Please follow these steps when onboarding to DCL's SelectShip service. There are critical connections that need to be made to ensure no disruption in service occurs once we go live with orders.
Prep Work
Review Your Item Master
Ensure your Item Master is current and note any upcoming Dangerous Good (DG) SKUs that may require special handling.
Clarify Channel Use
Identify the direct-to-consumer storefronts where SelectShip will be implemented. Coordinate with your integration partner or account manager to review how your systems track and share order shipment data. Be sure to highlight any third-party systems (i.e. EasyPost) used to generate or distribute tracking numbers.
Define Service Levels
Standard
Expedited
2 Day
Next Day
Add SelectShip as a carrier option and map each of these service levels so that future orders can be routed through SelectShip automatically.
Tracking Link Integration
DCL will provide the complete list of carriers/services utilized in SelectShip. Please reivew this list and add any new carriers and services to your systems where carriers and tracking number pass through your systems to ensure that your system can consume and display all types of tracking URLs that are included in SelectShip.
Customer-Facing Messaging
Audit your customer touchpoints (i.e. website, blog, FAQ, checkout) to ensure they reflect the variety of carriers and service levels used. This transparency helps manage customer shipping expectations.
Phase 1: Testing
Create approximately 5-10 test orders that mirror your most common Direct to Consumer shipments.
We will assign the carrier and services that have never been utilized prior, so that your able to confirm your system correctly ingests and displays the range of tracking numbers.
These orders will not ship; tracking numbers are created and then voided.
The goal is to confirm data transmission and system behavior.
Testing Recommendations
If you ship Dangerous Goods, include at least one DG item.
Include at least one order with an atypical address (i.e. P.O. Box).
Include a variety of residential addresses across the U.S.
If you've never shipped with OnTrac or SpeedX, include residential test orders to zip codes: 30101, 08502, and 92691.
Make sure all SKUs in test orders are in-stock.
If using multiple warehouses, confirm routing logic works as intended or decide which warehouse you would like to test from first.
Phase 2: Testing with SelectShip
Please another 10 test orders using SelectShip as the carrier, with the designated service level (Standard, Expedited, 2 Day, Next Day).
DCL can either mock-ship or physically ship these orders.
The goal is to confirm your system is ready to send us SelectShip as the carrier.
Go-Live Planning
We recommend launching between Tuesday and Thursday. These are typically lower volume days and will allow for better monitoring and support.
The full testing cycle typically ranges from 1-4 weeks, depending on your ability to validate a diverse set of tracking scenarios and the use of third party software.
Your DCL contact will walk you through eFactory configuration updates. You'll see:
Carrier/service passed to DCL
Carrier/service selected per package
Real-time tracking
Freight cost estimates at time of shipment
We look forward to helping you optimize your domestic small parcel shipping strategy!