The following documentation will walk you through how to search for orders in VIA® and how to view the statuses and updates on your orders if you are using a partner network setup. This documentation assumes that you have already completed the registration for the partner network.
Notes
You may not be able to see everything included in the following documentation. Fields can be hidden or locked based on role configuration. If you cannot see a specific field contract your partner network.
Searching for Orders Using The Search Bar
There are two ways to search in VIA®; either with a board filter or by searching using the search section at the top of the screen. Let's take a look at searching using the search bar at the top of the screen.
At the very top of the VIA® screen you will find the quick search section. You can use this section to search all the cards in your system (as opposed to the board limitation you have when using filters). There are three sections to the quick search section: the search field, the board type and the field name.
By default, the search section is setup to search the title field of all cards. The search is not case sensitive and will search any part of the fields for what you enter. In most cases you will probably be searching for locations or reference numbers. To change your search criteria start by selecting the card type. If you are searching loads you will either be searching for orders or segments. You can see what type of cards by looking at the board on the main screen as each board type is displayed on the board on the bottom right corner.
The card type you select in the search bar should match the type of boards your partner network uses.
If you are searching for your trace numbers select either Order Reference Number (if the trace number applies to the whole order) or Stop Reference Number (if the reference number is related to a shipper or consignee). You do not have to know the whole reference number, if you search for a portion of the number you should see your card in the resulting list. For example, let's assume that our reference number is 20-616796-9. The reference number has a dash and sometimes when the numbers are given over the phone the leading 2 characters are not provided. The easiest way to search is to change my card type to orders (because I have confirmed by boards are order boards) and then search by order reference number:
Unfortunately, this did not return any cards. I can search for a part of the number as well. For example, I know that sometimes the first 2 characters are sometimes dropped when my staff calls in an order. I can search for part of the number to see if the order is in there:
That did bring back results. I can click on the cards and see which order is the one I am looking for. When you click on a card the order will open up onto your screen. Note, the order screen you see may look different as you may have more or less fields showing on your screen:
Understanding Card Layouts
- Title - The top section of the card will provide you with the card name. In most cases, this will also include the order or segment number related to the card. In the example to the left the order number is TRANZ000280. You can also see the list that the card currently resides in.
- Labels - Labels are color coded bands that can be attached to orders and segments. These bands appear on the card when they are visible within a list as well as at the top of the card when it is open. These labels can represent anything of importance to the partner network; and they will usually be labelled when you are viewing the card.
- Conversations - If you see a box within the conversation section it means that there has been a discussion created related to this order/segment. If you click on the conversation box (blue box) the conversation will appear on the right side of the screen.
- The buttons that appear on the right side of the screen are the actions that you are able to perform on this card. You may see more or less buttons depending on the rights you have.
- Tabs - These tabs provide details on the order/segment. You may or may not have access to all the tabs. They include stop, pricing, accessorial, freight and attachment information.
- Tab Details - Depending on the tab you have selected in section 5, the information in this section of the screen will change. Currently, the order details tab is selected and the tab detail screen is showing the stop information.
- Order Reference/Notes - Any order based reference numbers and any notes will appear at the bottom of the card.
Understanding Where Your Shipments Are
Looking at a card should provide you with information on where you load is and how much of the load has been completed.