SLAM and Load Carrier

SLAM (Scan, Label, Apply Label, Manifest)
From NCompass version 11.16 onwards, it is possible to create consignments and print carrier labels directly from the Warehouse Scanner (WAS).
Before enabling this functionality, the relevant carrier integration must already be configured and working correctly within the NCompass desktop application.z
Note: Not all carrier labels are supported for printing from the Warehouse Scanner. Please refer to the list of supported couriers below.
Prerequisites
1. Carrier Integration
The carrier integration must be fully configured and operational within the NCompass desktop application before label printing can be enabled on the Warehouse Scanner.
2. Printer Installation
The label printer must be installed directly on the NCompass server.
The printer must be installed under the same Windows user account that the NCM application service runs under. This is typically the NCM user account.
Some printer settings and properties are user-specific.
If printer formatting or configuration changes are required, these changes must be made while logged in as the same user account that runs the NCM application.
Configuration
Windows Printer for PDF Label Printer
For each Warehouse Scanner workstation, the following configuration setting must be populated:
Configuration Name: 
Windows Printer for PDF Label Printer
Value: The exact name of the label printer installed on the server under the NCM user account.
Example:
Setting
Value
Windows Printer for PDF Label Printer
Zebra ZD421
Once this setting has been configured and the carrier integration is operational, supported carrier labels can be generated and printed directly from the Warehouse Scanner.
Supported Carriers
Please see the list of supported carriers below.
Courier
Generating Consignments Supported
Label Printing Supported
Scanning Consignment Label Supported
BJS
Y
Y
N
 
Note: If the consignment is slow to generate on the WAS scanner, check to see if the WAS scanner is connected correctly to a stock number label printer.
Carrier setup
Navigate to Administration > Carriers
The following settings need to be set accordingly.
Setting
Description
Complete Field Call when Label Generated
This setting controls if the field call is automatically complete when the consignment is generated. If the customer is using the load carrier function, this needs to be disabled.
Reprint Stock Number Labels when sent to Carrier
This will reprint the stock number label for the items on their field call when the consignment is generated.
Reprint Field Call label when Sent to Carrier
This will reporting the Field call labels when the consignment is generated.
Label printing is supported by NCompass
This is a hardcoded option and cannot be changed. This shows if the label printing for this carrier is supported by the NCompass Desktop.
Label printing is supported by WAS
This is a hardcoded option and cannot be changed. This shows if the label printing for this carrier is supported by the Warehouse Scanner.
Allow Pick-Pack when already sent to carrier
This allows the pick and pack process on the desktop to be used after the consignment has been generated for the field call. 
Not every carrier can be labelled from the scanner. Where a carrier cannot, use NCompass WAS to pack the items and then print the labels from the field call in NCompass.
Configuration
In NCompass under Tools > Configuration:
Autosubmit SLAM when scanning complete (default No) – when the last item on a field call is scanned, send it to the carrier straight away instead of waiting for the operative to press the button. (Bypasees pressing the send to carrier button)
SLAM
Open Pick Pack > SLAM.
 
 
Choose the dispatch date and the carrier. These narrow the list to the consignments you are working through.
The screen lists the field calls due to go out on that date with that carrier.
Pick a field call by tapping it in the list, by scanning the field call barcode, or by scanning any item that belongs to it. Scanning an item both selects its field call and ticks that item off.
Scan the remaining items on the field call. Stock swapping is allowed, so where an item is interchangeable the operative can scan whichever one is easiest to reach.
Once every item is scanned, Send to Carrier becomes available – or fires by itself if autosubmit is switched on. This books the consignment with the carrier, prints the carrier label, and, depending on the carrier options above, completes the field call and reprints stock number or field call labels.
The screen returns to the list, ready for the next field call.
Scanning an item during SLAM records a stock movement against the item at its current location, noted as SLAM. The item does not change location at this point – that happens when the carrier is loaded – but there is a record of when it was packed.
Working the field call list
Both a dispatch date and a carrier have to be chosen before the list can be refreshed. Refreshing without a carrier selected returns a plain message asking for one to be chosen, rather than an error.
The entry count. Each field call in the list shows a count of entries, and that count is the number of items the operative actually has to scan. Collection entries and service-only lines are left out of it, because those are never sent down to the scanner. This matters where a call has, say, one tracked item to deliver and one item to collect: the list shows one entry, and opening the call shows one item to pick, so the two agree.
A field call that meets the date and carrier filter but has nothing scannable on it at all – a collection-only call, for instance – is not shown in the list.
Calls that have already gone. A toggle controls whether field calls that have already been sent to the carrier appear. It is on by default, so the list holds only the calls that still need a consignment generating. Switch it off to bring the sent calls back into view; those are marked with a green tick so they can be told apart at a glance. A counter shows how many calls are still to be sent, so the operative can see how much of the run is left.
Grouping when picking. Opening a field call shows the items to pick grouped by branch and stock room, in the same way as the Load Vans screen. Count only items are grouped this way too, rather than being gathered under a single heading of their own, so on a site with more than one physical branch the operative can see where each item has to be picked from.
Load Carrier
Load Carrier is used when the carrier's vehicle arrives, to confirm what is really going on it. The goods must already carry a consignment number, put there by SLAM or by Send to Carrier in NCompass.
Open Pick Pack > Load Carrier and choose the carrier you are loading.
Scan a field call barcode, a consignment number, or an individual stock number.
Scanning a field call or a consignment number moves every item on that field call into the system location [Courier Loaded]. Scanning a stock number moves that one item.
Carry on until the vehicle is loaded.
Alerts
If the field call has never been sent to the carrier – it has no consignment number – the operative is told SLAM not complete - this Field Call has not been sent to the Carrier. The SLAM step has been skipped and must be done first.
If the field call belongs to a different carrier from the one selected, an alert is shown. The goods are about to go on the wrong vehicle.
When every item on a field call has reached [Courier Loaded], the field call is completed automatically. Service-only lines are ignored in that check, since there is nothing physical to load for them.
Seeing what is still to go
Choosing a carrier on the Load Carrier screen lists the items that are still expected to go out with that carrier – the ones where a consignment has already been generated, the field call has not been completed, and the item has not yet been scanned into [Courier Loaded]. Each row shows the stock number, the product, where the item is currently held and the date its call is scheduled for, and a count shows how many are left to load.
The point of the list is to make sure nothing that was due out has been missed. The scheduled date is shown so that anything which did not fit on the previous day's vehicle can be spotted and loaded first.
Notes for support
[Courier Loaded] is a system stock location created by NCompass. Items sitting in it have left the building on a carrier vehicle; they are not on a shelf and should not be picked.
Send to Carrier behaves identically wherever it is triggered – the field call in NCompass, the goods dispatch pick/pack screen, or NCompass WAS. A fault reported on one route is worth checking on the others.
Carrier label printing needs a label printer configured for the service that talks to the carrier. A printer that opens a dialog of its own, such as Microsoft Print to PDF, will appear to hang, because the printing runs in an unattended session where nobody can answer it.
Reassigning a field call to a different engineer. Changing the engineer by right clicking the call in NCompass and reassigning it also updates the carrier and service level held on the call to match the new engineer, provided the call has not already been sent to the carrier. Previously those were only refreshed when the call was opened and saved, which is why a reassigned call could go missing from the SLAM list until someone edited and saved it.
Carriers that produce a CSV file per call. Sending a field call to this style of carrier used to work from NCompass but fail from the scanner with an object reference error, because the desktop and the scanner service work out where to put the file in different ways. Both now use the same method, so this carrier type can be used from SLAM.