Aptean Ship: Carrier Integration

Article • 11 min read

If you are using Aptean Ship for electronic rating, tendering, and labels, there are some records within Business Central that must be configured for data to be properly transmitted. It is not necessary to perform these setup activities in environments in which integrated shipping is not being used.

Shipment Methods

The shipment method records that represent the various ways in which shipments can be delivered to a customer are set up in the Shipment Methods page, which can be accessed by entering shipment methods in the search bar and clicking the related link.

Business Central allows for the definition of a standard code and description for each shipment method record. Besides these values, a number of additional fields are included as part of the Aptean Pack and Ship solution. You must assign values to these fields if you are using the integrated shipping feature. Fill in the fields as follows:

Shipping Carrier

Added a new table to store all possible Shipping Carriers.

Shipping Carrier Service Level

Added a new table to store all possible Shipping Carrier Services.

Third Party Shipping Accounts

It may be that the cost of shipping is billed not to the shipper or the recipient, but rather a third party. For example, if a customer orders a company’s products through a broker, that broker may be responsible for the shipping charges. When you are assigning a payment type to your shipment method records in Business Central, it is possible to indicate that third party billing should be used for a particular method.

If you intend to bill some or all of your shipments to thirds parties, it is necessary for you to define these shipping accounts in Business Central. This setup occurs on the Third Party Shipping Accounts page, which can be accessed by entering third party shipping accounts in the search bar and clicking the related link.

Each third party shipping account you want to set up is entered on a separate line. For each account, you must enter the appropriate account number that has been established for that third party. For example, if you are setting up a shipping account for UPS shipments that are billed to a third party, you must enter that organization’s UPS account number.

In addition to the account number, basic information about the third party, such as the name, address, and contact information, can be entered on each line. If you want to display a third party account’s address as the ship-from address on shipping documents for shipments to which the third party shipping account is assigned, you can place a check mark in the Use as Ship-from Address field. When a shipping account for which this feature is enabled is assigned to a sales order, the address information from the third party shipping account will be displayed on the relevant shipment documents.

Ship-from Addresses

In some instances, the address from which a package is shipped may not be presented as the shipping address. An example of this might be a business relationship in which a retailer or broker processes sales orders from customers, then submits the orders to the companies that are responsible for supplying the product. Although these companies will execute the shipments, they will be done so under the retailer’s name.

It is possible to define ship-from addresses in Business Central, and associate them to customer accounts. This setup occurs on the Third Party Shipping Accounts page, which can be accessed by entering ship-from addresses in the search bar and clicking the related link.

The Ship-from Addresses page lists all existing ship-from addresses. A separate ship-from address card exists for each record. You can open a blank card to create a new ship-from address record by selecting the New option on the action bar. You can view the card of an existing ship-from address by choosing the appropriate line, then selecting the Edit option on the action bar.

On each ship-from card, you must identify the combination of customer, shipping location, and shipping agent for which the ship-from address will be applied. This allows for the assignment of different ship-from address in different scenarios. For example, in the screenshot above, a ship-from address has been defined for UPS shipments from the blue location to customer 20309920. If the ship-from address has an associated account with the entered shipping agent, it can be defined, as well. The other fields on the Ship-from Address card cover basic address information.


It is also possible to indicate that third party shipping account records (which are set up so that shipping charges may be billed to a party other than the shipper or recipient) should appear as ship-from addresses.

When a shipment that is exported from Business Central to Aptean Ship meets the criteria of a ship-from address record, it will be sent to Aptean Ship instead of the company’s information. Please note that the ship-from address information is only substituted in the Aptean Ship record, and does not replace any values on the outbound documents in Business Central. If Aptean Ship is not being utilized, the ship-from address functionality serves no purpose.

Added two new fields Shipping Account No. and Ship-from Account No. in the transactional tables. This should now flow from Customer to Sales Header and Sales Header to Shipping Batch.

Shipping Agents

The shipping agent records that are set up in Business Central to represent the different carriers that perform shipments are set up from the Shipping Agents page, which can be accessed by entering shipping agents in the search bar and clicking the related link.

While Business Central’s standard functionality presents a list of shipping agents, the Aptean Pack and Ship solution provides a separate card for each record. You can view a shipping agent’s card by choosing the appropriate line, then clicking the Home tab and, in the Line group, selecting the Card option.

Business Central allows for the definition of a standard code and description, as well as an internet address and account number, for each shipping agent record. Besides these values, a number of additional fields are included as part of the Aptean Pack and Ship solution. Fill in the fields as follows:

Shipping Agent Services

The services that are offered from a particular shipping agent are set up on the Shipping Agent Services page, which can be accessed from the relevant Shipping Agent card by clicking the Navigate tab and, in the General group, selecting the Service option.

Business Central allows for the definition of a standard code and description, as well as the assignment of a base calendar and shipping time, for each shipping agent service record. Besides these values, a number of additional fields are included as part of the Aptean Pack and Ship solution. You must assign values to these fields if you are working with Aptean Ship. Fill in the fields as follows:

Countries/Regions

Service destinations are assigned to country codes in the Countries/Regions page, which can be accessed by entering countries/regions in the search bar and clicking the related link.

Each country code is comprised of a code, name, and some general address format settings. Besides these values, a Service Destination field is included as part of the Aptean Pack and Ship solution. In this field, you can indicate whether a country code represents a domestic, Canadian, or international location.

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