>HI Ed,
>
>My office uses the UPS Online shipping system. We are running a Novell Network file server setup. Our UPS computer is connected to the network. What we do is generate the shipping labels (Per UPS approval) from our VFP program and then export the information the UPS system needs to process the shipments. This export includes the tracking numbers.
>
>Everyone is right at UPS saying that the OnLine system will not run under Win 9X. I know I tryed it we were not able to get the Online system to print anything. It was something to do with the way Online handles print fuctions.
>
>Please E-Mail me if you would like more details about our set up.

I've been involved with the development of Pitney Bowes' Ascent system, which is a Win32 platform shipping system. The current product, version 3.20, is a VFP 5 application, running on Win9x and WinNT in a variety of network environments. It's a multicarrier shipping system, which can handle the standard package carriers (UPS/RPS/FedEx/DHL/Airborne), the Post Office, and a variety of regionals, LTL (trucking) and courier services. It provides for both printed and electronic manifesting, rating, value and rate shopping and a good deal more. It provides a number of means for integration with existing software, including programmable ODBC links, and an OLE Automation server is under development now. it's powerful, scales quite well, supporting multiple shipping stations as well as a Network Query facility, allowing other stations on the network to interact with Ascent, to look up rates, examine shipping logs which can be tied back to your own documents such as customer POs or invoices, package tracking and the like.

For UPS, Ascent can generate labels, manifests, call tags, and offers essentially all the functionality available with UPS OnLine, including package tracking and electronic manifesting. It's certifies by UPS; rates, including contract rates, are updated as changes in base rates and contracts occur.

In addition to working on the development of the product as a consultant (I worked on much of the network implememtation, as well as the installation and product update and rate change engines), the company I work for, Weatherhill, has integrated Ascent into our order processing and customer service application (also VFP). As invoices are generated, the information regarding the shipping destination, method of shipment and billing details are made available. We barcode our pick lists, so that as orders are picked and placed on the shipping line, they get boxed, and the shipping clerk simply reads the picklist barcode with a wedge; Ascent goes out to our database and retrieves the information needed to generate the shipping labels, including UPS-approved barcoding, records the weight of the package and actual charges for the shipment and writes that detail back to our customer service system, so that we know immediately when the order has been processed, the date it ships, and we can subsequently track the package and get delivery confirmation. With a single shipping station running, we can handle a peak load of roughly 400 packages/day, with one person running the shipping station and boxing the picked orders, and two people pulling stock to fulfill orders from our warehouse. During peak periods (for us, that's late August, late November, and early January, since much of our catalog is college texts and various art and travel books on the Far East that sell heavily around Christmas) we bring up a second shipping station.

Our customer service people have continuous access to shipping manifests going back several years, and can do electronic claiming over the Internet through Ascent's electronic package tracking facilities. They can also rate shop (pick the least expensive method of shipment that satisfies the customer's need for delivery), extracting the actual shipping weights for an order and the customer's address from our database and passing the details to Ascent's rating engine to get rates.

It's an extremely powerful and reliable system. We're planning to integrate Ascent's rating engine into our Web site when we add on-line ordering to our Web page later this year.

I checked; Ascent uses UPSLink to perform the electronic manifesting and claiming rather than interfacing with the UPS OnLine product.

I've barely scratched the surface of Ascent's capabilities; there were between 6000 and 8000 installations the last time I looked, most of them turnkey systems (systems where PB built the station, added the peripherals, and preinstalled the software so that it was ready to go as soon as the machine was set up by the PB service rep.) It can also be purchased as software only, where you supply the hardware; Pitney Bowes obviously will sell you add-ons like scales, label printers, integrated postage meters and the like if you need then.

As mentioned, you can send me email and I'll pass it along to the sales group at Pitney Bowes. If you have questions regarding how we integrated Ascent into our environment, feel free to ask.

Ed