Routines
Intro
A Routine is a checklist you run over a saved View: "every morning, take Shipping Today, combine same-customer shipments, fetch the weather, tag them Dispatched AM, print the fish labels on the Zebra, then the packing slips". Instead of five people remembering five clicks, the routine runs the automatic steps for you and walks whoever is on shift through the rest.
Open Shipments → Routines. Viewing needs View orders; creating, editing and running needs Edit orders.
Purpose
- Turn the daily dispatch procedure into something new staff can follow step by step
- Let merge, weather and tagging happen before anyone arrives, on a schedule
- Print the same documents, with the same filters, in the same order — every day
How a routine is built
- Click New routine, give it a Name (e.g. Morning livestock dispatch) and an optional Description.
- Pick the Shipment view — the saved view whose filters choose the shipments (views you created privately are marked (personal view)). Set the Shipment status it is evaluated against: Awaiting, On hold or Shipped.
- Use Preview shipment set to see which shipments the view picks right now.
- Add step as many times as needed and drag them into order. Each step has an optional Step name shown on the checklist (e.g. Fish labels (Zebra)) and a checkbox Optional (can be skipped without a reason).
- Leave the enable switch on and click Save.
The shipment set is frozen when a run starts — anything that arrives later is not included until you press Refresh shipment set on the run page.
Step types
| Step | What it does | Settings |
|---|---|---|
| Combine same-customer shipments | Merges awaiting shipments in the run that belong to the same customer — like the Combine button, so merge rules are skipped | Re-run automation rules on the merged shipment (split rules are never re-run after a merge) |
| Fetch weather | Attaches the latest destination forecast to every shipment in the run (Weather app) | — |
| Add tags | Adds the chosen shipment tags to every shipment in the run; tags already on a shipment are kept | Tags to add |
| Print document | Opens a Document for the shipments in the run with the filters already applied | Document, Location (only rows stocked at this location), Filter rows by condition, Label split — One label per line item / One label per unit / Ask each time — and Sort rows by |
| Manual check | A reminder in the checklist | Instructions and an optional Link to open (shown as an Open button) |
Steps run in order. Combine, weather and tags run on their own; printing and manual checks need an operator — the run pauses there and waits for someone.
Run a routine
By hand
On Routines, click Run now (or open the routine and click it there). The run page opens with the frozen shipment list and the steps:
| Button | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Run / Retry | Execute an automatic step (retry after a failure) |
| Print / Print again | Open the document for printing — the step stays In progress until you Mark done |
| Open | Follow a manual step's link |
| Mark done | Complete a manual or print step |
| Skip | Skip a step; you can add a short reason, which is kept on the run. Steps marked Optional are the ones expected to be skipped some days |
| Run all remaining | Run every automatic step that is still pending, stopping at the next one that needs a person |
| Refresh shipment set | Re-evaluate the view and pull in shipments that arrived since the run started |
| Abandon | Close the run without finishing it. Start a new one from the routine page |
An unfinished run shows Continue run on the routine instead of Run now. Each step reports what it did — Merged 6 shipments into 3 shipments, Weather queued for 12 shipments, Tagged 12 shipments, Printed.
On a schedule
Turn on Schedule in the routine editor:
- Start time — store local time. If the server misses the slot (maintenance, downtime) by up to 3 hours it catches up; later than that the day is skipped.
- Days — Monday to Sunday toggles; leave them all unselected to run every day.
At start time the automatic steps run without anyone logged in. When the run reaches the first step that needs an operator, it stops and raises the alert Routine ready for you — open it from Alerts and pick up at the step shown under Started by schedule. If the routine could not start (yesterday's run was never finished or abandoned) or an automatic step failed, you get Scheduled routine needs attention instead.
A paused routine (enable switch off) cannot be started and its schedule does not fire. Pause instead of deleting when you stop using one for a while.
Managing routines
- Duplicate creates a paused copy — review it, then enable it.
- Delete removes the routine and its run history.
- The list shows the last run — Completed · 12 shipments · 06:31 · by schedule — and the schedule summary (Mon–Fri at 06:30).
Practical examples
| Routine | Steps |
|---|---|
| Morning livestock dispatch (scheduled 06:30, Mon–Fri) | Combine same-customer shipments → Fetch weather → Add tags AM Dispatch → Print Fish labels (Location: Main Warehouse, condition Livestock, one label per unit) → Print Packing slip → Manual check "Load the van, tick the manifest" |
| Afternoon supplies (run by hand) | Combine same-customer shipments → Print Pick list (condition Supplies) → Print Packing slip |
| Pre-holiday check | Manual check with a link to the carrier's holiday schedule → Add tags Holiday hold |
Tips
- Build the view first and check it with Preview shipment set — a routine is only as good as its view.
- Put print-only conditions in a rule group named Printing so the Filter rows by condition list stays short (see Documents).
- Use Optional for steps that do not apply every day, so nobody has to type a reason to skip them.
- One routine per bench or per product family is easier to follow than one giant one.
Related
- Views — the shipment set a routine runs over
- Split & merge — what the combine step does
- Documents · Printing — what the print step opens and where it prints
- Alerts — Routine ready for you, Scheduled routine needs attention