Purpose:

The Cross Country Trading feature in AGRIS was designed to save your company time by allowing you to:

• Have all the documents for a direct ship linked under a trade id so you can see the profitability of it on one screen.

• Push a single button to enter freight payments and settlements from the trade screen.

• Keep track of the bushels on both the purchase and sales side to make sure you don't over buy or sell.

• Enter direct ship tickets, you can enter both inbound and outbound tickets at the same time with less screens

The main thing to remember when learning Cross Country Trading is that you do not have to change the way you enter documents. You are able to create documents from the trade screen, but you are not required to. Once you have the contracts linked the tickets, delivery sheets, freight and settlements will all be linked even if you use the regular method of creating them.

Set up:

Dataset Setup

Cross Country Trading needs to be turned on in the dataset you wish to utilize it. You will go to Maintenance>Dataset Maintenance>Select your dataset>Extended Options. Mark Cross Country Trading (#24) as a Y.

Trade ID Setup

Trade IDs are how you will group the trades, it will be added to the documents so that you know what are all included in the trade and aid in keeping track of the profitability of the trade.
You will need to define what you want to use for the Trade ID. You can use no default and type in whatever you want to identify the trade or you can default either the first sales contract or the first purchase contract. An example of a no default trade ID would be delivery date, the name of the company the trade is made with, the date of the trade, or the trader the deal was made with.
To set your default go to GRN>Setup Information>Cross Country Trading.

Contract setup

You will also want to make the Trade ID visible on contracts. This way when you go into edit or enter a contract you will be able to add or edit the trade ID without having to go to cross country trading screen. You can do this by going to GRN>Setup Information>Contract types>select your contract type>then go into #2 and #3 available fields for purchase and sales. Put in a 1 or 4 in the Trade ID field.

System Security Settings

There are settings in System Security that control a user's ability to utilize Cross Country Trading.


Without access to Advance Reports, you will not be able to go to GRN>Report Manager>Advanced Reports to get the Cross Country Trading Profitability Report, but you will still be able to access it from the trade screen.

Understanding the Trade Screens

Contract Trade ID Information Screen

The first screen will be the list of contracts with Trade IDs
In my example below you can see they are grouped by Trade ID and FARM DELV is made up of 150,000 bushel sales and 4 10,000 and a 100,000 purchase. The -00# after the Trade ID are just to show the number of purchase or sales contracts in that trade, kind of like schedule numbers on a contract.

At the bottom of the screen is a set of buttons:
Select – Will take you into view the highlighted line's trade screen. In this case it would take me into view Trade ID Direct. You can also double click on the line to go to the trade screen.
Insert – Insert will allow you to add a contract and a new Trade ID.
Filter – Filter will allow you to use search parameters to find the contract or Trade ID you are looking for.
Understanding the trade screen:
When you hit select or double click on a line you will be taken into the trade screen.
In the top left-hand corner is where you will find the trade ID you are currently in as well as the commodity. You can only have one commodity per trade ID.
If you have one purchase and one sales contract, it will list the Name Ids at the top of the screen. If you have more than one, it will keep count of how many you have.
The delivery sheets, contracts, and tickets that have not been placed on a delivery sheet and are linked to th trade id will be displayed in the trade screen.

The buttons at the bottom will allow you to enter documents as needed for the trade:
Select- will let you drill into the highlighted document. You can also double click on the line to see the next screen.
Insert- will allow you to add a contract to the trade ID. The search parameter box will come up.
Remove – will remove the trade Id from the contract you have selected. You cannot remove delivery sheets.
Edit – will take you into the edit screen for that document. So if you select a delivery sheet and hit edit, it will take you in like you would if you went in through delivery sheet maintenance.
Price – will take you to the price screen for that document. If you select a contract, you can price the whole contract or a portion of it. If you select a delivery sheet, it will bring up the price contract screen with the bushels on the delivery sheet defaulted in. Delivery sheets must be in unpaid status.
Enter Ticket – will take you to the ticket entry screen, not the cross country ticket entry screen.
Freight – will bring up the freight already entered, either on a ticket or as a freight only ticket. You are able to select the tickets you wish to pay and create a freight voucher from this screen.
Settlement – will bring up a list of name ID's associated with the trade ID. You can select one to settle and when complete it you can return to the trade screen by hitting back or escape.
Filter – Filter allows you to narrow down all the documents on the main screen.
Print – will print a graphic report with what is on the trade screen including the totals at the bottom.


Under the Purchase column, you will see the estimated number of loads based on the contracts you have in the trade, and the loads applied to them. Bushels are the total bushels contracted. Amount is the dollar value of the contracts.
Sales is set up the same as purchase. If there is a difference between the two a column for difference will come up.
Freight expense is figured the actual freight, calculated from Units, Actual Freight Rate, and Additional Freight Amount on tickets and contracts. If there is estimated freight, there will be a second figure with "(Est.)" following it.
Net is calculated from Units, Schedule Price, and actual Freight Expenses. The second is the net amount without Futures Price, calculated by taking the net amount and adjusting out the value of each contract based on Futures Price. It is labeled "Basis". The "Basis" amount does not display if it is the same as net amount.
You can change the order of the columns, just like other screens within AGRIS, by using the gears icon in the bottom, left-hand column.

This will allow you to move the columns up and down in the list so you can see the information needed to you. This will only affect your view and is saved by workstation.
You can also change the sort of the columns by clicking on the header of the column you want to sort by. A green triangle will show you the column it is currently sorted by. The tip pointing up means it is sorted A-Z. The tip pointed down means it is sorted Z-A. The yellow square shows the column that is the default sort for this screen. If the screen is sorted by the default column, the fields will populate faster, not necessarily true of the other columns.

Entering Contracts:

Contracts are entered as usual. You can add the trade ID on either the first screen or the delivery screen, depending on how you set the field up in the contract type.

Linking Contracts

If you have contracts already entered that aren't linked to a trade, you can edit the trade ID on the contract or you can go to the Cross Country Trading Screen and add it to a trade.
Go to GRN>CONTRACTS>CROSS COUNTRY TRADING
If you have no contracts with trade ids set up it will bring up a parameters screen to search for contracts.

You will want to start with the contract you have defaulted as the trade ID. If you have no default, you can start with either a purchase or sale contract.
Schedules on a contract will show up separately. You are able to put different trade ids on schedules of the same contract.

Once you select your contract, if you have no default set, it will give you the trade Id field to type in what you want. In this example I put Oct Del LE for October Delivery Lumpkin Elevator.

You will then be given a screen that details the trade. As you can see in my example, there was already loads applied to the contract and a delivery sheet done. You do not have to enter the trade id before applying, it can be added later or even changed if you mistakenly put the wrong trade ID.

Open

Removing Contracts

You can remove the trade Id directly from the contract in edit contracts or you can remove it from the trade screen.
To remove the trade id from a contract, highlight the contract and hit remove.

Confirm by hitting yes when asked if you want to remove.

It will take you back to the trade screen. You can only do this on contracts.

Editing Documents

Highlight the document you wish to edit. Then hit the edit button.

The next screen will depend on what you have highlighted, in this case we will be moving to edit contract screen.

Once you reach the end of your edit and you print your forms it will take you back to the trade screen.

Pricing Documents

You are able to price contracts by highlighting a contract or unpaid delivery sheet and hitting the price button.
Highlighting a contract and hitting price will take you to the schedule for that contract.

Hitting select will take you to the screen where you can enter all the bushels or part of them. If only doing part, make sure you have the same number of bushels in both the scheduled and applied box.

Selecting a delivery sheet and hitting price will also take you to price contracts, but it will default in the number of bushels on that delivery sheet

Producing a Settlement

The settlement button will bring up a list of all the name IDs associated with the trade, both purchase and sales, regardless of if they have tickets to settle or not.

When you select a name id to settle, it will take you to produce a settlement screen.

You can continue through producing the settlement as normal. Once all the documents are printed it will return you to the trade screen to select another name ID.

Freight

Hitting the freight button will show you the tickets with unpaid freight. You can select the ones you wish to pay, then hit continue. You can see all the tickets with freight by hitting, show paid tickets button.

It will take you to the freight expense screen where you can choose to run a report, mark as paid or create AP vouchers.

Entering Regular Tickets

To enter a ticket from the trade screen, highlight the contract you want the ticket to apply to and hit enter ticket.

The inbound and outbound will default in based on if you selected a purchase or a sales. You can continue through just as if you were entering a ticket normally. You can see in the bottom right-hand corner it shows you what contract you selected, estimated number of loads remaining and bushels remaining. Once the ticket is entered, you will be returned to the trade screen.

Entering Cross Country tickets

Cross Country ticket entry can be found at GRN >Shipment >Cross Country Ticket Entry

If the Shipment ID already exist on the same date and any portion of the ticket is "on hold" the user will be able to edit from the Cross Country Trading entry screen. The following options are displayed:

Select = Highlighted ticket and if direct ship the other side will be displayed and can be edited if "on hold". (This functionality is detailed in that section of this document.)
Add Shipment = Add this same Shipment ID with the next sequence of number (first 12 the same next 3 sequenced)
Add Ticket = Will add a New Ticket to this Shipment ID. Example of this would be a Freight Only Ticket associated with this shipment
If the Shipment ID already exist on the same date and no portion of the ticket is "on hold" the same options are available as before when choose select not available to Edit from CCT entry screen will get following option:

Edit = Launches Edit Multiple Tickets options for the selected Shipment ID. (This functionality is detailed in that section of this document.)
If the Shipment ID already exist on a different date the user will get the following message:

Yes = Add this same Shipment ID with the next sequence of number (first 12 the same next 3 sequenced)

No = Allows user to enter a different Shipment ID
Next Active Window

Note: Both Name ID's cannot be Unknown. Unknown Name ID only allowed with the B=Both Option.
Next Active Window

Next Active Window

Note A: The user will be able to enter the weights or the actual units (bushels). When entering the weights, the system will calculate the bushels. When entering bushels without weights, the gross weight will be calculated, tare weight will be zero, and net weight will be the same as gross weight.
Note B: The Weight and Grade Fields are unavailable for the "unknown" Name ID portion of the ticket. It will default from the other side of the ticket both weights, factors and Weight & Grade Base.
Next Active Window

When selecting any option to navigate from this main screen after the Weight and Grade information has been entered any Weight and Grade fields left blank on the opposite transaction will be defaulted with the information entered from the other ticket, therefore creating the "shell ticket".
For Example if the IB / Purchase (Origin) Weights and Grades were entered and the OB / Sales (Destination) Weights and Grades were left blank they would be automatically be populated with the IB information.
When using the "Both" option, the inbound weights and grades are saved as unapplied certificates on the outbound ticket, and the outbound weights and grades are saved as unapplied certificates on the inbound ticket, if the weight/grade base codes are different.

Click Save to save the tickets without applying. This will place the tickets on hold.
Click Splits to specify how this ticket should be split (up to 10 parties for the inbound ticket, and 10 parties for the outbound ticket).
Click Apply to apply the tickets to contracts, or to place in storage.
Click Remarks to enter ticket remarks. This will be an overlay window, without hiding the ticket entry screen on the previous page.
Click Freight to enter freight information. This will be an overlay window, without hiding the ticket entry screen on the previous page:

Notes have been added to display notes for the selected Shipper or Hauler.
If the "Name ID to use for freight notes" option is set to a "1" or a "2", the shipper of hauler name id will be used to determine if there are notes present. If any valid unexpired notes are found the notes button will appear.
There are four possible situations for the "Notes" button display.

1. No Contact Notes on file (The notes button will not be displayed)

2. Expired Contact Note (The notes button will not be displayed)

3. About To Expire Contact Note (**The notes button will be displayed)

4. Contact Note Pass the Expire Range (**The notes button will be displayed)

In addition to the new notes button, if the "Name ID to use for freight notes" option is set to a "1" or a "2" and the number of days has a value. The shipper or hauler NameID will be checked to see if it has an expired note or a note that is within the "Number of days before expiration" date check.
If any of the "Ticket Notes" are expired or about to expire they auto pop of the note displays.

If the freight notes" option is set to a "1" or a "2" and the Name ID does not have any ticket contact notes or only has expired ticket contact note entries, before the freight information can be saved, a warning will be displayed to let the user know the shipper or hauler being checked does not have any current insurance information (missing or expired ticket contact note). If the user does not have the necessary security level to continue, the user will be given an opportunity to over ride the warning by providing the proper user information.


The Freight Status will default to Estimated if either the Origin or Destination or Unknown. This will default from the "Unknown" Name ID. Warning message similar to the following will be displayed if user goes to change to Final:

Ticket Application Navigation (Streamlined Contract Application)

The Contract Application and Search has been streamlined to search for contracts and the user can select to view contract details it does not automatically display the contract details after selected.

View – Allows the user to view the details of contract and select or go back to the selection list


Select goes directly to the Contract Application Process

View – Displays the contract details along with previous contract applications.

Applications – Shows Previous Applications to the selected contract
During Contract Application a new button has been added to launch the settlement process. This replaces the menu option Apply/Settle.

When option for "Both" is selected the Apply Process goes through the IB processes and then repeats for the OB.

Ticket Edit from Ticket Entry Screen

Menu Path: GRN – Shipment – Cross Country Ticket Entry
The user has the ability to Search for a "Shipment ID" from the Ticket Entry screen then Display and / or Edit the Inbound and Outbound Tickets for that Shipment ID if any portion of the shipment is "On Hold".
The user can key in the "Shipment ID" the system will pull up the shipment ID if the "Date" and "Shipment ID" match.

The Shipment ID Search will consist of the following:

When the user selects the Shipment ID, the Inbound (Origin) and Outbound (Destination) Ticket information will display. The user will be able to Edit the information on the Ticket Entry Screen if the Ticket is on hold, not split (no applications). If the ticket is applied or split, the information will display but be "grayed" out for View Only. The will be an indication in the corner beside OB Ticket #
The user will be able to edit the following information:

• Name ID

• Origin Location

• Destination Location

• Weight Ticket

• Gross Weight

• Tare Weight

• Net Weight

• Gross Date / Time

• Tare Date / Time

• Weight Base

• Driver On

• Grade Base

• Sample Number

• Grade Certificate

• Grade Factors

When changing from the Unknown Name ID on an OB ticket the outbound weights are set to zero, the outbound grades are set to the commodity defaults, and the outbound weight and grade base codes are set to the transportation mode defaults. Change the outbound weight or grade base code back to the original to get the original weights/grades back. When changing from the Unknown Name ID on an IB ticket the inbound weights are set to zero, the inbound grades are set to the commodity defaults, and the inbound weight and grade base codes are set to the transportation mode defaults. Change the inbound weight or grade base code back to the original to get the original weights/grades back.
Once editing is complete, the buttons described in Cross Country Ticket Entry of this document will be available.

Edit Multiple Tickets

Menu Path: GRN – Shipments – Edit Multiple Tickets

New button for "Edit Tickets"

The "Edit Tickets" button automatically display the ticket(s) related to the last shipment that was entered while in the current session of the Ticket Entry process. The Shipment ID will display along with the associated tickets (Inbound, Outbound, and/or Freight tickets).

Select

This option opens the current AGRIS "Edit Tickets" menu for that ticket. User is able to View or Edit ticket information

Select Multiple

This option allows the user to select individual tickets, all Inbound tickets, all Outbound tickets, or all tickets to edit through the Edit Multiple Tickets screens.
When Selecting Multiple, there will not be buttons for Insert, Link, Apply, Settlement, Variance, Freight, and Reverse.
When completed the Edit Multiple Tickets process returns to the listing of all tickets for the selected Shipment ID with any edited information displayed.

Insert

This option allows the user to insert a new shipment through the Ticket Entry screen. The "Shipment ID" will populate with the current selected one so the new ticket will be associated with this Shipment ID.
When completed the Ticket Entry process returns to the listing of all tickets for the selected Shipment ID with the New Ticket displayed.
*Note: This option is only available when entering through the "edit multiple tickets" menu option.

Apply

This option opens the current AGRIS "Apply Tickets From Hold" process for the selected Ticket(s). It will go directly to choosing the application.

Settlement

This option opens a display window of current selected ticket applications.

Delivery Sheet: This option opens the current AGRIS "Produce a Delivery Sheet" menu for that ticket, allowing the user to print the Delivery Sheet for the Ticket selected. The information will be filled in for the current Delivery Sheet Application but the user can modify to select all applications or a different application on the Delivery Sheet.
Settlement:
If a settlement exist for the selected ticket application this option will provide the ability to create a settlement for new discounts.
If a settlement do not exist for the selected ticket application this option will provide the ability to create a new settlement.

When the option for Settlement is taken the system will automatically create or place this ticket on a Delivery Sheet. The system has been enhanced to check for an existing delivery sheet that was automatically created for this Commodity, Customer and Location. If an auto-generated Delivery Sheet exists, the system will add to the current Delivery Sheet until it reaches a pre-determined number of applications.
The current settlement process is used with an additional option added to mark as "Ready To Settle". This allows the user to review the settlement information and mark the ticket to be processed in a batch through the "Automatic Settlement" process.
When completed the Settlement process returns to the listing of all tickets for the selected Shipment ID.
View Settlement:
The user will be presented with the Settlement Maintenance menu.

Reverse

This option opens the current AGRIS "Reverse Tickets" menu for that ticket(s). The user will have the ability to:

• Reverse and Delete Ticket – Option 1

• Reverse Ticket to Hold – Change Name ID – Option 2

• Reverse One Application and Apply to Hold – Option 3

• Change Ticket Location – Option 4

If the ticket has been settled the settlement must be referenced prior to reversing the ticket. The following message will be displayed if trying to reverse a settled ticket.

When completed the Ticket Reversal process returns to the listing of all tickets for the selected Shipment ID. Any changes done through the reversal process will be reflected when returning to the Shipment ID Transaction Display screen.

Link

This option is used to search for another Shipment ID or Ticket, and Link the two transactions together. This option could be used to link tickets when the Inbound Cross-Country Ticket is on a different Shipment ID than the Outbound Cross-Country Ticket. If Additional Unknown Name ID Tickets exist at time of linking they will be deleted.



Completing the Link process will return to the listing of all tickets for the selected Shipment ID. The Shipment ID will change on the Ticket you are linking to and will display at this time.

Variance

This screen displays current Matched Status and contains the details of the transactions when reviewing current status.
If the Shipment is "Unmatched" the Variance screen will display reasons for the "Unmatched" Status. These reasons are listed out in the Matching Section of this document.


In this example the status is "Unmatched". As a user reviewing this screen the reason unmatched is "Delivery Sheet Not Yet Created", in looking at the ticket details above can see that the OB ticket is in-transit so need to apply and settle. After settlement additional matching criteria would be checked and either the shipment would be changed to matched or a new reason it was unmatched would be displayed
Options within the Variance Screen:
Force Match: If all transactions on that shipment are settled and an Intra-company contract/transaction is not required then it is eligible to be "Force Matched", the option will then be available based on user security.
Example:

When Force Match the user is required to key in a Matched Comment.
Once a shipment is Force Matched an option will be available to "Unmatch". This option is available based on user security.
The Matching process within the Settlement and Automated Matching process will Unmatch based on the shipment not meeting the Matching requirements.

Comments: Option to record comments about the shipment. Example if "Unmatch" the user may record any note as to research that has been done in reference to the Unmatch status.
The comments are broke out for general comments and matched comments.
Freight: This option displays Freight Variances associated with this shipment

• Freight on Contract = Actual Freight Rate X Ticket Quantity + Additional Freight on Contract

• Actual Freight = Freight Recorded on Ticket (Paid and Remaining are status of Actual Freight)

• Freight on Purchase and / or Sales Delivery sheet = Any Freight deduction or premium on delivery sheet

Discounts: The discount options display the variance between Purchase and Sales Discounts

Freight

This option opens the current Freight Entry Screen and then the ability to open the AGRIS "Freight Expenses" menu for that ticket or Shipment ID allowing the ability to create the Freight Payable.

Freight Expense is only available if Freight Status if Final.
When completed the Freight Expenses process returns to the list.

Reports for Cross Country

You can run contract reports using "Trade ID" in the sort criteria. It is also a field that can be added to a user defined contract report under the Delivery/Price Detail.
The same report that can be ran from the trade screen can also be ran from GRN>Report Manager>Advance Report>#1 Standard report>#4 Cross Country Trading Profitability Report




~Document Written by Betsy Ropp