Varsity’s Online Technical Training is coming up on March 1st - 5th.  This will include a training segment on installing the soon-to-be released Graphical User Interface (GUI) and ShipView Plus.

All presentations and training materials are provided by Varsity Logistics via FTP. Varsity encourages participants to prepare questions in advance to get the most from their training sessions. To register please contact Diane Pham at dpham@varsitynet.com or 650-392-7907

All Times below stated as Eastern Time and meetings will be hosted via WebEx. Read the rest of this entry »

As we get closer to the holiday season, our customers are in peak shipping mode; especially Santa. Why do you think his gifts are always delivered on time? It’s thanks to Varsity.

Thousands of packages are sent every day.

With Varsity’s help, each make their way.

And each order is safe on Santa’s sleigh.

Little girls everywhere will squeal with delight,

Squeezing their Hello Kitty gifts with all their might.

Surfer studs rejoice to open presents from Billabong.

So thankful for their new boards, they’ll break into song.

With new Roland instruments, musicians will join in.

And soccer moms can relax - their patience won’t run thin,

They’ll have the children busy with new Kwik Goal sports.

And the home will be filled with presents of all sorts.

So relax and put on your warm and cozy Wigwam socks.

Because Varsity always makes sure your holiday rocks!

We’re proud of the small part we play in getting gifts to their destination. We help to cost-effectively ship all types of items, on time for the holiday season - to the retailer, or directly to the gift receipent.

Maybe a few of these goodies will find their way to you this year. Santa, are you listening?

Wishing all of our customers a happy, healthy, and profitable holiday season.

We’re always amazed at all the things our customers ship and the different ways they run their shipping operations.  Each shipping situation is unique.

Varsity serves virtually all distribution and manufacturing industries in the United States and Canada. Varsity’s software is used to ship all types of products via parcel, truck or rail carriers, to destinations around the world.

Because our software runs on the iSeries, it is robust enough to support virtually any shipping volume, through any number of distribution centers. Some of our customers’ ship 100 parcels a day, others over 100,000.

From order management to carrier invoice auditing, Varsity’s software reduces freight expense, increases customer satisfaction, and streamlines shipping processes.

We offer automation for all shipping processes. Here’s a nice breakdown of what’s available.

These 20 reasons are from Craig Johnson, Product Manager for IBM i, for the Power Systems platform.

He lists 20 benefits of using IBM i 6.1. Learn how you’ll experience better performance and reduced IT costs.

Even better perhaps, IBM i is now shipped on DVD media. Read the entire list of benefits here, “Top 10–strike that!–Top 20 Reasons to Deploy IBM i 6.1″, by Craig Johnson.

You can also watch a webcast that discusses the reasons to move to IBM 6.1.

Ignore parcel carrier’s compliance guidelines and both your service and shipping expense will suffer. Just because your carrier delivers your package, doesn’t mean the deliver went as well as it could have. There are three main areas of carrier compliance that affect how well your carrier can service you and your customers. These include carrier labeling, carrier PLD, and carrier services.

1. Carrier Labeling

If your label is not fully compliant it can affect the efficiency of handling your shipment, the service your customer receives, and your cost for service. If  information on the label such as required wording, bar codes or routing codes are not compliant it, your package will require additional handling by your carrier.

Additional handling involves updating data so your package can be sent through carrier automation. This may cause a delay in processing and also a delay in the delivery of your package. Non-compliant labels are not only costly to the carrier, they also restrict the level of efficiency in delivering your packages. In the end it costs you money as you will not be able to get the “best deal” from your carrier.

Don’t think for a minute you can get the “ best deal” when you are not giving your carrier the “ best information”  that is needed to handle your packages at the highest level of efficiency and the lowest cost of handling.

2. Carrier PLD (Package Level Detail)

Carrier PLD or, package level detail, is the daily manifest information you transmit to your carrier. Parcel carriers use this information for planning how best to deliver your package. 

It is first used at the carrier hub to alert them that they will be receiving your package. If your PLD transmissions are not received on time, or are not complete, this can affect how efficiently your package is handled in the hub. Incomplete PLD transmissions can also adversely affect the delivery of your package.

The information you transmit is also used for billing purposes. If the information that is sent is not correct or complete, or doesn’t match up with the physical characteristic of the package when it is viewed in the hub, a billing correction will be made and your billing will not match your manifest records.

3. Carrier Services

The ability to use new carrier capabilities can help you reduce cost and increase service to your customers. Many shippers are not aware of all the service enhancements a carrier offers.

Each year the carriers introduce new service levels, special services and contract services. Carriers continually enhance their services to distinguish themselves from their competitors. Keeping up with the constant stream of innovations can be a challenge, For example, have you heard about Paperless Invoicing, Quantum View Notification or the New Electronic Returns Service? Do you know what operating at the highest level of FedEx Server will get you?

If these services are not familar to you, it may be time for you to review the complete offering of your carriers to help improve service to your customers and help you reduce cost. Better service, less cost. It’s worth a phone call or two.

There is still a lot of buzz surrounding IBM i platform, and Chris Maxcer’s  article,  ”Maxed Out: IBM Says Commitment to i Clients ‘Solid and Unchanged” from News on i, made quite an impression on us.

We thought we would share some excerpts with you and hope to hear your feedback as well.  In Maxcer’s article, Ross Mauri, General Manager of IBM Power Systems, discusses the next big release of IBM i with enthusiasm.

He says,  ”Our IBM i clients not only run on the industry’s fastest processors, but can also look forward with confidence as we prepare to deliver POWER 7 processor-based systems in 2010.”  Mauri also addresses that all of IBMi sales today are on the new POWER 6 platform.

We’re excited to hear about the new POWER 7 processor.  It’s also good to hear Mauri promise, “making substantial investments in the future of i as an important, strategic element in the IBM product portfolio.”

Read Mauri’s open letter to IBM i customers. Or read more from Chris Maxcer’s article and learn what the new main elements are in the new release of IBM i.

Everyone is aware that parcel carrier complexity has translated into more choices and frequently higher costs. Mitch Felts, of The Distribution Management Group Inc. , discusses how paying additional attention to many details in carrier contracts can save money in his article, “Sweat the Small Stuff”.

While reading this, one should also be aware that it is also necessary as to be able to know the details of your shipping over time, to see how your actual shipping patterns drive your contract-determined costs.

Remember that Varsity has two cost-effective solutions: TransData and ShipView Plus. Both are designed to provide precise knowledge of shipping patterns and details, at your finger tips.

Learn more about Varsity Transportation Analytics.

Varsity Logistics is pleased to invite customers to its next free technical training class November 16th - 20th.  These classes are offered on-line, so no travel is required

Register soon!  Space is limited.

Our new WebEx training classes have several benefits for new and experienced Varsity users. The most obvious one is that virtual training is much more economical than in person, eliminating travel costs.  You can also pick and choose the sessions you want to attend, or switch attendees for different sessions.

Over the four days, we’ll present 20 hours of training, covering basic and advanced material. Online flexibility is perfect for training new staff, and for brushing up the skills of more experienced users.

Sessions will be lead by Roberto Ansaloni and Tom Reber, our Directors of Professional Services, and several members of our Professional Services Team.

Attendees will learn how to get the most out of their Varsity investment:

- The ShipSoft Technical Review will deepen your understanding of product functionality and provide you with the tools to track your investment.

- The Implementation and Customer Support Overview explores the technical support process so you can get help and updates in the most timely way.

- The Control File Setup session provides a hands-on demonstration of the requirements and options available in file setup so you can best implement this at your own location(s)

- The Installing PTF Files session provides you with knowledge regarding implementation, troubleshooting, and Varsity’s product scheduling.

Below is the agenda. If you are interested in attending find more details and register via our website and you will be sent a confirmation with log on information.  To ensure training quality, participation will be limited. Read the rest of this entry »

Q: Chris, you’ve been at the helm of Varsity for almost a year now.  How are things going?

A: I think quite well.  I took over the helm in the depth of the recession and financial industry crisis, a very hard set of conditions for businesses to weather–our customers and prospects, and us too. The fact that we are a small, agile organization backed by the strength of our parent company, Constellation, Inc. has really helped us keep the business viable.

Like most, if not all, business software companies, we did see a slow-down in new sales. However, for some companies, the downturn has been an incentive for them to improve their shipping competency.  In 2009 we welcomed a number of new customers to the Varsity family, including the well-known retailer Billabong, Bunn (the producers of Bunn-o-matic coffee makers), and Mobis (the parts distribution joint venture of Kia/Hyundai).

Q: I noticed that some of the largest parcel shippers in the country are Varsity customers. What impact has the recession had on their shipping volumes?

A: We have seen a major slow down of economic activity and shipping volumes, as our customers know all too well.  The carriers have been impacted as well. FedEx and UPS, with their high fixed cost structures, definitely had their problems in the last quarter. Our focus has been on supporting our customers in these trying times and preparing to serve them better.

We have been able to adjust to the tougher conditions and redeploy resources to other tasks (or even across other subsidiaries of our parent company—a real source of major flexibility). Read the rest of this entry »

Save these dates!  Next Varsity Technical Training Classes are November 16-20, 2009

Varsity held its second on-line training sessions during the week of October 17, 2009.  It was an overwhelming success with over 70 students attending different classes on a variety of subjects.

Classes are scheduled in different time slots on different days, so students only need to attend what they need to.  This new approach to training has been very popular and eliminates the time and cost of traveling. It also allows targeted training right in your own office (where you need to attend to your business at hand).

Best of all—it’s free to all Varsity customers on maintenance!

Get ready for the next online training coming up in November on the 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20.  We’ll be getting the training schedule out as soon as possible, so you can plan which classes you would like to attend.

If you have any questions in the mean time, please check in with Amanda Carter (acarter@varsitynet.com).