Having merged the standard data, please re-select the consignment and click on the "Invoice Continuation" tab, so that we can merge in one or two products you have created for yourself. Please do not be concerned, we will always try to print the invoice in as few pages as possible, but if all products do not fit on the front page of an invoice, and even one item with more than twenty lines of description may not, the system is configured to put all the product line items on continuation sheets, and to obtain some consistency of where data is input, we have decided that line items will be input either via this screen.

NB Those of you transferring data from another system may like to quickly read through this and the next page, and then we will cover the subject of transferring data.

You will note that any existing line items in the consignment are displayed, and if you use the scroll bar on the extreme right of the screen, as you progress down the page. You will probably also note that at the bottom left of the panel is a Page number,

which indicates both the page you are viewing, and the total number of pages in the consignment.

If you select to open the file, then the screen is re-drawn and you have access to the some of the header details of the consignment (yellow boxes are displayed), including the consignee and buyers addresses, But you will note that the line items have not changed colour, and are therefore inaccessible. However alongside each item on the left hand side is a small set of buttons,

As before, if you hold the mouse over each of the sections the represent the option to :-

"I"nsert an item before the current item, "A"mend the existing item, "D"elete the current item, and add a "New" item

If you click on one of the buttons, and if inserting or amending, then you will be presented with a variant of the product descriptions maintenance screen, to select an appropriate code and you will see that the "Merge" button appears, clicking on that will then allow you to enter quantity, price, weights, cubes and number of packages. Please note that there is space on the right hand side, under the Commodity Code, to enter packing details if you wish to use what effectively is an un-priced invoice as a Packing List, but this is a vast subject and we will discuss it in more detail elsewhere in this tutorial. On saving the item, the page is re-drawn.

Please note that if the line item data will not fit on the one front page, if you click on the "Invoice" tab, and scroll down to the central area, then immediately below the "Goods Summary Description" is an area of text entry, which will default to "GOODS AS PER ATTACHED" if the system is unable to print all the line items on the first page of the invoice. Should you wish to change this text, to say "Goods FOB UK Port", then merely type it in the box.

The "Fast Invoice Continuation" Tab:

For users with consignments which contain many line items (the current record stands at over 600 individual items in a consignment), the standard invoice continuation will display the items as they will be printed accounting for differing description lengths, and has to calculate and display what will appear on each page. With a large number of items within a consignment this can be a lengthy process. On the Specialist Documents tab is the "Fast Invoice Continuation" format, which takes a different approach in that it will display nine items per page with up to four lines of description being displayed. This, as the name implies, is considerably quicker to process and allow you to carry on working. If you wish to check the difference, please use our demonstration consignment of "NEW CONSIGNMENT" and note that item 4's extended description does not appear on the Fast tab.

Later in this tutorial we will be discussing the merits of the Consignment Data Checker routine which is available by clicking on the

icon on the browse/amend consignment screen

Please save the line item and then the consignment, click on the Invoice tab, and re-open the consignment.

Next Page Merging Charges

290915