Partner Networks - Carrier Load Updating

If you have been given access to the VIA® system as a carrier, the following documentation will walk you through some of the common actions that you can perform on your loads. When you login to the VIA® system, after receiving your partner network invitation and registering, you will be presented with any boards that your partner company has shared with you. Clicking on the boards from within the home screen will open the board and display all the loads from within it.  Please note that if your partner has requested 2FA you may be required to setup Two Factor Authentication to access their boards. You will only need to enter the 6 digit number once each time you login; and you will not need to enter 2FA until you attempt to click on the partner net works boards. Unless instructed otherwise by your partner company, you will be able to update your loads from pickup to delivery, update documentation required and update the card with any notes or reference numbers.

Let's take a look at some of the common actions that you can perform from within the system. Please note that your rights will be determined by the partner network and you may not be able to perform some of these actions.

Navigating  to an order or segment card in VIA®

There are two ways to search in VIA®;  filtering an global searching. If you know the board that the load is located in and you would like to filter the cards in the board follow this link to learn about filtering: Filtering. Using the global search at the top of the screen will allow you to search all of VIA for your load.  Let's take a look at searching using the search bar at the top of the screen. You can find the global search section on the top right side of any screen within VIA.  The search section will look like this from the VIA screens:

When you click search it will open up a searching popup:

Across the top of this screen you will see 4 dropdown fields and to the right of the dropdown you will see different ways to see the search results. You search results will appear beneath the drop down boxes. 

The first box, gives you a choice of what system you want to search.  The default is VIA and you can leave this option to search within your boards. The second dropdown will determine what card type you want to search for. NOTE: the options within the third dropdown box will change depending on what selection is made from the second drop down. By default, the second dropdown shows all, and if you leave it as all then you will only be able to search by the card title. The card title is what you see on the card when you look at it in a list and is what you see at the top of the card when it is open:

If you would like to search by any other information, you can change the first dropdown. For example, if I want to search by a specific order reference number; I can choose Order from the second dropdown list and then Order Reference from the Third drop down list. The information that you wish to search by would be entered at the top of the popup screen beside the magnifying glass. 

The global search is a like search, so when you enter in 1253, the system will look for any orders with a reference number that has 1253 anywhere within the number. The results of your search appear below the drop down boxes. If you have multiple results, the sorting buttons on the top right will determine how your results look. For example:

If you click on any of the mini cards in the bottom of the popup screen, you will be brought to the board where you card is located and the card will open and the search screen will collapse. If you would like to choose another card from your search results, pressing the search button again will bring up your most recent search.

Understanding Card Layouts

1. 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. 
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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. We will discuss the most common carrier related actions in the next session.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Order Reference/Notes - Any order based reference numbers and any notes will appear at the bottom of the card.

Updating within the Web Portal or Load Offering?

One of the first things you will need to decide when you start using VIA® is if you would like to update your loads from within the portal, or if you would like to send the loads to your drivers and have them do the updating from their mobile device. VIA® has a mobile app that can be downloaded from the Apple Store or Google Play; however, if the drivers don't want to download the application to their phones you can still send them their loads and they will appear to them as a text message. Once they click on the message the application will launch in their browser and they can make their updates from there. If your drivers would like to use the mobile application then you can find more information on using that section by clicking here. 

Sending a Load Offer to a Driver's Mobile Device

You can send a load to a driver's mobile device by licking on the Start Tracking Button on the right side of the card:

From the popup screen select ViaMobile from the first field. In the bottom field enter in your driver's mobile number and press start. Your driver will receive a text message with a link that will either load the application if their have it installed on their phone, or it will launch their default web browser and open this card on their phone so that they can update it as they arrive and depart stops.

Updating a Load From Within the Web Portal

If you choose to manually update the orders from within the VIA® web portal the following instructions will guide you through the best way to achieve this. To start, search for the load that you want to update and open it. Regardless of if the card is a segment or an order, you will want to have the first tab open (labelled as segment details or order details). You should see a listing of all the stops assigned to the load and a progress bar on top of the stop listing. To move the load through from pickup to delivery you will need to arrive and depart each stop. Let's take a look at a stop segment:

1. This is the stop completion checkbox. When you have arrived and departed a stop it will change to a checked box. It is a visual cue to see if the stop has been completed
2. This section contains the link (ERIE, PA - Pickup) that you can click to see more details about the stop. It also lets you know the type of stop you are looking at (in this example, it is a pickup stop). It also lets you know the estimated arrival and departure time.
3. Clicking this button is one way that you can arrive and depart the stops on a load. This button will change depending on where you are in the stop; for example, in the screenshot you have not arrived at the stop so the button reads Arrive. If this stop has already been arrived at then the button will read Depart.
4. This section is a snapshot of where the stop is located. In the above example it is Pineapple Eddies Southern Bistro (we can tell by section 2 that Pineapple Eddies is located in Erie, PA). We can also see that out contact is Eddie and we are also given his number in case we need to contact him.

This is an example of a completed stop. Notice that the stop completion checkbox is marked as done, the arrive/depart button has disappeared, and the dates have changed from ETA to arrived and departed.

Above the stop listing is the progress bar for the load. Each stop we showed above has two activities related to it; an arrival and a departure. These two actions are displayed as sections of a progress bar. You should have two sections for each stop. As the load moves from dispatch to completion the status bar will fill in green. Lets take a look at some examples:

In the above example, none of the stops have been completed as the whole bar is grey. There are four segments because there are two stops on the load.

In the above example, the first stop is completed and the corresponding bar is half colored in.

Arriving and Departing a Stop

To arrive or depart a stop open the load card and click on either the arrive or depart button associated to the stop you want to work with. When you click on the button, you will be presented with a calendar option for dates and times to mark when they actually arrived or departed at the location.

Reversing out an Arrival or Departure

If you accidentally complete a stop you have the option to reverse out the stop completion. In the example below, you can see that the trip is half done. The first blue section shows that the arrival at the first stop has been done. The section section shows that the depart of the first stop has also been completed.

Let's assume that you have departed the first stop, but your driver has called to say that he has actually not left the shipper yet. If you click on the stop marked with the red circle you will be presented with the following confirmation message

If you hit reset, the bar will recede back to the previous stop.

Adding and Removing Reference Numbers

There are two types of reference numbers available in VIA®, reference numbers connected to stops and reference numbers connected to the overall orders. Adding the reference number is the same no matter which area you want to add it to. If you want to add a reference number to an order

The above example shows order reference numbers. The header of the reference number section reads Order References. Conversely, the screen shot below shows where you would go to see the stop reference numbers. Both are located at the bottom of the screens. 

To add a new reference number make sure that you are in the right section. For order quotes open the order but do not open a stop detail and press the reference button. For stop references, open the load and then click on the stop that you want to attach the reference to and then press the reference button. Regardless of how you do this once you press the reference button, the process is the same. Clicking on the reference button will bring up a popup reference number box.

The top of the screen is a drop down box of reference types. Click on the top box and you will be presented with a list of reference types you can choose from. The bottom field is the actual number.  When you are done press the add reference button. When you are done, the reference number will appear in the reference number section.

The above screen shot shows three reference numbers. The first reference number is one that created by the system while the other two are manually created. You can differentiate the two by looking for the X beside the reference number. If there is no X then the reference number number has been created by either the VIA® system or your carrier if you use API to communicate with the carriers. If there is an X beside the reference number it means that you can remove the reference number. Clicking on the X will bring up a delete confirmation button:

If you are sure you want to delete enter in DELETE into the text field as instructed and press confirm.