Allocation Engine Guidebook

Owned by Shipsy
Jul 17, 2023
5 min read

What is Allocation Engine

Allocation Engine is an advanced method of automatically assigning the best carrier to the consignment based on business parameters. Instead of defining rules on multiple levels, allocation engine just need a high level definition and automatically does the magic.

Allocation Engine also has inbuilt capability to read the historic data and can use that knowledge to derive the best carrier based on historic performance wrt TAT, Successful Delivery, etc.

Access Allocation Engine

Go to the 9 Dots → Setup → Integration Setup → Carrier Partner

 

Configuration of Masters

To ensure that the carriers are allocated as per the requirements, we need to ensure that all necessary masters are set beforehand. Thus, we need to setup the masters first.

Access Masters Setup

Carrier Partner Page → Carrier Account Integrations → Click on Rate Master/TAT Masters button

Destination Type

This is used to define destination segregation based on business criteria. For example, you may want to classify destination based on regions like East, West, North, South or classify using zones like Inter City, Inter Region, Metro, Rural, etc.

Serviceability

This master defines whether the carrier can service in a particular region/zone/pincode or not. Further, the serviceability can be defined for Forward, RTO and Reverse consignments ensuring that all possible methods and routes are covered.

Carrier Data Ingestion

In most of the cases, each carrier has a defined capacity for different destinations/pincode/zones, etc. Thus, we need to ensure that the capacity that has been allocated to your business is maintained correctly. Post capacity exhaustion, the next best carrier as per your criteria will be picked.

 

Capacities can be refreshed on a daily/monthly basis and you can define capacity based on order creation date or promised delivery date.

TAT Master

Turn Around Time is used to provide information to end customer as to when the order delivery can be expected. This master help in configuring the data for each destination that has been created and then it is used to find the expected delivery date of the consignment.

Rate Master

Rates for delivering an order is based on a contract between you and the 3PL and hence must be maintained so that accurate rates can be calculated. These rates can be of various types like Normal Delivery Rate, COD Order Rates, RTO Rates, etc. Shipsy allows you to define various rate types and use a complex formula to calculate the final price. You can also define multiple rate contracts depending upon business needs and use the one that you see fit.

 

For all masters the list of parameters used for classification is full configureable and hence almost any classification is feasible. This one time setup of parameters used for classification is done by Shipsy since this is different for each business. However, this is a configuration and takes minimal time and effort. Once the setup is complete, you need to ensure correct data as per requirements.

Allocation Engine

Once all the masters are setup, all you need to do is define your business logic in a low code manner and the system takes care of the rest.

Access Allocation Engine

Carrier Partner Setup → Allocation Engine

Creating a new rule

To setup a new rule, we need to understand the 4 critical segments:

  1. Business Segment - This contains list of business parameters that you pass on for order creation in Shipsy like Service Type, COD Flag, Origin Pincode, Destination City, etc.

  2. Filter Segment - This is used to define the logic which is derived from the system historical data and masters. This takes into consideration past data using Shipsy BI and ensure that you get the best analysis and then assign a carrier

  3. Carrier Account Segment - This is the list of carrier where we need to apply the logic defined in the two segments above. One or more than one accounts can meet the criteria for the above segments post which the last segment comes in picture

  4. Sorting Segment - Post getting the final list of carrier account meeting the criteria, you define here the logic to pick one of these carriers.

     

Third Party Reconciliation

Each order that is given to a 3PL goes through a reconciliation if it is not delivered or COD delivered. These reconciliation processes are essential so that we do not have any discrepancy in accounting at a later stage and correct amount of inventories are also maintained. This can be done using the Third Party Reconciliation functionality.

Access Third Party Reconciliation

9 Dots → Finance Operations → Third Party Reconciliation

Using Third Party Reconciliation

Upon landing on the page, you see the list of carrier accounts where reconciliation is required for either of the cases:
1. Undelivered/RTO consignments
2. COD Delivered Consignments

Wherever a possibility exists, the Reconcile button gets activated and upon clicking you land on the page to reconcile both COD and Undelivered/RTO consignments (whichever is applicable)

As seen here, COD was collected and can be reconciled in one go for one or more than one consignments. You can also maintain transaction details here.

Price Calculator

Price calculator provides a comparison between the price calculated by Shipsy based on Rate Masters and the actual price charged by the 3PL. User can simply upload the actual prices and Shipsy calculates the same for these consignment based on which all discrepancies will be highlighted.

Access Price Calculator

9 Dots → Third Party → Price Calculator

Using Price Calculator

Prices can be uploaded using the Check Price button and then the difference can be seen in the last two columns.

Â