Use the rules engine to automate shipping decisions and optimise your delivery workflows. The rules engine allows you to automate your carrier selection process, saving you time and reducing potential errors. By setting up rules based on your specific requirements, you can make sure you're choosing the the right carrier for every order.
The rules engine lets you define unique conditions for how carriers are chosen for your orders. You can assign carriers based on factors like order weight and dimensions, delivery destinations, and product information.
This article discusses what the rules engine is, how it works, and how it interacts with your quoting, order, and carrier allocation workflows. For more detail on the different rules you can create, see the rules engine collection.
Use the rules engine
To access the rules engine, log in to your Shippit account. For company rules, navigate to Settings → Company Rules. For store rules, navigate to Settings → Store Rules.
You can create as many rules as you like, at both company and store level.
Company rules can only be edited by head office administrators. Company rules are applied first, before store rules, and they are useful for automating how orders are allocated across all your store locations. You can also set company rules that apply to only one or some of your stores.
Store rules can be edited by store administrators as well as head office administrators. Use store rules to fine-tune allocation preferences for individual stores.
When you have created and activated your rules, next time you create an order, the order is evaluated against the rules you have before it is allocated to a carrier.
Company rules are evaluated before store rules
Rules are evaluated in the order they are listed
You can reorganise, edit, and delete your rules from the rules engine settings pages.
Whether a rule is active or not, you can use the action menu items to the right of each rule in the list:
Click the Activate toggle to turn the rule on or off
Click the Edit button to open the rule for editing
Click the Delete button to delete the rule
Click the Move handle and drag to reorder your rules
Rule conditions
You can create rules based on your products, the order itself, parcel weight and dimensions, or the destination address. The available conditions are:
Product conditions
Condition | Description | Example |
Product line ID | The product line associated with a product. This is not case sensitive. |
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Product price | The retail value of a product. |
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Product SKU | Stock keeping unit. This is not case sensitive. |
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Product title | The title given to a product. This is not case sensitive. |
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Order conditions
Condition | Description | Example |
Order created | The day of the week that an order is created, based on the store's time zone. |
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Order dead weight | The sum of the dead weight of all the parcels in the order, in kilograms. |
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Order feature | One of a range of features that could apply to an order, such as special delivery handling, or dangerous goods. |
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Order parcel count | The number of parcels in a single order. |
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Order volumetric weight | The sum of the volumetric weight of all the parcels in the order, in kilograms. |
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Package type | Your custom package types. |
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Total order value | The sum of the individual product price for all items in an order. |
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💡NOTE: For more information about the different types of weights, including how volumetric weight is calculated, see the Understanding misdeclarations article.
Parcel conditions
Condition | Description | Example |
Parcel dead weight | The deadweight of an individual parcel, in kilograms |
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Parcel volumetric weight | The volumetric weight of an individual parcel, in kilograms |
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Maximum dimension | The maximum dimension of a single side of an individual parcel, in centimetres. |
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Median dimension | The median of all dimensions of an individual parcel, in centimetres. |
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Minimum dimension | The minimum dimension of a single side of an individual parcel, in centimetres |
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💡NOTE: For more information about the different types of weights, including how volumetric weight is calculated, see the Understanding misdeclarations article.
Destination conditions
Condition | Description | Example |
Delivery postcode | The postcode of the delivery address, based on the country of your account. Use this for domestic destinations. |
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Delivery location | The suburb of the delivery address, based on the country of your account. Use this for domestic destinations. |
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Delivery country | The country of the delivery address. Use this international destinations. |
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Delivery address | The complete address of a delivery. |
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Using rules with quotes
You can use the rules engine to remove certain carriers from the list of quotes that are returned. his is useful if you want to restrict certain carriers from quoting, based on business or operational preferences.
Rules engine can only remove carriers from quotes based on defined rules if you retrieve quotes using one of these methods:
An ecommerce integration, such as Shopify or Peoplevox
An API request
The Send page in your Shippit account
When you send a request for a quote, the process works in this order:
Quote request is sent using the Shippit UI, or the API.
All serviceable quotes are returned, based on pickup and delivery address, and parcel attributes.
The rules engine removes any carriers, based on the rules you have set.
Any other allocation settings are applied, including cheapest, fastest, upgrade, and downgrade settings.
All remaining quotes are returned.
Using rules with orders
You can use the rules engine to remove certain carriers from the recommended carrier allocated to an order. This is useful if you want to restrict certain carriers from being allocated to orders, based on business or operational preferences.
Rules engine can only remove carriers from orders based on defined rules if you create a new order using one of these methods:
An ecommerce integration, such as Shopify or Peoplevox
An API request
The New Orders page in your Shippit account, for either new or updated orders
The Send page in your Shippit account
When you create a new order, the process works in this order:
New or updated order is created using the Shippit UI, or the API.
All serviceable carriers are returned, based on pickup and delivery address, and parcel attributes.
The rules engine removes any carriers, based on the rules you have set.
Any other allocation settings are applied, including cheapest, fastest, upgrade, and downgrade settings.
The recommended carrier is quoted and allocated to the order.
The rules engine and carrier allocation settings
You can configure your carrier allocation settings within your Shippit account. Rules are applied to your quotes and orders before your carrier allocation settings are applied. This means that you are only choosing the fastest or cheapest carrier after the rules engine has removed any unwanted carriers from consideration.
For more information about carrier allocation, see the Carrier allocation article.
Troubleshooting
This section contains information about some common issues you might encounter with the rules engine. If you can't find an answer to your question here, get in touch with us using the chat in your Shippit account, or reach out to Shippit support.
Rules engine removed all the possible carriers
This can happen if you have a lot of rules, which come into conflict with your carrier allocation settings, or if you only have a limited number of carriers to choose from. If this happens on only a single order, you can manually allocate the order to a carrier of your choice.
If this happens repeatedly, you might need to review your rules, and your carrier allocation settings. Alternatively, you can add additional carriers to your carrier mix, to provide more options to choose from.