21
Jun
The Commercial Advice Processing Workflow
Comments
1. The Purchase Enquiry Processing Workflow
2. The Commercial Advice Processing Workflow
3. CompassAir Ships – Search Functionality and Criteria Parameters
The Commercial Advice (Advice) processing workflow consists of the following stages:
1. Recording: An Advice is received for example in the form of an email. It is either recorded by CompassPulse automatically or entered manually via the Advices tab for the relevant ship in the vessel database.
2. Preparation: The Advice is then either processed or ignored, processing being to find matching Purchase Enquiries (P/E) (CompassAir automates matching, and with CompassPulse, the broker is immediately notified of matching P/Es, as soon as the Advice is received), to investigate further and then make a decision on whether to take action or not.
3. Action: To respond to a matching P/E if considered appropriate or to record a ship against a P/E for action at a later date.
Scenarios for Commercial Advice Processing
1. The broker wants to respond to a direct P/E immediately a matching Advice is received
Brokers will be familiar with the requirements of all current direct P/Es, i.e. those enquiries from their own clients, and it is likely that these are considered in preference to market P/Es when a new Advice arrives.
Responding is quick and easy: a new message is composed and the ship’s details can be added by first pressing “F4”, adding the name of the ship for sale to the search box and then pressing enter. Additional narrative can then be added to the message as appropriate.
Automatically the following occurs:
1. the ship name and the matching P/E reference are added to the outgoing email both in the form of a hyperlink (for easy access to the ship in the vessel database as well as to the P/E)
2. the email is added to the “Messages” tab of the ship in the vessel database
3. the email is added to the P/E’s “Messages” tab
4. the ship is added to the “Ships” tab of the P/E to show that the ship in question has been proposed
2. The broker wants to respond to matching P/Es with the details of the ship referred to in the Advice
Once the Advice has been recorded (either manually or automatically by CompassPulse), it is accessible in one of two ways. The first is directly from the incoming email by clicking on the ship name (which will be shown at the top of the email if CompassPulse has been activated – i.e. ShipLink or Advice Recorder). In this case the full ship details from the vessel database are displayed in a second tab. Within this screen, the Advice can be edited using the “Advices” tab.
The second method is via the Ships icon on the left hand menu bar (which opens the Ships screen), then searching for the ship name shown in the incoming advice.
CompassAir automatically matches relevant P/Es (if CompassPulse is installed, the user is immediately notified of such matching direct P/Es) which are then displayed on the “Matching P/E” tab.
Some P/Es will be a better match than others, and to distinguish between them each P/E is scored, the best match being five stars (see below for more information on ranking).
From the list of suggestions, the broker can respond directly to the P/E by first selecting a P/E and then, by right clicking it and selecting “Propose” a new message containing the ship information will be created (the ship reference will automatically be added to the message header along with the P/E reference number). Once sent, the message can be found on the “Messages” tab for the ship in the vessel database as well as on the “Messages” tab for the P/E (all P/Es are accessible using the left hand menu bar, using the Purchase Enquiries icon which opens the Purchase Enquiries screen). Having been proposed, the P/E is then moved from the “Matching P/E” tab to the “P/E” tab for the ship in question.
Having proposed a ship, the “Relation Status” shown on the “P/E” tab is automatically changed to “Proposed” (this is different to the P/E “Status” which is changed by editing the P/E, and includes completed, failed, working etc.). This “Relation Status” can later be changed (right click on the respective row and select “Edit”) to either “Rejected” (the potential buyer does not consider the ship to be suitable) or “Interested” (an initial positive response to the proposal ready for discussions to move to the next stage). If the broker subsequently considers a ship to be unsuitable it can be deleted from the “Ships” tab.
Using the “Refresh” button (shown below in red) will update all fields after changes have been made.
See 3 below where a broker can add ships to a P/E but delay proposing them. In other words, they are added to the “P/E” tab pending a decision on whether they should be proposed or not.
Following the same procedure and using the same right click drop-down menu, the P/E source email can be opened, the P/E can be opened in a separate tab, etc.
2a. An Advice is forwarded to a client that has an active P/E that matches the ship
CompassAir will recognise the matching and record the ship as proposed both on the “Ships” tab in the P/E and on the “P/E” tab for the ship in the vessel database.
3. The broker wants to see details of the matching P/Es before responding to them
Further information about each P/E is available by right clicking on the P/E and selecting “Open Detached”. In a new tab there will be displayed full details, including matching ships, ships that have been shortlisted, messages relating to the P/E etc.
Alternatively, details of the each P/E (or multiple P/Es if selected using the tick box) can be displayed in list form from either the “P/E” or the “Matching P/E” tabs. Further details about each P/E in the list (including related messages, files, etc.) can then be viewed by clicking on it or from the right click menu choosing “Open Detached”.
4. The broker wants to shortlist one or more “Matching P/Es” for the ship without proposing it at this stage
A shortlist from the “Matching P/E” tab can be created by right clicking on the relevant P/E (or selecting multiple P/Es) and selecting “Add Ship”. This moves the selected P/E(s) from the current tab to the “P/E” tab (the date and time this occurs is recorded in the “Related On” column). From this list P/Es ships can be proposed or the P/E source email opened in the same way as above. When a ship has been proposed, the date and time of the email is recorded in the “Last Sent” column and the “Relation Status” on the P/E tab is shown as “Proposed”.
Those P/Es appearing under the “P/E” tab of a ship will now also have the associated ship name and details recorded under the “Ships” tab in the P/E.
5. The broker wants to search for “Matching P/Es” from the Purchase Enquiries screen
As mentioned above, CompassAir automatically matches P/Es to the ship specifications shown in the Advice.
Alternatively a broker can search for matching P/Es directly from Purchase Enquiries, i.e. the list of P/Es accessed via the left hand menu bar Purchase Enquiries icon which opens the Purchase Enquiries screen, inserting the ship specifications in the relevant fields.
One scenario where this would be useful is where a broker has a direct ship and wants to quickly search for market P/Es that match (similarly for direct P/Es, although these will probably have already been committed to memory).
The matching P/Es can then be opened individually (by right clicking and selecting “Open Detached”) or in (short) list form using the check boxes.
On opening the P/E, CompassAir will have already matched the ship to the P/E and listed it under the “Matching Ships” tab. The ship can then be proposed or alternatively added to a P/E by right clicking and selecting “Add to P/E” (for consideration at a later stage). Having opened a P/E detailed information about that P/E will be shown on the left, details that can then be edited as necessary and saved. The updated P/E will appear simultaneously on the “P/E” tab of the ship as recorded in the vessel database.
(see also the Purchase Enquiries workflow to discover how to find ships that match any selected P/E)
6. The broker wants to see a list of Commercial Advices received during the day
From the “Ships” screen a list of the day’s Advices can be produced by adding “Today” (or alternative time periods) in the “Last Advice” search field, leaving all other fields blank.
In the situation where there are no matching direct or market P/Es for a broker’s direct Advices, it is very easy for these to be circulated. By selecting one or more ships (from the ship search results – say, direct advices that have been created in the last three days) and pressing the red “Send” button above the list, a new message is populated with the ship details, to which can be added appropriate text and recipients. Alternatively, the same information can be copied and then pasted into another application such as Skype or WhatsApp.
7. Saving Searches – what direct ships for sale do we have?
As can be seen in 5 above, searching is quick and easy, with a wide range of customisable parameters being available. This ease of use applies when searching both for P/Es and for ships.
All searches are added to search “History” (they can be removed if necessary to keep the list manageable), a list kept in date order. For searches that are undertaken more frequently, they can be permanently saved.
For example, a broker may want quick, regular access to a list of direct ships that are for sale. By adding “Direct” to the “Our Position” field, the search results will be displayed and the search added to “History” (the panel beneath the search fields). The search can be permanently saved by right clicking and selecting “Save”, it can be named “My Direct Ships” for example, and will be available on the “Saved” tab. It may be useful to then keep such a list open in a second window.
As has been seen above, CompassAir will have automatically matched both direct and market P/Es to each ship for sale, these P/Es being accessible by clicking on a ship shown in the list and then viewing the information shown for that ship under the “Matching P/Es” tab.
8. A broker wants to record a direct Advice quickly, for example whilst still on the telephone
If a broker needs to record a direct Advice during or shortly after a phone call with his or her client, this can be done very quickly.
On the Messages screen there is an Advice bar on the far right hand side that, when clicked, slides out. Starting to enter the name of the ship reveals a list of ships from the vessels database, and, once the relevant ship is selected, any existing Advices then populate the three parts, i.e. ship name, Advice details and Advice source.
