Our Workflow Rules feature allows you to automate shipping decisions, enhance compliance, improve delivery performance, and streamline operations. By setting up custom rules, you can ensure efficiency, cost savings, and reliability at every step.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• What Are Workflow Rules?
• How Workflow Rules Work
• Common Workflow Rules Use Cases
• Creating Workflow Rules
  • Available Rule Conditions
  • Available Rule Actions
• Managing Workflow Rules
• Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Rules
  
  

What Are Workflow Rules?

Workflow Rules help control how FreightExchange allocates carriers to your orders. You can create multiple rules at the company level, and only administrators can edit them. Once activated, these rules automatically evaluate new orders and determine the best carrier allocation.

How Workflow Rules Work

1. When a quote is created/updated, the workflow rules engine applies all active rules to that quote
2. All of the applicable changes and rules will automatically be available to view or review on that quote
3. If required, you can then manually adjust any of the requirements of the quote via the UI or the API

Common Workflow Rules Use Cases

• Carrier Selection Rules: Automated rules to select carriers based on cost, service level, transit time, and capacity.
• Customer Specific Rules: Automate the decision-making process for how each customer's shipments should be handled
• Service Specific Rules: Automated rules to allocate shipments to a specific service based on the shipment size, weight & level or urgency.

For example:

Automatically assign shipments over 500kg to a residential address to a tail lift service

If the insured value >$5000 allocate to a signature service.

Creating Workflow Rules

You can create rules using conditions connected by "AND" or "OR":

• Use "AND" to apply multiple conditions together. Example: Remove a carrier if the delivery postcode is outside of two specified ranges and the order weight exceeds 50kg.
• Use "OR" to allow flexibility. Example: Exclude a carrier if the order’s destination is either outside a specific region or exceeds a set weight limit. 

For both examples above, you would set up two separate rules.

Available Rule Conditions

You can create rules based on:

• Product details (e.g., SKU, Description, Qty)
• Item details (e.g. Length, Width, Height, Weight, Qty etc)
• Origin information (e.g., state, opening time, truck type)
• Consignment weight & dimensions
• Delivery (e.g. date, instructions type)
• Destination (e.g., state, email, closing time)
• Any or All DG classes
• Warranty Amount
• References you used to tag quotes 
• Custom Fields

In some of the categories you have the option to select a condition for Any or All of the required Items, Products or DG Classes.

Available Rule Actions

• Select Carrier - It will select the carrier mentioned in the actions as the preference and return the list of all the available carriers as an option.
• Only select the carrier - It will select the carrier mentioned in the actions only, if they are not available then no option will be returned
• Do not select the carrier - It will remove the mentioned carriers in the action from the list of available carriers
• Select cheapest - It will select the cheapest carrier by default
• Select fastest - It will select the fastest carrier by default
• Select carrier and service - It will select the specific carrier and service and if they can’t meet it then it will select the next available carrier and service
• Set Product details (e.g., SKU, Description, Qty)
• Set Item details (e.g. Length, Width, Height, Weight, Qty etc)
• Set Origin information (e.g., state, opening time, truck type)
• Set Consignment weight & dimensions
• Set Delivery (e.g. date, instructions type)
• Set Destination (e.g., state, email, closing time)
• Set Any or All DG classes
• Set Warranty Amount
• Set References you used to tag quotes
• Set Custom Fields

Managing Workflow Rules

Once you have created rules, you can manage them using the action menu (or by double clicking the cell) next to each rule:

• Activate/Deactivate: Toggle the rule on or off.
• Edit: Modify an existing rule.
• Delete: Remove a rule permanently.
• Reorder: Drag and drop rules to prioritize them as needed.

Prioritise Rules: Set the rules so FreightExchange automatically applies the logic to quote in the order that you specify. 

Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Rules

Follow these steps to create shipping rules for your company:

1. Go to Settings > Rules.
2. Click "+ Add New" to create a new rule.
3. Fill in all required fields to define your rule conditions.
4. Save and activate your rule to apply it to future orders.

By setting up workflow rules, you gain better control over your carrier allocation, ensuring optimal shipping outcomes for your business. If you need further assistance, feel free to contact our support team at [email protected]