Order details on the web
VisibleLogistics lets you share order information on-line
In a previous post I described e-mail notifications in VisibleLogistics. While e-mail (or SMS) are good for publishing changes a visibility solution's core functionality is to publish the current situation. In this case, on a web page.
The link between the two, literally, is the URL in the e-mail notification, which links to the order details on the web. Once you are logged in as an order's buyer, carrier or seller, you can see the following, which is part of an order details page.
This is effectively the web page version of the e-mail, with additional information, such as the order lines.
Now this is no big deal - some information from a database on a web page, which is commonplace amongst teenagers who share details of their interests and social lives amongst friends using applications like Facebook. However, even this most basic web application functionality, in this case a simple web interface for creating and editing order information, is unavailable to small businesses who are sharing information with business partners via telephone, fax and e-mail - all of which require someone on the other end to respond with the latest information.
In VisibleLogistics, this is just the start - getting away from maintaining and e-mailing spreadsheets. The next step is to track order status updates…