Activity that is performed on a consignment will have charges calculated. When the consignment is closed, these charges are created as financial transactions for the Client Partner and possibly the Carrier Partner.
Storage Charges may have also been calculated resulting in further transactions being raised.
When it is time to invoice the Client Partner, navigate to the Schedules menu item under the Client Partner menu in Consignly.
The Client Partner menu items in Consignly
Understanding transactions and schedules
Transactions
Transactions that are raised against a Client Partner will be shown in the Transactions area in Consignly. From this menu item you can view all transactions for all Client Partners, or apply filters to help you find specific transactions.
Transactions that are raised for the client partner through consignment activity or storage charges, will appear here.
Transactions sit in one of 3 statuses:
- Pending
- Scheduled
- Void
A Pending transaction has been raised against the Partner but has not been added to a schedule yet.
Scheduled transactions have been added to a schedule and may have been invoiced to a Partner already.
Void transactions are those that have been raised but are deemed to be in error or otherwise aren't to form part of a schedule. Void transactions are retained by Consignly for historical purposes.
Schedules
Schedules are created to gather together transactions that are to be invoiced jointly.
Once a schedule has been created, PDF and Spreadsheet downloads are available. Integrations to Accounting Packages such as Xero or NetSuite may be triggered or manually performed.
Working with Transactions
From the Transactions menu item, you will notice that pending transactions are displayed by default, however you can change the Status Filter to show other types of transactions. Further filter and search options are available that let you further refine the list of transactions.
Edit a transaction
Transactions that are in a Pending state or transactions that have been added to a draft schedule may be modified. Select a transaction to open a new blade in edit mode.
The Edit Transaction blade in Consignly
Pending transactions can be voided if you have appropriate permissions. To void a transaction, select the action menu in the shoulder of the Transaction Detail blade, and choose Void Transaction.
View Consignment
From the action menu in the Transaction Detail blade, you will find a View Consignment item. This item is available if the transaction was raised from activity on a consignment. If the item is available, selecting it will take you directly to the consignment that was involved in raising the transaction.
Create a transaction
Transactions can be created in order to raise ad-hoc charges for a Client Partner. To create a transaction, choose in the shoulder of the Transaction index.
Fill out the details of the transaction and choose Create Transaction to create a new ad-hoc transaction for this Partner.
Scheduled transactions
Transactions that have been scheduled will appear as a Scheduled status.
Scheduled transactions can only be modified if they belong to a Draft schedule. Any transactions that are part of an approved schedule can still be viewed by selecting the transaction.
Similarly to pending transactions, the action menu will offer an item to view the consignment that raised the transaction (if available).
Additionally, there is a View Schedule item that navigates you directly to the schedule that this transaction is part of.
Void transactions
Void transactions are available by changing the Status Filter to void.
Selecting a void transaction will show you the Transaction Detail blade. The transaction may not be edited or unvoided. The General card will provide information on the user and date/time that the transaction was voided.
Working with Schedules
Schedules that have been previously created are listed in the Schedules menu items. Schedules can be in a Draft or Approved state and will be labelled on the row. Schedules for all Client Partners are shown, however search and filters are available to help find specific schedules.
The Client Partner Schedule Index in Consignly
Creating a schedule of transactions
Transactions that are to be invoiced together should be created into a schedule. You can create schedules in two ways.
- Creating a single schedule for a Client Partner
- Generating schedules for one or more Client Partners
Creating a single schedule
Start by choosing in the Schedules card and select Create Schedule from the additional options.
The additional options shown from the Add button in Consignly
The schedule is broken into two cards.
- General
- Transactions
The General section allows you to choose the Client Partner, and then set the date of the schedule and an optional Reference Number and Description.
The Reference Number is used in any connected accounting apps and will push through as the Invoice Reference Number.
The Transactions card will display all pending transactions. At this point you may select some transactions to add to the schedule. There are filters in the header of this list to help you find the transactions you wish to schedule.
The new schedule blade in Consignly
When you are ready, choose the Create Schedule button in the footer of this blade to create the schedule.
Generating schedules
It is possible to generate multiple schedules for many Client Partners at once in Consignly.
Start by choosing in the Schedules card and select Generate Schedules from the additional options.
Like the single schedule creation option described above, the new blade will be broken into a General card and a Transactions card.
In this case, the Transactions card will show all Pending transactions for all Client Partners.
Use the filters to find transactions and the checkboxes to select the transactions you wish to schedule.
Some organisations prefer to create a schedule for each consignment, and then another schedule for transactions that aren't consignment-related (such as storage or ad-hoc transactions).
Optionally check the Separate schedules per consignment box in the General card to create schedules in this way.
When you are ready to generate the schedules, select the Generate Schedules button. Consignly will create schedules for each Client Partner that has a transaction selected.
Schedules will be created in a Draft status for review.
Bulk approve schedules
Schedules that are in a draft status can be reviewed and approved using the Bulk Approve Schedules feature.
Tap in the Client Schedules card header.
A new blade will open listing draft schedules that can be approved. The action menu at the end of each line will allow you to view the schedule if you would like to deep-dive into the schedule to review it.
The View Schedule item in the action menu
Next, select the schedules you wish to approve using the checkboxes next to each schedule.
When you are happy with the schedules you wish to approve, choose the Approve Schedules button to approve the schedules.
Pending schedules that may be bulk approved
Viewing a schedule
Schedules that have been created will appear in the Schedules menu item. Choosing a schedule will take you to the Schedule Detail blade.
From here, you may edit the General card by choosing the Edit General button.
The schedule has a Status. Schedules may be in a Draft or Approved status.
The status card. Note the approved status has a connected app trigger.
There is a Summary card that provides a summary of all the financials in the schedule. Each transaction may have a Tax Type associated with it. Tax information will be summed and displayed in the summary card - a line per tax type involved.
Transactions that appear in the schedule will be grouped into cards. Depending on the Client Partner's financial settings, each card represents either a different type of transaction or a different consignment.
If the Schedule Grouping is set to Charge Type, the cards will be grouped into:
- Ad-hoc
- Activity
- With a card per activity type
- Freight
- Storage
If the Schedule Grouping is set to Consignment, the cards will be grouped into:
- Consignment number
- With a card per consignment
- Non-consignment charges
- This card holds all charges that don't relate to a consignment (such as storage)
If the schedule is not yet approved, then the transaction may still be edited by using the action menu at the end of the transaction record and choosing View Transaction.
If the schedule is Draft, then you can remove the transaction by choosing the Remove Transaction option from the action menu.
Apps
Any connected apps will appear in the Apps tab. Apps that appear in this tab may allow you to work with the schedule and the connected app. For example, the schedule may be pushed to Xero if that app is connected.
Adding transactions to the schedule
You may have created a schedule and failed to add a transaction at the time of creating. You can add further transactions to an existing schedule by selecting the action menu in the shoulder of the Schedule Detail blade.
This will present you with a screen where you can further add transactions to this schedule.
The add transaction dialog in Consignly
Downloading a schedule
The action menu provides options to download a PDF of the schedule. If you have a connected App, this schedule may be attached to any invoice created in the connected app. But you may download a copy for yourself from the menu.
You may also download a Spreadsheet version of the schedule, too. This option is also available from the action menu, and contains detail of the Revenue Account and Cost Centre (if available in your subscription) also.
Removing a schedule
A schedule can be removed if you have permission to do so. Choose Remove Schedule from the action menu.
Any transactions assigned to this schedule will be returned to a pending state.