Document Management

Issues and Challenges

Although many governments now encourage electronic filing of global trade information, and partners are connected through networks, data is still largely exchanged in the form of "documents". Filling out forms has always been an exercise in collecting the right data and putting in the format required by the recipient. Although paper has largely been eliminated, PDFs have taken its place. Exporters have the responsibility to generate and transmit forms to their freight forwarders, customers, and appropriate government authorities. Each transaction may have several associated documents that must be sent to different parties. Once those documents are sent, they may need to be revised and they ultimately need to be stored with the transaction for audit and reference purposes.

Challenges include:

• Identifying and completing all the documents needed to satisfy the governments and agencies regulating the transaction

• Producing the documents needed by forwarders, customers and brokers

• Distributing the correct documents to each appropriate party

• Managing the revision, transmission, and storage of documents

• Tracking document requirements, such as notarization or whether an "official" version is needed

• Establishing and enforcing business processes around document functions

• Generating the SOLAS verified gross mass (VGM) documentation

How Amber Road Can Help

Amber Road's Export Management solution uses a document generation system to manage the activities associated with document determination, distribution, and storage. An extensive set of configurable business rules help determine which documents are required for the transaction, based on criteria such as the transaction type, countries of import and export, and partner.