iConsign User Guide - UK Mail · The account number will have been supplied to you by your UK Mail Sales Representative Once submitted your request is sent to UK Mail where the request

User Guide

My UK Mail Account Number:

…………………………………………………………….

My local depot’s telephone number:

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My UK Mail Sales Representative:

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ipostparcels PRO User Guide

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_____________________________________________________________________________________ ipostparcels PRO User Guide Page 2 of 55 Version: 2.4

Objectives .................................................................................................................................................... 3

Frequently Asked Questions ........................................................................................................................ 4

Ipostparcels PRO Initial Setup and Configuration ......................................................................................... 5

Logical Flow to Using ipostparcels PRO ....................................................................................................... 8

ipostparcels PRO Access and Registration .................................................................................................. 9

Setting Up Your Despatch Label Printer (including Mac OS X) ................................................................... 11

Booking a Driver to Collect Your Parcels .................................................................................................... 13

Despatching Parcels (UK and Northern Ireland) ......................................................................................... 14

Reprinting Labels and Cancelling Consignments ....................................................................................... 26

Creating Packets Consignments ................................................................................................................ 27

Creating International Consignments ......................................................................................................... 29

End of Day & Order Tracking ..................................................................................................................... 32

Booking a Return ....................................................................................................................................... 38

Administration ............................................................................................................................................ 40

Adding a Return Address for Packets ......................................................................................................... 51

UK Mail Responsibilities and Contact Information ...................................................................................... 53

Feedback ................................................................................................................................................... 54


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Objectives The purpose of this document is to provide a comprehensive guide to UK Mail customers who are working on and with ipostparcels PRO (Formerly iConsign). The document will set out clearly:

Pre-requisites for running ipostparcels PRO Account setup and registration Enabling printing (with respect to Java) Requesting a Collection with UK Mail Entering and submitting a Consignment (National and International) Tracking progress of a Consignment Frequent Asked Questions UKMail Contact Points with responsibilities

There is a large community of ipostparcels PRO users and as such it is not effective for UK Mail to offer a telephone based IT Support, apart from in exceptional circumstances, and the guide is structured in a way that it provides guidance and answers on over 95% of the common questions, queries that are posed to the Service Desk. It is appreciated, if all customers can always reference the Support guide first before making any contact with the UK Mail; this will ensure that only genuine queries and technical incidents can be dealt with quickly and effectively.


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Frequently Asked Questions

Question Resolution / Guidance I am having problems when printing labels When logged into ipostparcels Pro, select the

“Printing guide” under the Help section

I have no Service Level / Product to select against for my Post Code

Go to section ‘Product and Service Selection’

How do I import an Address Book / I’m having issues with my Address Import ….

Go to section ‘Administration’ / ‘Address Book Setup’

I’m entering a Post Code that is not recognised / invalid

Go to section ‘How to validate a Post Code’

How can I track the progress of my Consignments? Go to section ‘How your customer can track their consignment’


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Ipostparcels PRO Initial Setup and Configuration Ipostparcels PRO is an online service accessed over the internet, using a web browser and a PC at a customer’s site. In order for ipostparcels PRO to function as intended, the customer will need to ensure the following are installed and configured to work:

Web Browsers:

Edge (only the PDF option to print labels can be used) Internet Explorer 11 Internet Explorer 10 (Compatibility mode must be used) Firefox

In addition, it is the customer’s responsibility to ensure they have the latest version of Java installed.

PC Operating System:

Windows 10 and Windows N (Please note that the Windows 10 Media Feature Pack or Acrobat will need to be installed first for Windows N)

Windows 8 & 8.1

Windows 7

Apple OS X:

10.6 Snow Leopard

10.6.8 Lion

10.8 Mountain Lion

10.9 Mavericks

Internet Connection

Internet Comment Connection to the internet

Ensure that the URL business-post.com is not blocked on your Firewall or within your browser settings.

Web Browser Privacy and Security Settings

If you are a customer working within an organisation with an IT department, then the following settings and configurations may need to be done by your IT department.

http://support.microsoft.com/find-solutions/internet-explorer/internet-explorer-11

http://support.microsoft.com/find-solutions/internet-explorer/internet-explorer-10/

http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/products/firefox

http://www.java.com/en/download/help/

http://support.microsoft.com/ph/807/en-gb

http://support.microsoft.com/ph/807/en-gb

http://www.apple.com/uk/support/snowleopard/

http://www.apple.com/uk/support/lion/

http://www.apple.com/uk/support/osx/mountainlion/

http://www.apple.com/uk/support/osx/


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Internet Explorer 10

Select Tools

Select Compatibility View Settings

Add ukmail.com & business-post.com

If you do not set this, then ipostparcels PRO will not function at all. (See diagram)


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Mozilla Firefox Customers

From the main menu (press Alt if not presented) Select <Options>

Select <Security>, then <Exceptions>

Ensure that business-post.com is setup to be allowed

Java The latest Java software plugin is required to enable label printing within ipostparcels PRO. There is a specific guide for this on the ipostparcels PRO menu under Help / ipostparcels PRO Printer Configuration.


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Logical Flow to Using ipostparcels PRO

This is a high level, logical, process flow as to how, as a customer you would work with ipostparcels PRO and will reflect the overall structure of this user guide.

- Technical setup

- Setup of accounts

- Setup printer for despatch labels

- Arrange for UK Mail driver to collect your parcels

- Enter your parcels for collection and / or a pick up to be returned to you

- How to track your consignment

- Reset password, address book setup

Setup & Configuration

ipostparcels PRO

Registration

Setup Label Printer

Administration

Create a Consignment

Book a Return

End of Day & Order

Tracking

Book a Collection


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ipostparcels PRO Access and Registration

To access the ipostparcels PRO service, go to the following URL

https://ipostparcelspro.com

You will then be presented with:

Click on the ipostparcels PRO Logo, to login to the service

User name is an email address that has been registered with UK Mail and approved by the account owner for your account

If you have not registered your account, then go to the Registration section of the User Guide. Until you are registered and approved, you will not be able to use ipostparcels PRO

https://ipostparcelspro.com/


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Register as an Authorised ipostparcels PRO User

Click on the register icon to register your account

The following screen will be presented

Fields marked with a red asterisk (*) are mandatory

The account number will have been supplied to you by your UK Mail Sales Representative

Once submitted your request is sent to UK Mail where the request is validated against the details held in our Central systems (Account reference, Traffic Office et al) as a known contact

If we are not able to validate the request, the request will be ‘not approved’ and you will receive an email confirming this and you should contact your Traffic Officer / UK Mail Sales Representative

If you contract new accounts with UK Mail, each account will need to be registered against your username (email address)

Validation and activation can take up to 3 working days from submission – due to validation and potential contact to your organisation – please do not contact the Service Desk to chase this as they are not able to resolve / expedite approval

If you request new accounts (International accounts, new sites et al) you must register each of them against each account (email) that you have before you can access them within ipostparcels PRO (See section “Adding a New account to ipostparcels PRO”)


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Setting Up Your Despatch Label Printer (including Mac OS X)

The most involved – but not complex – aspect of setting up ipostparcels PRO is for printer setup. To acknowledge this, there is a separate and more detailed guide which can be found under the Help menu and the document titled ‘Printer User Guide’ Once your system has been scanned the available printers will be listed:

There are two types of print destination available:

• Printer - Direct printing of 6x4 despatch labels to your chosen label printer • PDF - Printing despatch labels via PDF (if you do not have Java installed or your browser does

not support Java plugins) If Printer is selected as your print destination, select the printer you want to print your despatch labels to depending on the type of printer you have (A4 or 6x4 for thermal label printers).

If you are going to print invoices for international consignments using ipostparcels PRO, select the A4 printer you wish to print them on using the International Invoice Printer drop down option. Click the Save button to save your printer configuration.

If you select PDF as your print destination, the screen will change to coincide with your PDF selection with no further manual configuration required.


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Dependent on the destination country, an international invoice printer will also need to be configured. If you always want an invoice printed regardless of the destination country then select Always Print, otherwise select Country default where ipostparcels PRO will decide whether an invoice should be printed dependent on the destination country.

If you already prepare the invoices in your own order processing system, then select the Never Print option as the International Invoice Print Preference. Click the Save button to save your printer configuration. Tip for Mac OS X users:

You can streamline the printing process by simply adding a printer icon to the Preview application toolbar that your label is automatically opened by the Safari browser. For further details on how to do this please refer to the simple guide over on Apple.com.

If the printer icon has been added your toolbar will look like this.


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Booking a Driver to Collect Your Parcels

Unless you have a regular collection set up, you will need to book a collection each day. If you wish to organise a regular collection, please contact your local UK Mail Depot It is recommended that you do this at the start of each day; this will allow you to plan your day and provide a cut off for when submitting your consignments to the UK Mail network. To book a consignment:

Select Consignment from the Menu

Select ‘Book Your collection’ from the Menu

Enter the date of the collection required

Enter the earliest time that the UK Mail driver can arrive

Enter the latest time that the UK Mail driver can arrive

Enter any special instruction (for example, if there is a place / location the driver should report at when arriving at your premises)

When you press enter, you will be presented with a booking Unique Reference (please make a note of this)

The Collection request will then be sent electronically to your local UK Mail depot

The Driver supervisor (from the UK Mail local depot) will then confirm the collection with you via email; this is a manual process

Check the confirmed times in the Email to what you requested, if they are different then speak to your local UK Mail depot

If you book later in the day, it may not be possible to collect your parcels on the day (you will see a warning message after the normal cut off time). The Driver supervisor at your local UK Mail depot will decide if a collection is possible


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Despatching Parcels (UK and Northern Ireland)

With the PC environment setup, printers set up and the driver collection booked you are now ready to enter consignments for dispatch.

From the Consignments menu select Add New Consignment, the following screen is then presented: (Fields marked with (*) are mandatory and must have a value entered) NEW: Add New Consignment Screen


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Basic Field Descriptions

Field Description Comment

Turn off Tool tips

Select or de-select Turn off tool tips

By default Turn off toll tips is selected. To see a tool tip for each field de-select Turn off tool tips

Customer Number If Address Book is populated, you can pull through repetitive customers that you dispatch to

See section on Address Book Maintenance. If selected from here then the fields marked * will be pre-populated

Contact / FAO (For Attention Of) Contact name of person who consignment is destined for

Business Name Business Name of the organization

If for private household, then leave this blank

Country Select country of the consignment destination

Unless you have a Road / Air account, you will only see United Kingdom & Ireland. If you require International, then talk to your Sales Account Manager

Post Code Enter the full post code of the destination and tab to the next field, to be presented with a list of addresses.

The post code will determine the product & Service Level you can request from UK Mail. To change the Post Code, delete entry and enter again and tab to next field.

Telephone Enter telephone number of person that the consignment is destined for

The Telephone field will become mandatory on Exchange on Delivery & Cheque on Delivery Consignments. A minimum of 10 digits must be entered in the Telephone field.

Email Enter the email address of person that the consignment is destined for


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Product and Service Selection

The Post Code has a fundamental influence on the Products and Service Levels that can be requested by you and these are business rules, embedded into the ipostparcels PRO application and cannot be changed. When the Post code is entered you can select the Product (definitions are available on the UK Mail Website www.ukmail.com or with reference to you Sales Account Manager and / or UK Mail Customer Contact Centre)


Leave with neighbour if no answer

Select if you would like the driver to leave with a neighbour either side of the property, if no answer and a signature will be required.

The, if out, leave with fields will only become available, if leave with neighbour if no answer is selected. The Special Instructions field 1 will populate with If out leave with neighbour.

If out, leave with House name / House number

Select the radio button and enter the house number or the house name the driver is to leave the consignment with

The Special Instructions fields 1 and 2 will populate with the text if out, leave with neighbour house number #5

If exchange on delivery, and leave with neighbour if no answer are both selected, The Special Instructions fields will populate with: SWAP OUT – Do not Deliver if nothing to collect at:#5

http://www.ukmail.com/


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Leave Safe if no answer

Select this box if you would like the driver to leave the consignment safe at the address on the label. If the driver cannot locate a suitable safe location the consignment will be delivered to a neighbour either side of the property. A signature will be obtained.

For deliveries to remote locations (Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands etc) this option must be selected Exchange on Delivery, Cheque on Delivery and certain Bagit products are not available on a leave safe service.

Leave Safe Location (renamed from secure location)

Enter details of a safe location the driver is to leave the consignment.

The Leave Safe Location field is available on selecting Leave Safe if no answer.

Signature at Address Only

Select this if you only want the driver to deliver to this address if a signature can be obtained.

If no one is present, the driver will leave a card at the address and return the consignment to the depot. Service not available on 72 and 48 Hr deliveries. 3 delivery attempts will be made. The leave if out, leave with and Leave Safe Location fields will be hidden on selecting Signature at Address Only

Product & Service

Select UK Mail product and service for your dispatch

Additional Validation has been added to the Product & Service field.

If you are not clear on the appropriate service, then contact your Sales Account Manager or UK Mail Customer Contact Centre

Delivery Service Description The Delivery Service Description will populate providing a description of the service the consignment was sent on.

Leave with neighbour if no Answer:

Leave Safe if No Answer:

Signature at Address only


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Remote Locations – United Kingdom (inc Northern Ireland) 48 Hour + No Signature When a remote location is entered – for example the KW16 3AD – you will see the following under Products and Services

For this Post Code Leave Safe if No Answer will be selected by default.

Enter a safe location in the Leave Safe Location field. The product and Service will default to Parcels and 48hr+ No Signature

Exchange on Delivery and Cheque on Delivery will not be available for selection.

The reason for this is that given the remote location, if a driver was to be dispatched and was not able to leave safe, it would be a significant cost


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Remote Locations – United Kingdom (inc Northern Ireland) 48 Hour When a remote location is entered that requires a 48 hour service – for example the IV46 8SB – you will see the following under Products and Services

For this Post Code, Leave with Neighbour if no Answer will be selected by default.

Enter one of the house name or house number fields. The product and Service will default to Parcels and 48 Hour

The reason for this is that given the location, we cannot offer a next day service.

NB If you require to leave a 48 Hour Service in a safe location and no signature, de-select leave with Neighbour if no answer and enter text in the Leave Safe Location field. Exchange on Delivery and cheque on delivery will no longer be available for selection.


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Remote Locations – Republic of Ireland

For all Irish postcodes including Dublin the Service Level is 48 Hrs for delivery – so, when looking for the service level within ipostparcels PRO you will see the above presented by default: Leave with Neighbour if no answer and Product & Service: Parcels, 48 hour.

NB If you require to leave a 48 Hour Service in a safe location and no signature, de-select leave with Neighbour if no answer and enter text in the Leave Safe Location field. Exchange on Delivery and cheque on delivery will no longer be available for selection. Locations in Dublin & Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland currently has a partial postcode system that covers the capital Dublin with postcode D1 to D11. ipostparcels PRO has designated its own partial postal code system for all other regions of Southern Ireland. As there is not a full postcode system in Ireland, ipostparcels PRO cannot populate the address from a postcode.


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To enter an Irish address

Select the country Ireland, from the Country drop down list

Select the Irish County

Select Dublin within the Irish County you will be Presented with an Irish Locality Field

Input the remaining address fields (Post code will be automatically populated)

Consignment Information


Customer Reference Both fields can be used as determined by the Customer – when tracking, the customer can search on values entered in either of these fields.

Title is configurable per account under Accounts / Maintain Account in ipostparcels PRO.

Alternative Reference Both fields can be used as determined by the Customer – when tracking, the customer can search on values entered in either of these fields.

Title is configurable per account under Accounts / Maintain Account in ipostparcels PRO.


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Number of Items Enter total number of items in the consignment

Bagit can be only be sent as a single item. If you enter more than one you will see the following

:

Weight Enter weight of the consignment in whole Kilograms (kg’s)

Long Length If item is >= 1.4 Mtr then please tick this box

Special Instructions These will be presented to the driver i.e. “end of country lane, through the white gate, on the left”

On selecting If out leave with, The Special Instructions fields will populate with: If out, leave with house number #5. On selecting if out, leave with and Exchange on Delivery, the Special Instruction fields will populate with: SWAP OUT – Do not deliver if nothing to collect at #5

This has been replaced by leave with neighbour if no answer and leave safe if no answer options.

Extended Cover Allows you to purchase extended cover for your consignment. The numeric entry relates to £1000’s of additional cover (1 – £1000, 2 - £2000)

Book In Select this, where the drop off must be booked in advance with the recipient (i.e. department stores)

The Telephone field becomes mandatory on selecting Book In. On De-selecting Book in the telephone validation will be removed.

Exchange on Delivery Select this if a pick is being requested at the same time as the drop off.

The Contact/FAO and Telephone field become mandatory on selecting Exchange on Delivery. You cannot have a combination of Leave safe if no answer and Exchange on Delivery

Would you like Confirmation of Delivery

Select if you wish to receive either SMS / Email when the consignment is delivered

The below Email and Mobile fields only become available on selecting would you like confirmation of delivery.

Email If Confirmation of delivery requested – then confirmation will go to this email address

Field renamed Email

Confirmation Mobile If Confirmation of delivery requested – then confirmation will go to this mobile number as an SMS

Field renamed Mobile

Cheque on Delivery Amount If you require the UK Mail Delivery driver to collect a cheque when

The Contact/FAO and Telephone field become mandatory on


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IMPORTANT! - Do not browse away to another web page whilst the printing message is on the form or all of your labels will not print off.

the consignment is delivered populating the COD Amount field. (The COD field is no longer cleared during telephone validation). You cannot have a combination of Leave safe if no answer and COD.

Pre-Delivery Notification If you require the recipient to receive a notification that a delivery is to be made, then select either SMS / Email

Will prompt for Confirmation Email / Telephone if not entered already

Save & Print Once you are comfortable that your consignment details are correct, submit your consignment to UK Mail by pressing Save & Print

If you have setup a collection, you will be prompted to do this at this stage. You will be presented with the following messages

Once printing has completed, you will get


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Printing Direct to PDF PDF- You will be prompted by your web browser to open or save a PDF version of the consignment label(s). If you open the PDF you can select a printer and print off your consignment label. If you choose to save the PDF you can open the PDF from where it was saved to print the consignment label either immediately or at a later time. With saving the PDF you can forward it via email to either another computer workstation or a third party printing location if necessary. As a general rule your labels will be saved in the downloads folder. A consignment label as shown below will be printed from the designated printer. If printing on A4 paper then please abide by the following:

• Fold the paper before placing it into a document wallet and sticking the document wallet to the parcel.

• Please make sure the label is attached to a single flat surface on the parcel, ensure the whole label can be seen through the clear plastic of the document wallet, particularly the barcode.

• Please take care not to wrinkle the clear plastic cover of the document wallet as you stick it to the parcel (particularly over the barcode) as this may cause limited tracking as it moves through the UK Mail network.


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Reprinting Labels and Cancelling Consignments

If a label is damaged or there is a problem during printing then you may want to reprint the label(s). To do this, from the menu go to Consignments then Find Consignments.

You can search for your consignment using a number of criteria including the Customer Reference (normally your sales order number).

Once you have found your consignment, click the Reprint link to reprint the label(s). The following message will be shown.

When you reprint a consignment, the original consignment number is cancelled and a new consignment number is generated with a new set of labels.

IMPORTANT – When using reprinted labels, you must re-label ALL of the parcels in the consignment. If you only re-label some of the parcels then the cancelled consignment number will be reactivated when the parcel is scanned in the UK Mail network and you will be invoiced for two consignments rather than one. You will be unable to reprint labels after the consignment collection date has passed. You can also cancel consignments using the Find Consignments screen, search for your consignment and then click the Cancel link. Please note that the data for the consignment will be reactivated if the physical parcel for the consignment is scanned within the UK Mail network and you will then be invoiced for the consignment as normal.

It is not possible to amend a consignment in ipostparcels PRO, if you wish to amend then you will need to cancel the original consignment and input a new consignment using the Add New Consignment form.


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Creating Packets Consignments

If you have a packets account then you will be able to enter packets consignment shipments – if you

do not have a packets account but wish to send packets consignments then please contact your

Sales Account Manager who will help you set one up and add them to your ipostparcels PRO

username. When this account has been added you will need to set it up by adding a return address

on the ‘Maintain Account’ screen. (See section “Adding a Return Address for Packets”)

To create a packets consignment:

Go to Consignment / Add New Consignment

Select the Account List and select the packets account

Now select the ‘Product and Service’ and click ‘Mail Packet’


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Customer Number If Address Book is populated, you can pull through repetitive customers that you dispatch to

See section on Address Book Maintenance. If selected from here then the fields marked * will be pre-populated

Contact / FAO (For Attention Of) Contact name of person who consignment is destined for

Business Name Business Name of the organization

If for private household, then leave this blank

Country Select country of the consignment destination

Packets are available for the United Kingdom only, if you require international or Ireland consignments then please switch to the parcels service.

Post Code Enter the full post code of the destination and tab to the next field, to be presented with a list of addresses.

The post code will determine the product & Service Level you can request from UK Mail. To change the Post Code, delete entry and enter again and tab to next field.

Customer Reference Enter your customer reference Your reference for this despatch will appear on your UK Mail invoice. Typically sales order number

Alternative Reference Enter your alternative reference Your second reference for this consignment e.g. customer purchase order number.

Packet Weight (grams) Enter the overall weight of the packet

Any packets that are overweight will be converted to a parcel, delivered by the UKMail network and charged accordingly.

Length (cm) Enter the length of the packet Any packets that are over the size limits will be converted to a parcel, delivered by the UKMail network and charged accordingly.

Width (cm) Enter the width of the packet Any packets that are over the size limits will be converted to a parcel, delivered by the UKMail network and charged accordingly.

Height (cm) Enter the height of the packet Any packets that are over the size limits will be converted to a parcel, delivered by the UKMail network and charged accordingly.

Delivery Message Enter your delivery message Delivery message to your recipient

Enter your delivery message Delivery message to your recipient if the first field isn’t long enough


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Creating International Consignments

If you have accounts setup for Rail and Air (International accounts) then you will be able to enter International consignment shipments – if you do not have these, you must talk to your Sales Account Manager, who will then work with you to create these accounts and add them to your account. When these have been created and added to your account, you then need to configure them (See section “Adding a New account to ipostparcels PRO”)

To create an International consignment:

Go to Consignment / Add New Consignment

Select the Account List and the account you wish to ship against (either Road or Air)


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Country Select the country you wish to dispatch to – the entry form will then change to reflect an International consignment

If you cannot select an International location, you have either selected the wrong account or do not have an International account. For the latter, please refer to your Sales Account Manager

Postal Code This is the Post code for the destination

Ipostparcels PRO cannot validate International post codes; therefore the address details must be entered manually

Product / Service You may select either Road or Air

If you require guidance on wish product to choose then talk to your Sales Account Manager / UK Mail Customer Contact Center

Items Number of parcels you are dispatching in this consignment

Weight Total weight in Kilograms (Kg’s) to the nearest 2 decimal places (i.e. x.xx)

Length / Width / Depth Enter dimensions of the Consignment that you are sending

Goods Description Describe the contents of the consignment.

Customs & Excise use this and it forms a critical part of your (the customers) declaration for H.M Customs

Special Instructions Enter any special instructions for the Delivery driver

Value / Currency Enter the value of the Consignment you are shipping and the currency

Currency does not need to match the destination country

Documents Only Select this if only shipping documents

This will set value to zero and Good Description to ‘Documents’

Cover Required Select if you require additional cover for your International Consignment

Further information can be obtained from your Sales Account Manager / Customer Contact Centre

In Free Circulation in EU Select if you are sending documents within the EU (European Union) and that contents of your consignment are in free circulation within the EU

Confirmation on delivery Select if you would like a confirmation email

No Dangerous Goods Select to confirm that you consignment does not contain any dangerous goods

If you select yes, the consignment will not be validated as this against UK Mail policy

Save & Print When you are comfortable your Same as for normal


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consignment details are correct, save them and print

consignments.


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End of Day & Order Tracking

End of Day Manifest

At the end of each day and prior to the UK Mail driver arriving you should complete the End of Day manifest – the manifest states which consignments you have submitted to UK Mail for collection and delivery

From the ipostparcels PRO menu

Select Consignment / Print/View Manifest Summary for Driver

Confirm the Job Date (normally would be the current day)

Select the Generate Report button The report lists the consignments you are despatching today which include a copy for the driver and a copy for you. The driver will sign the customer copy of the report and hand it back to you for your records. A PDF document (as shown below) will be generated and displayed on screen ready to be printed.

Once the manifest has been presented on the screen, please print off the report to your A4 printer.


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Tracking, Reprinting And Cancelling Consignments You can track, reprint and cancel international consignments using the same method as UK and Ireland consignments. To do this then within ipostparcels PRO go to

From the ipostparcels PRO menu

Select Find Consignments

To filter down the consignments listed, type your customer reference (normally your sales order number) into the Search for field and click the Search button. The matching results will be filtered down in the search results grid. You can also search by Alternative Reference, Consignment Number, Collection Date, Business Name, Postal Code and UK Mail account number.


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Once you can see the consignment you wish to track, click the Track link on the left hand side of the search results grid. The track page shows the current overall status of your consignment along with a progress bar at the top and then further details of the consignment including the signature if the consignment has already been delivered:

Telephone field has been added to the Delivery Details section on the summary tab.


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You can view further information for a consignment by clicking the tabs along the top:

Tab Name Description

Delivery History Lists in detail any delivery attempts and successful attempts made. The Recipient Column has been renamed Received by. A new Card Reference column has been added. On a Delivery Type leave with Neighbour The comments field will now populate with the text Left at House No/Name followed by the house number or name entered by the driver. A signature image is now available to view following a failed delivery attempt and subsequently delivered.

Scan History Shows a full history of where and when your parcels have been scanned in the UK Mail network.

Consolidation Lists all your references attached to the consignment

Status History History of when your consignment moved through different status to final delivery.

New Delivery History tab


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The overall status of a consignment can be summarised by the following:

Status Meaning

Awaiting Collection Consignment has been created but it has not been

collected and scanned into the UK Mail network

Collected Consignment has been collected and scanned into

the UK Mail network; it will now be either within your

local UK Mail depot or on its way to the UK Mail

delivery depot

At Delivery Location Consignment has reached the UK Mail delivery

depot

Out for Delivery Consignment has been scanned onto the delivery

driver’s van and the consignment is out for delivery

today

Delivered All parcels within the consignment have been delivered. A fix has been applied on single parcel consignments where the consignment had been rearranged by recipient and subsequently delivered to show the correct status of delivered, and not remain at a status of rearranged by recipient.

Awaiting Delivery Recipient of the consignment has rearranged

delivery for a new later delivery date. The new

expected delivery date will be shown in the Delivery

Date field

Delivery Attempted UK Mail has attempted delivery but the recipient was not available to receive the consignment. A card has been left at the address to inform the recipient that a delivery attempt has been made.

Please Call UK Mail need confirmation on the consignment

details in order to make the delivery such as

confirmation of the address. ‘Please call UK Mail

Client Services on 02476 937777

Delayed This status indicates that some of the parcels within

the consignment have been delivered but some

parcels within the consignment are still to be

delivered


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You your consignment has been delivered, you can see further details of the delivery in the Delivery

History tab. In this tab you will see (Recipient name, delivery type and delivery comments)

Delivery Type Meaning

Signed for by Consignee

Secure Location – In the porch

Secure Location – Behind the

Gate

Secure Location – In the Shed

Secure Location – In the Garage

Secure Location – With Porter /

Caretaker

Secure Location – In the

Conservatory

Secure Location – In Conservatory

Secure Location – In Greenhouse

Other Secure Location Other location will documented in the Comments field

Left with Neighbour ‘Comments field will be populated with Left with house

no/name and the name of the person who accepted the

delivery’.

Recipient Specified Delivery

How your Customer can track their Consignment

If your customer has their consignment number, they can track this on the UK Mail website – they will not see the level of information that you, as Consignor, will be able to see. For your customer to track their consignment, the steps are :

Go to www.ukmail.com



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Booking a Return

You can arrange for the return of an item or to be sent to a third party address via the Add New Return to Sender / Send to Third Party screen found on the Consignments menu. No label is printed from this form; instead a label is printed in the UK Mail network and attached to the parcels when they are collected.

There are two different scenario’s available:

• Return To Sender – UK Mail collect parcels from an address and return them to the address of your account.

• Send Parcel to a 3rd Party – UK Mail collect parcels from an address and then deliver them to a different address.

To complete the Add New Return to Sender / Send to Third Party form:

1. Choose the type of return at the top right of the screen by selecting either Return to Sender or

Send Parcels to a 3rd Party. The default is Return to Sender.

2. Once you have selected your type of collection, you can select options in the following order:

• Collection Date is the date you have arranged with your customer for UK Mail to collect your parcels. The collection date defaults to the next working day although you can change the date to either today’s date (same day collection) or up to 7 days in advance.

• Collection address from which you can either enter a one off address using the full postcode or you can use an address stored in your address book. To recall an address from your address book either enter the customer number and press <tab> or search for an address using the search button to the right of the Customer Number. The contact name and telephone numbers are mandatory fields.

• Customer Reference is your reference for the return. Typically the customer reference number is

used for your sales order number. When the parcels are returned to you they will have the customer reference clearly shown on the label so that you can reconcile the parcels with the requests in your returns processing system.


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• Time Ready, Last Pickup and Open Lunchtime instruct UK Mail when the parcels will be ready for collection on the collection day. If the Open Lunchtime option is selected then UK Mail will attempt collection around lunchtime.

• Collection Special Instructions are instructions to help the driver make a successful collection e.g.

“Flat above the newsagents” etc.

• Description of Goods holds important information so that UK Mail know what we are expecting to collect and send the right type of vehicle, For example, “2 Small boxes, approx. 2 kilos.” would differ from a “Piano, approx. 75 kilos”.

3. The Deliver To section will automatically be filled with the return address of the account selected if

you selected the Return to Sender option. If you are requesting a Send Parcels to a 3rd Party then again you can either input a one off address using the postcode or look up an address from your address book.

4. The Service section is used to specify when the parcels should be returned back to you or taken to

the third party. Among the options are Next Day, by 9am, by 10:30, by Noon etc. If the parcels cannot just be dropped off for delivery and require a prearranged book in time for delivery then tick the Book In field.

5. You can specify any Delivery Special Instructions for the delivery driver.

6. Once the Add New Return to Sender / Send To Third Party form has been completed, click on the

Save button. Please Note: It is important that you have arranged the collection with your customer in advance and the parcels will be ready and available for collection on the collection date. If UK Mail attempt a collection and the parcels are not available then you may be surcharged for the failed collection attempt.

If you require a same day collection then you will need to book collection as early as possible because UK Mail will have cut off times based on the postcode to be collected from. Tracking and Cancelling Return To Sender/Send To 3rd Party Collections To track or cancel a collection, go to the Consignments menu, and then Find Return To Sender / Send To 3rd Party. You can search for a collection and filter down the search results, the most common method is to search by the Customer Reference. You can also search by consignment number, collection date, business name, contact name, postcode and UK Mail account number.

Once you have found the collection you were searching for you can track and cancel the return using the Track and Cancel links.


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Administration

Address Book Setup If you have regular addresses you deliver to or collect from, you can save time by adding these addresses into your address book. Address books are initially private to just you as an individual ipostparcels PRO user, but you can also share your address book with other ipostparcels PRO users at your company. You can add addresses to your address book in 3 ways:

• Upload / import a CSV file to import many addresses at once. • Add addresses one at a time using the Add New Address function. • Add addresses one at a time using the Add New Consignment Form.

Import a CSV file

Select Address Book / Import Addresses from the ipostparcels PRO menu

Select ‘here’ to download a CSV template that you can utilise. This can be manipulated within Microsoft Excel and then saved as a CSV type file

The following are the field definitions and values that can / should be used for populating the CSV file. Fields marked with a red asterisk (*) are mandatory and must be populated :

Field : Title of column in the CSV template

Definition : What type of values can be entered (Numeric = 1,2,3 etc, Alphanumeric = A,B,1,2,)

Value : If a specific value is stated, you must select one of these and not use anything else

Default Value : If not sure what to enter, then enter Default value


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When your template is populated you will be able to load it into ipostparcels PRO. Recommendation that initially you do a test with one entry as it will be easier to see what issues there are.

The exceptions messages presented by the import are not ‘user friendly’ which is why the above guidance is provided

Go to Address Book / Import Addresses Select Browse and locate the csv file that you have created Select Import

Field Definition Value Default Value

Customer Number

Alphanumeric Characters – How you identify your customer.

Not Blank - Mandatory* N/A

Contact Name Alphanumeric Blank

Company Name

Alphanumeric – Name of the company you are trading with

Blank

Address 1 Alphanumeric Not Blank - Mandatory* N/A

Address 2 Alphanumeric Blank

Locality Alphanumeric Blank

Town Alphanumeric Blank

County Alphanumeric Blank

Postal Code Alphanumeric Not Blank - Mandatory* – At least first 3 characters of a valid post code is required, otherwise entry is rejected.

Post Code

Country United Kingdom or spaces

Blank

Telephone Number

Numeric Blank

Email Address Alphanumeric No validation Blank

Service Name Do not populate Do not populate Blank

Product Name Alphanumeric Parcels Bagit M Bagit L Bagit XL Bagit Small / Express Packets

Blank

Signature Optional

Boolean (Yes, No) - If selected will not populate ipostparcels PRO (known fault)

Yes No

Blank

Weight Numeric 1

Items Numeric 1

Extended Liability

Numeric : 1 = £1000, 2 = £2000 of additional cover

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 Blank

Special Instructions 1

Alphanumeric Blank


Alphanumeric

COD Amount Numeric Blank

Customer Ref Alphanumeric Blank

Alternative Ref Alphanumeric Blank


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Always set ‘Ignore first row’ if using UKMail template or if you have titles in the first row If there are errors in validation, you will see :

The validation will highlight which row is in error and for some columns will highlight this as well. Where you have validation issues, please refer back to the Field definitions to re-work After the import has completed – successfully – you can see your addresses in Address Book /

Maintain Address


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Add a New Address

Select Address Book / Add New Address

Field Definition Value Default Value

Customer Number

Alphanumeric Characters – How you identify your customer.

Not Blank - Mandatory* N/A

Contact Name Alphanumeric Blank

Company Name

Alphanumeric – Name of the company you are trading with

Blank

Address 1 Alphanumeric Not Blank - Mandatory* N/A

Address 2 Alphanumeric Blank

Locality Alphanumeric Blank

Town Alphanumeric Blank

County Alphanumeric Blank

Postal Code Alphanumeric Not Blank - Mandatory* – Enter full, valid post code, and you can select the address details

Post Code

Country United Kingdom or spaces

Blank

Telephone Number

Numeric Blank

Email Address Alphanumeric No validation Blank

Service Name Do not populate Do not populate Blank

Product Name Alphanumeric Parcels Bagit M Bagit L Bagit XL Bagit Small / Express Packets

Blank

Signature Boolean (Yes, No) - If selected Yes Blank


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Optional will not populate ipostparcels PRO (known fault)

No

Weight Numeric 1

Items Numeric 1

Extended Liability

Numeric : 1 = £1000, 2 = £2000 of additional cover

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 Blank


Alphanumeric Blank


Alphanumeric

COD Amount Numeric Blank

Customer Ref Alphanumeric Blank

Alternative Ref Alphanumeric Blank

Select Save to commit your changes

Recalling an Address in the Add New Consignment form

In the Add Consignment screen

Select the and you will be presented with

The search screen defaults to searching by Business Name, you can also search by Customer Number, Contact Name, Postal Town and Post Code


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Add a New Address via Add New Consignment form You can add new addresses using the Add New Consignment form as well:

1. Enter a new customer number into the Customer Number field and press the <tab> key.

2. By clicking OK you will be taken to the Add New Address form where you can enter your new address and save it into the address book. After you have saved the new address you will be automatically taken back to the Add New Consignment form where you will find your newly saved address populated in the fields on the form.

Maintain Addresses If you want to alter the details on an address in the address book then from the menu go to Address Book then Maintain Addresses. Find the address entry you want to alter and then click the Edit link on the left hand side. You will be taken to the Edit Address screen where you will be able to update the record and save it.

Delete Addresses

If you want to delete address book details, then find the address in the Maintain Addresses form and click Delete for the record you want to delete. You may accumulate many addresses in your address book over time; these will be formatted over several pages in the Maintain Addresses screen. To filter down the addresses shown you can use the Search function. In the example below we have filtered down the address book entries to all Customer numbers beginning 100, 1 matching record was found. You can also search for addresses by Contact Name, Business Name, Town and Postal Code.


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Sharing Address Books Your ipostparcels PRO address book is initially only accessible using your ipostparcels PRO login. It is common for ipostparcels PRO users to share their address book with other colleagues who have their own separate ipostparcels PRO logins. To share your address book select Address Book menu then Share My Address Book.

In the section titled Add a new User enter the registered email address of the ipostparcels PRO user you want to share your address book with and then press the Share button. Above the Add a new User section is a list of ipostparcels PRO users you currently have your address book shared with. If you want to stop sharing with a particular user then click the Remove link next to the user in the list. If you have a long list of users who you have shared your address book with then you can find a particular user by entering the users email address into the Search for box and clicking the Search button.

Reports

You can run a variety of adhoc or regular scheduled email reports through ipostparcels PRO. From the Reports menu select Adhoc / Scheduled Reports. To access the Adhoc / Scheduled Reports you will need to add the following trusted sites in your web browser: Ukmail.com Business-post.com

Once navigated onto the Adhoc / Scheduled Reports screen, you will be presented with two options:

• Ad-hoc Reports: A type of report which can be created within the ipostparcels PRO session. This can be viewed, saved or e-mailed.

• Scheduled Reports: A type of report which is sent daily via e-mail. This can be sent for up to 4 different e-mail addresses.


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Ad-hoc Reports Click on Ad-hoc Reports to begin. You will then be presented with the Ad-Hoc Report Entry screen:

There are several different types of report that can be run, select the type of report using the Report Name drop down. To summarise the types of report available:

POD Deliveries Lists consignments delivered within the date range along with the

delivery details.

POD Non-Deliveries Lists consignments that were due to be delivered within the date range

and were delayed along with the reason for delay.

Third Party Collection Report Lists your returns and their current status for a given date.

Discrepancy Report Lists declared discrepancies (e.g. mis-routes) with the date range.

Delivery Performance Report

This report gives an overall summary of UK Mail’s delivery performance

with the specified date range. A breakdown of the number of successful

deliveries and any delayed consignments are listed

All of the reports can be produced in a variety of formats including:

Delimited Delimited file, choose delimiter of your choice

XML Export in XML data format

Excel XML XML format, readable in Excel

PDF Readable with Adobe PDF reader

HTML Readable with your web browser

Excel CSV Comma separated, readable in Excel


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You can also set the order of listing for your report and choose whether or not to have it as a downloaded file or just to open it for viewing.

Amend the details on screen to suit your needs. Then select the “Open Method” for the report; you can download the report, open the report in a new window or have it e-mailed across. Once completed, click on Submit Request then this will generate your desired report.

Scheduled Reports Click on Scheduled Reports to begin. You will then be presented with the View Scheduled Reports screen. The View Scheduled Reports screen will then display any scheduled reporting which you may already have setup.

If you have a scheduled report setup, you can delete this by pressing the Delete button. To create a new scheduled report, click on Create Scheduled Report. You will then be presented with the Scheduled Report Entry screen:


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The process for setting up scheduled reports is very similar to setting up ad-hoc reports. Complete the Scheduled Report Entry screen as appropriate then click on Add Schedule to save the schedule.

All schedules are sent at approximately 1am on a daily basis. Changing Your Password

You can change your password at any time by selecting Configuration menu then Change Password.

Input your existing password and then your new password (with confirmation) and click the Change Password button. Your password will be updated with immediate effect.

Maintaining Your Account

If you wish to check or make alterations to your account on ipostparcels PRO navigate to Accounts menu and then Maintain Account. You will be presented:


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Field Description Note

Account List Select the account for which you want to change the details

If you have an account not listed, then you have not been approved yet (see Request Access to New Account)

Account Number UK Mail Account Number

Company Name As registered

Trading Address As registered

Post Code As registered

Contact Number As registered

VAT / TVA Number If not registered for VAT please enter ‘Not registered’

Customer Reference Alias Field name as displayed on ‘Add Consignment’ screen.

Alternative Reference Alias Field name as displayed on ‘Add Consignment’ screen.

Show Sender Name on Label Select this if you want your company name to appear on your dispatch labels.

Show Sender Post Code on Label Select this if you want your company Post Code to appear on your dispatch labels.

Return Address Enter your return address This is mandatory to use the packets service

Save Click on Save to commit your


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changes

Adding a Return Address for Packets

To use our packets service you will need to add an address where the packets can be returned to in case of any problems with your packet. To do this:

Go to the Maintain Account screen Select your packets account from the list Add your return address and click save

*Note the return address field will be greyed out for all accounts apart from a packets account. Adding a New Account to ipostparcels PRO

When a new account is created for you, for example an International Road / Air account, or an additional account, then you will need to request it to be setup against your ipostparcels PRO account. To do this:

Go to www.ukmail.com

Click on login in the top right hand corner



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When logged in go to Sync Point and then Update My Account

On the screen presented, enter the Account Number that you wish to add

Your request will then be submitted for approval in the same was as described in


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ipostparcels PRO Access and Registration

Pay for Your UK Mail Invoices Using A Credit/Debit Card

You can pay for your UK Mail invoices using ipostparcels PRO by selecting Accounts menu then Make Payment. In the screen that is displayed fill out your payment details and follow instructions on screen. Finalise payment by clicking the Confirm & Make Payment button.

How to Validate a Post Code

If you have a Post Code that ipostparcels PRO does not recognise, this may be due to two issues

Post Code is new and not yet recognised in UKMail systems – there are scheduled updates of Post Codes from Royal Mail

Post Code is invalid To validate a Post Code, you can do this at the Royal Mail website

Go to www.RoyalMail.com/postcode-finder

On the tab titled ‘Find an Address’ you can enter the Post Code in full, if this returns an address then it is valid with Royal Mail and not updated within UKMail.

If the Post Code is not found, then it is invalid

In the previous two examples, the resolution is to identify a Post Code that is nearest to this location and that shares the first 4 characters of the Post Code you have and that in the Special Instructions field of the ‘Add Consignment’ screen, you state that you have had to use a nearest Post Code

UK Mail Responsibilities and Contact Information

Department Responsibilities Contact No

Local Depot - Request and organise a regular collection - Confirm / Validate pickup time and latest

collection times - Service Levels & Products available for a

Post Code (this will be Depot local to the destination Post Code)

- My Driver has not arrived - My consignment has not been delivered

If you have an account not listed, then you have not been approved yet (see Request Access to New Account)

Sales Account Manager / Client Contact Centre

- General advice on which products / service levels to utilise

- Requests for new account - Escalation on Service Delivery by UK

Mail - Information on extended cover for

shipments

02476 937777

http://www.royalmail.com/postcode-finder


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- Change / Re-schedule to delivery / pickup time

Credit Control - Account on Stop (removal or query thereof)

01753 706040

Central Invoice Queries

- Invoice queries from UK Mail 03452 300 380

Same Day Courier - To book a same day delivery 0870 242 4007

IT Service Desk* - Ipostparcels PRO unavailable or you are experiencing timeouts on the website

- Error messages presented (not business rule messages ie empty Service Level for Post Code)

- Printer failure, where printer is supplied by UKMail

[email protected]

02476 937773

Contacting IT Service Desk

When contacting the UK Mail Service Desk the initial contact should be via Email. For all contact with the Service Desk, the following information will be required to be provided on the initial email. Please state

Browser name type, version you are using

PC Operating system and version

Java version installed

Any error messages you are experiencing / Screen shots

Last time ipostparcels PRO worked, what were you doing when the service failed

Your customer account number / reference

Contact telephone number Before contacting the IT Service Desk ensure that this User Guide has been referenced and that you are clear that the ipostparcels PRO service is not working as is detailed in this guide. The IT Service Desk will not be able to provide you with advice guidance on which Products / Service Levels are most appropriate for your individual circumstances.

Feedback

If you have comments, feedback that will enhance the content of this User Guide then please provide this to [email protected] with a title of ‘User Guide Feedback’ and we will review this, consolidate with other feedback and look to provide revisions to this manual.

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


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