that way the document could be updated in one location, but I haven’t figured out how to put that hyperlink into the customer somewhere.
There is a full document management module for Epicor that is capable of using the file system, Sharepoint, or DocStar as the storage medium. In simple form, doing what you need should be very easy when combined with Adv Print Routing and its ability to add documents (BPM-like interface) to a print ‘package’ that is specific to each customer.
How are the different “branches” implemented, as individual customers, or Ship To’s for one customer?
Do the shipping requirements of a customer vary by “branch”? Like if Branch A has a full sized dock with no physical limitations, while Branch B cannot accept trucks over 40 FT.
And who needs to use these docs? Just the person creating the shipment? Or does Order Entry need it as it might affect delivery times or shipping costs?
We do have document management, but I am afraid that we will get stuck in that loop of having to update the document on each branch of the customer. I have not found a good way to accomplish the keeping of one document for multiple customer records.
The individual branches are set up as individual customers. Shipping instructions do not vary by branch for most of the customers. They are more about packaging, documentation, palleting, etc.
Our shipping employees need access to the documentation. Usually it is just the person creating the pack, but could also be a shipping floor employee, which is why we would like to attach the documents to customer tracker if we can.
My best example: We have 1 customer with 47 branches (so 47 customer records). The shipping instructions for that customer are 2 pages long, with graphics. We would like to put that file in 1 location, and just tie the customer records back to that one document. Then, when the customer updates that document in 6 months, we can replace it in the 1 saved location instead of all 47.
ok, so the Doc Mgmt module will allow this. One file, stored in the filesystem (on a file share with read-only perms for everyone except the ‘owner’ of the doc), linked to each of the customer records. You can mass update the customer records using DMT I’m pretty sure, but the beauty will be that when the file changes (is updated by the customer), you just replace the file on the file share and you’re all done.
Do you have the Doc Mgmt module and DMT? If not, there is a way to do this programmatically using some UD fields and some custom code to launch the document viewer - but that is going to be messy if you’re not up for it.
I think you have shipped me in the correct direction. I was going about the attachments incorrectly in the document management module, and I was trying to have the Epicor client upload the documents to the repository that we have defined for the other document types we are using instead of pointing the record at the document on an existing share.
Basically, I created a new doc type, ‘Shipping Instructions’, in doc type maintenance. I set the storage type to attachment link and configured a base URL to the storage directory where we will keep the documents. Now it looks like you are correct, we will be able to use DMT to import these link paths for each customer record that will have one. Then we can just replace the document in the repository, it if gets updated, and the customer records will not have to change.
My initial confusion in the Doc Mgmt module was because we were globally using the ‘File System Document’ type, which would not give us the same capabilities that you were outlining. Having created this new doc type as an attachment link, I think this will do exactly what we are looking for.
