If a receipt does not exist in 3PL Warehouse Manager at the time your carrier needs to schedule a drop-off at your facility, you can create a receipt using SmartDock.

This article reviews both the carrier and scheduling experiences for scheduling a drop-off without an existing receipt and then linking that receipt to the WMS.

Carrier scheduling experience

The steps below are intended to help you guide a carrier through the appointment booking process.

1. Provide the carrier with a direct link to your calendar (formatted as such: https://book.securedata-trans.com/xxxxxxxxx/), in which they must sign in or create a new carrier account, to book an appointment. Once logged in to SmartDock, the scheduling process is fairly intuitive.
2. Instruct the carrier to follow the prompts and specify the relevant Warehouse and Load Type. If the relevant load type is not listed, they should select Unspecified.
   Please note that not every facility can accommodate every load type. This is by design and configured by your warehouse.
3. Once they select their desired time slot, they can enter as much data that is known at the time of booking, then click Finalize Appointment to trigger a confirmation email.

Once the carrier books the appointment, you can create a receipt to send to 3PL Warehouse Manager—select the appointment from your calendar, click Edit Appointment, then proceed to Step 5 below.

Warehouse scheduling experience

If you choose to schedule the drop-off yourself, follow the steps below to book the appointment and link the receipt to 3PL Warehouse Manager.

1. Log in to your SmartDock portal to view your calendar.
   Smart User Tip: There are three different calendar views: Day, Week, and Month. You can change the view by selecting the gear icon at the top of the calendar. 
   
   Select your preferred calendar view to display the available time slots for the drop-off. Use the blue arrows at the top of the grid to proceed to the next day, week, or month. Note that if you are using the monthly view, you must click on the date to view the available times.
2. Select your desired time slot—available time slots display as white, while unavailable times are grayed out.
3. A new window opens for you to enter the Carrier Information. Enter the relevant fields, then click Next.
   • If the carrier is configured in SmartDock, use the 'Carrier Search' field to select an existing carrier. Please note that failing to use the carrier search for an existing carrier results in a duplicate entry of the carrier.
   • If scheduling for a new carrier, enter the required 'Carrier Name' and all other necessary fields.
4. Select a 'Load Type'. If the relevant load type is not listed, select Unspecified.
   

   Once a load type is selected, the 'Duration' defaults to your configured account settings—modify as needed.

    
5. Enter a Reference Number, Customer (case-sensitive and must match customer name exactly in WMS), and the remaining fields as needed, then change the 'Status' to Send to WMS.
   
   • Please note that you must enter a Reference Number as the identifier for the receipt—PO Number and Trailer Number are not acceptable identifiers when creating a receipt.
   • If the Reference Number matches an existing receipt transaction in 3PL Warehouse Manager, the system flags the appointment and changes the status to 'ATTENTION!' Additionally, if you don't specify the customer and the reference number belongs to two different customers, the system alerts you that more information is needed, such as a transaction ID or customer name.
6. Click Next > Finalize Appointment (or Next > Save if you are editing an existing appointment). A confirmation message appears, and a new receipt is created in 3PL Warehouse Manager that populates with the Expected Date, Carrier, Notes, and Capacity Type specified on the appointment. Once you refresh the page, the appointment status changes to 'In WMS-Receiver'.