The Milestone Module

1 What is the Milestone Module?

A milestone is a key checkpoint in the life of a shipment — Booking confirmed, Loaded on board, Export customs cleared, Arrived at destination, Delivered to consignee, and so on. The Milestone Module lets your team:

• Define a master list of milestones once, and group default checklists by job type (Sea Export, Air Import, Warehouse, etc.).
• Plan each shipment automatically — one click seeds the right checklist with expected dates.
• Record when each step actually happens, with remarks and the responsible user.
• Get alerted — automatic notifications when chosen milestones complete, and clear red/green status for anything overdue or done.
• Track visually — a colour-coded timeline in Quick View → Track Shipment and a cross-job Milestone Dashboard.

2 Key concepts & data model

It helps to keep three layers in mind — the same way the screens are organised:

The five lifecycle phases

Milestones are ordered by a sequence number, and the seed data groups them into five logical phases. The sequence drives the order they appear in checklists and on the timeline.

1 · Booking & Documentation (10–99) 2 · Origin / Export (100–199) 3 · Main Carriage / In Transit (200–299) 4 · Destination / Import (300–399) 5 · Delivery & Final (400–499)

Status at a glance

Everywhere in the module, the same three colours mean the same thing:

Done — an actual date is recorded  Overdue — planned date has passed, not yet done  Pending — due today or in the future

3 Configuration 1 — the Milestone master

The Milestone master holds the library of milestone definitions shared by every template and job. Open it from Others → Milestone in Cargo, Liner, Transport or Marine; it is the same list in each. You usually set this up once; the system already ships with ~50 ready-to-use milestones across the five phases.

Fields

To add a milestone

1. Open Others → Milestone.
2. Click New.
3. Enter the Code and a clear Description (both are mandatory; the form asks for them before saving).
4. Click Save.

Use the always-on Find box above the grid to search the list quickly. The new milestone immediately becomes available in the template dropdowns. A milestone that no template or job uses can be deleted; one that is in use cannot.

4 Configuration 2 — Templates per job type

A template turns the master library into a ready-made checklist for one job type. When an operator opens a new shipment and clicks Apply Template, all the template's milestones are added to that job in one go — already in sequence and with planned dates calculated.

The Milestone Template screen

Open it from Others → Milestone Template in Cargo, Liner, Transport or Marine. It has two grids:

To build or edit a template

1. Open Others → Milestone Template.
2. Click Add for a new job-type template (or select an existing one and click Edit).
3. Set the Job Type, Template Name, and leave Active = A.
4. In the lower grid, add milestone lines: choose the Milestone, set Offset Days, and flag Mandatory / Notify as needed.
5. For any line with Notify = Y, tick the recipients under Notify Users.
6. Adjust Seq to reorder, then click Save.

Built-in templates

The upgrade ships one Active template for every common job type, so you can start immediately and tweak later:

5 Notifications & alerts

Notifications keep the right people informed the moment a critical step happens — no need to chase the operator for an update.

How to set them up

Notifications are configured on the template line (see Section 4):

1. Set Notify (Y/N) = Y on the milestones that matter (e.g. Export cleared, Arrived, Delivered).
2. Under Notify Users, tick everyone who should be alerted (manager, customer-service, accounts — as appropriate).

When an alert fires

An alert is sent only when all of these are true:

• The job milestone came from a template (i.e. seeded via Apply Template).
• That template line has Notify = Y and at least one Notify User.
• The operator records an actual date (marks it done) and saves successfully.
• No alert has already been sent for that milestone (you won't be spammed with duplicates).

What recipients receive

Each listed user gets a notification such as:

6 Using it from the Job Card

This is where day-to-day operators spend most of their time — recording milestones on a specific shipment.

Opening Milestone Entry

1. Open any shipping job card (Sea Import / Export, Air Import / Export, Miscellaneous or Liner).
2. Make sure the job is saved (Browse mode) and Open — the button is disabled mid-entry.
3. Click the Milestone button in the toolbar.

The window opens titled Milestones — <Job No>, carrying the job number, type and port across automatically.

Seeding the checklist

Cargo, Liner, Transport and Marine jobs get their template's milestones automatically when the job is created, each with a calculated Planned date. Use Apply Template to fill any gaps, for example after a template has changed. This is safe to click again — it never overwrites milestones you've already recorded.

When the job's own dates update milestones

When you save a job, Ritzy compares its milestones with what the job has recorded, so you don't enter the same date twice.

• Actual events update the milestone. For example an ATA on a port call, an invoice raised, or a container event recorded on every container in the job.
• Estimates ask first. Once an ETA, flight date, pick-up date or delivery date has passed, an Update milestones window lists what probably happened. Untick anything that hasn't happened yet, correct the date if needed, and click Save. An unticked milestone isn't asked about again unless that date changes.
• Future dates never complete a milestone. They only move its Planned date. A planned date you have changed by hand stays as you set it.

If a date passes without anyone saving the job, the question appears as Review n suggested the next time the Milestones window is opened.

To change this for one milestone, use When job dates show it on the template line: Default, Update it, Ask first or Leave it.

Sharing progress with a customer

Click Customer Link in the Milestones window to get a private web address for the job, then copy it into an email or message. The customer doesn't need a login, and the page works on a phone.

• What the customer sees: your company name and contact details, the job number, route, vessel and expected dates, and the milestones marked to show, with the date of each completed one.
• What they never see: charges, remarks, your users, or planned dates for milestones still to come.
• Names on shared jobs: shipper, consignee and B/L appear only when the job has exactly one of each. A Liner voyage carrying several customers shows none of them, so nobody sees another customer's name.
• Choosing what shows: use the Customer switch on the template line, or the tick box when editing a milestone. Invoiced and Job Closed start hidden, and so do milestones added by hand.
• Stopping access: click Revoke. The old address stops working at once, and creating a link again gives a new address. Links don't expire by themselves.

The Milestone Entry grid

Recording progress

• Quickest way: right-click a row → Mark Done (today). It stamps today's date and recalculates the delay.
• Back-dating: click Edit, type the real Actual date, add Remarks, then Save.
• Add an ad-hoc step: Add creates a blank row — pick the milestone and dates. (Note: only milestones seeded from a template trigger notifications.)
• Reminders: right-click → Reminder / Messages (or press F5) to raise a follow-up.

Rows are colour-coded live: overdue in red, done in green, pending in white. Click Save to commit (and send any queued alerts), or Undo to discard.

7 Using it from Quick View — Track Shipment

Track Shipment gives you (and your customer-service desk) a fast, visual answer to “where is my shipment?” — without opening the full job card.

Finding a shipment

1. Open Quick View from the main toolbar.
2. At the top you'll always see the Track Shipment — find by: bar.
3. Pick what to search by — Job No, MBL No, HBL No, MAWB / AWB No, HAWB No, Booking No or Container No.
4. Start typing in the value box (it filters as you type), then click Track or press Enter.

If several shipments match, a picker lists each one with its route and status — click the one you want. Search ignores date ranges, so you can find jobs from any year instantly.

Reading the timeline

The Track Shipment tab shows a header card (job, route, parties, bill numbers, status) with a progress summary like “7 of 10 done — 1 overdue — 2 pending”, followed by the milestone timeline:

• A coloured dot and row background show each step's status (green / red / grey), joined by a connector line in sequence order.
• The sub-line tells you when — “Completed … on time / N days late / N days early”, “Planned … overdue by N days”, or “Not scheduled” — plus any remarks.

Acting from the timeline

• Right-click a pending/overdue step → Mark Done (today) to update it on the spot (if you have edit rights).
• Click Update Milestones (top-right) to open the full Milestone Entry editor — add steps, apply a template, edit dates. The timeline refreshes after you save.

8 The Milestone Dashboard

For a manager's overview across all shipments, open the Milestone Dashboard. It's read-only and built for spotting problems quickly.

• Filter by Job Type (or All) and by Status — All / Pending / Overdue / Done.
• The bold summary line always shows the full picture for the chosen job type: Total · Pending · Overdue · Done.
• The grid lists Job No, Type, Milestone, Planned, Actual, Status, Delay, Remarks and User — with the same red/green colouring.
• Click Refresh after changing filters; Close to exit.

Tip: filter Status = Overdue first thing each morning to see exactly what needs chasing.

9 Recommended day-to-day workflow

1. One-time setup (admin): review the Milestone master, then check/adjust each job type's template — set offsets, mark mandatory steps, and turn on Notify with the right users.
2. New job (operator): save the job; the checklist is laid out automatically with planned dates. Answer the Update milestones window when it appears after a save.
3. As things happen: right-click → Mark Done (today), or edit the actual date and add remarks; Save. Notifications fire automatically.
4. Customer queries: use Quick View → Track Shipment to answer “where is it?” in seconds, or send the job's Customer Link so they can check for themselves.
5. Daily review (supervisor): open the Milestone Dashboard, filter to Overdue, and follow up.

10 Tips & FAQ

I clicked Apply Template twice — did I duplicate everything?

No. Apply Template only adds milestones that aren't already on the job. Existing rows are untouched.

Why didn't a notification go out?

Check the template line has Notify = Y and at least one Notify User, that the milestone was seeded from the template, and that you actually saved after marking it done. Manually-added rows don't notify.

Can I change a planned date?

Yes — click Edit in Milestone Entry and change the Planned date, or change the template's Offset Days so future jobs are planned differently.

Why are the buttons greyed out on this job?

Either the job isn't saved/open yet, or it was imported by the SYNC user (read-only to protect the source).

Why can't I change the milestones on a cancelled job?

A cancelled job's milestones are closed. Adding, editing, deleting or completing one is refused on every job type and from Ritzy Track, the button is hidden on the job, and automatic updates and prompts skip it.

I don't see the Milestone button at all.

The module is disabled. Ask your administrator to set MESSTYPE = Y in Shipping Setup.