Customer & Consignee Portal¶

What your customers see and can do when they sign in to UTX Freight: their company's orders, optional order creation and editing, PODs, and the read-only consignee view for linked shippers/receivers.

Overview¶

Every person you add under a customer company can sign in to UTX Freight with the Customer role. Customers get a short version of the app built around one page: Orders.

Company-wide visibility: a customer user sees every order placed for anyone in their company, not only their own, in the office they are working in.
View only by default: customers can search, filter and open order details. They cannot change statuses, edit fields inline, or see drivers and pricing.
Optional order management: if your account has customer order entry turned on (ask UTX support), customers can also create orders and edit orders that are still New. It is off by default.
PODs: customers can open the scanned POD and the signed POD of their orders.
Emails: the person on the order gets an email when it is dispatched and when it is completed (if their Email Notifications setting is on). Invoices, statements and PODs are emailed by your staff.
Consignee view: when a customer company is linked to a Shipper / Receiver record, its users also see, read-only, every order delivered to that location, from any freight forwarder, with no pricing.
No back office: customers cannot open Dispatch, Invoices, Reports or any other menu.

Quick Start¶

For your staff (giving a customer access):

Go to Customers, find the company, and click Add Person.
Enter the person's details and click Add this person. They get an invitation email right away and choose their own password. See People & Invitations.
Optional: to give the company the consignee view, go to Shipper / Receiver, edit the delivery location, pick the company in Linked Customer Account, and click Save Changes.

For the customer:

Accept the invitation and sign in. The Orders page opens.
Type a container #, order # or P/O in the Container #, Order # and more box and click Search, or use the status tabs (All, In Progress, New, App. Made, Dispatched, Completed).
Open an order with the caret next to the grey Actions button View Details.
Click the PDF or signature icon in the POD column to open the order's POD.

Access & Permissions¶

What a Customer user can do, compared with your staff:

Action	Customer	Customer (consignee orders)
See orders on the Orders page	All orders of their company, in their office(s)	Orders delivered to the linked shipper/receiver
View Details
Open the scanned or signed POD (POD column)
Create a new order	Only when customer order entry is turned on	—
Edit Order	Only when customer order entry is turned on, and only while the order is New	Never
Change status (Make App., Dispatch, Complete), Reset, Go Back 1 Step
Inline editing on the list (dates, numbers, container status)
Duplicate, Delete Order, Transfer to Office, View History
See rates, totals, invoice links
See drivers and the Special Note
Send POD to client (Email POD column)
Dispatch, Invoices, Customers, Shipper / Receiver, Equipments, Reports menus
Edit Profile (own details and Email Notifications)

The sidebar shows only Orders. The user menu shows Edit Profile and Logout. See Navigation & Account.
If a customer opens a page they are not allowed to see (for example by typing its address), UTX Freight sends them back to Orders.
The top bar also shows Feedback and Online Documentation, and the office switcher on Multi-Office accounts when the customer belongs to more than one office.
Customer order entry is an account-wide option that only UTX can switch on. It applies to all customers at once; it can't be turned on for a single customer. Contact UTX support to change it.

Who sets things up:

Task	Who can do it
Add customer people (invitations)	Admin, Manager. Dispatch too, if your account lets dispatchers manage customers (ask UTX support). See Customers
Link a shipper/receiver to a customer account (consignee)	Admin, Manager, Dispatch (anyone who can edit Shipper / Receiver). See Shippers & Receivers

What Customers See on the Orders Page¶

Customers use the same Orders page as your staff (see Orders), with fewer columns, filters and actions.

Which orders are listed¶

A customer sees an order when both are true:

the order was placed for any person of the customer's company (the Place the order on behalf of person), and
the order belongs to one of the customer's offices.

The list shows the orders of the office the customer is currently working in. On Multi-Office accounts, a customer who belongs to more than one office can change office with the office switcher in the top bar.

Company-wide, not per person

Every user of a customer company sees the same orders: all orders placed for anyone in that company. There is no setting to limit a customer user to only their own orders. If two groups in one company must not see each other's orders, set them up as two separate customers.

Header and filters¶

Counters: New Orders, App. Made, Dispatched, Total, and on intermodal accounts the yard counters (Empty at Yard, Full at Yard, and Pre-Pull when that container status exists). They count only the orders the customer can see.
Create a new order button: only when customer order entry is turned on.
Search box (Container #, Order # and more) and Clear All.
Status tabs: All, In Progress, New, App. Made, Dispatched, Completed. On intermodal accounts with order tagging, tag buttons also appear.

Customers do not see the Not Invoiced and Late Invoicing tabs, the ORDER TYPE, CONTAINER STATUS and TERMINAL filter cards, or the ACTION & ORDERS card (Equipment, Legend, Export).

Columns¶

Customers see the order's status, order #, P/O#, Deliver To and Bill To (the company that placed the order), the delivery/pickup date and appointment time, container or trailer details (size, steamship line, weight, container #, booking and seal #, Last Free Day), the vessel, the pickup terminal and pickup #, the chassis or equipment, C.Status, Return To / Return Date, and the POD and DOC columns. Columns depend on your account type (intermodal or ground), as described in Orders. All values are read-only.

Customers do not see:

the ETA, Storage (STO), Demurrage (DEM), ERD and Cutoff Date values (these cells stay empty for customers),
the Driver columns,
the Invoiced / Rate column (invoice link, total and zone),
the Email POD column,
the Special Note (the red comment your staff can add under the status).

The Special Note is internal

The Special Note ("Comment which appears under the status for each order and on the drivers phone") is shown to your staff and to drivers. It is hidden from customers on the Orders list and is not shown on View Details. Use it for internal instructions. Don't rely on it to tell the customer anything.

Row actions¶

The status button is always the grey Actions button for customers: they can't move an order to the next status. The caret next to it opens the menu:

Menu item	When a customer sees it
View Details	Always
Edit Order	Only when customer order entry is turned on and the order is a New order of their own company. Consignee orders can't be edited

Customers never see Duplicate, Reset Order to New, Go Back 1 Step, Transfer to Office, View History, Remove Signature, Delete Order, View POD, View Internal POD or View Carrier Confirmation.

View Details¶

View Details opens the page Order #<number> with the ordering company and the name and email of the person the order is placed for, Order Information, Client Information (delivery company, address, contact, instructions, P.O. #), Return Address, Container Information (including the zone name) and Goods Information.

The Administrative Information section (rates, total, appointment date and time, delivery date, comments) is shown to Admin, Manager and Dispatch only. Customers don't see it.

Creating and Editing Orders (Optional)¶

These features are available only when your account has customer order entry turned on. It is off by default and only UTX can turn it on, so ask UTX support. When it is off, customers have no Create a new order button and no Edit Order item.

Creating an order¶

On Orders, click Create a new order.
The New order form opens. The Customer Information box shows the customer's own company and name. A customer always places orders for themselves: there is no Place the order on behalf of field.
Fill in the order. See Order Form for the fields.
Click Create Job (or Cancel).

The order is created with the status New in the office the customer is working in. The customer returns to Orders, searched for the new order, with the message Order #<number> was successfully created.

Creating an order sends the New Order email (subject New Order #<number> from <company>) to your Admins who have Email Notifications on, with the office Managers who have Email Notifications on in CC. See Notifications & Emails.

Staff-only sections of the form are not shown to customers: Change Customer, Administrative information (including Special Note and the signed POD upload), Appointment Information, rates, Order Expenses, Order Legs and Comments.

Editing an order¶

On Orders, click the caret next to Actions Edit Order.
Change the fields and click Update Job (or Cancel).

The customer sees Order #<number> was successfully updated. The person on the order can't be changed by a customer.

Customers can edit any New order of their company, including orders a colleague placed or your staff entered for them.

Only while the order is New

As soon as your staff take an appointment (App. Made), the order becomes read-only for the customer and Edit Order disappears. If the customer needs a change after that, they must contact you.

Someone else changed the order

If your staff saved the order while the customer was editing it, the customer's changes are not saved and they see: This order was modified by another user while you were editing. Your changes were NOT saved. Please try again.

Deleting an order¶

The Delete Order item in the actions menu is shown to staff only. A customer who wants a New order cancelled should ask you to delete it. See Order Workflow.

Documents and PODs¶

The POD column shows icons once a POD exists. Customers (and consignees) can open them:

Icon	What it opens
Red PDF	The scanned signed POD uploaded by your staff
Green signature (Open signed POD)	The signed POD captured on the driver's phone

Documents attached to an order are managed by your staff. Customers can't upload documents or the signed POD; your staff do that. To send documents to a customer, include them in the invoice email or use Send POD to client. See Order Documents & POD.

Emails Customers Receive¶

Email	Subject	Sent to	When
Dispatched	Order #<number> is now dispatched	The person the order is placed for	When your staff dispatch the order with the Dispatch window. Includes the new status, appointment date and time, order #, client name, reference #, and the container # and pickup terminal (or pickup and delivery addresses)
Completed	Order Completed for order #<number>	The person the order is placed for	When your staff complete the order with the Complete window. Includes the empty container return date when set
Invoice	Set by your staff when sending	The addresses entered when sending (by default the customer's Accountant Email)	When your staff email an invoice. The invoice PDF is attached with the POD of each order, and optionally the order documents. See Invoice Email & Payments
Statement of account	<Your company> Statement of Account as of <date> (followed by the office name on multi-office accounts)	The customer's Accountant Email (pre-filled, and editable, when your staff send it by hand)	When your staff send a statement, or on the customer's automatic schedule. PDF or Excel, per the customer's Default Statement Format. See Customer Statements and Automatic Statements
POD	<Your company> Order #<number> Delivered	The addresses entered in Send POD to client (pre-filled with the delivery Email of the order)	When your staff click the envelope in the Email POD column. The signed or scanned POD is attached

The Dispatched and Completed emails go only to the person on the order, and only when that person has Email Notifications ticked (customers can change this under Edit Profile). Other users of the same company don't get them.
Taking an appointment (Make App.) never emails the customer. See Order Workflow.
Invoice, statement and POD emails go to addresses, not to user accounts. The customer doesn't need a login to receive them.

Consignee View¶

A consignee is a customer user whose company is linked to one or more Shipper / Receiver records. Typically this is the receiver of the goods (for example, a warehouse or importer) that wants to follow every container delivered to its door, whichever freight forwarder ordered the move.

How it works¶

Linked users see, read-only, every order whose delivery location (Deliver To) is one of the linked shipper/receiver records, from any customer (freight forwarder). They also keep seeing their own company's orders as usual.
Only the delivery location counts. Orders where the linked location is the pickup location are not added.
Pricing is never shown, the same as for every customer.
Consignee orders can't be edited, even when customer order entry is turned on. Consignees can use View Details and open the POD.
The Bill To line shows the company that placed the order (the forwarder).
As for other customers, the list shows the orders of the office the user is currently working in.

A blue banner appears above the Orders list for consignee users:

Consignee view: you are seeing all delivery orders addressed to <linked shipper/receiver names> — from all freight forwarders. Pricing details are not shown.

Linking a shipper/receiver to a customer account¶

Go to Shipper / Receiver and edit the delivery location.
In the Portal Access — Consignee Link section, choose the customer company in Linked Customer Account. The list shows all active companies.
Click Save Changes.

All users of that customer company become consignees for that location right away. To remove access, set Linked Customer Account back to — No linked account — and save.

A linked shipper/receiver shows the company name with a badge in the Linked Account column of the Shipper / Receiver list. Use the Linked filter to see all linked records. See Shippers & Receivers.

Consignees see other forwarders' orders

Linking gives the customer visibility of orders placed by your other customers for that delivery location: order numbers, container details, dates, the forwarder's name in Bill To, the forwarder contact's name and email on View Details, and PODs. Only link a location to the company that actually operates it.

One link per location

Each shipper/receiver record can be linked to one customer company. A customer company can be linked to several shipper/receiver records; the banner lists them all.

FAQ / Troubleshooting¶

The customer has no "Create a new order" button¶

Solution

Customer order entry is an account option that is off by default. Contact UTX support to turn it on. It applies to all customers.

The customer can't edit an order¶

Solution

Customers can only edit orders that are still New, and only when customer order entry is turned on. Once an appointment is made the order is read-only for them. Orders seen through the consignee view are never editable. Make the change for them, or use Reset Order to New if the order must go back to the customer.

A customer user can't see an order¶

Solution

Check that the order is placed for a person of their company (the Bill To line) and that it belongs to the office they are working in. If the customer belongs to several offices (multi-office accounts), they need to switch office with the office switcher. For a consignee, check that the order's Deliver To is the shipper/receiver record that is linked to their company (a duplicate record with the same name is not linked). Also try the All tab: the list opens on In Progress.

A customer user sees orders placed by colleagues¶

Solution

This is expected. Customer users see all orders of their company. To separate two groups, create them as two customers.

The customer didn't get the dispatched or completed email¶

Solution

These emails go only to the person the order is placed for, and only if their Email Notifications setting is ticked. Check it on the person's Edit Person page (or ask the customer to check Edit Profile). Make App. never sends an email.

The customer asks for prices or invoices in the portal¶

Solution

Customers never see rates, totals or invoices in UTX Freight, and they can't open Invoices. Email the invoice from Invoices, or send a statement. Make sure the customer's Accountant Email is filled in.

The customer didn't see our Special Note¶

Solution

The Special Note is internal: staff and drivers see it, customers don't. Send the information to the customer by email or phone instead.

The POD column is empty¶

Solution

The icons appear only once the driver has signed on the phone or your staff have uploaded the scanned signed POD. Customers can't upload it themselves.

Best Practices¶

Tips for the customer portal

Invite every customer contact who needs to follow orders. They all see the company's orders, so you don't need to forward updates by hand.
Make sure the main contact on each customer has Email Notifications on, so they get the dispatched and completed emails.
Keep the Special Note for internal and driver instructions. Customers never see it.
Link a shipper/receiver to a customer account only after confirming the customer operates that location. Consignees see orders from all your other customers delivered there.
Keep one shipper/receiver record per location. Orders delivered to a duplicate record that isn't linked won't show in the consignee view.