Shipment Workflow
A Shipment in TVA follows a defined workflow, although this workflow does allow for steps to be skipped based on activities that occur during the processing of the Shipment itself.
A Shipment starts in a STAGED status, which is used during the data entry process. Immediately following the creation of a Shipment record, a user may add cargo, tracking tags, and other devices to the Shipment to aid in information sharing and monitoring. Rules may be assigned to the Shipment for monitoring the integrity, and attachments uploaded to provide additional contextual information.
Once the team has processed the Shipment and prepared all material for the movement, a shipment is transitioned to the READY status. A Shipment that is ready is notifying the organization that it is prepared to move, all cargo has been assembled, all packing performed, and any other ancillary processing has been performed. A Shipment in the ready status is prepared to be loaded onto transport and moved out the door.
Upon departure from the Shipment source, a Shipment is transitioned to a SHIPPED status. If a Shipment is using a device to automatically track the Shipment, this transition occurs automatically and no user intervention is required. If a Shipment is not automatically tracked, a user must go into TVA to adjust the status accordingly.
As the Shipment moves through the distribution channels, it eventually reaches the destination and is shifted to an ARRIVED status. This transition is automatic if the Shipment destination is defined and the Shipment is being automatically tracked. This is the recommended configuration, as the Shipment transition requires no user interaction and the team has full visibility on the progress of the Shipment movement.
A Shipment is shifted to a DELIVERED status through a manual action, where the Shipment has been received and ready to be processed by the receiving site. The Shipment status of delivered may be performed from the arrived status, or directly from the shipped status without needing to perform an arrival. A shipment delivery implies the arrived status, when performing manual status changes.
If an arriving site is using TVA to manage local inventory, a Shipment may then transition to a RECEIVED status where the manifest cargo is automatically received into a warehouse receiving location, and may be subsequently processed in the TVA warehouse management module. The received status is only used when processing a Shipment for warehouse management purposes, and would otherwise terminate at delivered.
Finally, a Shipment may be CANCELLED if a Shipment was not moved, and never departed the original location. The Shipment may be canceled at any point up to the actual departure, however once the Shipment has departed it will no longer support cancellation.