Please check out my new Carrier Tracking URLs Page. I will keep adding more URLs as I come across them and as YOU submit them to me ;)

The good thing is, that Lanham & Associates over the years have developed some help text, which is a good start – and it is getting better and better.

In order to get the latest On-line help, open the Shipping Setup (Shipping & Receiving –> Shipping –> Setup –> Shipping Setup.

When selecting Functions –> Online Help –> Utility Setup you may see an error:

This Error tells you that you do not have the tool installed. Unfortunately Lanham & Associates does not provide the download directly for end-users (I asked to host a copy here), so you will need to get your Partner involved. Partners should have done this at the initial implementation, but some of them tend to forget, maybe not even knowing it exist – I’ve known to forget it myself – just Say’in.

Anyways – your partner can download the LAUtil package from Lanham (I am using LAUtil1.01)

If a window open, you have the tool installed! Make sure the directory specified exists, and then go download the help files:

Downloading will take a while, so now would be a good time to get get another coke [pfsssst…  Arhh]

PS – you have to say yes to the error message, if you get this one:

After the files have been downloaded you will be asked if you want to import the help file. Say YES to that – That will store the help-files inside the Navision database and will help when exporting the objects.

After the help-files have been imported, it will ask you if you want to export – Say YES to that also. This will scan you hard-drive for every directory where standard NAV help files are located, and place a copy of the E-Ship/EDI help files.

So now, in stead of getting this when asking for help

you will now get this:

Finally – you need someone to go to each workstation and to to the Shipping Setup, and do the Export only!

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I just want to let you know, that I am still breathing! I have for the past couple of weeks been doing an implementation of NAV EasySecurity, that has taken up all my time.

This customer is a public company and as such needs to adhere to SOX regulations.

One thing I have learned about SOX; The US Government must be jealous – so much bureaucracy to do anything!

Another thing, I have learned; If you need to go to the level we have done, you need to have your test plans ready BEFORE even starting the process. Because as cool as the Recorder is, it only record what the user do – it doesn’t care about what the test plan tells you to do.

I would also recommend, that you create micro recordings – this way you can create rolls (which you can combine into role groups) that are task specific!

For example; here, the people posting the Transfer Order Shipment does not Post the Receipt – So having a role for – Post Transfer Order Shipment and Post Transfer Order Receipt separately helps. Other recordings we have generated is Print Sales Invoice (This customer uses AvaTax, so the amount of objects used to just print a Sales Invoice is Ridiculous.

So even if you will end up with a lot of recordings and roles, you have the benefit of being able to build a list from which you can select tasks.

I would love to hear if any of you have experience with using EasySecurity.

And – by the way – you should definitely have a phased approach  –  Do NOT implement Lanham History & Security and Easy Security at the same time. They do compliment each other – but do Easy Security first. That way you will find out what tables users have insert/modify/delete permissions and then lock them down with Lanham Security afterwards.

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Each day was filled with great informational sessions, of which most of them had a great attraction. Many of the sessions was also run by users, willing to share their knowledge. It was not uncommon to see people from different companies sitting around a laptop sharing knowledge and helping each other with questions or issues they were having. The phrase “just this tip / information has made attending worth it!”

Microsoft did have people in attendance and they did lead some sessions, but they were also very helpful in answering questions from the many users there.

Being ‘on the other side of the fence’ I had the chance to chime in with some of my knowledge in some of the sessions, that hopefully helped other participants.

I even spoke to people, that stated that the NAVUG Forum was much better than Convergence, and several people said they would skip convergence next year.

Next year NAVUG will be held in LAS VEGAS, Baby, and if you sign up this week, you will, as a NAVUG member, be able to attend for only $399 – which is a hell of a deal (pardon my French).

Bottom line; if you use Dynamics-NAV you should be a member of NAVUG, and more importantly you need to attend the NAVUG Forum.

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Years ago, I created a wizard form (I know some people are already getting sick now, but wizards do, at times, serve a purpose).

This Wizard gives you the opportunity to just select a customer (or Vendor, Contact, Location …)  and select a service – and then get a label.

Each step allows you to just finish – but by selecting next, you get further options.

Please note, that I exported the object from a 6.0 database. In order to strip out properties so you can use it in older versions, try checking out the tool listed here: http://mibuso.com/blogs/ara3n/2010/04/09/downgrade-2009-sp1-objects-into-5x-or-older-databases/

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I will be attending the NAVUG Forum that will take place on October 18^th – 22^nd in Orlando, FL. I will be demonstrating my Buzzer and Flashing lights addition to Lanham’s E-Ship.

I would love to see any of my readers there also.

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There are different ways of handling this; one being creating multiple packing stations and Carrier Packing Stations (one for each PC), but if the only reason for doing this is to separate the buffer file, there is a better way!

When eShip generate the label buffer, it actually processes some code on Table 14000709 – Packing Station, that will substitute %1 and %2 with USERID and SESSIONID.

I recommend, that you use %1 (USERID), if you have different UserID’s for each station or user. The reason being, that if you use the SESSIONID the odds of you having to accept the file name daily is fairly high – USERID you should only have to accept it once.

You will need to change the buffer file name on both Packing Station and Carrier packing Station to get the full effect. The file name on the Packing Station pertains to UCC128 labels etc, where the UPS, FedEx, USPostal labels are defined on the Carrier Packing Station.

A customer of mine, had me create some functionality that includes flashing lights and buzzers.

Their warehouse is laid out like a lot of ofter customer I have seen. They manufacture products that are Lot specific and therefore lot numbers needs to be recorded when shipping. At the same time they also just sell in case packs.

Using Fast Pack is not really a good idea, as entering Lot Nos. are not really happening then. Pack Line scanning seem to be a better fit as we are able to scan Lot Nos. directly.

Normally Pack Line Scanning is used when you use the small package carriers e.g. UPS and FedEx, but in this case they need to scan a fairly high number of cases, and most of them end up on a pallet. This creates an issue, where shippers will have to move a lot of cases and pallets to be close enough to the computer.

So we decided to do a few things.

We decided to add lights and warning buzzers to each shipping station. Combined with a wireless bar code scanner and we are in business!

So now, the operator can scan and get a visual feedback, and if an error occurs a buzzer will make sure he looks up and see the flashing red light.

We are in the process of creating a video, but in the meantime I will be at the Lanham Product Day in San Diego on October 2nd, and I will also be attending NAVUG in Orlando, FL on October 18 – 20, where you take get a closer look if you are interested. You can e-mail me henrik@eshipguy.com if you want to set up an appointment.

Lights: http://delcomproducts.com/productdetails.asp?productnum=904008
Buzzer: http://delcomproducts.com/productdetails.asp?PartNumber=905010

If you ever receive the error message:

The file name “C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /c type ” contains a character that may not be used.

Please check the file name. You can find additional information on file names in the documentation for your operation system.

you are more than likely on a newer operating system – i.e. Vista. In the good old days where all computers had at least one parallel port and two serial ports, you could execute shell commands very easy. Nowadays, however, you have to pass the program and parameters separately.

Luckily Lanham & Associates have made that easy for us, and added a field on the Packing Station: ‘Shell Command Type’ – Once you set it to With Parameters you should be good to go.

The first time you print a label, Windows will ask you, to confirm – you only have to confirm this the very first time you print a label.

When using Blind Shipment, the Return Address on the Package (and label) will be populated with the information from the Bill-To Customer.

Example:

You work for the Cronus Winery. One of your customers ‘Zin Lovers Society’ sends you orders, that are to go to it’s members (Customers).

You create orders – one for each ship-to looking like this:

Sell-To / Bill-To:

‘Zin Lovers Society’
97 Red Wine Lane
Paso Robles, CA 97531

Ship-To

Henrik Helgesen
123 Zin Drinker Ave
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

in this example, the Label would have a return address of

Cronus Winery,
995 Winery Rd,
Napa Valley, CA

To avoid the confusion; the ‘Zin Lovers Society’ ask that we use their name and address as the sender. By selecting Blind Shipment on the eShip tab, the return address will now state:

‘Zin Lovers Society’
97 Red Wine Lane
Paso Robles, CA 97531

as specified in the Bill-To section of the order.

But since the ‘Zin Lovers Society’ do not have a warehouse, Cronus Winery have accepted to handle returns for ‘Zin Lovers Society’.

In order to change the Return Address we need to make the order (Package) Double Blind Shipment. When Double Blind Shipment is selected, you need to also select a Customer, from where the return address information is to be retrieved. This often happens when you mail the invoice to a PO Box or deal with bog box stores.

You need to create a customer card with the following information

‘Zin Lovers Society’
995 Winery Rd,
Napa Valley, CA

and select the customer in the Double Blind Ship From Cust No.

Please note that FedEx at times changes their label which the requires new setup for Blind and Double Blind Shipment Labels to print correctly. A post for the will be posted soon(ish)