Proposal Summary
This proposal addresses the integration of real-time FedEx shipping rates in NetSuite, while resolving the incompatibility issue between RF-SMART and FedEx integrated shipping methods. The solution ensures that customers see the current integrated FedEx rates at the time of order placement, but RF-SMART can process the orders by switching to a non-integrated shipping method during fulfilment.
Requirement from Elevate Oral Care
The Client have requested the below requirement through the meeting:
Elevate Oral Care currently have a FedEx integration with NetSuite, utilizing integrated shipping labels on their website and throughout the order fulfillment process. However, since they use RF-SMART for picking, packing, and shipping customer orders, they are unable to use the same integrated shipping labels in RF-SMART, as RF-SMART does not support this feature for shipping.
The client requires an integration of fedEx with NetSuite to manage shipping rates accurately, ensuring real-time FedEx rates are displayed during the order placement process on their website and locked in throughout the entire fulfillment process.
The integration should allow customers to view and select real-time FedEx shipping rates, with these rates remaining unchanged during the order lifecycle. However, since RF-SMART does not support shipping orders using integrated shipping methods, the selected shipping method must be switched to a non-integrated method during fulfillment while preserving the original rate selected by the customer.
Additionally, RF-SMART will capture the actual shipping cost in NetSuite in a custom field, without affecting the customer’s billing. There is also a need to handle FedEx shipping discounts, ensuring part of the discount is passed on to the customer, while the remainder is retained by the business.
Deliverables
To address the client’s need for integrating FedEx shipping rates in NetSuite while ensuring compatibility with RF-SMART for order fulfillment, we have outlined the below solution:
Non-Integrated FedEx Shipping Methods
- Creation of Non-integrated Shipping Items: Non-integrated shipping items will be created to match the FedEx-integrated shipping methods for continued visibility.
- Website Display and Discount Application: In addition to fetching real-time FedEx rates, the website will display the final shipping cost after applying a predetermined discount, which could be either a fixed value or a percentage, depending on the business rules. This discount will be constant across all orders and applied to the FedEx rate before it is shown to the customer. The discount value will be appended to the real-time shipping cost to determine the final shipping charge seen by the customer.
- Automated Script for Shipping Method Update: A script will switch the integrated shipping method to non-integrated methods after the order is approved, keeping the shipping cost unchanged.
- No Real-Time API Call for Shipping Rates: Instead of using the FedEx API, the system will rely on the rates provided by the current FedEx configuration.
- RF-SMART Handling: RF-SMART will process the non-integrated shipping during the fulfillment stage, ensuring that no real-time rates are pulled post-order.
Discount Calculation
If the current FedEx setup provides the discounted shipping rate (in case, $35), we can apply an additional fixed amount or percentage to this rate. This would update the shipping cost for customers, resulting in a displayed shipping cost of $40 (FedEx discounted rate of $35 + $5 adjustment). This adjustment can be customized based on preference.
The updated shipping cost will be displayed to the customers on the website during order placement.
Prerequisites
- Required the website domain for the sandbox setup.
Assumptions
- This functionality will be applicable only to the orders created from the website.
- RF-SMART will be responsible for the generation of tracking numbers and labels and pass them back to NetSuite as part of the fulfillment process.
- The shipping rates provided by FedEx will not change post-order placement, ensuring consistency for the customer.
- The free FedEx Ground option will be included and will work correctly with RF-SMART in both solutions.
- The actual shipping cost recorded by RF-SMART will not affect the customer-facing cost.
- RF-SMART will handle shipping label printing and the generation of tracking numbers even with the non-integrated shipping methods.
- We are not using the FedEx APIs to fetch the real-time shipping rates, instead we are reusing the existing rate provided by the current standard FedEx integration with the NetSuite.
- FedEX is providing the discounted percentage in the current setup.
- An additional charge will be applied to the shipping cost as a fixed percentage or value. Customers will see the updated shipping cost, which includes this extra charge, after factoring in the discount.
Risks
Tracking and Label Issues with Non-Integrated Methods:
- Non-integrated methods may not support tracking number generation or label printing within NetSuite.
- Mitigation: RF-SMART will generate the necessary labels and tracking information, which will be fed back into NetSuite.
Estimated Effort
64 hours