Your invoice and your packing list now check each other

A shipment’s packing list and its commercial invoice are separate documents that describe the same physical goods. Until now nothing compared them, so a misreading of one went unnoticed even when the other document had it right.

A new Invoice vs packing list check compares the two:

• Produce — compared by standard name, so “Esparrago” and “Asparagus” count as a match. If no produce matches, the check fails; if only some of it matches, the check warns.
• Quantity — the total box count compared with the total invoice quantity, with a 2% tolerance for rounding and small counting differences. A gap within 2% passes. A larger one, such as a whole missing pallet, fails.

The check never corrects anything on its own. It raises a check for a person to look at, in the same way the rest of the quality checks handle disagreement between documents.

It also fills gaps. When the packing list is missing information, the invoice can fill it in. Missing box weights, variety, and pack format are deduced from the invoice instead of being left blank, and updated when the invoice changes.

Conflicting transport references get flagged too. When two transport documents on the same shipment carry different Air Waybill numbers, that now raises a check instead of Trackberry silently picking one. Trackberry also records where each reference came from. A manually typed reference is never overwritten by a number read from a document, and an uploaded waybill always takes priority over a number taken from an email body.

Drafts validate themselves when their checks pass. A draft whose last outstanding check turns green now validates itself, however it turned green: an inline correction on a packing line, a bulk re-run, or anything else. Previously that only happened at the end of the check job, so drafts could sit for weeks with all their checks passing and nothing scheduled to validate them.

FAQ #

Will Trackberry change my data when the two documents disagree? #

No. It raises a check for someone to look at and leaves both readings alone. When two documents disagree, that is useful information, and quietly choosing one reading would throw it away.

Why does a small quantity difference not fail the check? #

Small differences are common: a few boxes counted differently, or rounding. Failing on them would teach people to ignore the check. A difference within 2% passes. Anything larger fails, because a warning on a real gap was too easy to leave unread.

The invoice has data my packing list is missing. Does that get used? #

Yes. Missing box weights, variety and pack format are deduced from the invoice rather than left blank, and re-derived if the invoice is later replaced.