Happy holidays from the Octopi Team! In this update, we’ll take a look at new releases for this month and review the top 10 new features and improvements that we’re most proud of in 2021.
We wish you and your team a pleasant holiday season and very happy New Year!
We're working everyday to improve Octopi and enhance your experience. If you're interested in seeing what changes and fixes are deployed each day, you can check out the Changelog in Octopi.
This article contains links to help guides that are only accessible by Octopi users who are logged into their account.
Delivery Orders for containers
This month we've extended the Delivery Orders feature to support containers. Now Terminal users, as well as Agent and Shipping Line users, can log into Octopi with their terminal-managed user accounts and create Delivery Orders for container or general cargo.
Additionally, you can now configure the pre-gate flow at your terminal to validate container pickups by Delivery Order number.
Other changes include:
- Added a Delivery Order Number column to the Gate Movements Report.
- Added the ability for containers to gate-in full with a Delivery Order number.
Learn more about Delivery Orders for containers
Completing active voyages
We've made it more accessible to complete a voyage in Octopi. Now you can complete a voyage directly from the Voyages index page.
Once voyage operations have finished, click the Complete button next to departing voyage's name. You can then record the Departure Date and Time and close the voyage.
The completed voyage will move from Active Voyages to Recent Voyages.
Learn more about completing active voyages.
Octopi 2021: A Year in Review
We’ve compiled a list of the 10 feature updates we’re most proud to share with you this year! Click any link below to learn more about that feature.
1. Terminal Transfers
A new feature designed for organizations that operate more than one terminal at a single port, where cargo discharged from a vessel at Terminal A, may actually need to be stored across the bay at Terminal B.
Terminal Transfers are used to move cargo via barge or truck from one terminal to another without requiring gate movements, lifting holds, or complicating invoices.
2. Terminal Services with Custom Values
Terminal Services allow you to add custom movements to cargo without changing the cargo location. Recording these movements allows more flexibility to create customized or unique billable service events.
The Terminal Services configuration also allows users to add a custom value, to accept as either a number or a string, that can be captured when the service is applied to cargo.
3. Offline Vessel Planning
Our developers created a new method for Octopi to handle vessel planning in the backend. With this new process your team is able to use the same controls they already know to plan a vessel in Octopi, without requiring individual changes to be transmitted. Now a vessel plan can be configured and reconfigured as much as you need, and only the final version you Save is transmitted to Octopi's servers.
This feature has already made a huge impact on the workflow for terminals in locations with limited access to bandwidth.
4. Productivity Calculations
This year our team refined how tally downtimes are calculated in Octopi. The benefits of accurate data and intuitive reporting can be shared by port and terminal operators, as well the operator and its customers.
You can create customized options to select when pausing tally operations. These can be further defined to record a responsible party who causes the downtime and determine if the downtime option affects how net productivity is calculate in the voyage statistics.
5. Bulk Complete Tallies
For terminals with unique processes that require all cargo to be tallied at once outside of the time that loading or discharging occurs, Octopi allows you to bulk complete a tally operation.
For imports of individually barcoded bulk cargo, this allows the tally to be completed and barcode scanning to take place after the discharge operation.
6. Active Bookings
Active Bookings allows a single container to appear on multiple bookings, once on the presently active booking as well as on multiple future bookings. Octopi automatically ensures that any current activity with the container occurs in reference to a single active bookings and future bookings are unaffected.
7. New & Improved Batch Actions
A variety of actions can be applied to multiple containers or cargo items at once as a Batch Action. This allows your team to work faster and more efficiently, while eliminating the potential for human error with the repetitive manual task of updating individual items.
The developers at Octopi have increased the processing speed for Batch Actions and added the ability to select all cargo that matches an applied filter.
8. Improvements for Gate Operations
With the new Default Weights feature, Octopi can help streamline calculating container weights. When default weights for trucks, chassis, and/or gensets are configured in your Organization Settings, the default weights will automatically display on the interchange form. With the default weights configured, when the Scale Weight is entered during an interchange, Octopi will calculate and display the Container Weight.
Additional update:
- Create containers on-the-fly during a gate-in or interchange process
9. New Tools for Rails Operations
- Generating Invoices for Rail Carriers
- Using Work Queues for Train Visits
- Viewing Train Visits by Status: Upcoming, Active, Due, and Completed.
10. Integrations with Octopi API & Webhooks
- API Keys are now managed in Octopi settings. Access the API Keys page via the Admin menu panel.
- 12 new API endpoints were added
- Introducing Webhooks in Octopi. Webhooks are used by many modern web services to communicate when events happen in the application. This means that as soon as an event occurs, Octopi can push data to your web server or licensed third-party software in near real-time.
Customer Success Stories (Video)
With Octopi it's always been personal - a one-on-one experience. Hear from Octopi customers King Ocean Service and Host Terminals about their experience using Octopi this year.
See how Octopi can help improve your daily work and customer service at your business next year!
A message from the Octopi Team
We're excited to share more great new features with you and your team in 2022!
Wishing you health and happiness in the New Year. Thank you for choosing Octopi.
Happy Holidays!
- The Octopi Team